About Zinnia

Named for the zinnia flower that blooms in even the harshest conditions, Zinnia helps people flourish beyond their diagnosis.

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Our Mission

Our mission is to design artistic experiences that improve the quality of life for people living with mid- to late-stage memory loss or dementia by bolstering a sense of identity and fostering connection with loved ones and care partners at home and in long-term care settings.

Our Team

Allyson Schrier

Co-Founder and CEO

Program Manager at University of Washington’s Project ECHO Dementia and former Head of Technology at Experience Music Project. Allyson holds an MFA in Writing for Children from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and has published more than 25 books for children. Allyson also founded Thriving with Dementia, where she teaches about dementia and mental health.

Frank Lee

Co-Founder and Chief Design & Technology Officer

Former Product Designer at Apple, UX Designer at Mozilla, Program Manager at Microsoft, and Head of Design at several startups. Frank is a celebrated photographer and visual artist who earned his Engineering degree from the University of Toronto. His software designs are being used by hundreds of millions of people every day.

Berenice Freedome

Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer

A multimedia storyteller with an MFA in Writing from the California College of the Arts. Berenice’s eclectic creative background includes videography, editing, writing, journalism and copywriting for Veer (boutique stock agency sold to Corbis). She’s a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and has a studio on Granville Island.

Bill Uniowski

Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer

Former CEO of The Cube (live streaming video platform sold to TPCO), Chief of Staff at Tribune Publishing, Finance and Technology Strategist at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. Bill is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and is a former CPA.

Our Advisory Board

Soo Borson, M.D.

Professor Emerita of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington Affiliate Professor, Neurology, McLaughlin Research Institute

Soo is founding director of the Memory Disorders Program at University Medical Center and a core investigator in the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She is past President of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the Gerontological Society of America, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. She has published over 100 references dealing with late-life cognitive and mood disorders in patients.

Kate de Medeiros, Ph.D, MS

PROFESSOR, O’TOOLE PROFESSOR OF GERONTOLOGY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND GERONTOLOGY, MIAMI UNIVERSITY, OXFORD, OHIO. SCRIPPS RESEARCH FELLOW.

Kate's research on cultural structures affecting the experience of aging and the construction of self and personhood in people with dementia has been funded by the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institute of Aging. She has published extensively on topics related to dementia and quality of life, including a paper titled, Television Viewing and People with Dementia Living in Long-Term Care that was a catalyst for the creation of Zinnia TV.

Nancy Isenberg, MD, MPH, FAAN

Medical Director, Center for Healthy Aging, Swedish Neuroscience Institute Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology, University of Washington

Nancy is a cognitive neurologist caring for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia with extensive experience in evidence-based holistic treatments. She is co-lead of Project ECHO Dementia, an educational program for primary care providers intended to improve outcomes around dementia detection, diagnosis and support in rural and under-resourced populations in WA State.

Pamela Kelley

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALZHEIMER’S RESOURCE OF ALASKA

As Executive Director of Alzheimer’s Resource of Alaska, Pam works with a diverse board of directors, the professional staff, family caregivers and community partners across Alaska to oversee the organization’s effectiveness by providing strategic, operational and inspirational leadership that is consistent with the mission, values and principles of Alzheimer’s Resource of Alaska (ARA). She is a member of the Alaska Bar Association (inactive) and is widely published on subjects ranging from the First Amendment to end-of-life.

Keri Pollock

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS, AGING WISDOM

Keri brings more than 25 years of marketing, communications, training and business development knowledge and expertise in aging and social services. She serves on the Frye Art Museum Creative Aging Advisory Committee, Age Friendly Coalition for Seattle and King County, the Alzheimer’s Association Marcom Committee, and the Aging Life Care Association PR Committee.

Will Poole

Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Capria

Will is a serial entrepreneur and venture investor. He is co-founder and managing partner of Capria Ventures, a global financial services firm leading, partnering with and funding the largest network of fund managers in emerging markets. Will also co-founded Unitus Ventures, India’s leading profit-first impact fund that invests in early-stage businesses. Will is also a managing director of The W Fund, a Seattle-based tech and life-sciences fund affiliated with the University of Washington.

David H. Salesin, Ph.D

Principal Scientist / Director, Google Research

David Salesin leads the Gcam team, whose mission is to imagine and build the future of photography. David is also an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where he has been on the faculty since 1992. Prior to Google, he was Director of Research for Snap (2017-19), led the Creative Technologies Lab for Adobe Research as VP & Fellow (2005-17), and worked as a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research (1999-2005).

A life transformed by love and loss

“My husband Evan was diagnosed with dementia in his mid- 40s. He lived at home with us until his needs exceeded our abilities to provide excellent care. During visits with Evan, it was a challenge to witness the television being used as a babysitter, with residents stuck in front of the TV becoming agitated, confused, or falling asleep. I started wondering whether there was television programming specifically intended for people like Evan who could no longer track a plot, who had a hard time telling fiction from reality, who were challenged to process rapidly moving dialogue or images.”
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Allyson Schrier
Co-Founder, Zinnia

Zinnia is built by caregivers, for caregivers

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“Even in the latest stages of Dementia we are still able to communicate with people, we just have to try.”

Allyson Schrier

Co-Founder, Zinnia

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