Great Conversations

Founder, Julie Giesy Metzger, RN, MN

Julie Giesy Metzger began her nursing career at Seattle Children’s Hospital in 1981 caring for hospitalized teens and their families in the adolescent unit. The experience of working with teens who managed their lives with resilience and strength solidified her passion for adolescents and their families. In graduate school at the University of Washington School of Nursing, Julie pursued her passion through research analysis of the experiences of young women in puberty. Inspired by that work, Julie designed and delivered For Girls Only: A Heart to Heart Talk on Growing Up in 1988 while living in Pittsburgh, PA—the class became a local hit.

Julie returned to Seattle and began teaching For Girls at Seattle Children’s Hospital and launched what is now a perennial rite of passage for tens of thousands of preteen girls and their families throughout the Pacific Northwest and San Francisco Bay Areas. Over the years Julie has written and taught curricula for preteens and teens that promote strategies for decision-making, and she has written two books for preteens.

Julie has been invited to numerous school and community groups to talk to parents about topics related to adolescence. Her encouraging, straightforward approach, matched with the latest research and strategies, have made her a popular presenter.

Julie’s professional and clinical experiences include managing a pediatric unit, teaching pediatric nursing, and facilitating projects at Seattle Children’s. She and her husband are parents of three young adults who have been the primary inspiration of her work.

Kara Bazzi, LMFT

Kara is a mental health therapist, focusing her work on concerns around eating, body image and relationship to sport and exercise. As a former collegiate distance runner for the University of Washington, and someone who has recovered from an eating disorder, Kara’s passion for helping others is deeply rooted in her own lived experiences. Kara is the Co-Founder, Clinical Director and creator of the Exercise+Sport program at Opal: Food+Body Wisdom. Kara lives in Seattle with her 2 preteen daughters, her husband (who was a former teammate at UW), and her new English Retriever dog, Murphy.

Linda Brooks

A health educator since 2003, Linda facilitates processes that encourage youth to become empowered to choose and act with awareness. In the For Girls Only classes she’s been teaching since 2009, Linda enjoys providing information to enable girls and their families to communicate openly and constructively about a variety of important topics. Linda is also a professional photographer and enjoys camping, playing guitar, and teaching and learning from her son.

Fred Capestany

Fred comes from a long, extensive background as an educator and trainer with specific experience in sexuality education. He has worked with kids of all age ranges in addition to families. Currently, he is the Director for College Support at Rainier Scholars in Seattle. In addition to working with college age students at Highline Community College and University of Puget Sound, he has also been a sexuality educator with the Seattle School District.

Deb Casey BSN RNC-NIC

Deb is a registered nurse practicing at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford since 1996. She began her career in their pediatric urgent care clinic and 20 years ago began working in the Intermediate Care Nursery and Well Baby Nursery. While her practice has focused on newborns, she recently discovered her love for teaching preteens about puberty and has been a Heart-to-Heart instructor for the last five years. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in nursing education. Deb lives in San Jose, California with her husband, three daughters and one son. She strives to give her best every day in her personal and professional life.

Helen Chen MPH

Helen Chen is a health educator, community advocate and public health professional who has been working in education and advocacy for 16 years. She educates about various women’s health issues, puberty, and sex education to a wide range of audiences including pre-teens, teenagers, college students, recent grads, executives and new moms. Helen strives to make the learning process for sensitive topics as comfortable, shame-free, and fun as possible.

Julie Church RDN

Julie is the Co-Founder, Nutrition Director and Community Relations Director at Opal: Food+Body Wisdom, an eating disorder treatment center in Seattle, WA where she created a weight-inclusive treatment approach to nutrition and weight. She is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and has focused her career in helping individuals heal from eating disorders and mainstream diet culture. She lives in Seattle with her husband and three boys.

Torrey Freeman, MS

Torrey Freeman, MS is a certified Parent Educator, Sex Educator and Counselor who has been working with students and families since 2005. Her career has focused on providing non-judgemental and developmentally appropriate information for families about our changing bodies. She was inspired to do this work after training at the San Francisco Sex Information organization in 2006. While working as a Parent Educator, Torrey specialized in guiding families of preschool aged children with new siblings on the way. She currently lives in Silicon Valley with her husband and two daughters.

Elysse Grossi-Soyster, MS

Elysse Grossi-Soyster (they/them) is an infectious disease scientist, a professor, a health educator, and the founder of a STEM outreach non-profit organization. Elysse has been teaching Heart to Heart since 2015, and aims to make sexual health education more inclusive and comfortable by normalizing conversations about our ever-changing bodies. Elysse also runs STEM Outreach Collective, a science outreach organization for middle and high school classrooms in the greater SF Bay Area and beyond. Outside of the lab and the classroom, Elysse is an avid triathlete, an artist, and a world traveler.

Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson, MSW, CSE, is passionate about healthy families and great communication. She has worked with youth and families since 1982 and with Great Conversations since 2013. Amy’s passion for helping adults and youth think intentionally about their relationships is evident in her work as a national trainer, educator, and author. When she’s not teaching, Amy enjoys yoga, reading, and spending time with family and friends of all ages.

Kai Kunkel

At the heart of Kai’s work is a drive to help families connect and communicate. She has worked in the field of sexuality education since 1999 and is dedicated to providing young people with accurate, age appropriate information and the tools to make the best health choices for themselves. She currently works in special education in Seattle Public Schools with a focus on social emotional literacy and provides positive discipline parenting classes within our community. She’s a mom of two and loves nothing more than a kitchen dance party with her crew.

Co-Founder, Robert Lehman, MD

We are grateful to Dr. Rob Lehman for his contribution as Co-founder of Great Conversations. His expertise in adolescent health, along with his humor and warmth helped shape the vision of the work of educating preteens and their families for many years. Dr. Rob remains Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington, enjoys traveling and adventuring, and is the co-author with Julie Metzger of Will Puberty Last My Whole Life? – the primary resource of the Great Conversations’ curriculum.

Kathryn Metzger

Kathryn Metzger is a NYC based virtual event producer and performer. Beyond Great Conversations, Kathryn regularly acts as consultant to both artists and educators to produce connection-based content on virtual platforms using film and performance techniques. An alumnus of the prestigious Chautauqua Theater Company, British American Drama Academy, and The National High School Institute (Cherubs), Kathryn also holds a teaching certification in the Michael Chekhov technique from the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. MFA from Case Western Reserve University, in collaboration with the Tony-Award winning Cleveland Play House.

Peter Metzger, MD

Peter Metzger MD is a pediatrician with Pediatrics Northwest in Tacoma, WA. He is a graduate of University of Washington School of Medicine and completed his General Pediatric Residency at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Peter has also worked in the Emergency Department at Children’s National in Washington DC. He is passionate about kids learning about their bodies and becoming confident decision-makers about their own health. Peter and his wife live in Seattle and love cycling, running, and being in the mountains.

Mary Patterson

Mary Patterson is an educator, community advocate and non-profit executive. She has dedicated her work of the past 25 years to improving the health and well-being of children and youth. Mary has been teaching For Girls Only since 2008. She is also the Director of Strategic Partnerships at The Health Trust and President of the Board of Legacy Academy, a charter school serving middle school youth at risk for involvement in the juvenile justice system. Mary lives in San José, California, with her husband and two daughters.

Meagan Pugh, RN, PNP

Meaghan Pugh, RN, PNP is a nurse practitioner in pediatric primary care. She is passionate about working with adolescents and talking with them about their bodies and their health. Meaghan also studied neuroscience and had a fascination with how our brains grow and change. She trained to be a pediatric nurse practitioner at University of California, San Francisco, where she also worked on a research team studying genetic causes of autism. When not working, she can be found biking, running, skiing or spending time with her family.

Greg Smallidge

Since 1996, Greg has facilitated sexuality classes for kids, teachers, parents and families. He’s worked with high school peer educators, created curriculum, and is currently producing a documentary that explores the ideas and practices of sexuality education. Greg began teaching For Boys Only in 2008, bringing an easy, comfortable style to talking with boys and their families. He is raising two boys with his wife, Susan.

Carlos Villarreal III

Carlos Villarreal II has been a youth educator since 1999 and has worked with youth in a variety of settings since 1999. He been teaching Heart to Heart: For Boys Only since the Summer of 2015. He enjoys making a difference and helping youth and their families. He is the father to four boys and is also a high school soccer and club soccer coach.

Heidi Winig MEd, MPH

Heidi has worked in the field of community health and education for the past twenty years, and is passionate about supporting families and young people with information and skills to live a healthy life. She holds Masters degrees in Public Health from UC Berkeley School of Public Health and in Education from Harvard University. She specializes in adolescent and sexual health, LOVES talking about puberty, and has worked both internationally and domestically to educate young people about their bodies and staying healthy physically and emotionally. Heidi resides in Santa Cruz with her partner and two young girls who have thousands of questions about their puberty, their bodies and where babies come from.