Our Leadership

Chevanese Waysome, MBA

Board Member  |  Treasurer

Chevanese Waysome is an accomplished accounting and finance professional with over seven years of experience in tax preparation, bookkeeping, financial reporting, and business consulting. A proud US Marine Corps veteran, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Business Administration, bringing technical expertise, strategic leadership, and the discipline of military service to the organizations she serves.

With extensive experience supporting small businesses and nonprofits, Chevanese is passionate about helping organizations build strong foundations through sound budgeting, compliance, and long-term planning. Her expertise spans financial statement preparation, tax strategy, nonprofit accounting, payroll, business formation, and operational efficiency.

As a Board Member of ELLA, Chevanese is committed to ensuring the organization’s financial sustainability while advancing its mission of keeping families together and supporting parents, birthing people, and children through every stage of the perinatal journey. She believes responsible stewardship and financial education are essential tools for creating stability and lasting opportunity for families, and she is honored to contribute her knowledge and leadership to expand access to community-centered care, supportive services, and pathways toward family wellness and thriving.

Wayne Swinson III

Board Member  |  Community Health Systems

Wayne Swinson III is the founder and president of Hyper Intelligence, a Los Angeles based health technology company building billing and documentation infrastructure for street medicine and community based care. His work centers on an unglamorous but critical problem: making sure the organizations serving Medi-Cal and CalAIM populations actually get paid for the care they deliver. Through his platform, Ela, he focuses on billing and social determinants of health documentation for Enhanced Care Management populations, the same reimbursement landscape community based organizations must navigate to sustain their programs.

His grounding in community health began in research, contributing to harm reduction and overdose prevention work alongside Dr. Ricky Bluthenthal at USC’s Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, studying how care reaches people conventional systems too often miss.

Wayne holds an MS in Cell and Molecular Biology from San Francisco State University and a BS in Biology from California Lutheran University, and has authored science curriculum as an educator consultant. Outside his professional work, he is a runner, swimmer, saxophonist, and student of holistic wellness traditions, currently training in Chi Nei Tsang.

His approach mirrors ELLA’s own: community led, trauma informed, and evidence based, with a builder’s insistence that good intentions be backed by systems that actually work.

Dennis Droste

Board Member  |  Regulatory Compliance and Governance

Dennis Droste serves on ELLA’s Board of Directors, where he provides leadership in regulatory compliance, organizational governance, policy development, program oversight, and risk management.

Dennis is a Health Insurance Specialist for Program Oversight with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, within the Office of Program Operations and Local Engagement. He develops oversight strategies, operational requirements, and monitoring processes for organizations that provide healthcare services or contract with CMS, evaluating compliance, identifying program vulnerabilities, and drafting regulations, policy guidance, and program memoranda for internal and external stakeholders. He serves as lead casework liaison for Centene Corporation, the largest insurer in the Health Insurance Marketplace, and is a subject matter expert in Affordable Care Act eligibility and casework.

Dennis holds an Associate degree in Political Science from Pierce College and a Bachelor’s degree in Law and Policy from the University of Washington. Originally from Germany, he immigrated to the United States and later became a US citizen, and he is fluent in both German and English. His experience navigating immigration, education, military service, and federal service has shaped a lasting commitment to fairness, access, and accountability.

A US Army veteran, Dennis is committed through his board service to helping ELLA operate ethically and transparently while building sustainable programs that empower individuals, families, and underserved communities.

Monique Allen

Board Member  |  Community Health Worker Advocacy

Monique Allen is a Community Health Worker, advocate, educator, and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience serving the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. She has taught American Sign Language at a local community college for 12 years and brings over 17 years supporting children with special needs, including work as a certified supervised visitation monitor.

Monique serves as Board President of the California Association of Community Health Workers and Co-Chair of its Policy Special Interest Group. She also sits on the board of the Joshua Tree National Park Association and has contributed to chambers of commerce, community coalitions, and foster youth programs.

Recognizing gaps in accessible health and wellness services, Monique opened a gym and founded a nonprofit serving Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and underserved populations. Her gym’s Deaf fitness program has been featured in local news. She completed Community Health Worker training at Loma Linda University, where she was later hired as a Community Health Worker and Peer Support Specialist, and she is a certified Clinical Community Health Worker, certified doula, and Global Career Development Facilitator.

Monique holds a Bachelor of Science in Paralegal Studies and is an American Sign Language interpreter and instructor. She co-authored a paper with Stanford University and CACHW on inclusion and belonging among Community Health Workers, and has presented twice at the American Public Health Association.

As a Board Member of ELLA, Monique brings decades of community health leadership and a lifelong commitment to ensuring programs reach families too often left outside conventional systems.

Sandra Gregston

Board Member  |  Program Systems and Community Partnerships

Sandra combines graduate-level training in nonprofit management with lived experience as a caregiver, advocate, and certified Peer Support Specialist. She holds an MBA in Public and Nonprofit Management from Argosy University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Information Systems from the University of Redlands, where her capstone focused on project management. She is continuing her studies in project management through California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Sandra is currently experiencing homelessness. She speaks openly about it because her situation is not the result of personal failure but of systems that fail people who have done everything asked of them. That experience informs every question she asks about how programs are designed and who they actually reach.

Her work is driven by a commitment to improving the systems that serve older adults, people with disabilities, and low-income communities. After caring for her mother through the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and into hospice, Sandra became a passionate advocate for informed consent and patient advocacy, helping families navigate complex healthcare and social service systems with dignity and clarity. She also brings lived experience with trauma, with a childhood hip disability, and with a late diagnosis of autism.

Sandra brings a systems-thinking perspective to every project, identifying opportunities to improve communication, streamline processes, and strengthen services so organizations can better fulfill their mission. Her interests include program coordination, stakeholder engagement, curriculum development, community partnerships, and grant-supported initiatives, and she is experienced in presenting to groups, developing educational materials, and collaborating across business, government, and nonprofit sectors.

As a Board Member of ELLA, Sandra brings both professional expertise and the clarity that comes from navigating these systems firsthand.

Brittany Drey

Board Secretary

Known for her commitment to service, advocacy, and community support, Brittany Drey brings a diverse background in psychology, investigative work, peer support, and volunteerism to her role on ELLA’s Board of Directors. She holds a degree in psychology and is a licensed private investigator, IHSS certified professional, and peer support specialist, bringing both an understanding of people and a practical, objective perspective to supporting individuals and communities in need.

Brittany’s commitment to service extends beyond her professional work. She has volunteered through her church and supported startups and small community initiatives, while advocating for awareness surrounding small island habitats, climate change, and rising sea levels. An avid outdoorsperson and sailor, she has developed a deep appreciation for the environment and the communities whose lives are directly affected by environmental change.

A passionate advocate for the dignity, safety, and independence of women and vulnerable populations, Brittany is committed to helping create communities where people are protected from oppression, exploitation, and abuse. Her experience as a peer support specialist and investigator gives her a distinctive perspective when supporting survivors of abuse: the importance of listening, documenting experiences objectively, and helping individuals navigate difficult circumstances.

As Board Secretary, Brittany brings compassion, accountability, and rigor to ELLA’s governance and to the communities the organization serves.