Leadership

Live Well Winona consists of full-time staff members and a strong volunteer base, offering diverse perspectives based on their experiences and knowledge from many different career paths and organizations. We are concerned community members, motivated by the goal of engaging others in healthy lifestyle choices.

Our Staff:

Vanessa Southworth – Community Wellbeing Director
507-474-9825
Vanessa.Southworth@LiveWellWinona.org

Hello! I am excited to join Live Well Winona and focus my work on supporting healthy activities and lifestyles in and around the Winona region!

My work experience includes more than 20 years in the nonprofit human services sector with the last few focused in the Winona area. Much of this work has centered on leading programs serving those with mental health challenges. More recently, I have begun providing community training including Darkness to Light’s Stewards of Children child sexual abuse prevention training, Question Persuade, Refer (QPR) suicide prevention training, and Mental Health First Aid training.

My educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Viterbo College and a Master of Business Administration from Viterbo University. I completed a certificate from the Executive Leadership Institute: A Collaboration of University of Michigan School of Social Work, University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and Alliance for Children and Families in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

My personal passion for wellness is a guidepost that encourages me to make choices that promote health and my ability to live the life I want to live. My curiosity—and encouragement from my family—has provided opportunities to try new things like a sprint triathlon, half marathon, body building, and a full marathon. I am at my best when training for a new challenge.

I enjoy working out, spending time outdoors, spending time with my family (including our rescue dog and two rescue cats), fostering animals, and reading.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to utilize my skills to positively impact the health of the community!

Live Well,
Vanessa

Rachel Stoll – Community Wellbeing Coordinator
507-457-4400
Rachel.Stoll@LiveWellWinona.org

I come to my role at Live Well Winona via my previous role as a Community Health Worker (CHW) working within the Winona Community HUB.  As a CHW, I worked directly with participants of the HUB program to address the social determinants of health, improve health literacy and health outcomes. Through this work I came to have an understanding that the health of the most vulnerable members of our community impact the health and wellbeing of our entire community.  As we, at Live Well Winona work to fulfill our mission “to engage the community in a culture of wellness that is distinctively noticeable and results in people that live longer, better lives, and are measurably healthier” we will strive to do this with an eye toward health equity.

My educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Anthropology and Gender Studies from Marquette University and a Community Health Worker Certificate from Minnesota West Community and Technical College.

My personal passion for wellness centers around creating a world where it is easier for people to ‘Live Well’.  Changing systems and removing barriers so that people have access to the tools they need to live their healthiest lives has centered my work over the years. Although we can all make choices that can have a positive impact on our health, there are often roadblocks to health and wellness for many groups in our community. Race, socioeconomic status, immigration status, disability status, gender and gender identity are powerful factors in determining health outcomes.  At Live Well Winona, we are committed to addressing these obstacles to health as we support the Winona community to improve access to all of the amazing opportunities to engage with one another with an eye toward health and wellbeing.

The through line of the work I have done in the course of my career is food. I have been passionate about food justice throughout my entire professional life and this carries through to my personal life as well. I have a large garden and spend much of my free time growing, canning and cooking food with my family. I deeply believe that all people deserve equal access to healthy food and that we must take a systems approach to achieving this goal.

I have so much excitement for working with the wider Winona community to address and overcome barriers that prevent everyone from living well!

 

Deb McClellan – Former Community Wellness Operations Manager

Deb.McClellan@LiveWellWinona.org

Deb is our former Community Wellness Operations Manager. After eight years with Live Well Winona, Deb retired in March 2022. Deb is a helpful asset to our team continuing to help our staff on as needed basis for training and other operational needs. Deb is continuing her work with Winona County ASAP as the Project Director. Live Well Winona is so thankful for all the work Deb has done for our organization and community, including her work on the Winona Community HUB since its beginnings in 2019.