BodyNEXT Campaign

Alison is a health policy expert with more than 3 decades of experience at the state, federal, and international levels. With a background and PhD in health policy and development specializing in maternal and child/adolescent health, she headed up the national child health team for the Children’s Defense Fund, served as a health and social policy advisor in the U.S. Senate, and taught health policy at the university level. Alison is also contributing to The Body Agency as a researcher and writer.

Dana Castro is a Senior Director at HIMSS with over 25 years of information and technology experience.  She canvasses geographic adversities that, if digitally reformed, can transform lives for under-represented and marginalized populations. She is cross-trained in healthcare and education technology.  She is an advisor to the Oncology Division of the TBA Collective, where she is on a project team that supports the cancer registry system in Ghana.   She is an advisor to Pocket Patient MD, where she leads a project on computer literacy training for clinicians in low-resourced countries to strengthen the capacity of digital adoption in health clinics.   She is an advisor to GlobalRise, an NGO working to design a digital food & health system connecting small-holder farmers in the mountain to local markets for the sale of goods and reverse-transport of health supplies to remote mountain homes using drones.  Ms. Castro serves as an Ambassador to Maya’s Hope, which works to improve the quality of life of orphaned, impoverished, and special-needs children in Ukraine.  Lastly, she was appointed by the Governor of New Jersey to serve as a member of the Department of Innovation Future of Work Accelerator program, where she collaborates with innovative start-ups that advance workers’ health and safety, improve access to benefits, strengthen training opportunities, and bolster worker's voice. 

April Freitag is a development strategist and global advocate dedicated to the improvement of health, education and economic opportunities for women and girls worldwide.

After decades of experience in the advertising and publishing industries, April transitioned to the philanthropic sector, lending her a unique sense of business that she incorporates into every innovative philanthropic solution.

April has served as a development advisor and board member to numerous organizations such as The Haiti Development Institute, The UN Ethical Fashion Initiative, The Kigali Genocide Memorial, Go Campaign, Leading Through Reading and Land is Life.

With each and every project, April's ultimate goal is to employ her experience, connections, and expertise to empower individuals and create enduring advancements in the world that will last long beyond the span of her career. Her chosen vehicle for change is one of culturally enriching self-sufficiency that emanates from individuals to communities and finally to global progress.

April currently serves on the board of directors of The Haiti Development Institute and the Dean's council at NYU Gallatin. She is also a member of The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW) and New England International Donors (NEID),

I am 23 years old, I don’t have a job, I have been to more therapy than I have college, I still live with my parents, and I have more reasons similar to those which you might find at the beginning of a “young 20 something year old girl finding herself” movie that would make you shut it off immediately. The difference is, this is real life and I am willing to tell you about all of mine. A lot can happen in 23 years and I hope to jam it all into a movie one day but for now I have the opportunity to provide snippets. Relatable, dark, funny, sad, all of the things. I want to be a mirror, or at least provide pieces here and there that might make someone feel less alone, including myself.

I am now focused on working on The Body Agency Collective's mission to bring awareness to the difficult topics so many women like me have faced that remain hush hush in our society. The experience has been life changing and the progress we are making gives me hope for the younger generations to come.

DAVID HOBERMAN is the founder and co-owner of Mandeville Films and Television. He is one of the leading producers in the entertainment industry today. His Disney-based company, Mandeville Films, is among the most profitable and respected production labels in the entertainment industry.

Since its founding in 1995, Mandeville Films has produced feature films that have grossed more than $2.5 billion in domestic box-office receipts and their slate includes a wide variety of genres, anchored by character-driven stories with universal, often uplifting themes.

Hoberman’s most recent movie is Disney’s live-action retelling of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, starring Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as The Beast. The critically- hailed film, directed by Bill Condon, has broken box office records worldwide and has become the highest grossing PG-rated film in North America of all time. It also stars Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Luke Evans, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellan, Ewan McGregor, Audra MacDonald.

Other notable films include the critically hailed Academy Award©-nominated feature THE FIGHTER, starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams, and directed by David O. Russell. Produced for $25 million, the film went on to gross almost $130 million worldwide and earned a host of awards, including an Academy Award© nomination for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor and Actress Awards for Bale and Leo.

Mandeville has a first look deal with Disney, which has been the company’s home for over 20 years.

Under the Disney banner, Mandeville produced a string of hits, including the romantic comedy THE PROPOSAL, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. THE PROPOSAL became the highest grossing romantic comedy of 2009, earning over $317 million worldwide. It was the People’s Choice award winner for Best Comedy of the year and Mandeville crossed the billion dollar mark in terms of box office revenue with THE PROPOSAL.

Hoberman founded Mandeville Films in 1995 and signed a five-year first look pact with the Walt Disney Studios. In 1999, Hoberman signed a first-look deal for Mandeville at the Walt Disney Studios with Lieberman. Two years later, Lieberman became a co-partner in the company.

Prior to forming Mandeville Films, Hoberman served as president of the Motion Picture Group of the Walt Disney Studios, where he was responsible for overseeing development and production for all feature films for Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures. During Hoberman’s tenure, Disney was often the top studio in domestic box-office grosses. In 1990, PRETTY WOMAN, supervised by Hoberman, was the top- grossing film of the year, and its soundtrack was the top-selling soundtrack of the year. Hoberman was also behind major blockbusters at the studio, including FATHER OF THE BRIDE, WHAT ABOUT BOB, DEAD POETS SOCIETY, ED WOOD, DANGEROUS MINDS, RUTHLESS PEOPLE, BEACHES, THREE MEN AND A BABY and HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS. While an executive at Disney, Hoberman championed the first-ever full-length stop-motion animation feature, Tim Burton’s THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

Hoberman started his career working in the mailroom at ABC and quickly ascended in the entertainment business, working for Norman Lear’s Tandem/T.A.T. in television and film. He worked as a talent agent at ICM before joining Disney in 1985.

Today, Hoberman is an associate professor at UCLA’s Graduate School in the Producers Program. He sat on the board of the Starlight Starbright Foundation for more than 10 years, is a member of the Board of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America and sat on the Board of the Los Angeles Free Clinic for six years.

Hoberman is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the Board of Suffolk University in Boston and on the Board of Overseers at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

Lori is a recognized leader, innovator, and connector with 25+ years of successfully executing authentic entertainment collaborations and marketing campaigns. In executive roles at both Sony Music and Universal Music, Lori was at the forefront of the Brand Partnership space, building successful campaigns between top brands, media, digital partners, major record labels and top tier artists, and introducing the idea of collaborative relationships across brands and entertainment properties resulting in powerful messaging to consumers.

She began her career for Sony Music in New York, and held various management positions in New York and Los Angeles. In 2005 she joined Universal Music’s Motown and Republic Records as SVP Strategic Alliances, a position she held until 2011.

Currently she serves as a Founding Partner of the Lonely Arts Club, the primary source for pop culture’s most iconic imagery re-imagined for the home design marketplace.

Lori is also a licensed real estate salesperson in the high net worth area known as The Hamptons of Long Island, New York where she lives with her husband and passionately supports the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons (ARF), the Breast Cancer Research Fund and several local environmental groups.

A three sport athlete at Annapolis High School ’96, Stephy played soccer, basketball and lacrosse. Selected All County in both basketball and Lacrosse, Annapolis won the state championship in lacrosse in 1996 and was named the number 1 high school women’s lacrosse team in the country. She was recruited to play for UVA ’00, and was twice named a DI 1^st team All-America, and was a 2-time National Championship Finalist. She was a member of USA National team from ’99-’01 and ’05. Her coaching career began right after graduation as the assistant at Yale (’01-’02) before becoming the first full-time Head Coach at Quinnipiac University. Three years later she was tapped to be the Head Coach of the Wales National Team (’05-’08). In ’09 Stephy was named Head Coach at the University of Richmond but retired 3 years later to start a family. Stephy is currently the a director of Sports Business Development and Lacrosse at The St. James, the premier athletic facility based in Northern Virginia. She focuses heavily on Mental Health in sports and has worked with different companies be an International Speaker on the subject.