Be the Change Charleston
empowering individuals with disabilities through community connection & employment opportunities
Board of Directors
Committed to the Cause
Halie Tumbleston
Co-Founder & President
Halie has a B.S. in Special Education with a focus in Intellectual Developmental Disabilities & Emotional Disabilities & a Master's in Curriculum & Education with a focus in Applied Behavioral Analysis. She taught high school students with moderate to severe needs for 2 years before switching over to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). While teaching, she enjoyed teaching her students be as independent as possible by focusing on vocational, daily living, & transition skills (while always putting a fun spin on learning)! She spent the next 2 years as a Registered Behavior Technician, serving children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Halie is currently a virtual Success Coach for high school students as she works to build Be the Change, Charleston. She enjoys spending her time with her Great Dane, Flower & her 2 cats, Jamungii & Petri.
Nathan Todd
Director of Community Connection & Inclusion
One of Nathan’s favorite sayings as a kid was “Crash & Burn.” Why? Because he was born 8 weeks premature with Cerebral Palsy. This meant Nathan didn’t learn to walk until the age of4,
he had a 504 plan at school, he learned to drive using hand controls, graduated college, and learned from an early age that your gonna fall down, the thing that makes the difference is your ability to get up and walk through your fire.
For 9 years he coached people with disabilities and everyday he would hear "I can’t because [insert label here]." He saw that people would be limited by a label placed on them, usually by society, and it became their reality. What Nathan realized was this isn’t a disability issue it’s a human issue. For the past year he’s been developing the message of No Label Defines Me. What 34 years of life have taught him is, often it feels like us as humans are navigating a world that wasn’t designed for us. In order to live a No Label Defines Me life you must learn to adapt & act. Nathan is the author of Empower Yourself: Awaken The B.E.A.S.T. Within. Through eradicating labels, Nathan’s mission is to Eradicate Loneliness and help people get reconnected with their true self.
Shaina Bermudez
Co-Founder & Vice-President
Shaina obtained her BS in Special Education & Master's in Special Education in Curriculum & Design. She taught for two years in a public high school resource classroom, then felt called to work more closely with children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). She worked as a Registered Behavior Technician for children and adolescents with ASD, providing them with high-quality, ethical Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. Shaina is personally dedicated to serving the disabled community throughout her career. Her younger brother has Asperger's Syndrome, and she continues to work hard to spread understanding and acceptance of all individuals with disabilities. She currently is the Student Representative for South Carolina's Association for Behavior Analysis.
Ashley Eppes
Secretary
Ashley is a Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst with the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. She graduated from Coastal Carolina University in 2010 and received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology. She completed her graduate coursework for her certification at Florida Institute of Technology in 2017. She currently works for a private company providing ABA services to individuals with special needs.
She has always had an interest in helping individuals with special needs succeed, starting at a young age. Growing up, her family was involved and volunteered in many non-profit organizations throughout the Hudson Valley of New York. Her parents founded their own non-profit organization, Angels of Light, benefiting children and families with life-threatening illnesses. In college, through her sorority, she contributed and volunteered for multiple philanthropies including the Ronald McDonald House Charities and the American Cancer Society.
Her goal is to aid individuals with special needs to reach their full potential to improve their life experiences within their local community.
She lives in Mount Pleasant, SC with her husband, Blake and rescue hound, Macon. They welcomed their son, Coast, to their family in March 2019.
Emily Swanson
Community Outreach
Emily is a Charleston native. She stayed close to home and graduated from the College of Charleston in 2015 with a degree in Special Education and minor in Spanish. After college, she spent a year abroad in Spain teaching math and science to middle school students. She quickly realized her true calling and returned to the states. She has spent the last 3 years teaching students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities at Berkeley Middle School in Moncks Corner. When she isn’t teaching she loves spending time with friends and family or doing Crossfit!
Charles Kapp
Treasurer
Charles T. Kapp, CPA, received his Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in accounting (2016) and Master's of Accountancy (2017) from Coastal Carolina University. Charles has spent years working as a government auditor, primarily conducting the financial statement audits of various South Carolina State agencies, the United States Department of State, and the United States Defense Health Program. Charles currently works for Kearney & Company in the firms audit division, where he specializes in government and not-for-profit accounting and auditing. He lives with his wife, Meghan, & daughter, Charlie, in Charleston, SC.
Advisory Board Members
& Volunteers
Bree Schorr
Marketing Advisor
Bree Schorr graduated from North Central University with her BA in Business Administration. The past 4 and a half years she worked in Marketing as an event coordinator at a technology company in Minneapolis. Simultaneously, she served on the company’s community board and organized volunteer opportunities for her local office to serve with a variety of nonprofits. She recently relocated to Indianapolis and is working to continue her career in Marketing. She actively seeks out opportunities to stay involved in the community - both personally and professionally and is excited to be apart of the Be the Change team! When she is not working, you can almost always find her outdoors exploring new places, checking out new coffee shops with friends and spending time with family.
Thea Bufi
Financial Advisor
Thea Sigal studied Special Education with a concentration in moderate to severe disabilities at College of Charleston for her bachelors. She received her Master's at San Francisco State University with a certification in deaf/blind education. Before heading into the classroom, she worked at county jails in San Francisco helping adults with disabilities work towards college. Currently, she works as a special education teacher for an autism-focused classroom in San Francisco, CA. Her classroom focus is on independent living skills and community connections. She believes every child deserves an education with adults who care and love them and where their strengths are highlighted and utilized to work on their needs. In her spare time, Thea cooks, sews and relaxes with her husband and kitties!
Meghan MacNeil
Social Media Specialist
Meghan started volunteering with Special Olympics and working with individuals with a variety of abilities in 2005. She graduated from George Mason University with a BS in Psychology. She has taught dance for a number of years, worked with multiple non-profits, and continues to pursue her education. When she was 15 she started an adaptive dance class for teen girls which ignited her love for the community. She has also been working in the ABA field for 5 years. Meghan is so excited to be a part of the Be The Change team and to help make a difference!
