Sheila Jaffe 

Sheila Jaffe was born in Manhattan and grew up in the Bronx. At eleven years of age, she found out she was adopted. Today, she is an Emmy winning casting director for HBO’s, The Sopranos and Entourage and films including The Fighter, Rocky Balboa, and Ted. Although casting is her profession, Sheila’s passion is helping children. As she sees it: “Felix is like my child and watching Felix grow in its reach to help these children has been an indescribable blessing.” Sheila currently sits on the board of the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation and the Advisory Board of the Savannah Film Festival. In 2013, she was honored at The Children’s Rights Gala for her work with children in foster care.

Darryl McDaniels 

For more than 25 years, Felix co-founder Darryl “DMC” McDaniels has had an influence on popular culture. The first rap group to grace the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine and the first to appear on MTV, Run DMC changed music. DMC continues to create, inspire and motivate. After discovering as an adult that he was adopted, DMC began his journey down another life path in search of his birth mother. While his struggle was captured in the Emmy-winning VH-1 documentary, “DMC: My Adoption Journey”, the process gave DMC insight and purpose, prompting him to become an advocate for adoption and foster children. He was invited to the White House by President Obama to address youth groups on responsibility and has appeared before Congress and State Legislatures in support of this cause. Along with his work as a musician, author, and speaker, DMC has been the recipient of awards including Hard Rock’s Love All Serve All Award for his philanthropic endeavors. DMC also sits on the board of directors of the JMJ Foundation, Children’s Rights, and Garden of Dreams.