Emani is a social science professional with a passion for addressing barriers to public health equity. She received her bachelor’s from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in Sociology with a concentration in public health. Emani jump started her career at the Dorchester County Health department as a Family Support Specialist working to improve health outcomes for mother’s and their young children. She has also worked in case management at another local non-profit organization. Emani is excited to bring her unique experience as a front line community worker to ESAHEC’s many different programs and projects.
Courtney has worked in the health care field since 2021, previously serving Talbot County and the surrounding areas with Covid-19 relief efforts at the Talbot County Health Department. Specializing in record keeping, vaccinations, testing protocol, and community outreach. In her free time, Courtney enjoys attending concerts and sharing her knowledge of skin care. Courtney is extremely excited to serve the Eastern Shore in her role as the Health Equity Community Health Worker.
Shavonte (Shay) Lewis-Sisco, also known as ShaySpeaks, born and raised here in Cambridge, Maryland. Shay has served in Public Service for over ten years as a Workforce Development Specialist III for the Maryland Department of Labor, Community Engagement Coordinator for Moving Dorchester Forward, and Family Investment Specialist for the Department of Social Services. In addition, she is active in serving and engaging the community through volunteerism, as the Host of Candid Crucial Community Conversations and as an executive board member for the non-profit agency, “For All Seasons Behavioral Health.”
Shay also served in the Dorchester County Public Schools as a former Character Counts Coach, Sandy Hill Parent Advisory Council, and a member of DCPS District Parent Engagement for Title I School. In addition, she has served at Chesapeake College as a Student Life Liaison to promote student retention and success and as a Multicultural Advisory Committee member. She was a featured speaker for DCPS Community Forum, on the Kirwan Commission in 2019, the Moving Dorchester Forward Community Forum with the State Superintendent, and the Youth Expo led by Omeakia Jackson. She has been featured in a series of news broadcasting publications, including the August 2022 edition of the What’s Up Eastern Shore “The Real Deal” magazine.
Shay graduated from Chesapeake College, where she studied Behavioral Health Sciences. She continued her educational journey at the University of Maryland Global Campus, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Political Science. Shay is committed to building and strengthening communities through engagement, education, and empowerment by connecting them with resources, programs, and the services needed to thrive.
Shay is excited to bring her leadership, relationship management, community organizing, communication, collaboration, inclusion, and innovation skills to ESAHEC as the Community Impact and Engagement Manager.
Emma Day manages BHC’s client accounts and specializes in social media strategy and management, website development, digital marketing and content creation. She joined BHC in 2017 as a social media account executive.
Previously, she worked as the communications and program coordinator for the nonprofit ORANS and its parent company, Baltimore Mediation, where she managed both companies’ websites and social media. She also maintained the companies’ blogs, regularly writing articles and creating content.
Emma earned a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in creative writing and a minor in sociology from Goucher College in 2015.
Kyri L. Jacobs joined BHC in 1992 and has spent nearly 30 years as a communications, public relations, advertising, media and marketing professional. She has provided counsel and led major campaigns for many of BHC’s largest clients throughout Maryland. As owner of the agency, she is integral in the company, successfully managing agency operations for the past 20 years.
Prior to joining BHC, Kyri worked for the Pennsylvania-based Ohio Valley General Hospital. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English writing from the University of Pittsburgh.
Caitlin Donohue-Vega, RDH, BS has served as the Oral Health Outreach Coordinator with the Eastern Shore Area Health Education Center (ESAHEC) since 2018 and also practices clinical dental hygiene 3 days a week in a periodontal specialty practice. Mrs. Donohue-Vega has worked in both general and specialty dental practices as well as the public health sector for a total of 20 years in the dental field. She is a strong advocate for education and has a passion for breaking down the barriers by providing oral health education and services to our most vulnerable populations. She has a strong desire to give back to the community that helped shape who she is today. Mrs. Donohue-Vega is a 2009 graduate from Salisbury University with a major in Biochemistry and a minor in Spanish. She then went on to pursue her dental hygiene degree from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry where she graduated summa cum laude in 2013. For help with oral health resources, program information and/or questions please feel free to reach out to Mrs. Donohue-Vega via email at cvega@esahec.org.
Damaris joined the Eastern Shore AHEC in September, 2016. She brings extensive experience to her position working in healthcare, education and business for more than 25 years. In addition to her clinical nursing career, she served as Healthcare Continuing Education Coordinator at Chesapeake College for 15 years; and developed the curriculum and directed the Associate Degree Program in Massage Therapy at Chesapeake College for 13 years. Damaris is a Licensed Massage Therapist and has maintained a private massage therapy practice since 1998. In her role as ESAHEC’s High School Health Careers Coordinator she works in partnership with high schools and organizations on the eastern shore developing programs and learning experiences to foster, support and encourage high school students to explore careers in healthcare.
Jessica Ransome is a graduate of Kent State University’s Health Education and Promotion, Masters of Education program.While learning at an institution in a rural area, she garnered an understanding for the unique space of rural health. Growing up in the inner-city urban Washington, DC area completely opposite of a small Ohio college town, she became interested in the juxtapositions between both environments. With a background in education roles the Education Program Manager role is a great match.Growing up she benefited from health education interventions and programming. While viewing a dental education session in an elementary school assembly she knew her passion would blossom in health education and promotion at a young age. She has a yearning for incorporating creativity within the health education and promotion field. While creativity is key, she also understands the importance of needs assessments and evaluation. Jessica served in the school setting as an Early Childhood Education Observer. In this role she observed interactions between students and teachers and evaluated them by fuzing an academic background in sociology and public health. Educating is second nature to Jessica, while completing her advanced degree she served as a Graduate Assistant Primary Instructor to an undergraduate course.
Coming from a rare disease community health role, her most recent role prior to ESAHEC was a Health Educator for a rare disease non-profit. Within this role she served as the main point of contact for the osteogenesis imperfecta community, helping navigate varying inquiries daily. Within this role she molded her program planning skills. Working within the role of the Education Program Manager, she has continued her passion for program planning and is currently rebranding a long-term program with Eastern Shore Area Health Education Center. She is rebranding the Aging Simulation Sensitivity Training into the Elderly Population Simulation (E-POPS). The E-POPS program works closely with health care centered institutions program role-play activities and lectures built around simulations that mimic the aging process. Education, public health education, community health and rural health are Jessica’s specializations. She is actively learning more programs and is looking forward to implementing and managing them!
Since 2014 Steffanie Malkus has worked for Eastern Shore Area Health Education Center as their Grant Specialist and Project Coordinator. She has a Bachelor’s degree from University of Maryland in Speech Communications with a minor in Psychology. Ms. Malkus began her career in public relations and marketing working with high-tech start-up clients seeking venture capital. She also has extensive experience in technical writing. She moved to the Eastern Shore fifteen years ago and currently resides in Cambridge, Maryland with her two young sons.
Kenesia joins ESAHEC as the Administrative and Strategic Partnerships Associate. She hails from New York City where she served in Public Service as a Community Associate at the NYC Department of Transportation and provided administrative support to the over 8 million citizens of the 5 boroughs. She has spearheaded pilot programs to train administrative professionals and clerics to use borough-wide administrative software and tools to expedite responses regarding the safe use of NYC roadways. Mrs. Greene has been instrumental in formulating correspondences that have been converted into templates that are still being used by her previous employer today. She is passionate about the charitable works she has implemented, one of which provides help to impoverished youths in the inner-cities of Kingston Jamaica, West Indies where she was born. Mrs. Greene has recently relocated to the Eastern Shores with her husband and son and is excited for her new journey and partnering in building these communities.
