Our Board
SAMANTHA JANKINS
President, Founder
Samantha is 23 and a resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Samantha was the 2008 Miss Wisconsin ANTSO National Miss with which she placed top ten at the national competition. She also has held an internship with Wisconsin senator, Herb Kohl. Samantha serves as a mentor to the Teen and Young Adult Council through the Immune Deficiency Foundation. She is also a member of the National Marfan Foundation’s Camp Task Force and the National Hemophilia Foundation’s National Youth Leadership Institute. Samantha is also a volunteer contributor to HemAware Magazine. In her free time, Samantha speaks about the importance of blood and plasma donation from a recipient’s perspective. Samantha started singing, dancing, and participating in theatre productions at the age of four. She recently finished writing a full-length musical entitled Songs for November. In addition, she has had multiple poems published and plays piano, ukulele, and drums. Having dealt with numerous health disorders since birth, Samantha knows what it is like to spend a great deal of time in the hospital, and how important the arts are as a means of personal expression.
DEBRA KING
Board Member
Debra is a resident of Butte des Morts, Wisconsin. She is currently an elementary art specialist with 20 years experience, the past ten with the Oshkosh School District. She received her Master of Education-Professional Development from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in which she focused her studies on observation drawing and its effects on student confidence in their drawing abilities. In 2006 she was honored with the President’s Recognition Award by the Wisconsin Art Education Association. She is not only an educator but a practicing artist. Her main medium of choice is art quilts. Dealing with her own diagnosis of lupus and fibromyalgia for the past seven years has given Debra a unique perspective on chronic inflammatory diseases, which more than 16,000 Americans are diagnosed with each year.
SHELLY MATTSON
Vice-Chair
Shelly is a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Organizational Communication. A Milwaukee native, Shelly has been an active volunteer in the bleeding disorders community since the age of sixteen. She has worked as a camp counselor and director of the counselor-in-training program at a bleeding disorders summer camp in Michigan for the past seven years. Shelly was involved with the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF)’s National Youth Leadership Institute (NYLI) as co-chair for five years, where she helped plan and implement programs for teens with bleeding disorders. Shelly is now a part of the NHF’s Women with Bleeding Disorders Task Force, where she provides outreach, education, and awareness to health care professionals and the general public. She has also served as an active volunteer with the World Federation of Hemophilia since 2006, and currently sits on the World Federation of Hemophilia USA’s Board of Directors and public relations committee. Volunteering and helping people, especially youth, are her true passions in life.
ANNA SCANLON
Board Member
Anna holds a BA in French from Chapman
University, and recently earned an MA in Educational Theatre in Colleges and Communities from New York University. She has also completed studies as CSU Hayward and Universite de Grenoble III in Grenoble, France. An avid theatre lover, Anna started participating in the theatre at age seven and has performed in over twenty plays. Also a writer, Anna has written two full-length plays, one having been performed at Chapman University and another at Roy Arias studios in New York City. To date, she has written two novels, which are represented by agent Irene Goodman. In addition to writing and theatre, Anna has taught several workshops on theatre and the Holocaust and spent several months in Budapest, Hungary teaching English to high school students. Anna currently works as a freelance writer. She intends to continue her studies at the PhD level, and teach about the Holocaust and Genocide to college and university students while continuing to write fiction. Diagnosed with Lupus SLE in 2008, and having shown symptoms since late 2004, Anna recognizes how important it is to help those with chronic illnesses live a full life and follow their passion. She is determined to not let lupus hold her back from anything.