Our Board
DuShaun Branch-Pollard, MBA
Sage Gawd Collective
DuShaun is the founder of Sage Gawd Collective, a yoga practice centered on social justice, representation, and equity.
DuShaun has been practicing for almost 15 years and fell in love with yoga because it allowed her to find peace of mind while moving her body. As a yoga student, DuShaun noticed that in the majority of her classes she was the only black and plus-sized person in the room. This inspired her to become a practitioner to bring yoga to more people who looked like her.
While teaching, DuShaun also started an initiative called Period Flow, a donation-based class where students paid in menstrual products. Within this initiative, more than 2,000 menstrual products were donated and sent to local Love Fridge locations in and around Chicago.
DuShaun also co-founded an initiative called Black Brown and Breathing with Taylor D. Mason. The two saw the need after 2020 uprisings and pain in Chicago that Black and Brown people needed a place to come together to rest and to be. Since the start of Black Brown and Breathing, the two have hosted collective healing spaces in North Lawndale, Humboldt Park, Roseland, Hyde Park, Evanston, and more.
Outside of Yoga, DuShaun has been a community organizer, working with the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council. Within this work, DuShaun has helped organize food distributions, diaper drives, mask giveaways, and financial assistance programs to assist community members in the height of the pandemic.
DuShaun truly believes that now more than ever people need a place to rest, a place to heal, and spaces to openly share and be in community. Through Sage Gawd Collective, DuShaun will continue to make spaces for rest and also encourage and talk openly about the importance of therapy and mental health support.
Daniela Chavez, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow/Assistant Professor AGEP PROMISE Academy Fellow Department of Biological Sciences Towson University
Daniela Chavez is a reproductive biologist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo where she studies domestic cat egg cells to improve artificial reproduction for endangered felids and other mammals including humans.
Her research uses donated reproductive tracts from spay and neuter clinics. Daniela also assists with the zoo’s biobank, where sperm and eggs from over 100 different animal species are opportunistically collected and stored for research and conservation. Occasionally, Daniela is part of a team that collects sperm from various animals at the zoo that are undergoing routine health checks, including Andean bears, panda bears and several big cats.
Daniela grew up in Salt Lake City Utah. She began her undergraduate studies at Salt Lake Community College in 2006 before transferring to Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. After receiving a Bachelors of Science in biology in 2010, Daniela spent some time working as a lab technician and briefly worked for the National Park Service. In 2018, Daniela completed her Ph.D. at the University of Utah in the Department of Human Genetics, where her studies focused on molecular biology, genetics, and sperm biology in C. elegans.
Daniela joined the Department of Reproductive Sciences at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C. in 2018.
Throughout her career, Daniela has enthusiastically led efforts to increase diversity in biomedical research sciences and is experienced in communicating science to broad audiences. With BBE, Daniela will be developing educational outreach activities to encourage young people of color to enter reproductive health careers and increase representation in fertility treatment settings.
Eloise Drane
Family Inceptions
Eloise Drane may be the most giving person that most of us will ever encounter. In 1998, Eloise donated her kidney to a cousin, and that experience became the catalyst for dedicating her life to serving
others. She went on to be an egg donor six times and a gestational surrogate three times. After these life-changing journeys, she was inspired to open her boutique family planning agency, Family Inceptions.
Navigating egg donation and gestational surrogacy can be a daunting and frustrating journey – on both sides. Eloise’s passion is to change that narrative by bringing compassion, intentionality, and
empowerment to the process of building a family. The company offers a highly personalized and caring approach, guiding clients through this fascinating and fulfilling journey – from inception to delivery. Representing future parents, egg donors, and surrogates, the company provides guidance through a complex and uniquely personal experience for all parties involved.
She is also the founder of Surrogacy Roadmap, a step-by-step, do-it-at-your-own-pace online course to guide intended parents through the entire surrogacy process. The course is designed to give
families all the know-how that would be received from a surrogacy agency — but at a fraction of the surrogacy agency cost.
In addition, she is the host of Fertility Café, an educational podcast on modern family building.
Before starting her company, Eloise had a fifteen-year career in corporate accounting, working for several top financial services and real estate companies. She holds a Bachelor of Business
Administration degree from DeVry University and a Masters Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management.
Jacki Griffin, MBA
Financial Aid Director
Jacqueline “Jacki” Griffin is an experienced Assistant Director Of Financial Aid with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry.
Skilled in nonprofit organizations, Jacki possesses a strong commitment to community and social services.
Jacki has served the Broken Brown Egg since it’s inception in 2010, helping to plan and execute our first A.H.A. Gala, inventory and assess our documentation, and provide fiscal guidance.
Dr. Tia Jackson-Bey
MD, MPH
Tia Jackson-Bey MD, MPH is a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist and board certified obstetrician gynecologist who cares for patients at RMA of New York’s Brooklyn office. Dr. Jackson-Bey’s professional interests include physician-patient education, IVF outcome improvement, global public health, and mentoring underrepresented college and medical students on careers in medicine.
Regina Townsend, MLIS
Founder, BBE
Regina Townsend is the founder of The Broken Brown Egg. More information on Regina, can be found here