Vanessa Elias, mental health activist, certified parent coach, and community advisor, helps people build relationships, connection, and community within the home, and outside the home. She is featured on NPR, PBS, and in the WSJ and serves as a parent support group facilitator for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and a speaker for The Aspen Institute’s Weave Social Fabric Project. Vanessa has moved 28 times in her life. In 2018, Vanessa launched Big Block Party Weekend in her hometown of Wilton, CT. Encouraged by the feedback and recognizing the need, she founded Block Party USA in 2023 as a free, simple, and actionable cure for our country’s loneliness, social isolation, divisiveness, and the youth mental health crisis. She helps people take actionable steps to change their lives, families, and communities, and to achieve a life worth living – full of meaningful connection, support, relationships, well-being, and play. To learn more, visit VanessaElias.com.
