Monday Meetings

2012 Country Directors ~ India

Modesta Putla

Modesta worked with a variety of International organizations including UNFPA, Department for International Development (DFID) UK, British High Commission, Kinder not Hilfe e.V (KNH) Germany and CARE, and other non-profits. She did her Master Degree in Foods, Nutrition and Community Development in India and Social Development program in Canada. As part of her work, she travelled extensively rural and urban parts of various countries and gained in depth knowledge and experience of the developing world and passion for community development specially promoting girl child education. She visited various countries including Sri Lanka, Germany, London, Thailand and Singapore attending International conferences, providing consultancies, promoting child and youth development, addressing gender and health issues. Modesta has provided consultancies as Trainer and Facilitator and has facilitated various training courses for national, state, district/county staff. Working with UNFPA for the National Reproductive health program as a Technical Advisor, she carried a qualitative research analysis in 5 Indian districts as a pilot project that lead in institutionalizing the national level training program to increase the participation of men in health programs.   For the State school Health project of DFID she developed a case study on a girl child in Andhra Pradesh, India that helped government officials, civil society and the private sector to identify policy statements on gender into actions. Modesta represented UNFPA in International Conference in London on ‘Poverty, Inequality and Health’ and had an opportunity to present in small group discussions about the need based project development process in addressing the poverty.
Working in CARE (US based international non-profit organization) , Modesta managed the State health project including training State Officials and CARE staff on educating rural mothers in addressing the maternal and child mortality issues and developed need based health communication material.
As the Director of nonprofits in US, Modesta took lead role in policy development processes for refugees, and new immigrants, working with State/National Leaders and National Non Profit Congress.
She enjoys spicy food, like to read books, and speaks 3 Indian languages. She was a parachute jumper and was awarded several medals and certificates in the fields of education and sports! She lives in Texas with her husband and a three year old Golden Retriever. Her only son is studying final year of pre-medicine.
                                                                        

Brook Dorff

Having been born in Hawaii, living in Japan, and eventually setting in California, Brook has always been predisposed to loving warm weather, traveling, and all things relating to the ocean. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health Education from Brigham Young University, which led her to do an internship in the Dominican Republic for several months. The internship changed the path of her career and was what instilled in her a passion for international development, public health, and women’s reproductive health. After graduating in 2008, she accepted a job immediately with the American Lung Association in Utah and the Utah Department of Health where she gained an understanding in non-profit work and a firm grasp on working for the government. Brook has since worked for the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, has traveled to Vietnam, Ecuador, and several other countries, and has collaborated with countless non-profits through her coalition work and advocacy. She currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona and is pursuing her Masters of Art in Social Justice and Human Rights. Besides always planning her next three trips, you can find Brook with her nose stuck in a book; she also loves to: eat/cook ethnic foods, watch documentaries and visit museums, discover and play new music, participate outside in some sort of sport she’s not good at, make friends in random places, and you can bet she’ll be documenting all of that real-time through facebook/blogging/twitter.
Yours Truly, HELP Headquarters