OC Mom Collective

Elena is an accredited public relations strategist, specializing in the financial services, mortgage lending, real estate,and water/utility sectors. She is mom to big brother Hunter and baby sister Mekenzie as well as two rescue pit bulls name Jack and Zoe. She met her husband met shortly after graduating from California State University, Fullerton and has bounced around north county with him ever since. As a longtime Orange County native, Elena loves all things OC: The Angels, the mouse, the beach and everything in between. She currently serves as the Community Service Chair on the Public Relations Society of America's Orange County chapter board where she works with nonprofits, public relations veterans and communications students to provide probono services the area’s most worthy causes. In the little free time she has, she enjoys getting outdoors with her family, practicing yoga and catching her favorite bands live in concert.

Born and raised in Orange County from immigrant parents, Allison Melanio is an Xennial (mix of Gen X and Millennial) mom of two young children – Maddox (5) and Macy (3). Her husband and two kids currently reside in Rancho Mission Viejo, CA. Allison’s background includes an Entertainment PR Internship at Nickelodeon in NYC, a Journalism degree from CSULB and 11 years doing corporate communications and events at Altec, a software company in Laguna Hills, CA. Allison ended 2019 by resigning from her position at Altec and now works part time at Canon Medical Systems, USA as a Multimedia Specialist so she can devote more time to her young children. A typical Monday to Friday week for Allison includes two to three work days, a day to take the kids to Pretend City, Disneyland or the Park and a day to volunteer in her son’s PreK class and then them to ballet and karate. Allison loves making lists, exploring new places, planning (vacations, parties, and events) and making the most out of every day!

A Colorado native living in Southern California for more than 20 years, Charla is a trained print journalist (Bachelor of Arts, Literary Journalism from UCI) with an MBA in Marketing. Her passion for communications, creativity and community guides her professional and personal life activities.  Currently, she is Communications Specialist for Cox Communications. She is responsible for external communications and public relations in Orange County, Palos Verdes and Santa Barbara. As a volunteer, Charla is first Black President of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Orange County chapter where she has served on the board of directors for five years and Director of Communications for the UCI Black Alumni Chapter, which is also a board of directors position. In her downtime she likes to dance, practice pilates, walk and listen to music outside, do home improvement projects, read mainly nonfiction books, and hang out with her family and friends. She considers herself a pro power napper as well.  Charla resides in Irvine with her husband Robert, stepson Robbie, and daughter Harper. 

Cheryll is a mama to three little ones and a government leader turned entrepreneur. She is the host of The Mom Boss Motivation Podcast, helping moms pursue their dreams all while raising their children to be awesome human beings. Her passion is to let moms know they can have it all and get rid of the dreaded mom guilt. Cheryll presently lives in Orange and has lived all over Southern California since birth. When she's not busy motivating mamas, she loves to spend time outdoors, date nights with her hubby, and have fun with her kiddos! Follow her on Instagram @mombossmotivation to get started on the pursuit of your dreams today, there is no time like the present.

April is the founder of Unfold Motherhood + Wellness, she is a prenatal yoga teacher and trainer, postnatal fitness specialist, a birth doula, and a childbirth educator. April has been working within the wellness and motherhood community for the last decade and is passionate about empowering women on their journey from pregnancy, birth, and well beyond. She is a mom of 2 girls and resides in Brea. Her favorite pastimes are going to Disneyland, hanging out in Palm Springs, and watercolor painting.

Anjli Davda Shah is a London-born, Orange County-based, working mom of two. As an avid writer, Anjli has been passionately writing about life's trials and tribulations for over fifteen years - covering life as a singleton in London, expat living in Singapore, moving to America, and most recently, the hardest, yet most rewarding journey of all - Motherhood.

Nidhee Sachdev, MD holds dual board certification in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.  She is a California native, and completed her Bachelor of Science in human biology at the University of California, San Diego then went on to obtain her medical degree locally here in Orange County, from the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine. She ventured outside of the West Coast and had the opportunity to train at some of the most respected academic centers in the country, including her subspecialty fellowship training for REI at the New York University (NYU) Langone Fertility Center in New York City— a world renown fertility center.  Here, she gained extensive experience in IVF, but also conducted multiple research studies including an important pilot study on Mosaic embryos and Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT).  Prior to that, she trained at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she earned the academic distinction of Academic Chief Resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and trained under a top recurrent pregnancy loss expert. After traveling across the country for her medical training, Dr. Sachdev returned to Southern California. She is passionate about providing empathetic and collaborative care to her patients, and feels strongly about ensuring her patients have a positive experience during their treatment journey as they are on their path to building their family. Dr. Sachdev is published in numerous respected publications, received multiple teaching awards, and presented her research across the country.  Her passion for teaching and education comes across in her approach to patient care.  Helping her patients understand the biology and physiology of reproductive health as well as Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is a key part of her interactions with her patients, allowing them to be more involved in the decision making of their care. Dr. Sachdev sees patients in Newport Beach, California, where she treats patients relating to all aspects of fertility, however has a particular interest in fertility preservation, such as egg, sperm and embryo freezing, and genetic testing of embryos. Dr. Sachdev is active on social media providing educational information to all who are interested in learning more about reproductive health.