Parents Against Vaping e-Cigarettes is a grassroots community of passionate parents and concerned individuals committed to protecting children from the dangers of vaping and other flavored tobacco use. As the first and only national parent organization fighting the tobacco and vaping industries, we believe that every child deserves a healthy, nicotine-free future.

Our organization is powered by the authentic voices of parents around the country. We understand the predatory targeting of our kids and we are steadfast in our commitment to educate parents about this important adolescent public-health issue. We empower parents and communities to take a stand and safeguard the health and future of our children by teaching them to advocate for local, state, and federal legislation to end sales of these flavored products that are hooking millions of kids.

Parents Against Vaping was founded by moms with a clear mission - to raise awareness, educate communities, advocate for policy reforms, and provide vital support to parents and guardians affected by youth vaping. Today, we are united by a common purpose: to create a world where our children can thrive, free from the harms of vapes and all flavored tobacco.

We believe in the power of education to drive change. We create and customize comprehensive presentations, working with schools and community groups to provide vital information about the risks of youth e-cigarette use, the marketing of new products, and we communicate up-to-date research about health harms. We support prevention specialists and public health professionals to teach parents how they can tell if their child is vaping and advise them how to talk with their kids, early and often. We encourage parents to support their kids' cessation efforts, offering “Ask the Expert” webinar series and quitting resources. We elevate the painful stories of parents who share their experiences to help others.

Through our educational programs, “train-the-trainer” workshops, and the latest research and quitting resources, we empower parents, educators, coaches, faith leaders (and more) with the knowledge needed to understand the threat of flavored nicotine use and addiction, giving them the ability and confidence to spread the word, educate others and support the kids in their journey.

We engage at all levels with leading researchers, policymakers, law enforcement, elected officials, educators, practitioners and public-health professionals, ensuring a holistic, impactful, and dynamic approach.

OUR STORY

**WE ARE MOMS, FIRST AND FOREMOST.**

Meredith Berkman, Dorian Fuhrman, and Dina Alessi are moms with nine kids between them. They met in 2017 when their sons started ninth grade together at a New York City school. In April 2018, Meredith’s son came home and reported a “mixed message” anti-addiction talk that day at school. When the teachers left the room, the presenter spoke to the kids about Juul, repeatedly telling them it was “not for them, it was for adults” but following up each of these statements by falsely assuring them that Juul was “totally safe”; “99% safer than cigarettes”; and would receive “FDA approval any day”.

The three moms were horrified and, within 24 hours, after making multiple phone calls and inquiries, they made a shocking discovery: the “presenter” was a Juul representative brought in by an outside anti-addiction group hired by the school, who did not know about the presenters affiliation with Juul.

In the weeks that followed, the women began researching Juul and vaping on the Internet, and speaking to pediatricians and child psychologists to gather whatever information they could. What they soon learned was even more disturbing: “Juuling” was becoming ubiquitous among teens, yet parents knew nothing about this new, electronic nicotine delivery system which was being marketed to their kids on social media. This was nine months before the FDA released the news that over 5.5 million middle- and high- school students were vaping, publicly declaring youth vaping an “epidemic”.

Soon joined by a fourth mom, Miriam Boublik, the women realized that to protect kids from these products, they must advocate for change and work to get these unregulated products off the market. They began speaking at legislative hearings, often with their kids, met with FDA leadership and, in 2019, testified before Congress about JUUL’s predatory marketing to kids, including the incident in their sons’ school.

They launched the Parents Against Vaping website that fall and immediately began receiving letters from parents around the country whose kids were severely addicted to Juul and other vaping products and were experiencing the negative health and emotional consequences which go along with such a severe addiction.

Striving to educate other parents about the dangers of these illicit products, they created parent-focused programs and trained parents to educate in their own communities, speak at legislative hearings, organize letter-writing campaigns and share personal stories of youth nicotine addiction.

Today, Parents Against Vaping is advocating and educating around the country, protecting children, educating parents and working to get these products off the market.

OUR TEAM

PASSIONATE PARENTS ARE OUR LEADERS.

Dorian Fuhrman

Dorian Fuhrman is one of the co-founders of Parents Against Vaping and is a full-time volunteer and board member.

Along with her cofounders, Dorian represents Parents Against Vaping on the national stage and in the media, meets regularly with elected officials and continues to make connections with researchers, public health officials, and politicians, “connecting the silos” by working across institutions, disciplines and sectors, facilitating an exchange of information. She also regularly hosts educational presentations.

A lifelong New Yorker, Dorian lived in Paris for almost 10 years, holding jobs in Advertising, Media, PR and Fashion. Prior to founding Parents Against Vaping in 2018, Dorian worked in New York as the Director of Fashion & Retail Advertising for ELLE Magazine. Dorian graduated from Franklin & Marshall College with a BA in French. She is fluent in French, both spoken and written.

She lives in New York with her husband, three children and two dogs.

Meredith Berkman

Meredith Berkman is a co-founder of Parents Against Vaping (PAVe), an advocacy and education nonprofit created in 2018 by three moms as a grassroots response to the youth vaping epidemic. Run and powered by volunteers around the country, PAVe is the first national parent voice in the fight against the tobacco industry’s predatory behavior. Working at the local, state, and federal levels, PAVe supports ending sales of all flavored tobacco products.

PAVe’s educational training, materials and resources, available in both Spanish and English, empower parents to educate others in their own communities about the dangers of youth tobacco use and industry targeting of young people and priority populations.

Berkman, a mother of four, is a graduate of Brown University, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A former journalist, Berkman has written for publications including New York magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and the New York Post.

Mimi Boublik

Mimi Boublik is a founding partner of Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes (www.parentsagainstvaping.org), a national nonprofit founded by three moms in 2018 as a grassroots response to the youth vaping epidemic.

Ms. Boublik primarily works as Director of Education for PAVe Educates, PAVe’s education arm.

Prior to becoming a full-time volunteer with PAVe, Mimi worked as a management consultant, helping companies on corporate strategy and communications challenges in the public policy realm.

She has a BA from Cornell University and an MBA from Columbia, and lives in New York with her husband and three children.