Elaine Chandler, M.S.Ed, holds a Master degree in Literacy, two Bachelor degrees, in Elementary Education and Health Care Management, as well as certificates in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Neurolinguistic Programming, Mindfulness Practitioner, and English as a Second Language. While teaching elementary school, she also trained and oversaw 125 volunteer reading tutors over a three-year period, which significantly raised state reading scores. After her years in teaching, she joined global education publishers Houghton Mifflin and McGraw-Hill as an education consultant and teacher trainer, covering the Northeast, working with rural and city public, private and parochial schools from Boston to New York City to Pittsburgh. She developed a social emotional course for kids, Peacekeepers, and an online course for teacher certification, serving 1,800 teachers to date, as well as having taught undergraduate and graduate college education courses. Elaine continues to tutor students in cognitive behavior techniques, reading, math, and college application essays. She is also a volunteer adult literacy tutor with the Literacy Council of Sarasota. If there’s any spare time left, Elaine loves to read, watch plays, write, and work on her own artistic pursuits of nature photography and electronic sketching.

Freddie originally came to Sarasota to attend Ringling College of Art and Design in 2009, where he later graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in 2013. Afterwards, the natural beauty and bountiful opportunities of the area persuaded him to stay and maintain his artistry in the community. A few years later, he began working for Bricks 4 Kidz at the start of 2016 and absolutely loved being a part of the STEM world while working with Legos. Almost four years following the beginning of his work with the business, he was lead to take over the franchise, jumping through every hoop necessary to be surmounted in order to claim it as his own. Nothing means more to him than the chance to make a difference and improve the life of others, especially through fun and education! What better way than to build, to learn, and to play with the young minds of the future!

Email: flamoreaux@bricks4kidz.com

Gabrielle’s professional life has been a mixture of extensive acting (theater, film and voice-over work), writing (all genres), performance art (including work at New York City's The Knitting Factory), and singing work (including singing in the musical group in the finale at the United Nations birthday party in New York City). She has also worked as a certified massage therapist, professional public speaker with Citizens Against Crime, and ESL teacher in Japan (for two years at different times). She has traveled extensively throughout Japan, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Macau, Nepal, Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, India, Kenya, France, Switzerland, Holland, Monaco, England, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador; and throughout the United States.

Gabrielle graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Performance Studies (analysis, interpretation and performance of prose, poetry, and drama) and the honors Creative Writing for the Media program. At Northwestern, she studied with, among other wonderful people, Edgar-Award-winner, Stuart Kaminski and Tony-Award-winner, Frank Galati. Fun facts: She lived in the same dorm as David Schwimmer and was in the same acting class at Northwestern as Stephen Colbert.

After Northwestern, Gabrielle studied acting extensively with some of the best acting teachers in the United States, including Gordon Philips (also taught Sandy Dennis, Bruce Dern, and Judd Hirsch how to act, and was in acting class with Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward), multiple Emmy-Award-winning actress and director, Joan Darling, and at the Larry Moss Studio. Gabrielle has two books published – Touch Me Real and Other Stories and After Midnight: A Book of Poetry. Lennon also writes professionally for magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and journals.

Tina Lipps is an active Stretch-n-Grow Sarasota® coach as well as a certified group fitness instructor for all ages through Revelation Wellness®. Before she received these fitness certifications, Tina received her BA in Christian Ministries and Youth Leadership & Development. Tina is passionate about helping others learn how to move their bodies and have fun doing it! She strives to create a growing and thriving community for all who attend each class that she leads. She has experience working with children for the past ten years through ministry service opportunities. She currently works to lead the children and youth ministry at Church of God, Sarasota, a local church here in Sarasota County.

Eva was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida and has just recently moved to the Sarasota area and currently works at Whole Foods, and teaches Yoga. Last year, she traveled around the world through Hawaii, Australia, Bali, Southeast Asia, Egypt, Sri Lanka, and Europe and was a witness to the devastating environmental impacts of humans and feels a passion to help bring environmental awareness and empowerment to children. She graduated from USF St.Pete in 2016 with a Bachelors in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and a minor in Anthropology. In 2015, she worked for Green Peace. She hopes to work in Waldorf Schools in the near future.

She has a positive and enthusiastic energy and is excited about supporting and encouraging children to care for our beautiful Earth!

Email: evamanzo93@gmail.com

Eska Palmer has been active in the arts for over 20 years and is a Florida certified teacher. Growing up in a single mother household she has primarily worked with low income students and families as a way to give back to the community. In her spare time Eska enjoys taking cooking classes of her own while learning the cultural significance of preparing and sharing meals together. She is certified in Special Education, and holds a BFA, as well as a Masters in Education and and Masters in Fine art. Eska is currently a Professor at The State College of Florida in the Arts, Design, and Humanities Department.

Email: eskapalmer@gmail.com

Nancy is a nutrition educator who loves teaching children how to cook and eat healthy and delicious, while having fun. She brings her passion to the table and encourages an awareness of food prep and understanding of whole foods and ingredients. Nancy has been teaching and creating in the classroom for over 20 years; the last 10 have been focused on healthy cooking. Nancy earned her BS in Alternative Medicine; with a focus on Nutrition; from Everglades University. But her true education comes from the garden, the kitchen and teaching others!

Email: nan722@gmail.com

Sharon Rothbloom has always believed that listening to children was key in teaching because their questions were a great guide to provide and answer questions. Curiosity has always been a great asset. She has taught hands-on classes at Extraordinary kids for kindergarten and primary grades, Afterschool classes in Nutrition and Yoga, Young Rembrandts, and coaching kids sports. She has a Master's degree from NYU in Nutrition and is a Registered Dietitian. She has also earned a Master's degree from the National Louis University in Teaching, with experience in a Montessori program located in Evanston, Illinois, and she has studied positive psychology in both Illinois and Miami. The co-op style of learning represents to Sharon the style of education she believes in, hands-on, small classes, and a student-centered approach that crosses multiple disciplines of study.

Email: rothblooms4@gmail.com

A Sarasota resident since 2003, Catherine discovered painting later in life at age 48, following the suicide of her 18-year daughter. She quickly began to realize that painting was very therapeutic and contributes much of her grief healing to her spontaneous artistic discovery.

Her painting of her daughter, Lisa, was featured in the Selby Library art exhibition as part of an ongoing series in conjunction with the Herald Tribune called: FACEing Mental Illness: The Art of Acceptance. (Her daughter had suffered from mental illness). Her paintings have been exhibited at Café L’Erope and several galleries in Sarasota and Tampa—although she does not currently exhibit nor pursue the sale of her work.

In 2018, she hosted a television show on SNN called The Art For Healing Project. She currently, teaches acrylic painting to dementia patients at the Venice Friendship Center and works on private projects at her studio in Snug Harbor Village.

Cell: 941.806.9001

Email: catherine34231@gmail.com

Originally from Buffalo, NY, I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and attended Secondary Science Education courses. After moving to Sarasota, I became a Group Fitness Instructor certified in Youth Fitness and Children's Nutrition. Currently, I teach fitness and nutrition classes at various preschools and daycares throughout Sarasota County. Being a mother myself, I know it can be difficult to convince your children to eat healthy foods. I am very passionate about educating children about the importance of balanced nutrition to provide the proper foundation for life-long good health.

Ellen Goldberg Tishman is a teaching artist with many years of experience teaching in a variety of settings including colleges, art centers, museums, libraries, public schools, galleries and other venues. She is a prize -winning artist who has exhibited widely and holds her MA in Art Education from University of Florida and BFA from Syracuse University. Over the years she has worked as a designer for corporations, curator/education /special events coordinator for museums and entrepreneur creating and selling her own line of self-created products including handbags, jewelry and other artworks.

Joanne Whitney has been an early childhood educator for over thirty years! Teaching young children is truly her passion and she feels incredibly fortunate to be able to get up every morning and go to work doing something she loves.

Originally from the UK, she came to the US as a private nanny. It was during this time that she became interested in Reggio and nature -inspired teaching and when her own children were born, she left her nanny job and ran a small, successful home daycare incorporating Reggio pedagogy and creating her first outdoor classroom. When her own children entered school, she obtained a job at Temple Beth Sholom schools (currently known as Community Day school) under the guidance of Kavita Vasil who was an amazing leader, mentor and a huge believer in Reggio -inspired education and “ Teaching the whole child”. Joanne worked at the school for fifteen happy years.

She is a life-long learner, so in 2015, Joanne decided to obtain her Florida Preschool Director Credential. She then decided to put her Director training to good use and even though she had no intentions of leaving the classroom full time, she secured a job as the Director of a local preschool, where she could teach in the mornings and work in the office in the afternoons.

During this time, Joanne became even more interested in Nature-inspired education and Forest schools and joined the Eastern Region Association of Forest and Nature Schools (ERAFANS) where she obtained her Nature -Based Teacher Certification. She also began to network with other like-minded educators across the globe, many of whom were Waldorf trained/teachers. This led her to study Steiner and Waldorf and she realized that there are many similarities between Reggio and Waldorf-inspired teaching and that she felt a real connection to the gentleness of Waldorf education and Waldorf’s emphasis on children’s natural growth and development, creative learning, nature and a child’s right to be free.

When Joanne is not teaching, she enjoys spending time with her husband Lionel , her five adult daughters and her ten amazing grandchildren! She loves to travel, hike, cook, go to the beach and recently took up needle felting after participating in a teacher training at the Suncoast Waldorf School in Palm Harbor, Fl where she was inspired by the most amazing storyteller to begin creating her own puppets to use when she tells stories to her students.

Email: whitneyjmc124@yahoo.com

Angela is originally from Michigan. She received her Associates degree in Applied Science and began working for General Motors as a chemical technician. While working she continued her studies at the University of Michigan in elementary education. When 9/11 happened, she lost her job at the plant, so she decided to sell everything and follow her dream of living in Florida.

She continued her college career at University of South Florida, determined to get that B.A in elementary education. She began to intern at different schools around Sarasota. Then quickly realized that as much as she loved kids, this was not the way she thought teaching would be. She began working at Doctor’s Hospital in Medical Records. And started studying Medical Coding at SCTI. Once she graduated, she took a position at Sarasota Memorial where she works full time from home for them since 2009.

On a personal level, she met her husband the Summer she moved here in 2002. They married in 2004. Had their son in 2006 and their daughter in 2008. For various reasons they decided to homeschool in Dec of 2017. And she rescues, rehabs and releases animals…bats, iguanas and squirrels to name a few. She also has a dog, two cats and a bird who are all rescues and now part of the family.

Her hobbies include SCUBA diving, volunteering at Mote in the Dolphin/Whale hospital, Mixed martial arts, Disney, camping, and watching classic movies.