Board of Directors
Officers
President Tom Lindsley
Tom Lindsley’s commitment is to improve the psychological, educational and emotional health of children by ending childhood obesity. He is a guiding light to the Executive Director and fellow Board members. With two children of his own, Tom blends his corporate and personal life in support of Real Kids Real Food.
Tom has kept on the leading edge of nutrition and health by; personally visiting and working with the methods of many of the top alternative health centers in the country, hosting the leading scientists in nutrition for over 20 years in Boston, traveling to other cultures to discover native methods and habits of indigenous cultures that optimize health.
Tom also has his Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Massachusetts and is the owner of Tom Sawyer Inc, Construction Services.
Treasurer Joe Lucier
Joe Lucier, Real Kids Real Food Treasurer, began his career at a bank. Joe is a long time student of Asia, having a degree in Chinese Studies from Boston College, Boston Massachusetts USA, and he also lived in Asia for over 15 years. While there he followed his passion for Asia and in particular, his passion for Chinese Art, Chinese Language, Chinese Philosophy, the Dao, Buddhism, Healing Arts and Martial Arts. His extensive background has given him the tools as a practitioner as well as an international educator since 2000 for over 20 years, in the healing arts of the Tam Healing System as well as a holistic practitioner.
After returning to the United States, Joe studied software engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Boston University and Clark University, while still maintaining a focus on Asian Martial Arts, Healing Arts and philosophies. He studied martial Arts under different masters in the US and after meeting Anita Daniels and Tom Tam Lic Ac., a Taiji Quan Master as well as Healer, Acupuncturist, Teacher and Author, he committed and focused his studies with him, while always integrating his passion for plant-based nutrition, yoga, herbs and using food, exercise and herbs as medicine. Joe is now working on his ninth book.
- AOBTA (American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia) Nationally Certified
- 8-time Author
- Herbalist
- Asian Bodywork Tuina Therapist
- Cleanse and Detox Program Coach
- Tong Ren Long Distance Healing Practitioner
- Yoga Instructor
- Light and Heat Therapy Practitioner
- Plant Based Nutrition Coach and Chef
- International Educator
Secretary Lovelle Seymore
Lovelle started her career wanting to be an international corporate lawyer, she studied in Switzerland, France, Italy, Argentina and Egypt then realized that was not her passion. She joined the Air Force, and because of her European education, she became one of the NATO liaisons for their protocol office. After her time in service, she finished her graduate degree at UMASS Boston and became an adjunct professor and Coordinator of Veterans Resources.
Lovelle Seymore, UMass Boston Professor, Veterans Coordinator, and Veteran of the U.S. Air Force, moderated the first Women’s Veterans Roundtable in Boston organized by Mayor Michelle Wu.
Lovelle studies Traditional Chinese medicine and is a student of Dr. Ming Wu, who is a 20th generation herbalist. She also has an extensive background in Ayurvedic medicine.
Director Brian Clement
Brian is the Director of the internationally renowned Hippocrates Wellness Center, located in West Palm Beach, Florida. It’s the world’s leading center for working with affliction and reversing premature aging, and is frequented by the likes of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Elliot Page, Mick Fleetwood and Elle Macpherson. For over 50 years, Brian’s limitless love and passion to mentor and guide hundreds of thousands of lives into a semblance of balance and wellbeing have led to countless hours of practical and clinical experience, positioning him as one of the world’s leading progressive thinkers and teachers.
Raised in a traditional Irish household in the New Jersey/New York area, on a standard, life-less American diet, Brian became the embodiment of poor health – battling with his weight and purpose. His profound health challenges taught him valuable life lessons, enabling him to tap into an innate sense that there was a better way and a better life – one in harmony and balance with Mother Nature. Brian was guided and mentored by exceptional colleagues who imparted their knowledge and wisdom, inspiring him to embrace a living food, plant-based diet.
A monumental influence on Brian was his close friend and original co-founder and director of Hippocrates Wellness, Ann Wigmore. Ann’s own battle with stage 4 colon cancer guided her to embrace living foods. Ann personally experienced the miraculous, restorative power of wheatgrass juice, vitamins, and enzyme-rich foods, as she started to heal herself through her new lifestyle. Ann immediately recognized Brian’s incredible talent for teaching, raising his awareness of the profound relationship between what we eat and how we feel – whether we thrive or merely survive. At the young age of 20 years old, Brian embarked upon a journey that would not only transform his life but the lives of hundreds and thousands of others. With a degree in biochemistry, complemented by a free-thinking inquisitive mindset, Brian was well on his way to becoming the visionary pioneer he is today.
Director Theresa Drum
Theresa has a background for the last 20 years in a corporate environment in the automotive industry. Her primary responsibilities are business acquisitions and negotiation particularly on pricing contracts. Alternatively, she also has 15+ years background as a special education teacher with a focus on trauma in adolescent prisons and Yale Psychiatric Institute.
Theresa also runs a Monday evening class for addicts in recovery. She has been an active participant for almost 10 years & more recently a speaker for Eat to Thrive after assisting her Mom on a Plant Based Diet in a recovery from colon cancer.
Executive Director
As a child, Betsy Bragg struggled with learning disabilities. Her ongoing struggles led her to misuse alcohol and overeating. By extraordinary circumstances, she was accepted at Smith College, and after graduating, she started teaching and went on to Stanford University. With the help of tutors and working as a counselor for the Dean of Women, she earned her master’s in Counseling and Education.
She has a diverse background, including 45 years as a classroom teacher (kindergarten through college) and serving as the Director of Middlesex County Employment and Training Program for Refugees and Immigrants. In addition, she was a principal of Lindsley Planning Associates contracting with the United Nations, USAID, and Central American Bank in the West Indies, the Philippines, Japan, and El Salvador.
In 2006, she attended Hippocrates Health Institute where she learned to create the tools that transformed her life. In the next year, she lost considerable excess weight overcoming much of her crippling arthritis.
In 2008, Betsy created her mission to help others prevent obesity, chronic disease, and malnutrition, especially in children, through healthy living. She became director of what is now Eat to Thrive, www.eattothrive.info (ETT) for adults and Real Kids Real Food www.realkidsrealfood.org (RKRF) for children and authored Eat to Thrive: 10-Weeks to Lifelong Healthy Habits and Healthy Living, Real Kids Real Food Kids-Tested Recipes, and Real Kids Real Food (RKRF) Lesson Plans. She was the recipient of the 2014 Humanitarian Service Award for educating hundreds of youth to improve their health.
As long as there is funding, RKRF provides delivery of recipe ingredients to US food-insecure children attending the Global FREE fun weekly zoom 3-6 Club and 7-12 Club Saturday mornings 10-11 am EST. Children worldwide are welcome to RKRF. To help, go to https://realkidsrealfood.org/product-category/product/. If you are passionate about healthy children and healthy lifestyles, consider interning with RKRF and ETT: https://realkidsrealfood.org/internship/ ; https://realkidsrealfood.org/digital-marketing-internship/ ; https://realkidsrealfood.org/social-media-marketing-internship/ ;
Executive Marketer and Web Developer
Daniel Hillsman
Daniel Hillsman is a Full Stack Web Developer, graduated from UCLA Extension “Coding Bootcamp”. He enjoys taking long walks, backpacking, and playing volleyball with his wife. In his free time, he enjoys writing music and playing keyboard. Daniel has a great passion for helping others and having a healthy lifestyle and diet.
Counselors and Marketing
We are so thrilled that you are joining us for this year’s program! Real Kids Real Food’s mission is to prevent obesity, chronic illness, and malnutrition, especially in children, through education and advocacy of healthy living. This program will focus on healthy living through fun, engaging, and interactive activities: making delicious recipes, exercising, and practicing mindfulness. We are so excited to meet you and get to know you over the next coming months!
Counselor
Ted Ely
Ted Ely is the father of two beautiful girls Leah and Beonka Ely. He believes that women are the givers, nurture and sustainer of Life. Men have a responsibility to protect them. All men must come through a woman. This is the natural order.
He believes in mother nature. As the by-product of nature we have a responsibility to protect nature and be one with nature. Health is wealth. If we are indeed the byproduct of nature, then she has provided all that is needed to sustain us.
For our health to strive, we must eat to thrive. In order to eat to thrive we must
nurse from our mother, our nurture and sustainer. We must eat to live. We must give our children healthy habits. Real kids need real food.
Digital Marketer
Angie DeMondo-Barnes
“I completed my undergraduate studies at Arizona State University and graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences. Learning that my family had a history of hypertension piqued my interest in health and patient advocacy. I am a Senior Contributor at The National Library of Patient Health Rights & Advocacy, where I write articles about mental health, wellness, nutrition, medical ethics, the patient-provider relationship, law and medicine, and patients as consumers. I have written grants for the VeggieRX project, which attempts to offer nutritional food to poor children. In addition, as a college student, I founded the Wasted Wednesday Campaign to educate people about proper mask use and disposal during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to draw attention to the growing problem of single-use mask pollution. In addition, I wrote a policy brief about the increase in single-use plastic during the Covid-19 outbreak. This study tries to address the issue of single-use plastics in the context of the state of Arizona by providing a complete analysis, justification, and proposals for alternatives.”
We are very excited to meet all of you, so we can learn more about the amazing food we eat, and prepare some delicious new flavors together.