About
Who we are
Just A Little Help Can Make Their Hearts Happier
Mothers Against Addiction is a national non-profit organization dedicated to helping mothers and families affected by addiction. We offer support, resources, and information to mothers struggling with addiction, as well as those who have lost a child to addiction. We believe that mothers are the key to ending the cycle of addiction, and we are committed to helping them heal and rebuild their lives.
Always give without remembering and always receive without forgetting.
Help Us Help Others
Our goal is to help those struggling with addiction.
Board
Justin Harris
Chairperson
Justin is a lifelong Alaskan…well, almost. He was born on the big island of Hawaii and moved to Alaska at the age of four. Justin entered the mortgage business in 2001, and is a co-owner of First Rate Financial, a local Mortgage Brokerage. He has helped thousands of families purchase their first home and achieve the dream of homeownership and now leads a team of Mortgage professionals to do the same. Justin loves raising his three beautiful daughters in Alaska, sharing with them all that he enjoyed as a child. Today you will find him downhill skiing riding his fat-tire bike during the winter months and in the summer, competing in triathlon and bicycle races, camping, hiking, and remote rafting adventures
Shana Ackles
Vice Chairperson
I choose to give my time, and resources to Mothers Against Addiction because I have seen the value in giving people a safe place to talk. Mothers Against Addiction mission is in part, to Silence the Stigmatism, it is not until this is done that we can begin to see people heal from this disease and not die. When we, through MAA, create a resource for people struggling with and through addiction, together we can heal, help others heal, help those in recovery find a path to thrive, and protect the youngest generation. Only if and not until we talk about it, talk loud, talk often, unite in one cause and become one large force.
Donavon Warren
CEO
Donavon Warren is a multifaceted talent and visionary entrepreneur, best known for his work in the entertainment industry with streaming service Loaded Media and his independent movie “Wheels.” Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on September 16, 1980, Donavon moved to Los Angeles at 18, enduring eight months living in his Jeep before making his mark in the industry. He not only starred in but also wrote and co-directed “Wheels,” which gained international acclaim. Through his production company, Loaded Dice Films, Donavon continues to make an impact, producing and distributing films globally. In 2022, he began working on five new films, including “Vampire Apocalypse” and the time-travel series “Time Wars.”
Beyond filmmaking, Donavon is the CEO of Mortgage Rater and a serial entrepreneur with ventures spanning various sectors. His companies include Iso Brian, which focuses on premium nutritional supplements; Loaded Media, a streaming platform; and Loaded Media, which now streams movies. Additionally, he owns 12 magazines, various news outlets and more. His diverse portfolio showcases his adaptability and innovation across industries, reflecting his commitment to leveraging technology to improve lives.
Donavon is also deeply committed to giving back. He has a personal connection to the struggles of addiction and is passionate about supporting Mothers Against Addiction. Having been affected by addiction, Donavon understands the challenges faced by families and is dedicated to helping mothers who are struggling. Through his charitable efforts, he aims to provide support and resources to those in need, making a positive impact on their lives.
Det: Eva Storey, TPLI
Vice President
Detective Eva Storey, TPLI, is a State of Texas Detective over 19 years. Eva began her, degreed, career in technology communications, visual graphics, and database code building. Later she became an Art Agent, representing a diverse group of designers, artists, photographers, and product inventors. Eva soon was like in a life and death situation, 20 years ago, within a medical setting. She suffered a major basilar artery stroke that led into a long coma.
Through recovery, she had 5 TIAS (mini strokes) that followed. Her body’s response was an autoimmunity disorder. After recovery, her son was diagnosed with two rare spinal conditions called: ‘Syringomyelia/Chiari Malformation’ at age seven. Eva learned how to be an advocate knowing that a cure had not been discovered for her son’s condition. Eva began her journey within advocacy and medical research. She vowed to gain the knowledge and tools it takes to help others that face emergency medical situations who need immediate resources, and support. She worked within the medical industry designing and assisting with medical educational curriculums, illustrations, for physicians and nurses throughout the USA. Eva had two main mentors. One who mentored and encouraged her journey within the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities, properly serving those who have language access barriers.
The second mentor was a former police officer and Independent State Detective, who recruited and trained her as a State of Texas Detective. Currently, Detective Eva Storey, passionately, serves individuals with situations dealing in: Medical Forensics and Laws, Malpractice, Family Law, Criminal Law, Missing Cases, Insurance Investigations, Disability Employment Law, Trauma Training, Safety Trainings, Advocacy, Client Educations for Hospital Districts, Medical Clinics, (HIPAA/HITECH LAWs), Joint Commission Standards, Educational, and Government compliancy, all focusing in the Reasonable Accommodations Act and ADA (Americans with Disability Act) Laws. Eva traveled to third world countries as a medical sign language communicator working with foreign-based doctors. Armenia was a prime focus of stud and living amongst the Deaf/Hard of Hearing, and the Visually – Impaired international communities.
Detective Eva Storey is President/CEO to Sign Shares Inc., an interpreting company for people who require proper communications access in all Foreign Spoken languages, specializing in sign languages for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing communities. She is a Lex Frieden Small Business Employer Award recipient and a Lex Frieden Art Design recipient. Eva is also Founder to The Capsule Group Inc. an advocacy company providing resource networking for people of all disabilities and Protecting Texans for those who need forensic based advocacy. She will be launching a podcast, social Media feed platform for Disability Awareness and continues to produce her medical art soon.
Dr. LadéLeon Porter
Chief Operating Officer
Layla has twelve years of experience in grant writing and grant coordination. Additionally, Layla possesses twelve years of expertise in PaaS and SaaS, specializing in the implementation of payroll solutions through Salesforce, Quickbooks, and Paycor. Layla’s career includes eighteen years of project management as Chief Executive Administrator, with three years in Chief of Staff and C-Level management roles. On the academic front, Layla has accumulated fourteen years of experience.
Cassie King
Chief Programs Officer
Cassie has over a decade of professional experience in the field of mental health. She prides herself on finding sustainable solutions for those on their journey of mental health and recovery. During her formal years as a therapist, Cassie’s main focuses was skill building and self-advocacy. She worked on a variety of settings including adolescent residential care, crisis outreach, intellectual/developmental disability, healthcare, and aging supportive living services. Throughout the beginning or her career, she spent her middle school recesses moderating peer conflict. This resulted in a summer job as a camp counselor for children with medical and mental health diagnoses that were living in systemic poverty. From here, Cassie fell in love with the idea of helping others as a profession and sought out a master’s degree in mental health counseling.
Cassie since has held a variety of senior leadership positions and currently serves as an Executive Director for a brand of outpatient mental health clinics in the Northeast region of the United States. Cassie is a devoted mother that enjoys spending her free time going on adventures with her family, being in nature, and pursuing a variety of crafts. Above all, Cassie considers herself a devoted mother, wife, and advocate for those impacted by addiction and mental health.
Gary Gallemore
Board Member
Gary is from Southern California originally before joining the US Army Infantry in 2008. Completed two combat deployments to Iraq & Afghanistan and was honorably discharged in 2016 after a successful career as a Staff Sergeant in Fairbanks Alaska. After that, he decided to get into the world of real estate and kept his drive up from his Army days to quickly excell to the number one listing agent in the Interior of Alaska. He enjoys improving himself, helping others grow, and spending time with his family.
Larisa Sharetskaya
Board Member
Larisa Sharetskaya is a woman of many talents. She is an advertising executive with more than 20 years of experience helping her clients succeed. Originally from Belarus, she now lives in Texas with her family.
She is also a dedicated volunteer and coach, working to make the world a better place. In her spare time, she enjoys spending quality time with her family and friends, reading books about self-development and health, and practicing hot yoga. She also loves jogging with her dog and hiking in the great outdoors.
Larisa Sharetskaya is a woman of many talents who uses her skills to help her clients and the world around her succeed. With more than 20 years of experience in advertising, she has the knowledge and drive to create successful campaigns. She volunteers her time and energy to causes she is passionate about and coaches others to reach their potential. In her spare time, she enjoys staying active by practicing hot yoga, jogging with her dog, and hiking. Larisa is dedicated to making a difference in the world and helping others achieve their goals.
Brian Gray
Founding Member
Sometimes you ponder the majesty of the universe by jumping on a snowboard and careening down a mountain.
And sometimes you lead a team to victory at Tony Robbins’ Business Mastery.
That’s balance. And for Brian Gray, that’s life.
As a child, he watched his father get stuck in a middle management position he hated, so as an adult he promised himself he would never fall into the same trap. He figured that you are going to spend a huge amount of time on this planet working to live, so you might as well enjoy it, right? To do that you don’t have to be extraordinary in every aspect of your life (because let’s face it, who is?) but you do have to approach every opportunity with extraordinary tenacity.
Brian joined Gursey Schneider as a Director in the tax and accounting department in 2012 and became a partner in January 2014. Before that, he held positions as a Tax Director at a national accounting firm and as Director of Finance and Tax for a family office. He has extensive experience working with high-net-worth individuals and their estate planning attorneys to design and implement tax efficient estate plans. He also focuses on identifying the income tax savings opportunities that exist when asset-holding companies, family limited partnerships, trusts, and foundations are used to achieve the client’s wealth transfer and philanthropic goals.
While he loves working with his team to solve complex tax issues, that does not mean he finds it easy to help his children with their common core math homework. He is at his natural best when he is working with his team of dynamic advisors who continually strive to improve and provide clients with creative solutions. His team maintains a culture of trust and support, much like his family, and they aim for the sophistication of a large international tax firm but with the hospitality and service of a smaller boutique.
It was at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics with a minor in Accounting, that he realized his analytical mindset combined with his problem solving skills would be ideal for a career in tax. He is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, but still craves the freedom of falling into a great book or documentary.
He knew this career would be a great fit for him professionally, but he also learned the value of switching off his mind and stepping away from his desk once in a while to better serve his clients.
It really is all about balance.
Ryan Blair
Founding Member
Ryan Blair, is an experienced entrepreneur with over 24 years of creating and coordinating highly successful companies. Ryan has a broad range of experience across multiple industries ranging from agriculture, fitness, health, and wellness, as well as construction and design. He has held numerous roles ranging from owner/operator, business development, operational oversight, and various management or leadership positions.
Ryan’s ingenuity, honesty and creativity help him think outside the box to make concepts come to life and find creative solutions to business challenges. He is an active family-man and member of his community, previously coaching for his children’s softball, baseball, and soccer teams, while also serving on different Board of Directors roles. Some of Blair’s personal hobbies and interests include hanging out with his family, the beach, golf, hiking, skiing, camping, tennis, hockey, baseball & softball, travel / exploring and most any outdoor activity.
He joined the Board of Mother’s Against Addiction for personal reasons, having lost his middle brother to drugs and addiction in his early 20’s. Ryan would like to help create awareness and a support system, to assist individuals and families navigating these difficult challenges in life.
Alexander Klaus
Founding Member
I see myself as a learning machine: I study business models, durable competitive advantages, and psychology. My personal vision is “to positively and sustainably impact community and humankind”. Today, I follow that vision as CEO of a multi-unit franchise operation in the health & wellness industry, and as a Results Coach to company founder.
As a father of two, and with an aim of consciously raising our children, I recognize the difficulty of addressing addiction in an environment of easy access to highly addictive substances. How do we as parents lead our children towards information that can lower their risk of addiction? What supportive behaviors do we need to exhibit as parents to lead them into a life free of detrimental addiction? I am a founding Executive Board Member with Mothers Against Addiction to make a difference for children and parents in addressing the U.S. addiction epidemic.
Join us
Let's become a family
Whether dealing with addiction, loss, or just wanting to help. We would love to bring MAA into your heart. Contact us to find out more.
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