Find A Youth Mentor

My name is Catherine Sherren. Originally from Fresno, California, I moved to Frisco, Texas at one. I recently graduated Cum Laude from Frisco High School, which I maintained a 4.0 GPA for all four years. My experience in high school has definitely had an impact on the person that I am today. I was a member of the orchestra and a member of the school’s broadcast team. Despite being diagnosed with Alopecia during my Junior year of high school, I feel like I still had as great of a high school experience as any student could have. Living with Alopecia has undoubtedly had an impact on the way I live and my outlook on everything. I was really scared at first but was able to learn to live with it with the support of my family and friends. It has taught me to have a positive outlook on life, no matter how down I feel. It has also taught me to be grateful for every little thing in my life. Every time I feel down, I always know it will get better. I really enjoy working and helping others. I currently work at Play Street Museum, an interactive museum for children, where I have been an employee for three years. I really enjoy working at Play Street due to my outgoing personality and my desire to help others and really enjoy watching the children have a good time. The children’s smiles warm my heart. Serving as a mentor for people who live with Alopecia is going to be a great honor for me. I really enjoy helping others and would really love to meet others with Alopecia and offer my assistance in any way I can.

Hi everyone! My name is Bradley Parsons and I am Masters of Public Health student in Houston, Texas. I spent most of my childhood around Chicago before moving to Baltimore for college at Johns Hopkins University, where I studied Public Health and Psychology and played collegiate baseball. I am currently applying to medical school and hope to be able to treat and research Alopecia in my future career as a physician. I love watching sports, exercising, writing music, and occasionally playing video games with friends! Until my sophomore year in college, I had patchy Alopecia Areata around my body. During the summer following my sophomore year, my condition progressed to Alopecia Universalis as all the hair on my body gradually fell out. Luckily, I had amazing support groups of friends, family and colleagues that made me feel comfortable with my condition early on. I look forward to providing that same support to any future mentees in the Youth Mentor program to hopefully ease the struggles that come with Alopecia while also building lasting friendships!

My name is Sarah Ford, I’m 17 years old and live outside of Philadelphia. I am currently a senior at Conestoga High School and during my freshman year is when I found out about my Alopecia. My hobbies include traveling, playing sports and babysitting! In the Fall of my freshman year I noticed a bald spot on my head and all my doctors told me it was from stress. Later that year, I found out it was Alopecia Areata and I began to get the shots in my head to grow back the hair. Since I only had one bald spot the shots worked, and my hair grew back in that area. Around the same time in fall my sophomore year I started to lose my hair again. This time all my hair fell out. I started wearing a wig because I was very self-conscious about looking so different than the rest of my peers in such a big school. During my junior year, all my hair started to grow back under my wig, I had hair down to my ears. Everyone around me was telling me to stop wearing my wig but I was so scared and insecure of what other people were going to say. One day, with the support of my family and friends around me I decided to stop wearing the wig and walk into school with my short hair. I have learned so much through this experience, and even though it was exceptionally hard, it has taught me so much about myself and has changed my perspective on life. Alopecia is a very emotional and hard disease to cope with, but with the help of other people who have alopecia and the community around me I learned that Alopecia isn’t all that matters and there is so much more to life! I can’t wait to be able to give the support that I had to other people who are struggling with Alopecia too.

Hi, I’m Erin! I’m a second-year college student at Northeastern University pursuing chemical engineering. I have 3 older siblings, a dog, and a cat. I enjoy spending time with my family, traveling, eating at new restaurants, and watching movies. My journey with Alopecia Areata started when I was 10 and I lost my hair in patches. I regrew hair back with a topical solution. Then, at age 15, I lost my hair until I became bald, and I lost my eyebrows. I covered my bald spots with hats every day in school, and it became my biggest insecurity, affecting my sense of identity. After months of trying to hide my hair loss, I embraced my bald head and wanted to share my story. My hair grew back with Xeljanz and for the last few years, my hair has fallen out and grew back repeatedly, so I’m still on this self-love journey and learning how to cope with it. Alopecia has taught me resilience and the importance of mental health. I encourage others to reach out and share their experiences because I felt lonely in this process, and my goal is to provide a support system to whoever needs it.

Everyone is brave. Each person is brave because of their own unique journeys and obstacles. Mine just happened to be alopecia! This is one of the many things alopecia has taught me. Hi! My name is Sabrina. I’ve been a Minnesotan my whole life and never lived anywhere else, but I love exploring new places. I love to create art, eat plants, play tennis, and spend time with my family and friends. I was diagnosed with alopecia areata late 2019. I didn’t develop alopecia as a child and haven’t had it for quite as long as some people, but the disease has had a significant impact on me, especially as a college student. Ultimately, it changed my life. My hair loss started out as a single patch but diffused into alopecia universalis within 6 months. I bought a wig initially thinking I just needed to temporarily hide my balding head until my hair grew back. But I realized eventually, as my hair loss worsened, that alopecia was something that was going to be with me for the rest of my life. I shaved my head to take control of the disease and stopped wearing my wig. It made me feel beautiful and more like myself. With each day, I learn more about how to fully accept this mysterious disease. I can’t wait to continue my journey of bravery and be a part of your journey with you!

Hi, I’m Allie! I’m currently in my junior year of high school. I was born and raised in south Jersey, so I’m a diehard Philly sports fan. I love exploring the outdoors and going on trips with my family and friends. My journey with alopecia started my freshman year when i noticed a few, small, bald spots around my head. Developing alopecia during such a big transitional period in my life definitely took a stab at my mental health. Luckily, I was (and still am) blessed to be surrounded by such amazing and supportive people who have made this journey so much easier. My goal is to be that support system to someone else who needs it now as much as I did then.

Hi! My name is Olivia. I live in Chicago, IL. I am a junior in high school. I enjoy playing softball and volleyball. Some activities I have a great interest for is traveling, hiking, and going on adventures. I was diagnosed with Alopecia when i was 8 years old. It started with just one spot that was about the size of a dime. I used to flip my hair over it or just cover it up with some dark powder. But a year later, it continued to get worse. I lost all the hair in the back of my head and was completely bald by the start of 4th grade. These past 8 years dealing with this condition have been anything but easy. I struggled a lot, socially and mentally with myself, and still continue to. Alopecia has taken a lot from me but has also blessed me with many things such things such as maturity, new life long friends that I’ve met through NAAF, and new experiences with the people who understand me the most. I really look forward to answering any questions, getting to know you, and being able to help you in any way!

My name is Harris Roach and I live in Atlanta, GA. I’m so excited to be part of this alopecia mentorship community!!! Having experienced alopecia myself, I understand that the journey can impact so much more than just your appearance. It can also affect confidence, identity, and how you see yourself. I’m passionate about encouraging others, sharing my experiences, and helping create a space where people feel seen, supported, and confident. I hope to be someone who can offer encouragement, understanding, and a reminder that alopecia doesn’t define your worth or limit who you can become. I work at AT&T as a content writer on a cybersecurity security team and I’m also a Certified Nutrition Coach. Some of my other hobbies include pickleball, creating vlogs, learning new languages, and traveling the world. I’m so excited to meet you!

Hello, my name is Alec! I am a second-year college student studying Cybersecurity at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). I have dealt with Alopecia since the age of two and over time I've learned to embrace it. In my free time, I love playing video games, programming, singing, and creating music. I also enjoy the great outdoors and will take every opportunity to go hiking, kayaking, and especially fishing. I hope to inspire others as a mentor and become closer to the Alopecia community.

Salutations! My name is Candy and I am thankful for my alopecia. Don't get me wrong, the 6 years old Candy did not embrace her new hairdo right away and societal impacts made the self love journey difficult. But looking back, I realized that everything I went through shaped me into the courageous, intelligent, and beautiful person I am today. Strangers and even loved ones have looked at me with wonder and pity because of my condition. This made me believe that having alopecia is a negative thing. For more than half of my life, I underwent many different and sometimes god-awfully painful medications on and off in hopes of restoring my former "beauty." This made it hard to feel beautiful because if I wasn't broken, why spend all that effort trying to "fix" me? This is the question that held me down for years and it explained my lack of worth. Ironically enough, this is the same question that raised me from that cold, dark hole of self-pity. Along the way, other people's opinions began to mean less and less to me; I started to see this question in a new light. Why "fix" what is not broken? I know I am not perfect but alopecia does not make me imperfect, it makes me different, unique. It makes me ME! As long as I am healthy, then in no world is my body short of amazing. It gets me where I need it to go, allows me to enjoy life through my senses, and it keeps me alive! I choose to accept myself even if no one else would because I will no longer live my life for other people. I am thankful for my alopecia because it helped me see my worth and taught me that as long as I love myself, it doesn't matter how the rest of the world looks at me. Life is too short to care about what others think and if they are going to stare anyways, mind as well give them something to look at!