Salina Miller, a recipient of the National Nurses Coalition’s Unsung Heroes Award, is a visionary, a trailblazer, a philanthropist and the epitome of devotion. Her dedication to service is one of the qualities that draws people to her. Salina’s passion for service emerged with the birth of her son Elijiah, who has multiple diagnoses, including autism. Her love for family and fervent desire to positively impact others’ lives and advocate for individuals with special needs and their parents inspired her to create the service organization Mother 2 Mother in 2017 and dedicate her life to bringing education, empowerment and awareness to communities while providing support to special needs families. Being raised by a mother who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when Salina was only 12 years old fostered compassion and empathy that she carries with her to this day and allows her to serve with kindness and sensitivity.

Salina is proud to serve as a parent representative on Ohio’s State Support Team Three and as a member of University Rainbow, Babies and Children Hospital’s Patient and Family Partnership Council. Her partnership as a Parent Involvement Specialist for Warrensville Middle School exhibits her ability to thrive as an advocate in the educational arenas. Salina has written articles on self-care as a part of the Milestones Autism Resource Diversity Taskforce, and the article was later published in the University Rainbow, Babies and Children’s newsletter. She has also written for Live Special Magazine, which featured Mother 2 Mother as an up and coming cutting edge organization. In her pursuit to educate and empower others, Salina has also worked for Milestones Autism Resources as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator, moderated for Straight From the Source Parent and Self Advocate panel and facilitated educational training for police officers on how to safely interact with individuals with Autism and training for students on how to safely interact with first responders in the community.

Salina has no plans of giving up her fight to bring awareness to the nation. She is currently partnering with No Limits 2 Autism and creating a resource guide entitled In the Neighborhood that focuses on providing resources and information for special needs families in the inner city, where resources are scarce. She will also be facilitating the Straight from the Panel discussion consisting of Hispanic parents and in the near future, facilitating an additional panel which consists of African-American parents.

In addition to all of her humanitarian efforts, Salina is a loving mother to sons Elijiah, age 16, and Eric, age 20. She is happily married to her husband Robert of five years and enjoys reading, spending time with loved ones and traveling.