Valerie Manatis Barnet is married to Bill and they have three grown children –Becca, Will and John. Professionally, Valerie teaches theatre at the Spartanburg Day School (grades 8 – 12) and directs three productions annually. In the Spartanburg community, Valerie serves on the Walker Foundation Board (which is the fundraising arm of the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind). She volunteers at the Journey as a Praise Team vocalist and a Sunday school teacher. She is also on the Advisory Board for Sidewalk Hope, which is a truck that goes into the inner city neighborhoods to fill spiritual and physical needs of the residents. Valerie is the co-founder and administrator of the Hub City Animal Project that empowers local animal welfare organizations who are proactively working to address the root causes of animal homelessness (hubcityanimalproject.com).
Mr. Christen Dellett serves as Director of Corporate Development for AstenJohnson, a family owned multinational company headquartered in Charleston, SC, where he leads the process for the acquisition of target companies, partnerships, JVs or divestiture of current operations. Mr. Dellett has been employed by AstenJohnson since 2005 and has held various positions of increasing responsibility in finance, operations, sales and marketing, and strategic planning. In these roles Mr. Dellett has developed experience in managing people and projects around the world. Prior to joining AstenJohnson, Mr. Dellett held a Series 7 license and worked for the Bank of Montreal and Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Dellett holds an M.B.A. from the University of South Carolina and earned a B.A. from Virginia Tech. He lives in Mount Pleasant, SC with his wife and two children.
Ms. Jessica MATA, CPA is currently a staff accountant at Gosnell Menard Robinson Infante CPAs PA, where she began her career two years ago. A native of Spartanburg, she holds a bachelor's degree in Accounting and Finance from Wofford College. She received a Master's degree in Accountancy from Clemson University. She obtained her certified public accountant designation in August 2016. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants. As a recently appointed board member of Mental Fitness, she looks forward to lending her accounting expertise in helping Mental Fitness carry out its mission of building resiliency in youth.
Caroline Rothstein is a New York City-based award-winning writer, poet, and performer. She has been performing poetry, public speaking, and facilitating workshops at colleges, schools, and performance venues worldwide for over a decade. Her work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, BuzzFeed, Narratively, The Forward, Williams Magazine, and elsewhere. She sits as President Emeritus of the Board of Directors for Mental Fitness, Inc., and is a Youth Mentor at Urban Word NYC. Her award-winning one-woman play “faith” about her experience with and recovery from an eating disorder debuted as part of the Culture Project’s Women Center Stage 2012 Festival. She has a B.A. in classical studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.