Our People

Our Story

The Person First was founded with a simple but powerful belief: the tools that help the world’s greatest performers thrive shouldn’t be reserved for the elite few. Rooted in 30+ years of performance science pioneered by Dr. Jim Loehr, we’ve taken a proven framework and made it accessible to every young person regardless of background, zip code, or ability.

We partner with schools, sports organizations, arts programs, and more across five countries. We help young people build resilience, find purpose, and apply the tools to help them thrive.

Team

Kelsey Abergel

Executive Director

kelsey@thepersonfirst.org

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Kelsey Abergel is the founding Executive Director of The Person First, where she leads the organization’s mission to strengthen purpose, resilience, and well-being in young people worldwide. A bridge-builder, educator, and youth advocate, Kelsey is committed to expanding access and creating meaningful opportunities that drive sustainable impact. Her career spans the classroom, technology, strategic consulting, and the scaling of enterprise EdTech solutions across national and international platforms. Passionate about making a difference at scale, Kelsey believes in harnessing the power of technology to build community, foster empathy, and support the growth of young people everywhere.

Andrea Rose Cardoni

Education and Administrative Manager

andrea@thepersonfirst.org

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Andrea spent her early career working in classrooms all throughout Philadelphia, curating curriculum that allows students to explore Theatre Performance through lessons in Social Emotional Learning. She believes in lessons that equip students with the confidence and tools to express themselves freely, and that they truly can be transformative. She is dedicated to continuing this work with The Person First.

Chloe Beck

Communications and Engagement Specialist

chloe@thepersonfirst.org

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Chloe is a former collegiate and professional tennis player who competed at the highest levels while earning her Psychology degree from Duke University. Her experiences as an athlete inspired her passion for mental health advocacy and resilience. At The Person First, she combines her background in athletics, psychology, and communications to create authentic storytelling and engagement strategies. Chloe is dedicated to sparking meaningful conversations around well-being and inspiring young people to grow with confidence, purpose, and impact.

Paul Frantzich

Coach and Facilitator

paul@thepersonfirst.org

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Paul Frantzich is a coach, artist, and community builder who moves between music, myth, and leadership with ease. Shaped by his years of performing as a singer-songwriter and his spiritual apprenticeship with poet Robert Bly, Paul draws on the arts to open spaces of reflection, resilience, and renewal. He has guided brand leaders, teams, and individuals toward new ways of seeing and creating, blending strategy with story and art. At The Person First, Paul helps individuals and communities uncover their hidden strengths and live into a more connected, authentic, and inspired future.

Seal

Board Member

Wielding one of the most identifiable voices of all-time, Seal has left an indelible imprint on pop, R&B, soul, and dance music. Along the way, he has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, generated in excess of 1 billion streams, and garnered four GRAMMY® Awards, three BRIT Awards, Two Ivor Novello Awards, and one MTV VMA.

As a versatile and vital force throughout popular culture, his catalog encompasses ubiquitous anthems such as “Killer,” “Crazy,” and “Kiss From A Rose,” which toppled the Billboard Hot 100 at #1, scored GRAMMY® Awards for “Record of the Year” and “Song of the Year” and adorned his quadruple-platinum 1994 epic, Seal II. In retrospect, Stereogum likened it to a “radio wave sent out across the universe from a much, much prettier planet.” In addition to appearing in films by iconic directors such as Spike Lee and the late Joel Schumacher, his music has been celebrated with covers by Alanis Morissette, Bastille, and George Michael, to name a few.

Speaking to his enduring influence, Seal notably appeared in The Lonely Island’s cult classic Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping, Tyler Perry’s The Passion, America’s Got Talent, and The Masked Singer. Most recently, he earned a GRAMMY® Award nod in the category of “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album” for Standards in 2019.

Along the way, he has collaborated with everyone from Jeff Beck, Joni Mitchell, and Santana to P!nk, John Legend, and Gallant. However, Seal’s voice resounds louder than ever with more music in 2024 and beyond.

Dr. Sheila Ohisson Walker

Board Member

A competitive tennis player since childhood, Sheila Ohlsson Walker, CFA, Ph.D. knows first-hand the power of sport to embed life skills and mindsets that transfer into careers, relationships, and wellness habits that foster health and well-being across life. She knows that adults, through the relationships they form, can activate passion, possibility, and a sense of purpose in young people. Accordingly, her work is focused on parents, sport coaches, teachers and other adults who impact youth during powerful developmental chapters when lifelong habits are most seamlessly embedded. Relatedly, she seeks to empower young people with mindsets, knowledge and skills that support them in building self-narratives that catalyze holistic flourishing across life.

Dr. Walker received a B.S. in Finance at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and after a career as a portfolio manager for a buy side investment firm in Denver, she pivoted to academia. She earned a doctorate in Behavioral Genetics from the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at Kings College London, where she learned that the headline of biosocial science was clear: nurture (the environment) shapes nature (DNA) across life. The scientific truth about each individual’s capacity to express their human potential when context is supportive and engaging fostered a deep interest in translation and application of cutting-edge neuroscience, genetics, psychology, quantum physics and social science to create practical, accessible content that nourishes healthy development for people of all ages, especially youth.

Dr. Walker is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University, a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She serves on the boards of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation and the Youth Performance Institute, is a trustee of the Kent Denver School, a member of the United States Tennis Association’s Sport Science Committee, and a member of the newly formed Global Women’s Health Taskforce formed by Hologic and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). She lives in Denver, and her greatest pride and joy is being a mother to her three sons, Jack, Charlie and Wyatt.

We believe every young person deserves to thrive.

Board of Directors

Team

Our Advisory Board is made up of teen and young adult leaders.

Be part of what we’re building.