Speakers

Sheridan Gabrisch is the Development Director of Connect Community, a ‘community quarterback’ organization that uses the power of community to revitalize the Gulfton-Sharpstown neighborhood. Basing its efforts on the national Purpose Built Communities model, Connect, along with founding partners, KIPP Houston Public Schools, Legacy Community Health, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, and the YMCA of Greater Houston, works with residents to bring wraparound wellness services, assemble a high quality cradle through college education pipeline and build mixed income housing in the Gulfton neighborhood.

 

Nicole Normandin currently serves as the Executive Director for Stuff the Sleigh, a nonprofit organization that supports the psychosocial and emotional needs of pediatric cancer and hematology patients and families. Over the last ten years, Nicole has worked with vulnerable populations in several capacities – most recently as a Clinical Social Worker at Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers and as a Community Outreach Specialist with the American Cancer Society.

 

Nicole has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology and a Masters of Science in Social Work, both from the University of Texas at Austin. In May 2017, she completed the Rice University Leadership Institute for Nonprofit Executives. She has extensive work volunteering and serving others, including time as the President of Student Hope, a pilot program through the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

 

What she loves most about her role in Stuff the Sleigh is the ability to give each patient, sibling and parent a little something to make them smile despite the devastating circumstances around them. When Nicole’s father lost his 7-year battle to pancreatic cancer, her personal and professional passion for positively impacting the lives of cancer patients was reinforced, allowing her to lead the efforts made by Stuff the Sleigh.