(Part 3) Through Our Eyes: Living as Women with Tourette Syndrome

Digital Marketing Agency (43)
November 21, 2024
7:00 pm
 – 8:00 pm
 EDT

Description: Join us for a special three-part interactive series that showcases the unique experience of what it is like to be a woman with Tourette Syndrome and/or Tic Disorders. This series highlights that although every woman has their own unique background and experience there are universal feelings that speak to the heart of what it is like to live day to day as a woman with TS. If you resonate with these experiences, we are happy to share that there will be a live Q&A where we encourage you to engage with the speakers. 

Key Takeaways 

  • Engage in personal stories about the unique and underrepresented experience of being a female with TS  
  • Interact with important topics such as stigma, misunderstandings, and research around females with TS 
  • Participate in live Q&A with presenters 

Audience: This program is open to all individuals regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression.

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Kelly Ann Cartwright, PsyD

Kelly Ann Cartwright is a Clinical Psychologist, a Certified CBIT Therapist, and a trainer and clinical supervisor in the Cognitive Psychophysiological (CoPs) Intervention for Tics, an empirically-supported, effective therapy for tics developed by the eminent Kieron O’Connor in her home town of Montreal, Canada. In 2022, Dr. Cartwright founded the Lakeshore Psychology and Wellness Center, a small, multidisciplinary clinic offering a neurodiversity-affirming approach, gender-affirming care, and various services for children, teens and adults with tics and their families. 

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Marleen Martinez Sundgaard

Marleen Martinez Sundgaard, a child of migrant farm workers, and a former field worker herself, knew from the age of five that she wanted to be an astronaut. She studied Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering at the University of Washington, earning her bachelors of science degree in 2006. After graduation she began working at Lockheed Martin as a test engineer on various satellite and planetary spacecrafts, as well as the Orion EFT-1 mission. She then worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the Lead Testbed Engineer for the InSight Mars Lander. Marleen returned to Lockheed Martin and worked on the Artemis I mission to the moon. She is now the Lead Testbed Engineer for the DRACO spacecraft program.

Marleen was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome as a child in Mexico, but was not aware of the diagnosis until she was a senior in high school. She began volunteering with the Tourette Syndrome Camp USA staff in 2009 and is currently on the Tourette Syndrome Camp Organization Board of Directors. Marleen has also shared her story and career with the TAA at the National Conference in DC in 2018, and as the Keynote speaker at the Wisconsin TAA Tourette Connections Conference in 2019.

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Jennifer McNary-McIlvain, DBA

Dr. McNary-McIlvain is one of thousands who lives each day with Tourette Syndrome. Diagnosed at 11 years of age she has walked this journey for 43 years. She strives to choose empowerment over shame, listening and practicing empathy with all others and believes self-reflection is valuable and a gift to oneself, if you choose to do the work. She is currently the Director of Quality Systems and Compliance for the Mid-South Transplant Foundation (Memphis, Tennessee).

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Jackie Nau

Ms. Nau has been living with TS, OCD, ADHD, and anxiety for over 50 years. She is a former project coordinator for the LEND program at the University of Iowa Center for Disabilities and Development. Jackie and her pediatrician husband have developed a Tourette Clinic in Cedar Rapids where they offer a wide range of support services for patients and their families. She also speaks about living with TS and co-occurring conditions at schools and colleges and has written a children’s book about TS that will come out in January. Jackie serves on the Board of Directors for the Arc of East Central Iowa and helped develop the TAA’s Adult Task Force.

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Marissa Smolinsky, M.Ed.

Marissa  is a Special Education teacher in northern Virginia.  She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and a Master in Special Education from Northern Arizona University.  Marissa has over 10 years of public school classroom experience in both the self-contained and inclusion settings.  She has taught grades K-12 in Arizona and Virginia.  She has Tourette herself, has taught students with Tourette and has a child with Tourette.  Marissa is an education volunteer with the TAA and a member of the TAA Education Advisory Board. 

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Vernell Jones

Vernell Jones is a wife, mother, a friend to many, and business owner of Problem Solved Communications, LLC. One of her missions and passion is teaching health care professionals how to treat chronically I’ll patients. Vernell also has Tourette Syndrome. She went undiagnosed as a child and consequently suffered as an adult for years which resulted in misperceptions by family, friends, and even doctors which is why she is now an advocate for the thousands of men women and children today with Tourette Syndrome. She has faced adversity throughout her career, and stares and comments from strangers in public but still faces every day with a positive and hopeful attitude and a mission to educate.  

Vernell is a licensed insurance agent and Broker, Notary Public, Remote Online Notary, as mentioned above a business owner, certified web designer, photographer, former owner of Jones Photo, Copy, Fax & Print, trainer, and business consultant.   

Vernell graduated from the University of Phoenix in 2008  

Vernell worked for several large nonprofit organizations AARP, National Dairy Board, American Diabetes Association, usually working in the communications or graphics departments. She spent time with Campaigns and Elections Magazine (sales), and her youngest years in the US Government with the Department of Defense at the Pentagon with Navy, USAF, DODIG, and NOS. 

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Ellie Jarvie, MSW, LCSW

Ellie has been involved in support and advocacy efforts since she was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome in her teens, including leadership positions with the Wisconsin Association and various task force efforts at the Tourette Association of America. She is currently a member of the Mn Tic patient advisory board.  As someone who had very noticeable symptoms from junior high through her early 30’s, she found that educating others about Tourette was a key accommodation for her success in school and in the workplace. Ellie has extensive experience in community mental health programs, working both as a case manager and in supervisory roles.  She provided respite care and was a foster parent for over twenty youth and is an adoptive parent. Ellie currently works as an advocacy specialist for Disability Rights Wisconsin.  When she is not working, Ellie enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, running, or swimming.

*By registering for this event, you are agreeing to the Tourette Association of America’s Event Terms and Conditions.