Board of Directors
Brooke Shannon
Brooke Shannon is the Executive Director and founder of Wait Until 8th. She lives in Austin with her husband Michael and three daughters. Brooke has a Master's in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University and B.A. in Political Science and Communications from the University of Miami.
Brooke works with parents and communities across the country to help families establish a healthy relationship with technology. She is a national speaker on how to parent in the digital arena and has given keynotes to the American Enterprise Institute, and numerous schools and churches.
She also is a resource to the media. She has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, NBC national news, NPR, and CNN Headline News.
Jessica blacklock
Jessica Blacklock lives in Austin with her husband, Jimmy, and three daughters. She is a corporate lawyer and co-founder of Potts Blacklock Senterfitt, PLLC. Jessica received her law degree from The University of Texas School of Law, and also received a bachelor of business administration from the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.
As a lawyer working with start-ups, Jessica knows that smartphone and tablet technology is a critical driver of innovation. As a busy working mom, she uses tech to increase her efficiency and give her more time with her family. But Jessica sees how easily children turn into zombies in front of a smartphone or tablet. Jessica believes we can balance the advantages of technology with protecting our children’s development. And through Wait Until 8th, she wants to empower other parents who feel the same way.
Megan Whitley
Megan Whitley lives in Austin with her husband, David, and their two young children. Megan Whitley joins Wait Until 8th with more than a decade of digital public relations and public affairs experience across agencies, consumer brands and political campaigns. She spent three years in an Austin technology startup (acquiring ‘grit’) and currently holds the position of Director of Social Media for GOSMiLE.
Whitley’s abiding love for her two young children, and her many years of immersion in online media and advertising has culminated in her compelling desire to devote herself to driving the mission of Wait Until 8th forward. Whitley holds a BA in Communication Management from the University of Denver. Whitley loves playing tennis, exploring the outdoors with her children, and relishes date nights with David.
Ben Cannatti
As a husband, father of four children, and native Austinite, Ben Cannatti’s heart is bent toward service. He brings to The Wait Until 8th board over 20 years of experience of designing and creating organizations and operations to raise awareness, influence opinion, build consensus, and impact policy decisions all across the United States. Ben’s company, Caleb Consulting is a full service political, communications, and advocacy firm built on the premise of serving and leading well. The firm has a unique combination of local, state, and national experience developed through creating advocacy and engagement strategies for clients in the political, public policy, and corporate arenas.
Advisory Board
Delaney Ruston, MD
Delaney Ruston, MD, is a Stanford-trained physician and long-time filmmaker on mental health topics. Her four award-winning Screenagers films have brought together over 10 million kids and adults in 102 countries. Screenagers Under The Influence (2023) addresses vaping, drugs and alcohol in the digital age. Screenagers launched the Away For The Day campaign in 2017, to help schools become phone and smartwatch free.
A Fulbright scholar, Ruston has been a researcher and faculty member at top medical schools. She currently lives in Seattle, where she provides primary care to underserved adolescents and adults.
DR. CATHERINE STEINER-ADAIR
Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair is an internationally recognized clinical psychologist, school consultant and award winning author.
Author of the award-winning book, The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age, Dr. Steiner-Adair examines ways in which the wonders of technology and media also change how children learn and grow, and shows parents and educators how to reap the benefits of tech while reducing the risks it poses at every stage of child development. In The Big Disconnect (cited as a Wall Street Journal TOP 10 Best Non-Fiction 2013) and in her work internationally as a speaker and consultant, Dr. Steiner-Adair identifies digital age challenges for parents and educators, and ways to strengthen children’s social and emotional development to help them grow to be responsible, resilient, confident, and capable young adults.
DR. ALLISON BAKER
Dr. Baker is an international expert and double board-certified child, adult and perinatal psychiatrist in private practice and at MGH/Harvard Medical School. She specializes in women's mental health, ADHD and learning disorders, and adolescent mood and anxiety disorders. Dr. Baker has been a guest on national media outlets including NBC, ABC, CBS, and others. She is a passionate educator on topics of mental health, with a focus on families.
Dr. Baker has championed the Wait Until 8th pledge in her public school community and works with families to establish healthy relationships with technology. Her most important credential is Mom to three wonderful children.
Sarah Gallagher Trombley
Sarah Gallagher Trombley is a digital parenting expert, ex-Snapchat Executive and mom of two. With more than 20 years working in digital media and technology, she understands how child safety decisions get made. She also is a fellow parent figuring out what to do for her own kids.
Sarah’s mission is to help parents navigate the digital world by providing insight, advice and practical tips which she does through her newsletter "Thoughts From A Digital Mom," speaking events and social accounts. Her work covers a wide range of topics including social media headlines, new technology and apps, as well as how-to support for digital house rules, parental controls, social media, group texting and more. Sarah is committed to educating parents in search of good tech solutions for all kids.
Naomi Schaefer Riley
Naomi Schaefer Riley is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focusing on issues regarding child welfare as well as a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum. She also writes about parenting, higher education, religion, philanthropy and culture.
She is a former columnist for the New York Post and a former Wall Street Journal editor and writer, as well as the author of seven books, including, "Be the Parent, Please: Stop Banning Seesaws and Start Banning Snapchat: Strategies for Solving the Real Parenting Problems."
In Be the Parent, Please, Naomi draws from her experience as a mother of three and delves into the latest research on the harmful effects that excessive technology usage has on a child’s intellectual, social, and moral formation.
Sarah SieGand
Sarah Siegand is a wife and mother of two boys living in Nashville, TN. In 2015, she and her husband Jesse started an online safety campaign called “Parents Who Fight,” a response to some troubling situations involving her sons’ classmates stumbling upon dangerous content online. Sarah is passionate about helping parents protect kids online through parent workshops, webinars, and in-home tech consultations.
Parents Who Fight aims to give practical tools to parents so they feel equipped and inspired to prepare their children for a life of wisdom and boundaries in the digital age. As a mom, Sarah has been grateful for the way her sons (tween and teen) have chosen to embrace the idea of delaying smartphones and social media until high school.
Sheela Subramanian
Sheela Subramanian is an entrepreneur, investor, author, and speaker. A leader in tech, she was most recently a Vice President at Slack and co-founder of Future Forum, a research consortium dedicated to studying the future of work. She holds over 20 years of experience building and leading global teams at Google, Slack, Salesforce, and startup organizations.
As a champion for workplace equity, her work is cited in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and others. She is also co-author of "How the Future Works", a WSJ and USA Today bestselling book. Sheela earned her BA from Stanford University and MBA from Harvard Business School and is the mother to two magical daughters.
Dr. Richard Freed
Dr. Freed is a child and adolescent psychologist and a leading authority on raising children in the digital age. He is the author of the book Wired Child: Reclaiming Childhood in a Digital Age, and his insights have been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, on NPR, and other media platforms.
Dr. Freed speaks internationally to groups of parents, teachers, and health care providers. Receiving his professional training at Cambridge Hospital / Harvard Medical School and the California School of Professional Psychology, he now lives in Walnut Creek, California and is the father of two girls.
Kim Whitman
Kim Whitman is a co-founder of the Phone-Free Schools Movement, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide youth with the freedom to excel academically and develop socially without the pressures and harms of phones and social media during the school day. She began her advocacy work in 2018, focusing on healthy boundaries around school issued devices in her children’s 1:1 school district. Kim continues to use her voice to amplify the research and science regarding the negative impacts of big tech on today’s youth. Her hope is for society to stop prioritizing everyday conveniences over the developmental needs of children. She believes in the philosophy that once you know better, you do better. Kim resides in Overland Park, KS with her husband and two teenagers.
Chris McKenna
Chris McKenna is the Founder of Protect Young Eyes and the Executive Director of the PYE Foundation. Chris is a respected digital safety voice, creating valuable and practical resources for families and schools.
His impactful 2019 testimony before the US Senate was the driving force behind new online child protection legislation, and earned PYE the Dignity Defense Award from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
Chris cherishes family, including road trips with his four children, connecting with nature, running, and almost anything sweet.
Dr. Adriana Stacey
Dr. Stacey is a general psychiatrist. Her work is mostly concentrated with teens and college students. She has a specific interest in how smartphones affect the mental health of children. Dr. Stacey’s insights in regard to technology use have been featured in the Washington Post and on the Today Show. Dr. Stacey has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Alabama and an M.D. from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She completed her psychiatry training at the University of Wisconsin.
Dr. Stacey enjoys speaking to groups of children, parents, teachers, and health care providers. She lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with her husband and four children.
Josh Golin
Josh Golin is Executive Director of the FairPlay, which educates the public about commercialism's impact on kids' wellbeing and advocates for the end of child-targeted marketing. FairPlay is the home of the Children’s Screen Time Action Network, a coalition of practitioners and educators working to promote a healthy childhood by reducing the amount of time kids spend with devices.
Josh's media appearances include Today, NPR, Good Morning America, and Fox and Friends. Josh’s daughter Clara is a vocal advocate for limited screen time who is not shy about reminding her parents that she is infinitely more interesting and important than the content on their devices.
Director of Operations and Outreach
Casey Hallman is the Director of Operations and Outreach at Wait Until 8th. She holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a B.A. in Philosophy and Molecular Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Growing up during the advent of smartphones, Casey witnessed firsthand their rapid integration into daily life and the profound impact they had on society. This personal experience fuels her dedication to the mission of Wait Until 8th, as she passionately works to help children and families establish a healthy relationship with technology.
In her role, Casey is committed to streamlining operations and expanding outreach to ensure the organization’s message reaches parents and communities across the country.
Local Voices of Wait Until 8th
Yarmouth, MAINE LoCAL VOICES
The Wait Until 8th ambassadors of Yarmouth, Maine represent 37 kids (296 years of child development!), spanning the class of 2026 to the class of 2040. The parent ambassadors represent a variety of interests and expertise, with backgrounds and advanced degrees in: architecture, art, business, counseling, design, education, international affairs, law, marketing, medicine, music, publishing, public policy, and social work. Notably: A quarter of the group shown are practicing therapists.
The Wait Until 8th parent ambassadors are all members of Yarmouth Slow Tech (YST), a grassroots movement that promotes informed and intentional use of technology; progressive independence for kids and teens; and real-world social experiences to address the youth mental health crisis through community support and collective action.
FRONT: Deidre Fogg, Shannon Cummings, Erin Olson, Paige Carter, Karina Chandler, & Kay Staley. BACK: Vanessa Holcomb Mann, Emily Bates, Chelsea DeLorme, Hannah Magee, Libby Chamberlain, & Sheila Carroll. Not pictured: Heather Wiggins Berger, Jennifer Hand Runge, Sarah Ferguson & Sarah Fischer. Photo credit: Kristina O’Brien Photography
charleston, South Carolina Local Voices
Meghan, Katie, and Suzi are friends and neighbors who are raising 8 similarly aged children. They are driven by nothing other than an intense love, and real nostalgia for their own childhoods, and desire to give their children the opportunity to have a similarly healthy childhood. They have leaned into the idea that delaying smartphone and social media access is only hard if we do it alone.
What started as baby steps and side conversations, quickly grew into a shared effort to educate ourselves, band together, and create positive change for our kids. Follow the Wait Until 8th Charleston community here.
Summit, New Jersey Local Voices
Amy, Jacqui, Jodi, Traci and Samantha reside in Summit, NJ, and are moms to 13 elementary and preschool-aged children in the Summit school district. They came together with the shared belief that they must collectively delay smartphones and social media for their kids in order to preserve their childhoods and protect their emotional and physical well-being. These women are providing local parents with the support needed to confidently make the decision to delay smartphones and social media for their children. They have seen an incredibly positive response from the Summit community!
East Cobb, Georgia Local Voices
Wait Until 8th East Cobb is made up of a handful of passionate moms helping others to delay smartphones in the Greater Atlanta Area. Led by Jess Wardell and Lindsay Foster, we currently have liaisons at 17 different schools in the area helping to spread the Wait Until 8th movement. We came together with a shared belief across multiple schools that we can work together and support each other to delay smartphones and give our children a longer childhood within our community. We are hoping to enact change in our school district which is the second largest in Georgia and the 23rd largest in the nation, and beyond in the Atlanta area. We have seen incredible momentum and support from parents in the area!
mark soohoo
Mark SooHoo and his wife Annie are organizing Wait Until 8th efforts in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette. He has nearly 25 years of marketing, communications, and digital experience leading teams at Health Action Alliance, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Ventec Life Systems, and agencies, including Edelman and Burson. While he is passionate about the power of social media and digital tools, he believes parents should carefully consider the benefits and downsides of constant smartphone access, which is why his family has taken the Wait Until 8th pledge.
ELAINE TRULL
Elaine Trull is a native of Austin, graduated from the University of Texas and is a full-time mom. She and her husband, Asa, have two children. Elaine has observed that young minds are like sponges; they are wildly curious, but lack discernment. Elaine believes our children deserve the opportunity for their minds to be filled with all the wonder this world has to offer, free from the dangers of the internet, predators and the snares technology uniquely provides. Without the distraction of a smartphone, children can foster relationships, build communication skills and grow their imagination - priceless assets for life.
becky cover
Becky Cover lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two daughters. Becky has a B.A. in Psychology from UC Davis and a Masters of Education/Teaching Credential from UC Santa Barbara. Over the past 15 years, Becky has taught students ranging from 2nd to 8th grade. She is on the Executive Board of her local schools’ community foundation and is a School Ambassador for ScreenSense.org, a community-based resource to support families and educators creating a healthy relationship with tech. As a parent and an educator, Becky values the upsides of technology, but believes that smartphones can have downsides for children and their developing brains. She is excited to mobilize Wait Until 8th in her community.
gretchen shanahan
Gretchen Shanahan lives in Overland Park, Kansas, with her husband and two children. As a digital wellness educator and coach, she enjoys the transformational experience of bringing families from feeling anxious and defeated to ease and confidence in their screen use.
Through her commitment to digital wellness and advocacy, she collaborates with other like-minded professionals advocating for child protection related to digital media and marketing. Gretchen encourages parents to trust their instincts and join other intentional parents in protecting the childhood all children deserve.
Jeff Hirsch
Jeff Hirsch is a high school counselor in Westchester County, New York. He has worked in schools for the last 17 years. He serves a diverse student population and firmly advocates for delaying smartphones and social media use so young people can live, grow, and thrive in a safe and healthy environment.
Jeff resides in Croton-on-Hudson, NY with his wife, a teacher, and their two children. Together they believe that Wait Until 8th is a valuable tool for families in their community who are navigating the complex world of technology and parenting.
Teresa Cook
A Massachusetts native, Teresa lives in the suburbs of Boston with her husband and two young daughters. Holding a BS in Psychology and an MS in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, she works as an executive and team coach in her role as a Talent Development Consultant for a Big Four Accounting Firm.
Teresa believes research is clear on the negative impact smartphones can have on children and adults alike. As a result, she is devoted to making a smartphone-free childhood a possibility for all of the children in her community.
carmen beck
Carmen Beck lives in the Austin area in Lakeway with her husband and two daughters. She actively participates in her children’s elementary school community as a member of the PTO board. Professionally, she works in marketing and development for a pediatric research nonprofit consortium and conference.
After thoroughly researching the effects of smartphones and social media on both children and adults, she was resolute in her decision to sign the Wait Until 8th pledge for her family. Now, she is committed to supporting and empowering families in the Lakeway community who have also embraced the pledge. Let’s delay, Lakeway!
Pamela Boccia
Pamela Boccia has taught high school for more than 15 years. Having witnessed first-hand the impact of smartphones and social media on her students, she believes strongly in the social, emotional, and academic benefits of delaying and limiting smartphones and social media. Pamela has a B.A. in English and an M. Ed. in Secondary English Education from Rutgers University, as well as a certification in Special Education from New Jersey City University. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two children in Cranford, New Jersey.
Keri Langerman
Keri Langerman is a costume designer working in film and television. Through this work, Keri has seen first-hand the power of bringing people from different backgrounds together. These experiences drive her passion for community-building that is centered on inclusion and belonging.
Through listening to personal stories of parents who regret giving their children smartphones and reading about the negative impacts of early exposure to social media on children, Keri was moved to take the WU8th pledge. Keri is now dedicated to supporting families who have taken the WU8th pledge in her area.
Keri lives in Fairfield, CT where she and her husband are raising their two children.
