Find A Youth Mentor

Hello! My name is Mikayla Mango. I am 18 years old, I was diagnosed with alopecia when I was 13 and a 7th grader in middle school. I lost all of my hair and wore a wig for 3 years, I now get spots at random around my scalp. I kept my alopecia very private up until March of 2022. I want to show everyone that their voice matters, I want to help be the light at the end of the tunnel for those who feel in the dark. I have been a part of NAAF for 3 years now and continue my advocacy work but am very eager to help others along their amazing journeys!

I live in Chestnut Hill, MA, and work at the Animal Rescue League of Boston and Gillette Stadium (Go Pats!). I have had alopecia since kindergarten, but lost the majority of my hair the summer before my senior year of high school. I remember going for my first wig, absolutely hating it, and not only being devastated, but furious because I felt as though my hair had been taken away from me. That was the summer of 2010. In the spring of 2012 I lost my eyebrows, and in the fall, my eyelashes. I remember learning how to draw on my eyebrows and watching YouTube videos to learn how to wear fake eyelashes. Soon after losing my eyebrows, I got them tattooed on, and in 2015, I got my bottom eyeliner. Yes it kills, but yes I love them. Ever since, I am in full hair and makeup almost every day. From crying so hard I could barely stand, to showing the boyfriend I thought I would never find what I look like without my hair on, I know what it feels like to hate being bald. I’d be lying if I said I was comfortable with my alopecia, but after my first NAAF conference in 2013, my world started turning in a different direction, in a positive direction. I want everyone to know that it is okay to wear a wig, and that you can still be your super awesome self with one on! I love talking to people and would love to talk to you about wigs, make up, and cute animals!

My name is Sam, and I am originally from Utah, but I spent much of my life in New Hampshire and Idaho. I am now back living in Utah for school. I am student at Utah Valley University studying Digital Marketing and Business Administration. I lived in the Dominican Republic for a year and half, where I became fluent in Spanish, and also where my struggle with alopecia began. A couple months before I returned home from my time there, I noticed a bald spot on my head. I got treatment for it and didn’t have any more fallout until a month before I got married in August of 2017. Since then I’ve pretty consistent loss, and although I still have my own hair, it gets thinner and I find new spots every day, so it’s just something I have learned to accept and own. Alopecia runs in my family, and I witnessed my mom struggle with it pretty much my entire life. I watched how hard she took it and how much she struggled with confidence and feeling normal, so I decided to become a mentor so I could help someone to own their alopecia at a young age, so they don’t go through the same struggles my mom has as an adult. I’ve learned you can’t let alopecia get in the way of you living your life and it is so important to continue doing all the things you love. I love to be outdoors, I am really in to skiing, rock climbing, hiking and biking. I hope to be a friend, a support, and a guide, and to be more involved in the alopecia community.

Hello, my name is Luke Krupski and I am from Canton, Michigan. I am currently a junior attending Grand Valley State University pursuing a degree in biomedical science. I aspire to become a physician assistant in the future and love science. I enjoy hiking, watching movies, and golfing. My alopecia journey started when I was in 5th grade when I noticed that I had two bald spots on my head. During this time, I was self-conscious about being different and sought treatment. I grew my hair out a little longer to cover up the spots and I received injections in my head for multiple months. Eventually, my hair grew back and it stayed that way for two years. Once again, in 7th I found multiple bald spots on my head and I went back to the dermatologist to receive treatment. Soon enough, my hair grew back again and everything went back to normal. In 9th grade my hair started to fall out again and this time it fell out faster and in a much larger area. I went back to recieve treatment but nothing seemed to work. Eventually, my hair completely fell out and after many treatment attempts I decided that I was comfortable without hair. I stopped treatment and have had alopecia universalis ever since. Today, I couldn’t imagine myself with hair. I truly think that I became a much more confident person through the process. Overall, alopecia was scary at first but it brought out the best in me.

My Name is Kylie Clowney, I’m 22 years old and I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia. I currently work at Blue Moon Florist in Chester County and love it! I love plants, flowers & the outdoors! I love going on hikes, dancing, yoga, exploring new places, trying new foods and hanging out with my friends. Philadelphia has my heart, and it’s one of my favorite places to be. I have had alopecia areata universalis almost my whole life, with my hair falling out and coming back up until 3rd grade. It then thinned out pretty heavy, until I finally shaved it all in 7th grade! I have never worn a wig, and love being bald. Alopecia has become a big part of my life, and I love talking to others and educating them about it. NAAF has been an amazing part of my life since I was young, and a great tool in helping me tell others about my alopecia. I am so excited to be a part of this program, and hopefully change lives as NAAF helped change mine!

Hello everyone! My name is Dionne Glover and I am from Columbus, OH. I am a senior at The Ohio State University majoring in theoretical mathematics. I discovered that I had alopecia when I was 15 years old. My hair loss was a very rapid progression. I first started out with a few bald patches, but within a few months, all of the hair was completely gone on my head. This became very hard for me to deal with because I also had to deal with the challenges that came with high school. I chose to wear a wig during this time and it eventually served as my security blanket. A year later, I was fortunate enough to have all of my hair grow back. To this day, I still struggle with patches, along with the fear of the unknown. I have never been open about my alopecia, which is why I want to become a mentor. I want to have the opportunity to help my mentee(s) through these times that could prove to be difficult. I had a great support system during high school which helped me process the situation, so I want to be able to lend that hand to someone else. Currently, my interests include both makeup and fashion. I also enjoy hanging out with my friends and binge-watching shows on Netflix. I am eager to offer any advice to my mentee(s) and to help them out in any way!

Hello, my name is Simo and I am 25. I have had alopecia since I was 10. I understand how hard it is to live with alopecia especially in the early stages of the disease because I lived it. In the beginning, I was sad 100% of the time. I tried every kind of solution in the world with no success. Today, I would say that alopecia is the best thing that happened in my life, and I mean it! As a result of alopecia, I started building a strong self-confidence and it also helps me with my success today. I am looking forward to be a mentor to show you how to acquire this self-confidence quickly and how to accept alopecia. Remember, happiness starts with a conscious choice. Suffering offers no benefit whatsoever. None! This mindset has been my cure for alopecia, believe it or not! I had alopecia universalis before. Today, I have full regrowth of my eyebrows and my beard-thanks to this MAGIC cure called a positive attitude :) #StayStrongNoMatterWhat

My name is Jackie Linevsky and I am attending the University of Florida pursuing a degree in Astrophysics with minors in international studies and sustainability. I just completed a trip around the world and studied abroad in New Zealand for 5 months, so I love to travel. I am also into hiking and camping, I love to cook, and I paint and draw. I am 22 years old and got alopecia areata when I was 19 and currently I have alopecia universalis. My alopecia experience was very confusing because at first no one knew what was wrong with me or why my hair was falling out, so it was very scary. Doctors put me through all sorts of tests and tried a lot of different things to try and make the hair come back and to figure out why it was falling but nothing worked. Eventually it was determined that I had alopecia. Being scientifically minded, I decided to do a lot of research on alopecia which helped me figure out and understand what was happening. I reached out to NAAF and went to the conference where I met others with alopecia and it changed my life. I have tons of hacks and tricks for living with alopecia from how to deal with a wig or hat in airport security to different activewear caps and even how to deal with having alopecia in relation to social media. I like to switch up my look by using either a wig, hat, or head scarf and learned different ways to tie a turban. Now, I see my alopecia as something that makes me unique and think it tells a story about myself. I have accepted it and am even happy that I had the whole experience because it helped me grow as a person and meet an incredible support group through NAAF. Please reach out and I look forward to being an alopecia mentor and a friend.

Hi! My name is Elisabeth, and I'm a college freshman. I'm currently at College of Marin but will be attending the University of San Francisco in the fall of 2023. I've grown up in Marin County all my life and have fallen in love with San Francisco and all it has to offer. That said, I'm the BIGGEST Giants and Golden State Warriors fan. I play volleyball, love music of all kinds, and am the biggest Studio Ghibli & Disney/Pixar enthusiast. I started to lose my hair when I was 13 (May 2017). I began to see doctors in my area, and about a month later, I was diagnosed with alopecia areata. It started out as small patches, and by the end of the month, my hair was all gone. It was really hard, especially as a middle schooler, having to go around with hats or wraps covering my head and being unable to explain what was happening to my peers. Being scared of wigs did not help my situation at all. My hair slowly grew back, and to this day, I've had random, patchy flare-ups every month or so from 8th grade to my senior year in high school. It started to fall out again in April of my senior year, which took a massive toll on my mental health, more so than it did in middle school and all of my hair fell out again.  Luckily, I had (and continue to have) such a fantastic support group in my family and friends. I want to give those in this mentor program the comfort and reassurance I needed when I first discovered I had alopecia. It's hard, and at first, you'll feel alone in this new world, but I want to be able to give the kids, and their parents, the support that I really needed at the beginning of all the craziness and to know that you're never alone!

Hi! My name is Michael, and I am from Southern New Jersey. I now live in New York City where I work as a Costume Designer at The Juilliard School. I was diagnosed with Alopecia when I was two but first started losing hair when I was nine years old. I wore wigs during this time – however, I stopped wearing wigs when my hair came back. I grew back my eyebrows, eyelashes, and a thick head of hair. Then when I was 15 all my hair fell out again. I am now 22 and have a thin amount of hair on my head and receive eyebrow injections several times a year. Despite that, I have been heavily involved in the theatre community since I was 10 years old, performing and eventually designing for the stage. Growing up performing in front of others young and bald can be difficult and scary. I hope to share my experience, whilst also listening, learning, and growing with my mentee(s). In my free time I love drawing, going to museums, and watching movies. I am greatly looking forward to developing meaningful relationships!