Meet The Board

Our board is built from our community. We support families who have a child with Trisomy 13 or Trisomy 18 in ways that celebrate the children.

Amanda Gilmore

Amanda serves as Board Chair of The Stella Effect, helping guide the organization’s operational growth and sustainability. Her leadership is deeply inspired by her daughter Riley (aka Riley Bear), who had Trisomy 13 and lived for 117 beautiful days in 2020. Riley loved her unicorn pacifier, wearing her signature donut hat, and spending as much time outside as possible. Even in her brief life, she taught Amanda and her family that joy can be found in the smallest moments, inspiring Amanda’s passion for building community, celebrating children with Trisomy 13/18, and supporting families at every stage of their journey.

Chair

Rose Watson

Rose serves as Vice Chair of The Stella Effect. Rose received her daughter Lavender's diagnosis of Trisomy 18 almost 10 years ago, and she has been passionately advocating for the Trisomy community ever since. Lavender just turned 9 years old in December, and she is pure joy. She smiles all day long. She loves her family, going to therapy, spending warm summer days in the pool, and playing dress up. Lavender has shown Rose a beautiful world that she didn't know existed, and Lavender continues to inspire families all over the world and bring so many people together.

Vice Chair

Treasurer

Christian Hettick

Christian serves as Treasurer for The Stella Effect, providing financial stewardship through the annual budget process, regular financial reporting, and compliance. Christian was brought into the trisomy community through his daughter Cora, who is 7 with Trisomy 13 and who loves her mom and dad, her sisters and brothers, her music, and being outside. Cora's example of perseverance and joy inspires and comforts Christian, and he hopes to share that perseverance and joy with the trisomy community.

Secretary

Lauren Wagehoft

Lauren serves The Stella Effect as Secretary and is actively involved in special projects, including organizing Mother’s Day cards and the Angel Wall at CCK. She has a deep heart for serving bereaved parents, a passion shaped by the life of her firstborn daughter, Eden Rose. Eden was diagnosed with Trisomy 13 and lived for 44 beautiful days in 2020. She loved cuddling with her mom and dad and cherished her special hedgehog toy. Lauren’s involvement with The Stella Effect is a meaningful outlet for the enduring love she has for Eden. Outside of her work with the organization, Lauren is a physical therapist and a devoted mother to Eden’s two younger siblings.

Chelsea Spoelker

Chelsea serves as Fundraising & Grants Director and Co-Founder of The Stella Effect, helping lead the organization’s growth with heart, purpose, and vision. Her work is deeply rooted in the life of her daughter, Stella, who was born with Trisomy 18 in 2019 and lived for 39 beautiful days.

Because no moment with Stella was promised, Chelsea and her family chose to celebrate her life in every way they could — singing “Happy Birthday” in the NICU the night she was born, baptizing her surrounded by love, sneaking in a one-month birthday cake, and filling her days with songs, photos, movies, and fierce advocacy. Stella’s life, though brief, was celebrated fully and intentionally.

In her honor, Chelsea helped grow The Stella Effect from a single birthday celebration into a year-round support system for families navigating Trisomy 13 and Trisomy 18 nationwide. Through storytelling, connection, and sustainable fundraising, she ensures Stella’s legacy continues to bring light, community, and tangible support to others.

Fundraising & Grants

Hannah North

Hannah North serves as Programs Chair, leading the organization’s signature initiatives and experiences. She is a mother of five, including her youngest son, Arrow, who is five years old and has Trisomy 13.

Hannah and her family have been profoundly supported and shaped by The Stella Effect over the years. Grateful for the care, community, and hope the organization has poured into their lives, Hannah is honored to now serve on the Board and to give back to the mission that has meant so much to her family.

Programs

Courtney Evans

Courtney serves as Communications & Creative Co-Director of The Stella Effect. Her service is dedicated to her daughter Junnie (July 22, 2021-November 4, 2021), who had Trisomy 18.

Junnie lived a brief but meaningful life that continues to shape Courtney’s appreciation of the gift of time and love. Through Junnie, Courtney learned to trust her intuition and God’s plan.

Courtney brings her intuitive creativity and thoughtful approach to building safe spaces where families affected by Trisomy 18 can share their experiences and feel supported.

Communications & Creative

Hailey Roper

Hailey serves as Communications & Creative Co-Director of The Stella Effect, lending her design expertise and artistic vision to bring the organization’s story to life. She is an angel mom to her son, Ivar — lovingly known as “Ivar the Warrior” — who was born on October 31, 2019 and lived for one golden hour.

Motherhood to Ivar reshaped Hailey’s creative lens. Through her grief, she has learned to design with deep empathy — for her clients, for this community, and for families navigating unimaginable loss. Golden hues each October serve as a tender reminder of her warrior boy and the strength he continues to inspire.

From branding and communications to website updates and printed materials, Hailey weaves that empathy into every visual detail, ensuring families feel seen, honored, and beautifully represented.

Communications & Creative

Charity Nelson

Charity serves as Advocacy & Medical Partnerships Co-Director of The Stella Effect. Her attraction to this role stems deeply from being a medical mom to her daughter, Maggie, who was born with Trisomy 18 (Edward's Syndrome). Maggie has defied the odds time and time again, proving to the medical world that her diagnosis doesn't limit her and that improved support for parents and families of these children is crucial moving forward. Charity is passionate when it comes to advocacy, including serving as former VP of an operating nonprofit and organizing donation drives like NICU blankets for her local children's hospital.

Charity lives in Las Vegas, NV with her husband and four children. She has a degree in Creative Writing and Spanish and is a published author.

Advocacy & Medical Partnerships

Angelina Garman

Angelina serves as Advocacy and Medical Partnerships Co-Director, helping to bridge collaborations between The Stella Effect and the medical community to make sure families with children diagnosed with Trisomy 13 or 18 have support from those giving medical advice and treatment. Angelina has a joyous son Oliver, who fuels her desire be proactive in giving peace back into the world.

During her pregnancy, his twin miscarried, and she then experienced another shocking miscarriage a few years later. Knowing the blessing and impact a child has regardless of weeks lived in the womb or outside of the body, Angelina hopes to help families with children who have Trisomy 13 or 18 find the support they need to gain some peace during the trials they are facing.

Advocacy & Medical Partnerships

Nicole Durand

Nicole is excited to join The Stella Effect as the Family Engagement & Storytelling Director. Her passion for sharing the stories of families impacted by a Trisomy diagnosis comes from receiving one for her first beloved child, Nora "Bee" Marie. Nora received a diagnosis of full Trisomy 13 at 20 weeks gestation and quickly helped her family reframe the image of any “abnormalities” to “exceptionalities.” Nora Bee shared five wonderful hours and nine perfect minutes with her parents in May of 2021 (unexpectedly on World Bee Day!) before falling asleep forever, leaving behind seeds for a beautiful legacy.

She is remembered with love in every moment and inspires her two younger siblings and parents to lead with empathy and curiosity, making new connections in unanticipated places. Nicole hopes to help foster those connections amongst the Trisomy community by bringing their stories to the world.