Bios - First Candle

FIRST CANDLE NEWSROOM

Alison Jacobson

Chief Executive Officer
Executive Director

Alison Jacobson is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of First Candle, a position she has held since 2016. She has been involved with the organization since the loss of her first son to Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) in 1997, including six years on the Board of Directors and roles as spokesperson and consultant.

She has guided the organization through rebranding and programming expansion, including a focus on addressing the racial disparities in the rates of SUID and how implicit bias and social determinants of health factor into these deaths. This includes the development of First Candle’s safe sleep and implicit bias training program for care providers, Straight Talk for Infant Safe Sleep and its community-based parent education program Let’s Talk Community Chats for infant safe sleep and breastfeeding.

Her collaborative work with organizations and agencies including the Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association, Center for Black Women’s Wellness, March of Dimes, the NICHD, HRSA, CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics has helped her advance the organization’s mission to get every baby to their first birthday.

As a SUID mother herself, she also plays an active role in First Candle’s bereavement program, providing support to families who have experienced a loss and working with families and First Candle’s online support groups.

Under her tenure the organization has been awarded grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and a three-year grant currently underway from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, to examine infant safe sleep policies and practices in the Atlanta Perinatal Region that contribute to health disparities and structural racism, and develop a community-based program to mitigate it.

She is a frequent presenter at maternal and infant health conferences, and First Candle will host the October 2025 International Society for the Study and Prevention of Perinatal and Infant Death (ISPID) conference in San Diego, with the theme of Fostering Unity for Infant Survival: Collaborative Approaches Across Diverse Communities.

Her previous work has included child safety communications and a role as Senior Vice President at Weber Shandwick, one of the world’s largest public relations firms, where she led business development initiatives for Fortune 500 companies and developed rebranding campaigns and launch programs for numerous consumer brands. She was also the founder of Creative Exposure, a public relations firm serving commercial production, special effects, music and animation houses.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Marymount Manhattan College.

She has also served on the board of STAR Inc., a Connecticut non-profit serving individuals of all ages who have developmental disabilities.

She and her family reside in Connecticut, where she is a mother and stepmother, and a caregiver to her husband, who has multiple sclerosis, and to a son with intellectual disabilities. #

Barb Himes, CD

Director of Education and Bereavement Services

Barb Himes has been involved in the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and infant loss arena as an advocate and educator since 1982. Her two-month old son, Jake, died on December 24, 1981. Soon after his death, she began to educate health care professionals and first responders on appropriate responses to infant death.

She has spent more than ten years working at a national level as the Director of Education and Bereavement Services for First Candle/National SIDS Alliance. She is also a Certified Doula.

She co-chaired the Child Care and Early Education Action Team for the National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep (NAPPSS-IIN), and was a member of the Steering Committee for the first iteration of NAPPSS.

She also sits on the National Child and Maternal Health Education Program (NCMEP) Coordinating Committee, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and is a member for the International Society for the Study and Prevention of Perinatal and Infant Death (ISPID), receiving its Distinguished Educator award in 2023.

She is a national and international speaker on infant safe sleep, breastfeeding and grief. She is also the recipient of the Indiana State Department of Health Commissioner’s Award, Angel of Grace Award, and Community Health Network “Recognition of Nursing Excellence”, “Patient Safety Award” and CHE Lactation Team 2019 IBCLC Care Award.

She is a mother to six children and grandmother to 15-and-counting grandchildren.#

Destiny Stokes, MPH

Program Director

Destiny joined First Candle as Program Director in 2024. She was previously Research Manager at Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia, which has been First Candle’s partner in executing a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, focusing on infant mortality in the Atlanta Perinatal Region.

She is responsible for First Candle program strategic planning and management, as well as community and stakeholder engagement. This includes expansion of the Let’s Talk Community Chat program, a community-based program fostering infant safe sleep and breastfeeding information and discussion with families and caregivers.

She holds a Master of Public Health degree in Health Promotion and Behavior and a B.S. in Biology from Georgia State University.

She brings to First Candle deep knowledge around infant survival and health equity and is a frequent presenter and maternal and infant health conferences. #

FIRST CANDLE NEWSROOM

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