WEBINAR: It Starts Within Me

Jimel was born in Jamaica and raised in Illinois where he attended Illinois School for the Deaf for four years and excelled as a four year student athlete. Upon graduation, he attended Gallaudet University and graduated with a B.S in Physical Education in 2017. After graduating, Jimel moved to Seattle in 2018 to work as the Community Outreach Coordinator at Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services (ADWAS). Jimel has been working at the Youth Leadership Camp (YLC) since 2015. He became the Camp Director in 2017. In his free time Jimel enjoys cycling, filming, playing sports, road trips and is a proud vegan.

Jennifer currently works for Sorenson Communications as a District manager for over 11 years. She works with a team of trainers to provide exceptional services to the customers using Video Relay Services. She was a founding member and administrator of a non-profit agency providing domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. In addition she has dedicated her volunteer services for the deaf community and worked as a community liaison with the legal system. She was born deaf and raised in Denver Colorado. She enjoys camping and spending quality time with her family.

Melissa works as a Marketing Events Coordinator at Sorenson Communications for almost two years. Before working for Sorenson, she was one of the founding members of a non-profit organization, Saola Foundation, to save saolas from extinction. She was born in Australia and raised in both Australia and Texas. When she is not working, she enjoys outdoor activities, traveling and yelp’ing for restaurants to eat.

We value access and strive to make our meetings accessible and welcoming to all participants. The NAD is committed to access and all of the presenters have been provided with guidance on making their presentations accessible. We also provide accommodations to meet individual needs during the webinars. If you have a question about an auxiliary aid or service you requested on your registration, please email [email protected]. All webinars will be in American Sign Language (ASL) unless specified.

• Our webinars are intended to be a safe, secure, and learning environment for all participants with the purpose of encouraging productive discussions
• All participants are expected to conduct themselves in a professional and courteous manner, and to show respect to everyone at all times without any form of harassment.
• The NAD does not tolerate harassment of any kind, including but not limited to: race, national origin, age, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, religion, or political affiliation. The NAD reserves the right to expel any person who engages in violations of this conduct policy, and also reserves the right to ban such person from future events. No refunds will be given to any person who has been expelled from the conference for violating this conduct policy.
• Anyone can report harassment or inappropriate conduct. If any person’s behavior has made you uncomfortable, or if you witness inappropriate conduct towards someone else, please immediately contact any staff or security affiliated with the NAD.

By attending a webinar, you agree and understand that you are giving permission to the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) to obtain and use screenshots, audio, and video recordings at the webinar, without restriction or limitation for such use. You also agree and understand that you will not be compensated for the use of such photographs, or audio, or video recordings. You further agree and understand that if you do not want to be photographed or recorded in audio or video, you will notify [email protected] before the webinar.

NAD webinars may be free (with a charge only for CEUs) or might have a cost for registration. Any payments made towards registering for a webinar and/or the CEUs are non-refundable except for a medical emergency or a death in the family (written documentation is required).