Builder, and Owner of Inside Out, a business focused on “building health from the inside out” since 1998, retired from a 30-year career with IBM, and past VP of the KC Celiac Sprue Association, Debra is currently serving her 22nd year as a City Council member. As a Certified Nutrition Recovery Coach, she actively promotes education about the biochemistry of addiction through public education, training seminars, and consulting. 

Debra has a fascination with the incredible mystery of how the body works and, more importantly, how it heals. When she and her family all tested positive for gluten sensitivity, she researched the role gluten plays in autoimmune and other diseases. 

A continual life learner, Debra has extended her real-world learning to explore the connection between the brain and the gut. The gut once thought to be our “second brain” is now understood to be the Yang to the brain’s Yin. Learning about the impact of nutrition on addiction and mental health has been key to understanding the generational history of alcoholism in her family.