Shadille Estepan

Shadille Estepan is a storyteller, communications strategist, and mental health advocate serving as Senior Manager of Communications at Born This Way Foundation. Her work focuses on adolescent mental health and health communication, where she helps amplify youth voices through storytelling, public education campaigns, media relations, and community conversations. As a Dominican immigrant raised in a bilingual household, Estepan has seen how language barriers, stigma, and limited access can make it harder for families to find mental health support. Through her work with young people, researchers, and community partners, she aims to help create mental health resources and conversations that feel more accessible, inclusive, and grounded in the real experiences of the communities they serve.

Born This Way Foundation, co-founded and led by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Bissett Germanotta, empowers and inspires young people to build a kinder, braver world that supports their mental health and wellbeing. Based on the scientific link between kindness and mental health and built in partnership with young people, the Foundation leverages research, programs, grantmaking, and partnerships to engage young people and connect them with accessible mental health resources. This approach comes to life through the storytelling platform Channel Kindness, the mental health training course Be There Certificate, the youth-led grantmaking program Kindness in Community Fund, and more, reaching thousands of young people around the world each year.