Management Team
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Alexis Eyler
Executive Director
A Chicago native, Alexis received her Bachelor's degree in French and Psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University and did her graduate work in Organizational Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University while working as an analyst for Citigroup in New York. Returning to Chicago, Alexis served on the Board of Directors of The Harbour and ran her own business before joining On Your Feet as its Executive Director. Alexis and her husband wrangle three kids, along with numerous dogs and chickens. In her spare time she is a violinist with the Evanston Symphony Orchestra, a member of the Women's Board of The Field Museum and loves to read and travel. She is currently pursuing her MSW at the University of Illinois.
Email | Schedule an Appointment (indicate topic, Voice or Zoom in notes)
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Jennifer Adams
Director of Case Management Services | MS
Jennifer has dedicated her career in social services to supporting and advocating for others. She is passionate about mental health and feels fortunate to have worked at On Your Feet Foundation since 2015. Jennifer is a Midwestern girl at heart, moving to Chicago from Cincinnati in her early twenties. Jennifer studied Family Studies at Ohio University and earned her Masters in Sociology from DePaul. She enjoys spending time with her family, exploring new places to eat, doing Crossfit, and relaxing at the beach.
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Kristin Thomas
Director of Communications | MA, MSED
Originally from Canada, Kristin moved to the Midwest to attend graduate school at Northwestern, and by the time she graduated, there wasn’t any place on earth she’d rather live. As a seasoned social media strategist, Kristin uses ethical storytelling as the catalyst for marketing strategy development, social media content creation, and audience engagement. Her free time is spent traveling, reading, and learning new recipes with her two sons.
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Catherine Potts Watkins
Catherine Potts Watkins grew up in Burnsville, Minnesota, and graduated from Northwestern University, where she majored in chemistry. She returned to Northwestern a few years later to complete a Master's in journalism. Catherine spent 16 years in marketing and communications with the American Medical Association, leading the internal communications team for most of that time. She "retired" following the birth of her son, and then found ample opportunities to use her communications background in the community through work in the Oakton Elementary PTA, a friend's successful school board campaign, and periodic consulting.
Catherine is connected to the adoption constellation through her late mother-in-law, who placed a child for adoption in the 1960s. Approximately 6 years ago, her mother-in-law was reunited with her daughter and Catherine's husband met his half-sister for the first time. It was clear through the reunion process how many questions were answered on all sides, subtracting nothing from the relationships among the adoptive family, but adding important facts and context to everyone's story. Catherine and her husband also explored adding to their family through adoption following the birth of their son, completing courses very similar to OYF's Activism in Adoption series.
Catherine is thrilled to be joining OYF and will support the Birthparent Support Alliance and Activism in Adoption programs. In addition to her work for OYF, Catherine also serves as co-president of the the Chute Middle School PTA and on the Mammoth Hockey Club Board. She is a proud mom to an 11-year-old hockey player, so if you can't find her, she is probably at a rink somewhere. In the short season where there is no hockey, she cultivates bird-friendly plants in her garden. Her family also includes 4 aging but spunky cats.
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Torie Di Martile
Torie Di Martile, MA, PhD Candidate | Activism in Adoption
Torie is a biracial Black woman who was placed into a white adoptive family through private domestic adoption as an infant. In 2018, Torie began to share her adoption story publicly through her Instagram micro-blog and small business, Wreckage and Wonder LLC. She provides educational workshops and consultations about transracial adoption, racial identity development, anti-racism, and the history of child welfare and adoption in the U.S. to prospective parents and adoption professionals. She is also a PhD candidate in Anthropology at Indiana University, Bloomington. Her dissertation is tentatively entitled: "Transracial Adoption in the Age of #GeorgeFloyd: Race and Kinship in the U.S. Torie was awarded the Griffin Summer Pathways Fellowship at Indiana University to work with non-profit adoption organizations like Birthparent Support Alliance to conduct research and design and facilitate educational programming.
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Sam Brayer
Sam Brayer is the founder of Lane 4 Advisory, a consulting practice dedicated to helping mission-driven organizations accelerate impact through smart, high-performance fundraising strategies. With over a decade of experience leading development efforts for national nonprofits—including the American Diabetes Association, Alzheimer’s Association, and American Heart Association—she brings deep expertise in capital campaigns, grant writing, donor research, and event strategy. Samantha is also a long-time swimmer turned swim coach and community leader, blending her passion for teamwork, growth, and excellence into every client partnership.
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Rich Brayer
Rich Brayer is the Chief Strategist at Lane 4 Advisory, bringing decades of experience leading organizations through innovation, creativity, and collaboration. With a career spanning both the nonprofit and corporate sectors, Rich has held senior leadership roles in marketing, development, and brand strategy, guiding capital campaigns, major gift initiatives, and multi-channel marketing programs. Most recently, he served as Regional Development Officer at Food For The Poor, where he built a donor portfolio that raised over $1.2 million in just four months. Known for his strategic vision and approachable leadership, Rich has partnered with industries from retail and healthcare to financial services, technology, and consumer goods. At Lane 4, he combines this cross-sector expertise with a passion for helping mission-driven organizations grow and thrive.
Case Management, Retreats, Support Groups & Mentorship
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Katy Finn
Case Manager | MA
A New Yorker at heart, Katy grew up on Long Island and went on to earn a BFA from New York University and an MA from the City University of New York. She is an educator, theater artist, writer, and most importantly, a mother via open, transracial, domestic adoption. Since the birth of her two children, Katy has become passionate about using creative means to explore adoption. Katy first worked with On Your Feet Foundation in 2019 through a collaboration with Piven Theatre Workshop and Erasing the Distance to create, Placing Home, a verbatim theater piece that explored adoption from the birth mother perspective. Her personal essays have been featured on numerous websites including, Motherly and Coffee and Crumbs. Katy is currently training to run her first half marathon and when she’s not running for her physical and mental health, she’s running after her two wildly energetic boys, ages 7 and 3.
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Robyn Whitlock
Robyn attended her first birhtmom retreat in 2014, and has been hooked ever since! She currently serves as housemom at in-person retreats, and she loves to create a welcoming atmosphere that nourishes people, body and soul. Robyn lives in the Chicago suburbs and works as a high school librarian. She and her husband, Paul, have been married for 23 years, and have three teenage boys. Robyn is also a birthmom in reunion with her child, who is 30 years old. In her free time, she enjoys sitting around a fire pit in the backyard with family and friends, participating in storytelling events, and reading. Her family sometimes makes fun of her for going to the library in the evening after a long day of working in a library, but all of the other librarians in her life completely understand this behavior and she has no plans to stop anytime soon. She truly loves connecting with birthmoms as they navigate their adoption journeys, and feels privileged to be a part of On Your Feet.
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Shanyce Henley
Associate Case Manager
Shanyce is birthmother to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, who she placed in an interracial, open adoption ten years ago. Shanyce and the twins' adoptive parents have worked together to be as child focused as possible by making sure they can contact Shanyce whenever they would like to. Shanyce holds a degree in Computer Science and has worked in Human Resources for the past 5 years. In her free time, she is an avid gamer (video, board, card, etc) and also enjoys reading, listening to music, ignoring the news when it gets to be too much, and sitting down to watch a good movie.
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Clemencia Deleon
Clemencia Deleon | Mentorship
Clemencia grew up in Abilene, Texas, and attended Cisco Junior College, where she majored in Early Child Development. She helps run logistics and office administration for a local company that fixes commercial kitchen equipment.
Clemencia placed her son in an open kinship adoption about 16 years ago. Her experiences over the past years have allowed her to develop a special insight into the importance of having open communication and emotional agility. This has fueled her desire to continue learning and connecting with others working there. Helping to update standards of modern adoption practices while also helping other birthparents cultivate a voice of their own and heal their wounds.
In addition to her work with On Your Feet, she has volunteered with Planned Parenthood of North Texas, where she helped educate othrs on the resources Planned Parenthood has and attends educational events like learning about the hidden truth to “crisis pregnancy” centers and online resources.
Clemencia enjoys reading, yoga, indoor rock climbing, and cooking plant-based meals in her spare time.
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Monica Tsikretsis
Monica is birthmom to Jack, age 6, and enjoys an open adoption with her son, his two dads and younger sister. She has spent the last few years educating hopeful adoptive parents on how to navigate a healthy open adoption for all members of the triad. She understands both the grief and joy in making an adoption plan and advocates for the importance of post-placement care for birthmothers. Monica has been involved with On Your Feet since 2016 when she joined the Auxiliary Board where she was responsible for helping with the organization’s fundraising efforts. She truly feels it is the greatest honor to serve on the Board of Directors and as a Retreat Facilitator.
Monica lives in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood and works as a Senior Project Manager in the hospitality industry where she oversees large scale projects of hotels, restaurants and senior living facilities.
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Rachelle Born
Rachelle is birthmother to a 16 year old boy. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanie, Rachelle has called Illinois home for over 10 years now. She attended her first retreat in 2009 and has been a facilitator for two years. Rachelle is a licensed clinician social worker providing therapy to individuals with mental health and/or substance use disorders. In her free time, Rachelle enjoys spending time with her wife and their two dogs, crafting, cooking, and hiking.
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Katrina Carroll
Katrina is birthmom to Olivia, who she placed in 2010. Their adoption is very open with frequent visits and relaxed communication. Katrina found On Your Feet very shortly after placement, and attended several retreats before becoming a facilitator. Katrina earned a bachelors degree in liberal studies from Purdue University. During the week, Katrina works as a caseworker for the Indiana Department of Child Services. In her free time, Katrina enjoys crafting, binging Netflix, and visiting her favorite tattoo shop to work on her Beatles sleeve.
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Jessica Figlio
Jess is a grateful birthmother to her son, Ryan, who was placed in an open adoption in 2001. She feels very blessed by her relationship with her son and his parents as they remain close and have celebrated a loving open relationship. Yet, with this joy comes intense grief which Jess has navigated in her healing journey. She found On Your Feet Foundation 10 years after she placed which provided invaluable support that she didn't know she needed and opened the door to much deeper healing. She is passionate about her journey and sharing what she has learned to help support other birthmothers. Jess graduated from Purdue after placing her son and worked in Talent and Business Management in broadcast commercial production for 12 years. Jess currently works from home while parenting her 4 children, whom she adores, and cherishes this season with them.
Email | Call
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Rosie Ford
Rosie is birthmom to Jack, age 10, with whom she has a semi-open adoption. Professionally, Rosie works at an adoption agency where she is a caseworker for expectant moms and helps them create their adoption plans and offers post-placement support. Rosie has been involved with On Your Feet since 2011 when she began attending retreats and has since had the honor of becoming a retreat facilitator. She received her Bachelors in Science in Social Work from Eastern Michigan University and her Masters of Social Work from Michigan State University.
Rosie currently lives in Dearborn, Michigan with her fiancé and senior aged cat, Derby. Some of Rosie’s favorite things are traveling, cooking/baking, and crafting (shoutout to Pinterest). She believes pumpkin spice truly is everything nice and sneaks in listening to Christmas music throughout the year! -
Kiara Montgomery
Associate Case Manager
Kiara Montgomery is from Chicago . She is a mother and birthmother. Janelle (13) Jordan (5) and birth mother to Malcolm Jason (9). Kiara has been working in Accounting for the past 3 years. She is also an associate case manager for On your Feet Foundation. Kiara likes to spend her free time painting, playing guitar, and going out with friends.
