DADvocaCY TEAM bios
allan Shedlin, MA, ABD
Founding Dadvocate
Most importantly, Allan Shedlin is the father of and daddy to three daughters and five grandchildren, as well as numerous “bonus sons, daughters, and grandchildren.”
Allan is a former teacher, adjunct professor, school principal, advisor to the US Secretary of Education, state superintendents of education, and the White House Office of Faith-based & Neighborhood Partnerships during the Obama Administration. He earned his elementary and high school diplomas from NYC's Ethical Culture Schools, a BA in English from Colgate University, MA, in both Elementary Education and Special Education from Columbia University Teachers College, and an ABD in Education Administration from Fordham. But he considers his D-A-D the most important "degree" of all.
He's held a variety of leadership positions in education and child advocacy at the local, state, and national levels. Shedlin has written widely in the popular and professional press on education and parenting issues. Over the past three decades, he has devoted his research and energies to working with parents, with a concentration on Dads, Granddads, and father figures. He has conducted qualitative research with children (5 to 21 years old) and Dads and Granddads (16 to 104) from more than 20 countries.
Shedlin has been described as a "serial social profit entrepreneur" because he's founded and been the executive director or president of several education- and family-focused organizations, including the National Elementary School Center, DADsUnlimited, REEL FATHERS, New Mexico Alliance for Fathers & Families, and currently the DADvocacy Consulting Group (DCG) and its signature program, the Daddying Film Festival & Forum (D3F).
Shedlin's work with DCG includes developing and conducting programs for Dads, Granddads, and father figures at schools and agencies, as well as one-on-one parenting coaching, workshops, and speaking engagements in a variety of venues. He also continues to write on a broad range of parenting topics. He and DCG are based in the greater Washington, DC, area.
He has been a guest on numerous podcasts. In 2008, he founded REEL Fathers and was the first male honored as a "Living Treasure" by Mothering Magazine. He has conducted daddying workshops with Native American pueblos, veterans’ groups, penitentiaries, Head Start centers, corporate boardrooms, and elementary schools. In 2024, he was named to Who’s Who. In 2025, Allan was honored with an "Official Citation" from the Maryland State General Assembly "In Recognition for All You Do for Dads, Granddads, and Kids of All Ages." He was named 2025 "Father of the Year" by the Fathers & Families Coalition of America, and in 2026, was admitted to the "Spirit of Fatherhood Hall of Fame" at the International Fathers & Families 28th annual conference.
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Neil Tift, MA
Principal Dadvocate
Neil Tift is the father of three, grandfather of 12, and a foster father of many. He has nearly 50 years nonprofit agency experience working with children and adults with developmental disabilities as well as homeless adults. He is the recipient of the Global Prosperity & Peace Award, presented by the Global Prosperity & Peace Initiative, for his "long and tireless work with fathers."
For the past 27 years, Neil has created and managed programs serving low-income fathers in Minnesota, Washington, DC, and Arizona. He currently is the Training Coordinator for the Native American Fatherhood & Families Association (NAFFA) in Mesa Arizona. Previously, he served as Father Involvement Coordinator for the Child Crisis Arizona in Mesa. In 1990, he founded the nation’s first Fathers Resource Center in Minneapolis. He was also training director for two national fatherhood organizations in Washington, DC.
Neil has served as an adjunct instructor at seven colleges and universities over the past 33 years, teaching ethics, child psychology, and human service administration. He has contributed chapters for six books and written numerous articles on fatherhood and gender-related issues.
Neil and his wife Denise developed and teach a marriage enrichment curriculum titled Marital Resiliency. They are certified family mediators and parent educators, teaching workshops that address parenting education and gender reconciliation issues. They created the nonprofit Paternal Instincts to provide education and training to parents, foster parents, and young adults who have aged out of the foster care system. Neil and Denise have been foster parents for children and adults with special needs since 1994.
Neil earned an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Saint Thomas and a Social Work Certificate from the University of Minnesota.
randell D. turner, PhD
Principal Dadvocate
Most importantly, Randell Turner is father of two and grandfather of five grandchildren. He also is an author, trainer, coach and a Child & Family Therapist who specializes in working with men and fathers.
As one of the pioneers in the Fatherhood & Men’s Movement, Randell founded The Father’s Workshop in 1996, from which he has authored award-winning resources for organizations, like the National Center for Fathering, National Fatherhood Initiative, National Head Start Association, Parents as Teachers, Prison Fellowship, and Fatherhood.gov. Most recently, he authored Rescuing the Rogue, a Small Group Curriculum for Forging and Restoring Healthy Intimate Relationships.
Randell is a child abuse survivor, having spent six years under the watchful care of Child Protective Services and the Foster Care system, to whom he is eternally grateful.
scott beller
director of communications & DADvisor
Scott is the proud Dad of two daughters. He is also a seasoned writer and public relations agency veteran with 35+ years of experience helping organizations of all sizes tell their stories, credibly and with audience impact. Prior to launching his own creative communications consultancy in 2003, he led PR teams with some of the world’s most respected agencies, including Fleishman-Hillard and The Weber Group.
Scott’s strategic communications talents have been called upon by some of the most recognized brands, including Nike, XM Radio, NASDAQ, American Public University, Sprint, FEMA, Procter & Gamble, and Southwestern Bell. During his career, he’s developed and managed numerous campaigns supporting the improved quality of life for children and families. As an independent consultant, he’s helped launch three other parenting advocacy nonprofits with DCG founder Allan Shedlin, DADSUnlimited, REEL Fathers, and, most recently, The Daddying Film Festival & Forum (D3F), for which he serves as Associate Director. His first book, Beggars or Angels (Oaklight/DTC Press, August 2013), was a ghostwritten memoir for the nonprofit Devotion to Children's founder Rosemary Tran Lauer.
In addition to his role directing DCG’s overall communications strategy, social media, and other activities, Scott is editor for and a regular contributor to our Daddying blog. He was formerly known as "Imperfect Dad" and Head Writer for the Raising Nerd blog, which supported parents in inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers, and creative problem solvers.
Scott’s work with DCG, Daddying, and Raising Nerd is the perfect storm allowing him to pursue all his passions at once: being a Dad, writer, teacher, and creative nerd. He earned his BA in Communications from Virginia Tech and lives in the DC suburbs with his two mighty teen girls and rockstar wife Elisabeth. Follow him on Instagram and BlueSky!
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Ben Garber
IT director
Ben is a software engineer at CACI, currently working as an embedded flight software engineer on NASA's Lunar Gateway. He attended the University of South Carolina's College of Engineering and Computing where he studied Computer Engineering, Integrated Information Technology, and Mathematics. Ben is also the Chief Opperating Officer at MotionFit Inc. where he leads a team of engineers to build healthcare solutions for the modern era, and affectionately refers to DCG founder Allan Shedlin as "Grampsy."
Dadvisory TEAM members
Robert Richardson, MA
Dadvisor
Rob Richardson is the proud father of three girls and “Papi” to three grandsons and two granddaughters. He is retired as an educator and business leader, with a career as head of non-profit, philanthropic, and educational programs and organizations. Currently, he serves as the “Buildings and Grounds Manager” (mows the lawn) for his daughters’ properties, teaches courses in American History at American University, and occasionally drives Lyft to earn a few bucks and keep him in touch with a variety of DC residents and visitors. Rob earned a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and a master’s from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He currently lives close to his family in Washington, DC.
Anthony fleg, Md
Dadvisor
Anthony Fleg is a proud daddy of four, husband, son, and brother. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, he has called New Mexico home since 2008. He is a family physician at the University of New Mexico and also a Coordinator/Co-Founder of a love-funded partnership, Native Health Initiative (NHI). Through NHI, Anthony lives out his highest value/vision: to use love as a strategy for social change.
Anthony tells his patients at the outset that exercise is the medicine he prescribes most, and he lives this out through a wellness program he coordinates through NHI, Running Medicine.“As a DADvocate, it is wonderful at Running Medicine to see families running, walking, and playing together. I see what we are doing as, more than anything, a safe environment that allows dads and moms to play again, and in this play, to become the parents they are meant to be.”
Hakim Bellamy, MA, jd
Dadvisor
When not renowned as "Kaylem and Max's Dad," Hakim Bellamy is the inaugural poet laureate of Albuquerque (2012-2014). Bellamy recently served as the Deputy Director for the City of Albuquerque Department of Arts & Culture (2018-2022).
He is a national and regional Poetry Slam Champion who holds three consecutive collegiate poetry slam titles at the University of New Mexico. He is the author of eight books including the children’s book, Samuel’s Story (Community Publishing, 2015), a multimedia story set to music, as well as his award-winning poetry collection SWEAR (West End Press/UNM Press).
Hakim is the co-creator of the multimedia Hip Hop theater production Urban Verbs: Hip-Hop Conservatory & Theater, which has been staged throughout the country. A Kennedy Citizen Artist Fellow, he has facilitated youth writing workshops for schools, jails, churches, prisons and community organizations in New Mexico and beyond. His work has been featured on AlterNet, Truthout, CounterPunch, and the nationally syndicated Tavis Smiley Radio Show.
He currently serves as the Board President for the One Albuquerque Fund and as a Western States Arts Federation Trustee. He holds an M.A. in Communications from UNM, a JD from the UNM school of Law, and is the founding president of Beyond Poetry LLC.
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PHOTO: DonUsner.com
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Nigel vann
Dadvisor
Nigel is the father of one son. He has worked as a manager, trainer, and consultant with programs for fathers and families since 1988. Since then, Nigel has been able to grow personally and professionally through his work with fathers and fatherhood practitioners in the United States and England. He continues to learn and grow from these experiences, but nothing makes him prouder than seeing what a fine young man his son has grown into.
Nigel has worked with the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) since 2008, first as Senior Director of Training and Technical Assistance and then as Product Development Lead (2012-present). Prior to NRFC, he managed Maryland's Absent Parents Employment Program (1988-90), served as Program Officer for Public/Private Ventures' Young Unwed Fathers Pilot Project (1991-95), was Director of Partnership Development and Training for the National Partnership for Community Leadership (1996-2004), managed a Healthy Marriage project in Florida (2004-06), and served as an adviser to the PAIRS Foundation Healthy Marriage project in South Florida (2006-08).
During his career, Nigel has worked on four major fatherhood demonstration projects and four international fatherhood projects; visited and provided assistance to fatherhood programs in 42 States; facilitated more than 70 staff training workshops; presented at numerous conferences, and written 12 published articles. He is the main author of the NRFC’s Responsible Fatherhood Toolkit: Resources from the Field and a federal technical assistance product, Tips for Fatherhood Group Facilitators: A Video Resource Guide.
Jessica Huerta, MA
Dadvisor
Jessica Huerta and her husband, Eddie, are parents to two school-aged children. Jessica is a sociologist trained from the University of California, Los Angeles, a retired Captain from the United States Air Force, and a Pat Tillman Foundation Scholar.
Jessica’s work has focused on widening ideas of what women and men can do. She has published work on identifying how journalists discuss women’s expanded roles in combat. She led a team of military photojournalists to highlight excellence in various occupational roles while incorporating the rich diversity of the armed forces regarding race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, and sexuality. She takes pride in her team’s creative choices to craft informational videos about women’s expanded freedom to be their authentic selves and service members’ perspectives of their roles as fathers. Currently, Jessica has focused on fatherhood representations in multi-media. Particularly, she is interested in how dads who wear babies are depicted in social media, advertising, and TV/films. She aspires to showcase that dads are not a monolith; instead, dads come in all shapes and sizes, and colors, and smiles, tearful cries, and laughter. Jessica is a strong advocate for fathers’ desires to be more involved with children while pushing for enhanced workplace policies that accommodate the wellbeing of employees who are also caregivers.
Ben king, MA
Dadvisor
Ben King is a veteran and a proud daddy of two young daughters with a story to tell. He is also a teacher, public speaker, and community organizer. Developing a yoga and mindfulness practice helped him adjust to civilian life after returning from Iraq, and he now uses mindfulness professionally to help other veterans thrive as civilians.
Through his company Armor Down, Ben started Mindful Memorial Day at Arlington Cemetery to help visitors mindfully honor the sacrifice of the fallen. He consults for The Women in Military Service for America Memorial. His other clients include veteran service organizations, civilians, and schools. Ben has a master’s degree in Public Anthropology and left the military as an Army Sergeant and Psychological Operations Specialist.
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Jane Paley, Psy.D.
Dadvisor
Dr. Jane Paley is a psychologist in Brooklyn, NY, providing psychotherapy to children and adults. A longtime proponent of bridging gaps between education and mental health, her areas of specialization include learning and neurodevelopmental variation, attachment and parenting, loss and trauma, mood disorders, anxiety, life-stage transitions, and gender identity.
Dr. Paley first learned about child development as a 6th grader from Allan Shedlin in his “Working with Children” class at the Ethical Culture School in NYC in 1976. She was an adviser on the development of the interview question protocol for the DADvocacy Consulting Group and participated in the creation of the Daddy Wishes Fund.
As a teen and young adult, Dr. Paley worked in summer camps, after-school and respite care programs, working with children and families from an array of diverse backgrounds, with differing strengths and challenges. She worked briefly in documentary and independent film and television, after completing an undergraduate degree in filmmaking/film theory at Cornell University. Her first job in that world entailed reviewing children’s films and videos for Teaching Tolerance, a publication of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Dr. Paley went on to earn a master’s degree in Special Education from Bank Street College of Education (1994), where she trained in bilingual and inclusion settings. She taught at the Joan Fenichel Therapeutic Nursery, where in 1994, she saw her first child in play therapy. She earned a doctoral degree in Child Clinical/School Psychology from New York University in 2004, training and working in a variety of clinical and school settings, including Bellevue Hospital Center and The Karen Horney Clinic.
For nearly a decade, Dr. Paley worked in the Marsha Winokur Learning Center and the Learning Resource Network of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. During that period, she authored various pieces for Thinking Children, a quarterly newsletter. From 2003-2011, Dr. Paley served as the Brooklyn Clinical Coordinator for the Loss and Bereavement/Loss and Trauma program for Children and Adolescents at JBFCS.
PHOTO: Ruslan Ivanov
Jenise Davis, MA, JD
Dadvisor
Jenise Davis is the proudest older sister of six siblings—three brothers and three sisters. A dual MA/JD degree candidate at Georgetown University Law Center and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, she is passionate about advocating for socially and economically marginalized communities, especially at the intersection of public policy, business ethics, and law.
Jenise was born to teenage parents and the first in her family to graduate college. She grew up on the “fringed edges” of the middle class. Her background fuels her passion to support and advocate for similarly situated individuals and families who continue to endure economic and social hardships.
Jenise’s professional experiences have centralized the use of dignifying and augmenting efforts toward the upward and forward movement of marginalized communities. For four years, she served indigent clients as a criminal investigator for the City of Atlanta Public Defender’s Office. There she spearheaded a new holistic model of public defense with the goal of reducing recidivism, improving the quality of service, and, ultimately, improving her clients’ quality of life. She also has offered legal support to low-income community members as a Consumer Rights Advocate at the Greater Boston Legal Services. She has also supported immigrant families as a Graduate Immigration Intern in Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Boston office. Most recently, as a Graduate Research Fellow at the Center for Economic and Social Rights, she examined and documented the serious impact of austere economic policies on human rights.
Born in Los Angeles, CA she has subsequently lived in 10 different cities, five states, and traveled to four different countries providing her a wide-range of cultural and social experiences. She now calls Silver Spring, MD, home.
Thao Tran
Dadvisor
Thao Tran is a visionary entrepreneur, speaker, wellness strategist and proud daughter passionate about bridging generations in the digital age. Born in Melbourne, Australia to Vietnamese refugee parents, she brings a unique lens of resilience, creativity and inclusion to her work as Founder & CEO of Ditox, a company helping rebuild human connection. With more than 15 years of global experience shaping campaigns for brands like L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline New York, and Qatar Airways, Thao dedicates her voice to helping families and professionals understand the digital world to navigate technology with purpose and kindness. As a mental health advocate and speaker, she has also written songs dedicated to men's mental health.
Thao has worked closely with dads through Ditox programs, helping Dads navigate the challenges of the digital age with empathy and connection for their families and communities. Through Ditox, Thao has led workshops empowering Dads to build stronger, more present relationships with their children by understanding technology’s impact on family wellbeing. Beyond Ditox, Thao has tutored and coached youth, nurturing their creativity and confidence through her tuition school, FreshMinds Tutoring and through youth events at Uniting Youths 4 Charity.
Thao with her Dad