Communication is Key

From Youth Advisory Board member to Senior Communications Manager, Bloomberg Fellow Shadille Estepan (she/ella) has dedicated nearly 15 years to advancing Born This Way Foundation's mission of inspiring and empowering young people to build a kinder, braver world. 

She always knew she wanted to tell stories, but was not quite sure what those stories would look like. After speaking on a panel alongside Lady Gaga, with Cynthia Germanotta, Born This Way Foundation's president and co-founder, in attendance, she was invited by Gaga to join the team and began leaning further into the Foundation's work. This chance encounter led her to focus her career on the intersection of storytelling, mental health, research, and connecting young people to the resources they need to better support their mental health.

Nearly 15 years later, she works with her team to build effective communication strategies that make mental health resources and research more accessible and actionable for young people and the caring adults in their lives.

As a Spanish-speaking immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Estepan learned early on that simply having health information exist does not necessarily mean it reaches those who need it most, or that it feels relevant or trustworthy. Growing up, it felt to her that the information sharing often stopped at translation. "I could see how proper translation was incredibly important in increasing access to health information for my family, and I remember wishing the information was more reflective of our lived experience and more grounded in our cultural context," she says. When brainstorming with her team, they regularly check in to make certain that the language feels natural, the examples reflect someone's reality, and no assumptions are being made about the support people have. 

Her team used this framework to develop the Be There Certificate alongside Jack.org. The roughly 90-minute course teaches peer support skills while encouraging attention to one's own wellness. Today, more than 112,00 people across the globe have completed the course and in doing so built the skills to more confidently be there for someone in their lives. 

“In communications, we talk about audiences all the time, but that can make it sound like it's one-sided and the people you are trying to reach are just waiting to receive whatever we have to say,” Estepan says. Communities respond, challenge, and let you know when you are getting it wrong. That trust–especially with young people–she argues, is earned, and communication is how it happens. 

After attending the Bloomberg American Health Summit in 2024 to support the foundation's co-founder, Cynthia Germanotta, she saw how much of her work touched on research, systems, and evidence, and applied to the Bloomberg Fellowship to understand them better.

Tune in to watch Shadille, and other guests speak live at the 2026 Bloomberg American Health Summit on October 20, 2026. Click here to watch the livestream.