Leadership
Executive Leadership

Tracey Hardwick
Founder and Executive Director
Tracey Hardwick is the Founder and Executive Director of Together We Thrive. Since 2017, Tracey has helped bring the mission of providing a consistent influence for at risk youth across North Texas to fruition. Prior to starting Together We Thrive, Tracey worked in journalism and broadcasting for 25 years. Tracey has been married to Kirk Hardwick for 34 years and have 4 children together - Luke, Landon, Lacey and Genevieve.

Todd Bloom
Chairman of the Board
Todd Bloom is a certified Private Wealth Advisor for Leading Edge Advisors, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. In this role, Todd guides his clients to reach dreams they never thought they could achieve. Prior to his career in the financial sector, Todd worked in nuclear engineering. Todd joined the leadership team for Together We Thrive in 2018, and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board. Todd’s other philanthropic activities include serving on the Board of the Prince of Peace Christian School, leadership of Humanility (an organization that supports homeless children in the Philippines), and leading various mission trips to Southeast Asia. Todd and wife Sherri have been married for thirty years and have two sons, David and John.
Board of Directors

Sally Cooper
Director
Sally grew up in Austin, Texas before attending Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Following college, Sally worked for several years as a SAT/ACT/AP tutor in Austin before moving to Dallas. When Sally moved to Dallas she took a job as a paralegal and was accepted to SMU Dedman School of Law where she attended the evening program while continuing to work as a paralegal. Now a third year associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, Sally focuses her corporate practice on mergers and acquisitions. Sally has assisted Together We Thrive with various legal matters for the past three years, and looks forward to being a member of the board. In her spare time, Sally and her husband enjoy trivia and traveling to visit family and friends.

Marlene Diaz
Director
Marlene Escalante-Diaz is the Regional Retail Manager for First United Bank. In her current role, she is responsible for overseeing the DFW community banks as well as all Business Development Officer for Texas. Marlene has over 24 years of banking and financial industry experience. She has held various roles that include Intern, Teller, Personal Banker, Retail Manager, Commercial Loan Officer, Branch President, and Regional Retail Manager. Expertise in leadership, project management, human resource, career development, program and product development, business banking, and consumer banking.
Marlene received her Bachelor of Business Management degree from Western Governor’s University in Utah.
On a personal note, Marlene has been married to Raul Diaz for 17 years, they have a 15-year-old daughter named Leilany.
She has served on numerous philanthropic boards. She has been a proud board member of Together We Thrive since 2021.

Joe Evarts
Director
Joe is a leader in the banking industry and currently serves as the Chief of Experience and Digital Officer at UBank. Throughout his career, Joe has excelled in performance and innovation, implementing effective ideas such as the Surprise and Delight Program at Capitol One, which was recognized by the Inspire the Way award. Faith is a very present value of Joe’s as evidenced by his pursuit of a church ministries degree in Psychology while youth pastoring for most of his undergrad studies. Joe holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Southwestern Assemblies of God University and is in the process of a Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) from the University of Texas. Joe lives in Oak Leaf, Texas with his wife Kenita. They have three children, Jack and twins Jacob and Sydney and several animals including Rosco (the Dog), Kevin and Carl (the finicky felines), and …… 14 chickens (and yes, they all have names - Sydney saw to that.) Joe enjoys everything in the outdoors: camping, fishing and gardening just to name a few. Joe joined the Together We Thrive Board of Directors in August of 2022.

Staci Frost
Director
Staci Frost is a former United States Figure Skating and World team member. Staci toured two years with the Ice Capades and has coached national and international medalists in figure skating. In addition to her professional success in figure skating, Staci has served in various philanthropic capacities including as a Mentor Mom at Jesuit College Preparatory and as a liaison to the Young Men’s Service League. Staci also serves on Dallas Baptist University’s Woman’s Auxiliary Board. Staci has supported with Together We Thrive’s Playing for a Purpose Tennis Tournament for six years and joined the Together We Thrive Board in 2018. Staci provides leadership with Together We Thrive merchandise and volunteers.

Jason Greenfield
Director
Jason Greenfield is an experiential marketing and brand management professional with 20 years of experience in a broad range of corporate event production and brand development.
Being the son of a public school social worker and a veterans rehabilitation counselor, endeavoring to care for others was a family trait that was passed on to Jason at a very early age. Even as budding sports and event marketer, Jason learned that he could extend his career towards community impact beginning as a Community Relations intern for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans in 2000.
It was there that the seeds of event planning discipline took root, setting a new trajectory that would eventually see Jason and his wife Cassandra open their own event production agency in 2013. It was 5-years later that Jason would be introduced to Tracey Hardwick and be drawn to serve alongside her efforts to rewrite the stories of foster and at-risk youth in North Texas.
Jason accepted the offer to join as a board member in June of 2018, and he has since been known to support Together We Thrive’s community outreach initiatives, develop content for the organization’s weekly newsletter, and lend a hand in activating events including the annual Charity Casino Night and Men’s and Women’s Playing for a Purpose Tennis events.

Sean Horan
Director
Sean grew up in Tampa, Florida, before attending the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Following college, Sean attended Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tennessee. Now, as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, Sean focuses his corporate practice on mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance issues. Sean has assisted Together We Thrive with various legal matters over the past year and joined the board in August of 2022. Sean lives in Dallas with his girlfriend Ariana, and their golden retriever Dakota. In their spare time, Sean and Ariana enjoy taking Dakota for walks at Griggs Park, seeing live music, and exploring all the great restaurants Dallas has to offer.

Shelley Reynolds
Director
Shelley Reynolds spent the first 21 years of her life in Hillsdale Michigan, where she was born.
She graduated with a marketing degree from Hillsdale College in 1988.
Shelley married her husband, Jeff in December of 1989.They have three boys. Jacob, is their oldest, 30 and married to Jess. They live in Miami and are having Jeff and Shelley’s first granddaughter in September. They are so excited! Their middle son is Zachary, 27 and married to McKenzie. They live in Frisco. Lucas is 25 and lives in Dallas but works in Plano and is Jeff’s golfing buddy.
Shelley’s work career has mainly been focused around real estate. Her first two jobs were in retail site selection and feasibility studies. Her husband’s job moved them around the country quite a bit, so she started doing “Chip and Joanna style” house flipping before that was such a thing. They moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1996 where she started her building career. As she was getting ready to start her second house, her husband came home with “one more move” where they ended up in Dallas or Frisco to be exact in 1999. Shelley started her custom building company and has built or remodeled over 75 homes in the past 20 years. In 2018, she got her real estate license more to buy and sell for her projects, but recently has been doing more transactions for family and friends.
After a health scare in 2020, she decided to slow down and is doing one or two smaller construction projects a year. This allows her time to volunteer more at our church, Preston Trail, travel back to Michigan where she is a Member of The Women’s Commissioner’s at Hillsdale College, and help her favorite charity, Together We Thrive. She is back playing competitive tennis and getting out to play more golf. Shelley is truly trying to enjoy life and give more as she believes, “we never know what tomorrow will bring.”

Andrew Wagnitz
Director
Andrew Wagnitz is the Head of Product and Technology at Endorphinz, a cutting edge fitness production company. He prides 20 years of leading technology initiatives in broadcast, live production and online integration. Today, his focuses are in executing and innovating the traditional broadcast workflows to support the high demand and the ever-changing fitness industry. Andrew is an entrepreneur and innovator at heart. He has had several local businesses in his home of North Texas in the last 20 years.
Andrew began his support of Together We Thrive in early 2018 after meeting Tracey on a mission trip to Ethiopia. He joined the board later that year.
Advisors

Kirk Hardwick
Business Management
Follower of Christ, husband, and father of 4, Kirk Hardwick is a 35-year veteran in the retail and CPG industry. Kirk cut his teeth in retail at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, where he enjoyed a 15-year tenure at Sam’s Club. There, he held various executive positions in merchandising and operations and ended his career in Puerto Rico, where he served as an officer and Country Director for Sam’s Club in the International Division. In 2001, Kirk ventured out on his own and began his entrepreneurial career when he started LLL Marketing; a sales, consulting, and marketing company. Kirk currently serves as VP Sales in the natural beverage space for a national innovation company strategically aligned with The Coca-Cola Company to manufacture and incubate start up brands and bring them to scale at retail.

Luane McWhorter
Business Management
Luane McWhorter is the proud owner of Grand Spa, Sutera Spa and Spa Vela. She is active in her community and supports many local charities. McWhorter started her career in the cosmetics' industry working for several skincare and cosmetic companies as an account executive with department stores and spa's as her clients.
In her private life McWhorter is married with three children and three grandchildren.
Her husband is in the Power Sports business as well as a Ranch owner that raises Bulls for the PBR.
McWhorter is a member of Success North Dallas, as well as being part of Rotary and Chamber groups. She has supported Crystal Charity, Cattlebarons, New Friends New Life as well as Together We Thrive over the years.
Luane has served as a Board Member for Together We Thrive since 2019, and has provided leadership for our annual Casino Night.

Christine Metcalf
Attorney
Chrissy Williford Metcalf is a corporate/Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) partner at O’Melveny & Myers LLP in Dallas, Texas. In her legal practice, Chrissy represents buyers and sellers in private M&A transactions across a wide variety of industries and also acts as outside general counsel to a number of clients. Outside of work, Chrissy and her husband, Mike, spend their time trying to keep up with their young son, Parker, and trying to keep their two dogs, Cosmo and Marvin, from causing too much trouble. Chrissy has been involved with Together We Thrive since the organization started its work in North Texas and provides counsel as a legal advisor for the board of directors. Chrissy also serves on the board of directors and the development committee for the Cancer Support Community North Texas.

Christopher Staine
Attorney
Christopher Staine has been involved with Together We Thrive since its formation and currently serves as a legal advisor to the Board of Directors. In that capacity, Mr. Staine provides advice and counsel to the Board of Directors on nonprofit governance matters and legal issues that may arise from time to time.
Outside of Together We Thrive, Mr. Staine is a shareholder and director in Crowe & Dunlevy’s Dallas office. He is a trial lawyer that represents individuals and companies in a wide range of commercial disputes in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts throughout the country. He focuses his litigation practice and regularly advises clients in the areas of commercial, bankruptcy, banking, creditor’s rights, and oil and gas litigation. He prides himself on bringing a balanced and pragmatic approach to every matter to create value for his clients, both inside and outside the courtroom. A champion of diversity, equity and inclusion, Mr. Staine also serves as Chair of Crowe & Dunlevy’s Diversity Committee and is actively involved in many of the firm’s diversity initiatives at the national and local levels.
Staff

Judi Kinney
Grant Manager
Judi Kinney is Together We Thrive’s Grant Manager. Judi graduated from Evangel University with a Bachelors in Elementary Education. Following graduation, Judi taught second grade in Tomball, Coppell, and Flower Mound, Texas for 29 years. The highlight of being a classroom teacher was always the relationships that developed with students. Judi continues to keep in touch with many of her former students, now her friends. Although no longer in the classroom daily, Judi knew that she wanted to continue helping students. Her retirement opened doors to serve a local non-profit who present programs in schools that help students reach their dreams and goals. Judi has been married to Clay for 27 years. They have two wonderful girls.
Knowing the vision Tracey had many years ago and the continued fulfillment of life changing stories of hope resonated with me. Observing the Life Coaches in action has further deepened my commitment to find resources that will transform lives of the youth we serve.
As the Grant Manager, I continuously research opportunities, prepare, submit, and manage grant proposals that support the amazing mission of Together We Thrive.

Melanie Kirton
Accountant
Melanie Kirton, owner of Financial Affairs LLC, has over 12 years of experience in non-profit accounting. She has worked for organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Give Kids The World and SafeHaven of Tarrant County. With each of these organizations, Melanie was in a senior leadership role within the finance department.
Financial Affairs LLC works exclusively with non-profit organizations across the United States. The organizations we support vary from startup non-profits ($500k and under operating budget) and well-established non-profits ($2m+ operating budget). Financial Affairs LLC provides services from monthly accounting support including transaction allocations and monthly financial reports to CFO-services including operating budget preparation, KPI tracking, cash flow forecasting and much more.

Elizabeth Maurice
Donor Relations
Elizabeth has been married to her husband, Gareth, since 1994 and they have called Frisco, TX their home since 2003. They have two recently married adult children who, thankfully, also have chosen to reside in the Dallas area. Before deciding to be a stay-at-home mom to raise their children, Elizabeth spent her career as an executive administrative assistant and lease administrator.
Elizabeth’s tennis hobby is what caused her to find Together We Thrive through one of the Playing for a Purpose Women’s tennis tournaments back in 2018. She had been praying about a finding a charity to use her gifts in the community and after hearing Tracey share her heart for Together We Thrive, and what they were doing to give at risk kids hope and a future, she knew she had found her opportunity. She then began volunteering and has been involved with Together We Thrive ever since.
Now as an empty nester, she is excited to use her administrative and organizational skills to help improve Together We Thrive’s communication and relationship experience for its donors and friends.

Amanda Muscatell
Social Media Director
Amanda Muscatell has served as the Social Media Director for Together We Thrive since 2022. Prior to her time with Together We Thrive, Amanda provided marketing leadership at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association where she worked to raise awareness and garner support for the profession of athletic training. Amanda is passionate about supporting youth and wants to make an impact for at risk youth in North Texas. Amanda and her husband, Travis, have two children together. Amanda is an active member in her church and volunteers at the Alliance for Children in Tarrant County.

Shannon Sharp
Campus Relations
Shannon Sharp is Together We Thrive’s Volunteer Coordinator. Shannon has been married for 30 years to her husband, Paul. Together, they have two amazing daughters. Shannon was a public school educator for 20 years, and the majority of her career was devoted to the classroom.
Shannon was also involved in a mentoring opportunity through Rockwall ISD and became a mentor to a young girl who is now considered her Bonus Daughter. This young woman has been an integral part of their lives for more than 10 years, and she now has two precious young girls for the Sharps to love as well.
As empty nesters, the Sharps recently moved to the big city of Dallas after calling Rockwall home for almost 20 years. Although Shannon no longer work as an educator, she is continuing her passion for helping youth become a positive, productive, and viable part of society.
Shannon was specifically searching for an organization to volunteer where she could influence young individuals in a positive, safe, and sustainable way. Shannon met Tracey for lunch and the rest is history! Shannon aligns with Together We Thrive’s mission statement because it is exactly what it takes to fully support and walk alongside youth to earn their respect and high level of trust. At the end of the day, Shannon wants to be an inspiration to youth who can begin to believe in themselves and say, “I didn’t give up”. Shannon doesn’t think anyone can ever look back on life and say, “I’ve spent too much time with my kids”. Shannon shared, “I firmly believe we have an opportunity through Together We Thrive to embrace, commit, and devote TIME with youth who don’t have adults that spend quality time with them. For me, the benefits of serving are endless!”
Our leadership team strives to support, care for, and advocate for our Life Coaches, the youth we serve, and communities we work in. Our Life Coaches are carefully selected, highly educated, and compassionate individuals with experience working with vulnerable youth.