Board Members

 

  • PRESIDENT, SECRETARY, FOUNDER

    “I am proud to serve as President and Secretary of The Emilee Connection and I am honored to serve alongside my fellow board members. Having lost our precious adult daughter Emilee, to anorexia, the psychiatric illness with the highest mortality rate outside of opioid addiction, this cause could not be closer to my heart. I am passionate about helping adults who struggle with anorexia and other eating disorders. Eating disorders are life-threatening and misunderstood, and the people who suffer from them are often stigmatized.“

    Linda has been serving our community as a small business owner since 1982, and she created and currently hosts the mental health/eating disorder podcast, Once Shattered: Picking Up the Pieces, with her husband Jack and fellow advocate, Ellen Bennett. Linda and Jack speak about the importance of awareness, early intervention, and better educating the medical community and the public about eating disorders at schools, colleges, and conferences. They share what have learned and speak about the cathartic experience of authoring a book to raise awareness and honor their daughter’s life and her last wish, to have her journey shared to help others.

    Education: Graduated from Coiffures International, Rochester, New York, 1977. Reiki Master Practitioner and Teacher certification in 2010. Body Positive Facilitator. Certified Invitation to Change Facilitator, 2022

    Community Service: Community advisory board member for The Western New York Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders. Eating Disorder Advocate- locally, nationally, and internationally. Rochester Regional Homecare and Hospice Advisory Committee, Caring Companion for Adults with Eating Disorders Strong Memorial Hospital

 
 

  • VICE-PRESIDENT, TREASURER, CO-FOUNDER

    “I am honored to serve as Vice President and Treasurer on The Emilee Connection Board and to be part of a community that helps provide peer support and social connection. These are services we wish were more available for our daughter and for us as parents, during Emilee’s struggle with anorexia nervosa.”

    Jack is a pharmacist who has served our community since, 1976. He and Linda became published authors in 2019, and he currently co-hosts the eating disorder and mental health podcast, Once Shattered: Picking Up the Pieces. Jack and Linda also speak at colleges, conferences, and schools about the importance of awareness, early intervention, and better educating the medical community and the public about eating disorders. They share what have learned and speak about the cathartic experience of authoring a book to raise awareness and honor their daughter’s life and her last wish, to have her journey shared to help others.

    Education: Albany College of Pharmacy with a B.S in Pharmacy. Employed as a pharmacist in various capacities, serving the Rochester community for over forty years.

    Community Service: Community advisory board member of The Western New York Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders. Eating Disorder Advocate, locally, nationally, and internationally. Rochester Regional Homecare and Hospice Advisory Committee. Past member of The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, Past board member for The Pharmacy Society of Rochester.

 
 

  • “I am proud to be part of The Emilee Connection and serve as a board member. As Emilee's younger brother, I’ve seen how difficult eating disorders can be for the individuals suffering and I also understand how it affects their families. I am happy to give whatever support I can and feel that connection can be a wonderful thing. I am also honored to volunteer my time and talents to The Emilee Connection events.”

    Education: Alfred University, Bachelor of Science, Marketing and Business Administration 2006

    Employment: Wegmans, Customer Service Grocery/Receiving

    Volunteer Activity: The Emilee Connection Events

 
 

  • “I am honored to be a Board Member of the Emilee Connection and work hard to connect with and provide support for those who are suffering from an eating disorder and their loved ones.”

    Betsy Brenner is an Author, Recovery Speaker, and Peer Support Mentor. She shares her journey to healing in her 2021 memoir, The Longest Match: Rallying to Defeat an Eating Disorder in Midlife. Her inspiring message is that it’s never too late to be a work in progress.

    Education: Brown University, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, 1985 American University Law School, Juris Doctorate, 1990

    Volunteer Activity: Bereavement Group Facilitator

 

  • Jennifer has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from SUNY Plattsburgh and a Masters degree in Counseling Education from SUNY Brockport. She has spent the past 25 years working with individuals with psychiatric diagnoses, the chemically addicted, and the unhoused. She has been involved with eating disordered work since 2005, as the Coordinator of Sage House — a residential home for women in treatment for eating disorders.

    Currently, as care manager for the Western NY Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders (WNYCCCED), Jennifer provides support services to patients and families within the thirty counties of Western New York, including Golisano Children’s Hospital and The Healing Connection Inc.

    While providing linkage to treatment and care, Jennifer’s other offerings of support are eating disorder skills-based support groups and connections to community-based resources so individuals and loved ones have what they need to move forward in recovery.

    “I am thrilled and incredibly honored to serve on the board of The Emilee Connection, Inc. I look forward to this opportunity and to being part of individuals’ recovery journey and to also being supportive of their loved ones. I have often heard the Mazurs refer to “their beacon of light” during their darkest times. I am so proud to join them and the board in offering these services to the community, and for being part of their efforts to be others’ “beacon of light.”

  • Kevin Mahoney is greatly invested in improving the available options for those struggling with mental health disorders and eating disorders. He has attended and observed treatment facilities in addition to attending many educational conferences about eating disorders. As a person with lived experience, Kevin understands the ins and outs of treatment and the peer support that is essential after treatment ends. As a board member of The Emilee Connection, he hopes to help change the lives of other individuals by using the knowledge he has acquired and his lived experience to help individuals move towards recovery and not get stuck in a place where current treatment approaches may not provide all the support an individual needs.

  • “It is an honor to serve on the board of The Emilee Connection and provide whatever support I can to those who struggle with an eating disorder and their loved ones who support them. We lost our beloved daughter, Tori, to bulimia and anorexia nervosa in 2023.

    The support we received from The Emilee Connection during her illness was invaluable. Tori was a beautiful light who dedicated herself to helping others, so it is fitting to offer what I can in her honor.”

    Education: Western State College of Colorado, Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art, 1984.

    School of Visual Arts in NYC, Master of Fine Arts, 2010.

    Employment: Susan Begy is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Rochester, NY.

    She creates graphite drawings and stone sculptures and develops collaborative community projects.

    Her works have been exhibited in contemporary art centers and galleries in the U.S. and Europe. She has co-founded and co-directed artist-run exhibitions spaces in Los Angles and Brooklyn. She teaches art at Syracuse University in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.