Cortaiga holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Missouri St. Louis, a second bachelor’s in child development from Central Methodist University and a master’s degree in business administration from Webster University. She serves as founding Executive Director of the Foundation for Strengthening Families (FSF). In addition to her work as executive director of FSF, Mrs. Collins serves as Executive Director for Good Shepherd Early Learning Center, a nationally accredited early childhood education center she founded in 2009 and Good Shepherd Early Learning Center West founded in 2023.  She is the visionary behind the Show Me Family Zone, an ambitious, herculean effort to end generational poverty and close the wealth and achievement gap in the West End neighborhood of St. Louis City and The Good Shepherd Academy for Boys, the regions first all-male preschool.

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Ms. Kinnel is a 1996 graduate of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville having obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In 2003, Ms. Kinnel furthered her nursing education by completing the Master of Science in Nursing at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville with an emphasis in Nursing and Healthcare Administration. Over the course of 25 years, Ms. Kinnel has worked in the healthcare field caring for adults. Ms. Kinnel has served as a direct caregiver, charge nurse, hospital supervisor, nurse manager, acting nurse executive, program manager, and utilization nurse reviewer.