Ainsley is the daughter of Kim and Lori Rossiter. Kim, or ‘Rooster’, is a retired Marine Corps Major. Born in the middle of three children in 2003, Ainsley, was diagnosed with Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (INAD) just before turning four years of age. INAD is an extremely rare terminal illness that has slowly caused global paralysis.
We invite you to watch the video at the top of this page, as it truly captures Ainsley’s energy and her impact on our world.
At Ainsley's Angels of America, we aim to ensure everyone can experience endurance events, Ainsley's Angels of America aims to build awareness about America's special needs community through inclusion in all aspects of life. Serving as advocates to providing education and participating as active members in local communities, we believe everyone deserves to be included.
Kim "Rooster" Rossiter
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Major Kim "Rooster" Rossiter is a retired US Marine combat veteran with nearly 25 years of enlisted and officer service. He serves as the President of Ainsley's Angels and as a Professor of Disability Culture at Old Dominion University. He and Lori, his wife of over 25 years, are parents to Briley, Kamden, and the namesake for Ainsley's Angels, the late Ainsley Rossiter.
Joe Orth
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Joe is a U.S. Marine with 23 years of service across both active duty and the reserves. He met the Rossiter family in 2008, and after getting to know them — especially Ainsley — he knew he wanted to be part of their lives and support others in the disability community. Ainsley opened Joe’s eyes to the world of disability awareness and inclusion, shaping a passion that continues today. Joe and his wife of ten years, Leanne, love spending time with their two boys and giving back to the special needs community.
Kristine Seaward
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Kristine is Ainsley's Nana and the Southwest Louisiana Ambassador. Kristine resides in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the birthplace of Ainsley's Angels with their two children, Christian and Madison. Without speaking a single word, Ainsley has motivated me to do things I once never would have dreamed of. A few words all of us at Ainsley's Angels live by, "life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the number of moments that take our breath away."
Camille Minor
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Camille Minor, EdD, served as an educator in the public school system for 12 years. As someone passionate about service, community, and education, she now serves as the Manager of Leadership Programs for the Travis Manion Foundation. It is here where she met Kim "Rooster" Rossiter and learned about the mission of Ainsley’s Angels. Camille resides in North Louisiana, loves to travel and spend time with her family. Proud to be a part of such an all-inclusive community!
Liz Smith
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Liz Smith is a retired Army officer with three decades of service in the US and overseas. She was introduced to Ainsley’s Angels while on deployment in Afghanistan in 2012, and upon returning home, she began her journey with the organization initially as an Angel runner, then a local, regional, and eventually national ambassador. She has shared a deep, personal connection with many members of Ainsley’s Angels over the years through her trials, and has been honored to have herself and her daughter counted among the AA family.
Andrew Reid
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Andrew Reid is a disabled Jamaican-Cuban storyteller who migrated to the United States at the age of 10. He was an undocumented immigrant for several years before receiving US citizenship under the wet foot, dry foot policy from the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. He uses his multicultural Caribbean identity and the visual medium to create stories grounded in drama but not bound by genre.
He is a DGA Award winning director and MFA graduate from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His award-winning projects have screened at Slamdance, CAA Moebius, Paramount Pictures, HollyShorts, Cleveland, Pan African and over 60 other film festivals worldwide. He was recently nominated at the NAACP Image Awards and was a finalist for the HBOMax Latino Short Film competition.
In 2022, Reid was a ViewFinder Emerging Director with Paramount TV Studios where he shadowed director Pete Chatmon (Insecure, The Flight Attendant, You) on the show Fatal Attraction. He is developing feature, episodic and commercial projects that have received support from the Tribeca Film Institute, SFFilm, Film Independent, The Gotham and Sloan Foundation.
Reid was also selected for the 2022 Commercial Directors Diversity Program and his commercial clients include On Running Shoes, Intel and RespectAbility. He has produced several short films and has studio experience at Artists Equity, Pearl Street Films, NBCUniversal and Discovery Communications.
You can learn more at www.ReidtheStory.com
Tracie David
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Tracie has been involved with Ainsley's Angels since its inception in Southwest Louisiana in 2012. She is first cousin to Lori Rossiter, Ainsley's mom. Tracie has served as a photographer for events in Southwest Louisiana and has also served as Ambassador of SWLA for one year before accepting the role of Executive Assistant. Tracie and her husband Greg are parents to Dylan, Derek, and Devin and they all assist the SWLA ambassadorship in all aspects of race day when needed. Their youngest son Devin has been running as an Angel Runner since 2013 at the young age of 8 1/2 and hopes to someday work at the National level of Ainsley's Angels of America.
Chris Wood
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Chris is a 2004 graduate of Old Dominion University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Accounting. He has been in the field since 2004 but has been preparing taxes for over 18 years. His managerial background helped mold his client-focused, proactive approach to client business taxes in his tax practice, C. Wood & Co, LLC. He is originally from Portsmouth, Rhode Island and moved to Virginia Beach in 1997 to pursue a career in the accounting industry. He is married to his lovely wife, Sharon who is a teacher in Virginia Beach, and has 3 children, Anthony, Wilson, & Zachary, a daughter-in-law Chelsea and 2 beautiful grandchildren, Audrey and Anthony James Wood, Jr. Chris is very active and enjoys the beach, coaching his kid’s baseball and football teams, martial arts, and running.
Amanda Piccirilli-Hall
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Amanda serves as the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Communication and Development, as well as the southeast Pennsylvania ambassador, for Ainsley’s Angels of America. Amanda is a marketing and communications professional living in the Philadelphia suburbs with her husband Taylor, sons Teddy and Brock as well as two fur babies, Gatsby and Knox. Amanda has more than 10 years of marketing, communications, graphic design, and nonprofit experience. Amanda has been the southeast Pennsylvania Ainsley’s Angels ambassador since November 2015 and was named the senior vice president of marketing in November 2016. She is both a distance runner and triathlete – proud to spread the message of inclusion at each and every race.
Shaun Evans
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Shaun is a physical therapist residing in upstate NY with his wife Nichole and two sons, Shamus and Simon. Shaun is an experienced distance runner and finisher of over 40 marathon and ultramarathon events, as well as a newly developed triathlete. He runs most of his miles with his son Shamus who was born with cerebral palsy. The duo created a mission which they dubbed Ainsley's Angels Power to Push; in 2015 they ran 3200 miles from Seattle to NYC and in 2017 they ran 1700 miles down the Mississippi River to gift running chairs and spread the mission of Ainsley's Angels.
Laura Shuler
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Laura currently serves as the Vice President of Movement as well as the Eastern Carolina Guardian Angel of Community Outreach. She has been with Ainsley's Angels since 2014 after signing her son Gavin up to be an Angel Rider. Prior to taking the on the role of Vice President of Movement she served as Local Ambassador in Eastern Carolina and Vice President of Race Operations. Laura resides in Jacksonville, NC with her husband, USMC LtCol Kevin Shuler and their children Gavin, Carlee and Aubrey.
Kristy High
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Kristy is a special education teacher and has been teaching at the elementary school level for 19 years. Kristy became involved in Ainsley's Angels of America after her daughter Kendall Jade was matched with Rooster through a buddy support group on Facebook known as I Run 4 Michael. After witnessing first hand Kendall Jade's first race and the joy it brought the entire family, Kristy was hooked. She brought Ainsley's Angels to North Central Indiana in September of 2016 and has since held multiple roles within the organization. Kristy resides in Russiaville, IN with her husband Eric, and their children Haley, Kendall Jade, Donovan (AKA Angel Channel News), and Deklan, along with granddaughter Tiernii.
Emily Cass
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Emily Cass, Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Ainsley's Angels of America, leads organizational planning, team management, marketing communications, and branding initiatives. A seasoned marketing professional with a master’s in marketing and 25+ years of experience, Emily drives growth through innovative communications. She's been an award-winning expert, Ainsley's Angels member since 2018, and Hampton Roads Ambassador for 5 years. Emily resides in Virginia Beach with her husband, Rob, and sons, Brock and Brody.
Michelle Smith
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Michelle is an Early Childhood Special Educator with over 20 years experience in the Onslow Co. School system in Jacksonville, NC. In addition to being the Vice President of the Ambassador Program for Ainsley's Angels of America, she was also a founding member of the Ainsley's Angels in Eastern Carolina Ambassadorship, which was formed in 2012. Michelle continues to reside in Jacksonville, NC with her husband Kevin, and their daughter Paige, who are also active members of the Ainsley's Angels family.
Tanya McGee
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Tanya is best known as Ainsley's "Nannie". Tanya has made it her life's work to help individuals live a satisfying, hopeful and contributing life. She has a master's degree in Clinical Psychology and serves as the Executive Director of Imperial Calcasieu Human Services Authority which provides administration, operations and management of all federally and state funded programs for mental health, addiction and developmental disabilities in SW Louisiana. She is married to Reagan McGee, and they have 3 children, Jimmy, Madelyn and Alivia.
PJ Sapienza
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PJ is a Michigan native with a passion for incusion! He is married with 3 kids, with the entire family helping in the local Ambassadorship in Southeast Michigan. PJ has done everything from 5k’s to obstacle races to Marathons, with his favorite distance bring whatever is next. PJ not only supports Ainsley's Angels but also volunteers with Special Olympics and is a running coach at the local running store. His Angel riders motivate him and he loves seeing how excited my riders are about being able to race and the friendships formed between riders, runners, and families. I strive to make running, acceptance, and inclusion a part of more people’s lives.
Lynn McIntosh
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Lynn Bio is coming soon.
Sylvia Hanes
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Sylvia Hanes serves as the director of social media, while also being a guardian angel for our South Mississippi ambassadorship and a champion for our Marine Corps Marathon charity team. Sylvia has a master's in digital communication from the University of Florida and has been an active part of Ainsley's Angels since 2015. When she's not putting in miles of smiles as an angel runner or creating Insta reels, she's likely to be found snuggling her puppies Brick and Champ, or playing video games with her husband Tommy.
Misty Lawson
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Misty bio is coming soon.
Shannon Miller
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Shannon started working with Ainsley’s Angels as part of the Master 's-level Internship Program at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School for Global Public Health. Outside of Ainsley’s Angels, Shannon is a coach with Girls on the Run. Her career includes clinical research at Massachusetts General/Harvard Medical School’s Mongan Institute, and most recently, at Duke University’s School of Medicine working with patients to reduce their cancer-related pain, fatigue, and stress via behavioral interventions. Originally from Chicago, Shannon has lived in North Carolina since 2020. In her free time, Shannon enjoys traveling, acting, and improvisation classes.
Briley Rossiter
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Bio Coming Soon!
Darlene Marshall
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Darlene Marshall is an educator and coach at the intersection of fitness, wellness, and wellbeing. With 14 years in the fitness and wellness space and over a dozen certifications, she's the first personal trainer to earn a Master's degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Darlene is honored to provide programming across all programs within Ainsley's Angels, as well as run with the Albany?Adirondacks Ambassadorship.