Our Staff
Exceptional Lives' Staff brings a diverse array of personal and professional experiences to our work. We share a stong commitment to excellence and our organizational mission.
Anne Punzak Marcus
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Anne Punzak Marcus has over ten years of experience working with organizations focused on brain disorders, education, and health. Before transitioning to the not-for-profit sector, she was a portfolio manager and research director at Fidelity Investments.
Anne has actively participated on the boards of several educational institutions, including a private K-8 school, a charter K-8 school, and the foundation board of a public high school. She was the chair of the Special Education parent’s advisory council for her son’s public elementary school. Anne was a 2012 and 2013 Harvard Advanced Leadership Fellow. She earned her MBA from the Wharton School after receiving her BS from Boston College.
Marisa Howard-Karp, MS
Chief Operating Officer
Marisa Howard-Karp has spent her career helping families get better access to health care and education. For more than 15 years, she has trained educators, social workers, and health care providers on how to better support children and families. As a parent and caregiver to four children with disabilities, Marisa has been through more than 40 IEP meetings and knows how hard it can be to navigate complicated systems. She’s passionate about making those systems easier for other families to understand and use. Marisa is a non-profit lifer who lives with her family in the Boston area.
Nell Curran, Ph.D.
Head of Product
Nell is an anthropologist, UX evangelist, and a passionate advocate for equitable design. At Exceptional Lives, she works to center user experience and high-quality data in our product strategy & design decisions. She is deeply committed to alleviating inequality and improving opportunities in tech for marginalized communities, and brings a background in tech, nonprofit strategy, as a justice studies professor in prisons, and as a health disparities researcher.
In addition to her professional background, she also brings personal experience advocating for her own all-neurodivergent family, including her autistic child.
Melody Hernandez, MS
Resource Manager, Louisiana
Melody Hernandez has over 10 years of experience in early childhood and mental health.
Most of her undergraduate work involved administering developmental assessments in hospital and primary care settings. The last 5 years she’s provided advocacy and counseling services to adults, including adults with autism and ADHD.In addition to her profession background, Melody is also a parent and a military spouse.
Melody has worked with individuals all over the country and understands the importance of community resources. At Exceptional Lives, she manages the Louisiana Disability Services Finder, supports the User Support team, and provides Spanish support, as needed.Christina Kozik
Community Engagement Specialist
Christina Kozik works to strengthen partnerships between schools and families of children with disabilities. At Exceptional Lives, she leads outreach efforts in Louisiana by facilitating professional development for educators, supporting schools in building family engagement strategies, and developing resources that make Special Education and healthcare systems easier to navigate.
Christina also creates accessible content—including podcasts and guides—that equips both educators and families with practical tools to support student success. She brings both professional expertise and personal perspective as a neurodivergent individual and parent of a child with disabilities. Christina is a sought-after speaker at disability and special education events.
Marjunique Louis
UX Strategist
Marjunique Louis is a UX strategist with a background in non-profit and government sectors. Originally from New Orleans, she earned her B.A. in Mass Communication from Loyola University and a Master of Science in Information from the University of Michigan.
With experience in UX research, Marjunique has successfully collaborated on projects across diverse fields, including mental health, retail, and consulting. In her current role at Exceptional Lives, she is committed to making disability resources more accessible and understandable for parents, emphasizing a user-centered approach. Marjunique’s passion for enhancing the user experience is particularly focused on serving BIPOC communities, ensuring that her work fosters inclusivity and meaningful engagement.
Carey Luckey
Family Support Specialist
Carey Luckey is an administrative team member with over 20 years experience in both government and non-profit organizations and a single mom of a 13-year-old boy who has ADHD, an SLD in literacy and struggles with anxiety. She has been with ELI since 2019 and currently works with the Family Support team to help connect families with information about programs and services. Carey also has the pleasure of working as a job coach for an individual with disabilities in order to support their success in the workplace.
Julie McKinney, MS
Director of Training / Health Literacy Specialist
Julie McKinney has over 25 years of experience in health literacy, plain language, and adult education. She has deep expertise in writing information so it’s easy to understand, and ensures that Exceptional Lives’ content is clear and friendly.
She creates and delivers family workshops and trainings for educators in clear communication, special education processes, and parent engagement for families of students with disabilities.
Julie also has experience parenting kids with various disabilities. She has ushered her own children through school and transition to adulthood, and is committed to helping make this process easier for others.
Her core view is that good relationships are the key to just about anything we hope for.
Sydni Raymond
Communications and Marketing Manager
Sydni Raymond is a storyteller with a passion for helping organizations share their journey in the digital space. She is a New Orleans native and a graduate of Xavier University. In her time working in social media and communications, she has received numerous awards, including the Public Relations Association of Louisiana’s 2020 Rising Professional Ember Award and NOLA.com’s 33 Greater New Orleans Business People on the Move.
At Exceptional Lives, Sydni leads communications strategy to amplify the organization’s work with school districts and families navigating Special Education. She supports our growing role as a leader in Special Ed Family Engagement helping develope digital content, campaigns, and toolkits that help districts build trust, improve communication, and center family voice.
Sydni previously served as Director of Marketing and Communications at a charter network in New Orleans and has several years of experience in non profits and the education sector.
Paul Shafer
Data Manager
A native North Carolinian, Paul has bachelor’s degrees in music from UNC-Greensboro and a master’s degree from Boston University. In addition, he has a background in foreign languages. He especially enjoys translating ELI’s written material from English into Spanish and providing occasional phone & chat Spanish-language support. Paul has also represented Exceptional LIves at various special education fairs in Massachusetts, where he shares ELI’s resources with families and education professionals.
Our Advisors
In addition to our staff, Exceptional Lives benefits from regular contributions from advisors, who offer additional technical and content expertise.
Simon Chan
Marketing & Growth Lead Advisor
Simon has over 15 years of experience working with B2B marketing in multiple industries including tech and healthcare. He is deeply committed to growth within organizations and has had a track record of strategically creating and restructuring multiple marketing and growth plans within organizations leading to additional rounds of funding and acquisition.
Simon is a huge proponent of non-profit organizations which help communities in need and is alumni to national organizations centered around helping ethnic communities of lower income.
Julie McIsaac, Ph.D.
Child Development and Disability Advisor
Julie specializes in working with children and families with diverse developmental profiles She uses reflective practice, emotion-coaching, play and a relationship-based framework to support skill building in the areas of emotional-regulation and problem-solving. Julie consults with families, schools and community organizations. As a parent, she understands the need to have a cohesive team supporting a child and family.
Theresa Nicholls, Ed.S.
Advisor
Theresa Nicholls, the founder of PartnerEd Solutions, has a thorough understanding of special education policy with nearly 20 years’ experience working with state agencies, school districts, and families to solve tough problems. She is not only a parent, but an educator who has served as a school psychologist, a state director of special education, and a national consultant to school districts and state agencies on special education improvement efforts, including systems of alternate dispute resolution. Through these experiences, Theresa has developed a passion for ensuring families have opportunities for meaningful engagement throughout the IEP development and implementation processes.
Pamela White, Ed.S.
Regional Director of Special Education & Special Education Consultant
Pamela White is the Regional Director of Special Education for GEO Academies, a non-profit organization operating eight high performing college prep charter schools in the states of Louisiana and Indiana. Prior to her role with GEO Academies, she facilitated district wide special education programs for East Baton Rouge Parish Schools, the second largest school district in the state of Louisiana. Pamela has 16 years of experience serving students, families, and educators in the field of special education.
In addition to her leadership roles within school districts, Pamela is an established presenter in the field of special education, consultant, and content writer with a deep passion for inclusion, student belonging, teaching with intention, implementing high-leverage practices, and developing high-quality IEPs. Through coaching and professional development, she empowers teams to build inclusive, high-quality, compliant, and student-centered systems that support lasting success.
Pamela believes every student deserves to learn in an environment where they feel a sense of belonging and are held to high, meaningful expectations. Whether working with school districts, writing, or presenting, Pamela’s mission is to champion practices that ensure all students feel seen, supported, and capable of reaching their fullest potential.
Our Board
Our Board of Directors guides our mission to support families and providers caring for children with disabilities. Each of our board members brings personal and professional expertise that supports this work.
Darlika Boines
Board Member
Dr. Boines is an educational leader with over 15 years of experience in special education in the pursuit of educational equity for all students by ensuring their individual needs are met. Currently, Darlika is a Student Support Coordinator for Special Education for Jefferson Parish, supporting schools to ensure that students with disabilities are receiving high quality instruction based on their needs. She recently earned her Educational Administration Doctorate at the University of Southern Mississippi. She believes that all children deserve an adequate education.
Carol Raphael, MPA
Board Member
Carol Raphael is a nationally recognized expert on health care and workforce issues. She served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of AARP and CEO and President of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, the largest non-profit home health agency in the US. She has held an executive position at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and was an Executive Deputy Commissioner of the Human Resources Administration in charge of the Medicaid and Public Assistance programs in NYC.
She serves as a Director on numerous Boards including the Primary Care Development Corporation, the Medicare Rights Center, the Scan Foundation, the New York eHealth Collaborative, Commonwealth Care Alliance, Henry Schein, Inc., Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, and the RAND Health Advisory Board. She has been appointed to many commissions including the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the Federal Bipartisan Commission on Long Term Care, and the Age Friendly Commission. She was a member of New York State Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team.
She is the Chair of the Long-Term Quality Alliance, an alliance of payers, providers, consumers and policymakers working to strengthen and better integrate the Long Term Services & Supports system. Ms. Raphael was 2012 Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard.
David Sargent
Board Member
David Sargent is a Senior Advisor of Mergers & Acquisitions at Statesman Business Advisors, a middle market investment banking firm in Houston, TX. David assists clients in effecting mergers, acquisitions, capital sourcing, restructuring, and with general corporate advisory matters. He currently serves on the boards of Asuragen Inc., SAM Inc., and the Babson College Board of Overseers. He is a member of the 2016 Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University.
Cynthia Strauss
Board Member
Ms. Strauss has specialities in both for profit and non-profit investing and research. She recently retired from Fidelity Investments, after seven years as the Director of Research for Fidelity Charitable and 13 years in numerous senior management and investment roles for Fidelity Management & Research’s actively managed fixed income and equity funds. Prior to Fidelity she was a founding Managing Director of a French-owned merchant bank in New York and held a leadership position in leveraged finance at Citibank.
