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Our Founder's Story

Growing up, Dominique Viel always desired to give back. From volunteering in nursing homes, to fundraising for causes like girls education in India and orphaned children in Uganda, the philanthropic lifestyle has been second nature. It wasn’t until many years ago, when Dominique was a teen, that this hobby became her life’s work.

As a competitive tennis player for eight years as a kid, Dominique was constantly on the court, her priority was getting scouted for universities, any injuries were not. But one early morning practice injured her dominant left hand and Dominique’s dream was gone in an instant.


Doctors diagnosed her with a neurovascular condition
and after unsuccessful treatments for years, countless specialists, procedures, even a surprise spinal correction and fusion surgery, Dominique’s health kept declining and her chronic illness spread throughout the entire left side of her body.

Throughout this, Dominique worked hard to graduate high school and go to university–she graduated Suma Cume Lade from Saint Joseph’s University with two BAs degrees in English-Writing and International Relations. As she got older, her chronic illness journey began affecting other organ systems yet after years of treatment and hard work, Dominique’s chronic illnesses subsided into her “new normal,” a life where she found her purpose through her health chaos.

Dominique’s idea for InvisiYouth Charity stemmed not just from her own experience as a young adult patient, but from seeing other youth with the same struggle: being invisible to the pediatric and adult healthcare communities as they are forced to find their way through all the non-medical parts of their teen/young adult life without any guidance.

Building an improved atmosphere that will help these young people, or “medically adult-ish™” people as InvisiYouth has coined the term, was the inception of InvisiYouth Charity. This personal goal to provide lifestyle tips and impactful virtual resources for teens and young adults with all chronic illnesses/disabilities, whether physical or mental, visible or invisible, has now been supported by thousands around the world. These young people in pediatric healthcare too, or teeniatrics® as InvisiYouth has coined the term, now have a place to go so they can navigate and live their lives with illness or disability with ease and fun.

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Need a Guest Speaker, Podcast Guest, or Panelist?

Contact us to book founder Dominique as a guest speaker, podcast guest or panelist for your next function or program at your school, event, organization, or podcast. She specifically curates each speaking engagement to their audience.

Dominique is booked as a speaker on many topics, some have include:

  • Uniqueness of older pediatric patients through personal patient knowledge
  • Ending stigmas on invisible illness and mental health
  • Expanding knowledge on teen patient experience in and out of hospital environment
  • How to incorporate subtle activism and tangible fundraising into millenial/GenZ culture
  • Empowering teens and young adults to lead lives with confidence
  • Female entrepreneurship and philanthropy
  • Her personal chronic illness journey

Check out some of Dominique's interviews