The Spark Prize 2025 Awardees

Diego Abente

Diego Abente is the President and CEO of Casa de Salud, a St. Louis nonprofit delivering clinical and mental health care to uninsured and under-resourced individuals, with a particular focus on immigrants and newcomers. Drawing on his international background and deep experience in nonprofit leadership, Diego is building bridges between Missouri’s health care institutions and the people who too often fall through the cracks. 

Originally from Paraguay, Diego has worked in global public health and economic development, including roles with Paraguay’s Treasury Department and an Equatorial Guinea-based malaria prevention nonprofit. Since arriving in St. Louis, he has championed equitable health care access, first through the International Institute and now through Casa de Salud. 

Under his leadership, Casa de Salud provides culturally competent care in multiple languages, offers patient navigation support, and partners with providers to address systemic gaps. He sees Casa as a portal to both healing and belonging, a place that helps newcomers thrive. 

Diego believes the Spark Prize will open doors for broader collaboration across Missouri’s health care systems. He views his mission as helping to make our state a place where no one is excluded from care.

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is the Co-Founder and CEO of Attane Health, a mission-driven digital health company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Drawing from her own experience as a former Medicaid recipient and parent navigating food insecurity, Emily is pioneering solutions in the “food is medicine” space to ensure that nutritious food becomes a standard part of health care. 

Through Attane, Emily partners with health plans to provide food prescriptions, one-on-one coaching, and culturally tailored nutrition support to underserved populations. Her platform has already reached over 1,000 patients and helped improve key health metrics for individuals with chronic conditions. 

A national patient advocate and published researcher, Emily serves on an advisory council at the NIH and has given oral testimony to the FDA and USDA. She is a recognized leader in advancing equitable, food-based health care for all.

Kelly McGowan

Kelly McGowan is a public health leader and civic innovator working to make local government more accessible and responsive. A proud native of St. Louis, Kelly uses creativity and community connection to help residents understand how decisions are made and how to influence them. 

She combines storytelling, neighborhood organizing, and civic education to turn everyday people into advocates for safer streets, better health, and stronger communities. Through her work with Transform 314, she’s helping reimagine civic engagement as something joyful, inclusive, and community-oriented. Kelly holds a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Saint Louis University and a Master of Public Health from Washington University in St. Louis. Her long-term vision is to create a model of civic engagement that other cities can adopt and to make sure no one is left out of the process of building a healthier future.

Ciearra “CJ” Walker

Ciearra “CJ” Walker is the CEO of the Community Health Worker Coalition (CHWCo), a social enterprise born out of St. Louis and rooted in legacy. Founded by nine Community Health Workers (CHWs), the Coalition has grown under CJ’s leadership (since its inception),  into a nationally recognized model for impact. As a servant-leader grounded in community, CJ continues to guide its expansion, trusted to build what lasts.

Through CHWCo, CJ leads a vibrant network supporting community health workers across industries spanning from health care, social service, labor unions, education, banking, commercial business, justice, civic systems, etc. Her work braids together certification, professional development, economic mobility, and neighborhood-rooted leadership to strengthen the community health workforce and reimagine what health and social equity looks like in practice.

A Detroit native, CJ’s lived experience with systemic injustice shaped her unwavering belief that healing begins in community, and that systems must be held accountable to the people they serve. Her work centers on community leadership, resident voice, and regenerative economic practices to improve well-being across Missouri. She is pursuing her Doctorate in Public Health Leadership at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where her research focuses on publishing CHWCo’s workforce model as a nationally replicable framework for equity, sustainability, and repair.

Under her leadership, CHWCo has supported the training and upskilling of more than 370 CHWs, invested thousands in member development, advanced a career laddering model, while also fostering unique workforce stewardship models. CJ also serves as Vice President of the CHW Association of Missouri and lends her leadership across several nonprofit and philanthropic boards.

CJ lives in the St. Louis region and remains deeply rooted in community connection. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and an advocate for justice, opportunity, and joyful leadership across all sectors.

Evonnia Woods

Evonnia Woods is a movement builder based in Columbia, Missouri, with more than a decade of experience integrating education, research, and community organizing to advance racial, reproductive, environmental, and economic justice. Most of her work occurs in mid-Missouri communities, often left out of statewide conversations.

Evonnia co-founded Mid-MO Repro (Mid-Missouri’s Reproductive Justice Coalition), co-hosts the feminist radio show Women’s Issues, Women’s Voices on KOPN-Columbia, and co-authors a monthly Mid-MO “take action” newsletter that encourages residents to actively participate in local grassroots efforts. She is currently building a new movement-building and leadership development organization.

She describes The Spark Prize as a powerful source of validation and a tool to invest not just in her vision, but in others doing underfunded justice work across Missouri. “This isn’t just about me,” she says. “It’s about building something that lasts, together.”