About The Founder/CEO
Eddie T. Etsey
As a University of Iowa alumnus, Edudzi T. Etsey, commonly known as Eddie, has over 20 years of Service Management and Leadership experience. In his work, Eddie is known as a tirelessly positive individual who will go out of his way to offer assistance. His innovative and creative problem solving skills have aided him in developing processes, designing workflows, improving efficiencies, and leading several key projects within the University and its communities as well as internationally. His focus on bringing people together to solve problems and learn from one another helps make our communities a more welcoming place.
Beyond his work, Eddie is dedicated to caring for the well-being of others, including colleagues, employees, and students. His passion for education and promoting diversity and intercultural awareness has landed him many nominations for awards, including the 2009 David J. Skorton Staff Excellence Award for Public Service and the 2014 Board of Regents Staff Excellence award winner.
In the community, Eddie works diligently to advocate for those without a voice and empowers the youth. His involvement in the community ranges from serving as a job coach for people with disabilities, serving on the Board of Directors for CommUnity (formerly Crisis Center), to leading groups internationally for service projects. In his work as an advocate and philanthropist, Eddie brings a lot fun and energy to all he does.
Read more about Eddie Etsey on the Technology Association of Iowa's Catalyst series: https://www.catalystsiowa.com/eddie-etsey and on Toggle Magazine
Want to learn more about Eddie's vision for Eddies Teddies Inc? Email him at President@EddiesTeddies.org
Board of Directors
Jill De Young
Jill De Young
Jill De Young
As a planner and dreamer who launches and grows programs and projects that connect people and kindle passions, Jill has the power to transform. She is energetic, focused, self-directed, and skilled at managing multiple complex projects effectively and efficiently to maximize outcomes while bringing people together around a common goal.
Coronda Lee
Jill De Young
Jill De Young
Coronda is passionate about serving children, families and communities that have been traditionally underserved. She is an academic program manager and has used her skills and experience to bring help connect people to much needed resources. Coronda values integrity, honesty, accountability and treating everyone with dignity and respect.
Jaecee Hall
Jill De Young
Retha Haas
Jaecee Hall is the creator, founder/CEO of Unbreakable Female Athlete. Founded on the basis that female empowerment is vital in breaking down negative, harmful stereotypes surrounding female athletes. She is a senior at the University of Iowa on the Iowa Women's Rowing Team. She is majoring in psychology with a minor in international relations.
Retha Haas
Joshua Amewuga
Retha Haas
Retha Haas is the Director of Resident Relations at Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Iowa City, IA. She enjoys reading, traveling, volunteering at her church, bicycling and camping with her husband Ray. One of her rules of life is to see people as created and loved by God, and do small things with great love.
Joshua Amewuga
Joshua Amewuga
Joshua Amewuga
As a special adviser to the board, Josh is passionate about young people. He believes that keeping a steady tradition of providing both materially and through guidance a better version of what we received or lacked, we stand a great chance of building a better future. We can achieve that by making the most of every opportunity, taking one step at a time and one child at a time.
Jaci Visser
Joshua Amewuga
Joshua Amewuga
Jaci Visser is currently a general music teacher in the Iowa City Community School District. She enjoys making music with students of different ages and diverse backgrounds. She also enjoys music directing shows with Coralville's community theater. Jaci has two wonderful children and a sweet dog.
Partners & Consultants
Kafui Etsey, PhD
Nana Ama Agyemang Asante
Nana Ama Agyemang Asante
Dr (Mrs.) Felicia Kafui Etsey is a Language, Literacy and Developmental Reading expert and has expert knowledge in dealing with cross-cutting issues in the field of Early Childhood and Elementary Education (Basic School, KG-JSS). Dr Etsey has rich experience in Curriculum development, use of effective constructivist pedagogy, approaches and instructional strategies that promote learning in Early Childhood and Basic Schools. She has seasoned knowledge in the development of Standardized and Authentic Assessment for classroom instruction. She acquired the above mentioned rich background knowledge, experiences and skills in teaching and research from the College of Education, Division of Curriculum and Instruction, the University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA and the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast
Dr Felicia Etsey contributed significantly and immensely as a consultant to most of the local, national and international Literacy projects and interventions that were introduced to the Ghanaian schools between 1999 to 2018. Dr Kafui Etsey worked as a consultant to many of the international NGO on local projects such as GTZ, EQUALL, DFID, USAID and GILBT. A few of the activities she was involved in were: the development of content, writing and reviewing of Ghanaian Language Pupils’ books and Teachers’ Guides for Primary Schools in Ghana, a project sponsored by ASTEP/GTZ (A German Technical Organization).
Nana Ama Agyemang Asante
Nana Ama Agyemang Asante
Nana Ama Agyemang Asante
Nana Ama Agyemang Asante is a Ghanaian journalist, editor and writer. She was previously the co-host of the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM, where she provided the much-needed feminist perspective on national issues and debates. Prior to that role, she was the deputy online editor of Citi FM's news website, citifmonline.com, supervising factual, timely, and accurate stories. From 2011 to 2014, Nana Ama served as the Country Coordinator of Journalists for Human Rights (Jhr), a Canadian NGO that promotes human rights and governance stories across the African continent. She coordinated the NGO's and trainers' relationships with local journalists and media houses.
In 2015, she was named Radio Personality of the Year for your persistent efforts in speaking truth to power. 2017, she was awarded a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship by the National Endowment for Democracy.
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