Theresa Ng joined FCAA MA since the very beginning Dec 2008.Theresa lost her birth mother from lymphoma when she was 5 months old. At age 3, her father married her stepmother, who was mentally and physically abusive.
Some of her greatest joy’s and accomplishments are first of all getting to meet alumni, starting this FCAA MA chapter with such an amazing diverse group of passionate people and graduating from high school in 2004 while independently supporting herself. She was nominated for the Foster Club Outstanding Leaders award in 2009, involved in the local community as a youth voice on the DCF Lowell Area Board & Statewide Diversity Committee, and spoke on a panel at Peds 21 conference, in DC 2009 about providing better health care to foster youth.
Since the fall 2010 she has been attending the University of Phoenix for a bachelor’s degree in business with a focused concentration in small business and entrepreneurship.
Theresa feels very passionate and blessed to be on the board, “fighting the good fight”, and wants there to be equal privileges & rights for all foster youth in and out of care. She realizes that although her story didn’t end in a fairy tale of adoption, she has a wish for foster youth that are aging out for the system, to have a fighting chance, and a hope to lead happy, healthy lives.
Lesa Lessard Pearson, President, FCAA, MA
Lesa brings more than two decades of experience as a social justice leader, nonprofit director, and community organizer to FCAA. As alumna, Lesa also possesses a strong personal connection and commitment to the mission and values of the foster care alumni movement. Lesa received a Bachelor of Science degree from Emerson College and a Master of Business Administration from Suffolk University. In addition to her work as president of FCAA, she is vice president of client relations for a global learning in business education seminar company, runs a nonprofit focused on cancer survivorship, and teaches nonprofit marketing and communications at Suffolk University.
Joseph Coutlis, Public Policy Chair
A native of Boston MA, Joseph Coutlis is an avid Red Sox and New England Patriots fan. Joe attended Boston College where he studied Marketing and business. He was accepted to a masters program as a junior in Boston College's Lynch School of Education and Carroll School of Management where he studied university administration and business. During his study abroad with Boston College in Turkey, Joe made clear his concern for tolerance of different peoples. One week after meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch during his study abroad, Joe and his group were granted an audience with the powerful Muslim cleric and Grand Mufti of Istanbul which Joe viewed as an opportunity to ask about religious freedom for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and other under represented groups in Turkey. Joe has held panels with senior members of state and of the Church exploring faith, politics, social-justice and fiscal responsibility at Boston College. Among the panelists was former Comptroller General of the United States David Walker, former US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Spyridon Pope and senior political counselor to Ambassador Kaskarelis of Greece to the US. He currently serves as member of AHEPA's influential Cypress - Hellenic Affairs Committee. Joe also serves on the Boston College Hellenic Alumni Network's Leadership Council. He is a proud advocate of foster kids and at risk youths.
RD Rohnert, Membership, FCAA, MA
RD spent his childhood (almost 18 years) in foster care in 9 or 10 homes. Fortunately, his foster parents for the important first five years were very loving people. He enlisted in the Air Force as soon as he graduated from High School and spent the next eight years preparing for a career in computer programming before it was a recognized occupation. He and his wife Martha took in five foster children and adopted twins. Now retired, he volunteers for DCF Foster Care reviews and also for Foster Care Alumni as the Membership Chair.
Kristina Rodriguez, Treasurer, FCAA, MA
I was in foster homes from the ages of 4 ½ - 13 years old. My biological parents were in and out of psychiatric hospitals and we did not have extended family that would or could take me and my two sisters in. We were sometimes placed together in the same home, but not all of the time. I joined FCAA because I need to be a part of a community that can understand and relate to what I went through during that time. I grew up feeling extremely alone and scared because I did not know what was happening in my family and no one explained it to me.
As a teen mother, it was difficult for me to raise my daughter and finish high school all at the same time but I did. In 1996, I graduated from Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School. As a way to give back and help other pregnant or parenting teens, I became an Advisory Board Member for the MA Alliance on Teen Pregnancy in 2002. At the same time I continued to work on myself, get the training I needed to be a productive member of society and be a power of example to my daughter. On October 21, 2010 I went to a book signing for "Hope's Boy" by Andrew Bridge who is also a former foster child. He mentioned that statistically, girls who end up in foster homes are more than twice as likely to become teen mothers. When I heard him say this I started crying. I am one of these Statistics!
In 2003, I received my Jackson Hewitt Tax Certification and shortly thereafter I was hired by Bank of America where I started as a Teller and moved my way up to become a Credit Support Associate in the commercial loan department. I started attending Bentley University in September 2011 to work on getting my BA in finance and minor in Non-profit Management. After that I plan on becoming a Certified Financial Planner to teach people about money management skills and investing in socially responsible funds.
I am an active member of Grace Chapel in Lexington/Wilmington and was part of the Toastmasters Speakers Network where I served as the Treasurer until June of 2010 and was a member until September 2011.
I was in foster homes from the ages of 4 ½ - 13 years old. My biological parents were in and out of psychiatric hospitals and we did not have extended family that would or could take me and my two sisters in. We were sometimes placed together in the same home, but not all of the time. I joined FCAA because I need to be a part of a community that can understand and relate to what I went through during that time. I grew up feeling extremely alone and scared because I did not know what was happening in my family and no one explained it to me.
As a teen mother, it was difficult for me to raise my daughter and finish high school all at the same time but I did. In 1996, I graduated from Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School. As a way to give back and help other pregnant or parenting teens, I became an Advisory Board Member for the MA Alliance on Teen Pregnancy in 2002. At the same time I continued to work on myself, get the training I needed to be a productive member of society and be a power of example to my daughter. On October 21, 2010 I went to a book signing for "Hope's Boy" by Andrew Bridge who is also a former foster child. He mentioned that statistically, girls who end up in foster homes are more than twice as likely to become teen mothers. When I heard him say this I started crying. I am one of these Statistics!
In 2003, I received my Jackson Hewitt Tax Certification and shortly thereafter I was hired by Bank of America where I started as a Teller and moved my way up to become a Credit Support Associate in the commercial loan department. I started attending Bentley University in September 2011 to work on getting my BA in finance and minor in Non-profit Management. After that I plan on becoming a Certified Financial Planner to teach people about money management skills and investing in socially responsible funds.
I am an active member of Grace Chapel in Lexington/Wilmington and was part of the Toastmasters Speakers Network where I served as the Treasurer until June of 2010 and was a member until September 2011.
Alexis Rodriguez, FCAA, MA Alumni
Alexis grew up in Cambridge, MA. She was born on January 14, 1975. She is the middle child of three beautiful girls. Due to her parents being ill she had to take care of them and her sisters. She had a very difficult childhood with two disabled parents and growing up in foster care for many years. She has a lot of compassion and understanding and wants to see children grow up in a positive manner. She knows what it is like to feel abandoned as a child. She graduated from Cambridge Rindge and High Latin School in 1993.
Alexis attended Mount Ida College for 3 years hoping to become a Veterinarian. Her dream of being a Vet did not happen for a few reasons. Since 2000, she has worked at a few jobs. She has worked at the same oil company for 9 years in the accounting/billing department. Alexis wants to travel more, have her own house and business one day and she prays that she will work with animals in the future. Alexis is attending Middlesex Community College studying business administration. Alexis joined FCAA to find support and comfort for herself and to support others.
