YOLANDA ADAMS

Events Committee

Yolanda Adams, originally from Bogota, Colombia, came to the High Country in 2002. She holds a 2-year degree in Business Administration from Broward Community College in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, her original home when she moved from Bogota, Colombia, in 1992. In 2020, she completed a certification program from Cornell University on Diversity and Inclusion. Adams worked for 5 years as a Spanish Interpreter for the Watauga County Health Department. In 2012, she was hired as the Spanish Interpreter and Translator for Watauga County Schools (WCS). Her passion and service to the Latino community lead her to apply and receive her new position as the Family Resource Coordinator for WCS. She has implemented the Juntos program, promoting higher education for the Latino Community, a program developed by North Carolina State University. She has worked tirelessly to build bridges between the Latino Community and Law enforcement by helping set up meetings between communities with programs such as Coffee with a Cop and the Latino Fair.Adams also serves as a Spanish Interpreter for Child Protection Services, Daymark, the Department of Social Services, and the Children’s Advocacy Center. She has also assisted with interpretation for Watauga County Sheriff’s Department and the Boone Police Department. Adams currently serves as the Chair for High Country Community Health, Board Member for Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, Chair for Manos Latinos Unidas, which she helped form, and member-at-large for the Immigration Justice Coalition. She has been a member of the American Translators Association since 2017. She is also the Co-Founder of the podcast and video outreach program Q' Pasa Appalachia on Facebook. A program developed to empowered and built bridges between the Latino Community and the High Country. She and her husband, Jay, and four children, Alejandro, Christian, Joshuah, and Hannah, enjoy working with the Latin community and experiencing all the outdoor activities the beautiful High Country provides.  

MARISA CORNELL

Events Committee

Marisa serves as Executive Director of the Mediation & Restorative Justice Center, a non-profit providing mediation and other restorative justice-oriented programs in courts, schools, and communities across 10 counties in Western NC.  MRJC's programs include Juvenile Mediation, District Criminal Court Mediation, Drug Treatment Courts, Sentencing Circles, and Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD.)  Marisa received a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Florida, as well as a Master’s Degree in Counseling (Expressive Arts Therapy) and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Appalachian State University.  She has an extensive history of advocacy around restorative processes, community-building, human rights, interdisciplinary collaboration, conflict resolution, and experiential learning.   
​

RANDY FEHDRAU

Leadership Team 

I feel very fortunate to be able to call many of you friends!  I moved to Newland in 2016 and thoroughly enjoy living here.  My days are occupied by working at the Health Department with some kind, amazing and accomplished colleagues.  They allow me to do the work for which I have the most passion, working with people.  I get to work with parents, people struggling to find housing, people using substance, grandparents raising children and as many others as possible.  It is reassuring to know that there are so many folks here dedicated to making the world a better place!
I have one son, Ande who lives in Eden, NC. He has taught me a great deal about how to structure my life and find enjoyment in unexpected places.​

CANDIS WALKER

WCCI Lead, Events Committee

Candis Walker is a Professional School Counselor who serves as the Prevention Counselor for Watauga County Schools. As a founding member of WCCI, she sees how understanding adversity and teaching resilience are important steps to increased success in school for all students and their families. Additionally, she serves the youth of  our community through Children's Ministry at Boone United Methodist Church and Cub Scout Pack 109.  Candis is a Boone native who, with her husband and two sons, enjoys hiking, camping, and reading.   ​
​

TIFFANY WILLIAMS 

Leadership Team 
Tiffany is a social worker who specializes in macro level systems change. She began attending WCCI in 2019 as part of the Policy Committee. Tiffany is passionate about removing barriers and creating access to resources so that communities can thrive. She is a political social worker from Texas where she spent her early career advocating and writing state legislation to protect the rights of vulnerable populations such as youth with developmental disabilities and/or mental health issues. She saw legislative advocacy as part of the solution to protecting youth from trauma after working in a treatment center for minors who were trafficked.Tiffany specifically worked on special education laws and mental health policies in schools. Currently, She is part of the Community Health Team at Western Youth Network, she loves getting to work on the local level, community mobilizing to bring change. Tiffany leads the Watauga Substance Action and Prevention Coalition, which is a group of community leaders whose goal it is to reduce youth substance use and build resiliency to make healthy choices. In her free time, she takes ballet classes, teaches yoga, and spends time outside with her daughter and husband.

Suzi Woodard

Awareness Committee
The framework of ACES and resiliency for individuals and communities is a perfect fit with Suzi’s personal values and professional career.  She brings a holistic health and wellness background to her current work as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor & Supervisor, with Blue Mountain Center for Integrative Health in Boone.  She has specialized in work with trauma survivors and clients from dysfunctional family backgrounds since the mid-1980s and enjoys an eclectic counseling practice with a wide range of clients and issues, with individuals and couples.  Since back in the days when it was a radical idea, Suzi has been known for incorporating evolving research on brain functioning and brain plasticity, along with research-based complementary modalities such as specific mindfulness practices, medicinal botanicals, breathwork and other yoga practices, homeopathics, aromatherapy, nutrition, physical activity, and nature into more mainstream psychotherapy modalities. In addition to offering community education and consulting on mental health, resiliency, and relationship topics, Suzi has volunteered locally with many local non-profit boards and community coalitions over the years.

FOUNDERS & PAST LEADERSHIP TEAM 

DENISE PRESNELL

Founder, WCCI Lead 2017-2022
Events Committee

Denise Presnell got her BSW from App State in 1993. After being a school social worker for the Watauga County Schools for 20 years, she went back to App to get her MSW, which she completed in 2017. Her second internship during her MSW program was with Western Youth Network. The director, Jennifer Warren, was the first person to mention ACEs to her. The Watauga Compassionate Community Initiative sprung from the challenge from Jennifer to Denise to turn Watauga into a trauma-informed community. Denise is a strong believer in the power and momentum of community work. In addition to having led WCCI, she was co-lead on the Compassionate Schools Project and chair of the Faith Community/School Collaborative.  Trauma and resilience work has changed Denise's personal and professional life. Having grown up in trauma, learning about ACEs was a monumental shift in how she views herself and her family, loved ones, colleagues, and clients. The knowledge that resilience can be strengthened and brains can be healed is powerful and life-altering. Denise continues to hold as a mission the drive to get that knowledge to as many people as possible. Denise credits her children with modeling bravery and adventure for her, and inspiring her to do challenging things. She has an enormous sense of gratitude for the growth and healing that has been present in her life for the past several years and for the opportunity to be part of something as seismic as WCCI. In Oct. 2022, she left Watauga County for a position at UNC-Pembroke. She will carry the memories of WCCI, its members, and everything they accomplished with her wherever she goes. 
​
A HUGE Thank You to the following people for previously serving on the Leadership Team. Your work and devotion to WCCI is appreciated. 
Emily Harwood
Graham Aiken
Stephanie Thomas
Crystal Kelly
Lindsay Sullivan
Adam Hege
Jennifer Warren
Hayley Bayne
Kellie Reed Ashcraft
Robyn Seamon