Kayla Ringelheim is a health justice strategist and musician based in New York City.

Kayla is passionate about bridging worlds and changing systems. She has over a decade of experience in health policy, strategy consulting, nonprofit leadership, and community organizing. She also has over two decades of experience as a professional musician. She manages an independent consulting practice, collaborating with nonprofit organizations and government agencies across the health, climate, and arts sectors. She brings creativity, rigor, and joy to the work of building thriving communities.

Kayla also contributes to social change through writing and speaking. Her writing has been published in the New York Times and academic journals. She has presented in a variety of settings, from school gardens to prison classrooms to university lecture halls. Kayla holds a joint Master of Public Health and Master of Business Administration from Yale University, and a B.A. in Human Biology / Disability Studies from Brown University.

Weaving across health, climate, and arts sectors towards collective healing

CONSULTING

As a consultant, Kayla collaborates with bold leaders to achieve their visions. She specializes in policy and program design, strategic planning, organizational development, and fundraising. Before managing her own practice, Kayla worked for Manatt Health, a national healthcare strategy consulting firm, where she specialized in Medicaid policy. Previously, she served on the senior leadership team of Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a food justice organization.

Select Projects

  • Maine CDC’s Office of Population Health Equity (OPHE) advances health equity by illuminating and addressing underlying conditions and systems that limit the full potential of all Maine people to lead healthy, safe, and opportunity-rich lives.

    Kayla helped OPHE implement a $30M U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded initiative addressing COVID-19-related health disparities in communities of color and rural communities. Kayla served as a strategic advisor to OPHE’s Director, facilitated program design and community engagement, led RFP development, helped establish the state’s first Health Equity Advisory Council, and supported the Office’s strategic planning process.

  • Shelterwood Collective is a 900-acre Indigenous, Black, Queer, and Disabled-led community forest and collective of land protectors and cultural changemakers based on unceded Kashia and Southern Pomo territory in Northern California.

    Kayla helped Shelterwood expand during the collective's early years as it established and grew its programming, including active forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction, cultural organizing, and the development of a community retreat center. Kayla advised on fundraising and organizational development strategy and provided grant writing and communications support.

  • The Healing Project is an arts organization that creates artistic works, collective healing spaces, and advocacy initiatives in partnership with individuals impacted by structural violence to build a world based around healing rather than punishment.

    Kayla is currently serving as The Healing Project’s Development Director, overseeing fundraising strategy and execution for the organization.

Other Clients

MUSIC

A means of personal and social transformation

Kayla is a singer-songwriter and pianist who weaves together intimate storytelling with folk and jazz-inspired music to create songs that lift the spirit. Raised in the Boston folk music scene, Kayla has been writing and performing original material since she was 13 years old. Kayla has independently released five albums: Tides (2005), Play (2007), Wandering Feet (2012), Grow On (2019), and Returning Home (2022). She was a finalist in the international John Lennon Songwriting Contest and was voted “Audience Choice” at the Boston Folk Festival Songwriting Competition. She was nominated as Motif Magazine’s “Best New Act” (2010) and “Best Americana Album of the Year” for her LP, Wandering Feet (2013). She has performed extensively, at venues including Club Passim, Caffe Lena, and Rockwood Music Hall.

Albums

RETURNING HOME (DELUXE)

Deluxe record including the original Returning Home EP in full, alongside live versions of the original songs and 2 new bonus songs, recorded during a special concert at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA. Produced by Vancil Cooper and featuring Elder Perez and Jesse Williams. (2024)

RETURNING HOME

A solo EP of songs written during the COVID-19 pandemic, produced by Vancil Cooper. Includes a live bonus track featuring Cooper, Vuyo Sotashe, Kyle Miles, and Corey Sanchez recorded at Power Station New England (CT). (2022)

GROW ON

Self-produced solo EP made with sound engineer and friend Michael Costagliola. Recorded in their New Haven, CT apartment and Yale’s recording studio while they were in grad school, instead of doing their homework. (2019)

WANDERING FEET

Kayla’s first full-length record with a band. Produced by Lorne Entress at Signature Sounds (MA) and Busterland (CT), featuring Entress, Kevin Barry, Jesse Williams, and Jamie Edwards. Guest appearances by Duke Levine, Richard Gates, Vance Gilbert, and Emily Oglesby. (2012)

PLAY

An EP produced by Dave Piper, featuring a tribe of young musicians and friends, including Vancil Cooper, Devon Colella, Alex Blalock, Cat Claus, Katie Lehmann, Emily Pinto, and Rachel Child. (2007)

TIDES

Kayla’s debut solo album, recorded in two after-hours sessions at The Center for the Arts in Natick, a converted firehouse in Natick, MA. (2005)

SHOWS