In 1999, Karen’s journey into Waldorf education began when she stepped into her four-year-old daughter’s magical preschool kindergarten class at The Waldorf School of Atlanta. The following year, Karen eagerly joined the WSA faculty as a kindergarten assistant, and in 2001, she joyfully stepped forward to become a lead teacher in a mixed-age kindergarten. She earned her Waldorf Early Childhood Teaching Certificate at Sunbridge College in New York and spent almost 17 years in the classroom guiding, laughing, and singing with her treasured 3- to 6-year-old students. She firmly believes that Lotus & Ivy can meet the ever-changing needs of young children by honoring the unique gifts of each student.

In 2021, our initial year of Lotus & Ivy, we were fortunate to welcome Karen into our faculty. Her passion for creating a nurturing environment for our mixed-age Kindergarten of 4- to 6-year-olds is palpable. By experiencing the rhythm of the seasons, celebrating simple traditions, observing nature’s quieter revelations, and enjoying the family-like feeling of a play-based kindergarten, Karen creates the ideal platform for young children to build foundational skills that will help them evolve into well-rounded individuals. She is delighted to bring her genuine interest in the world around us to her kindergarten students in ways that create beauty and preserve their wide-eyed sense of wonder. She feels it is equally important to work with parents to provide them with the same nurturing, guidance, and soul warmth that she brings to her students.

Karen also shares her love of creating beautiful treasures from simple materials in her Hand Sewing and Woodworking Complement classes for students who are six years old through Class 2. By engaging a child’s hands, heart, and mind, she empowers her students to create with real tools while instilling respect for the process and the craftsmanship needed to complete their projects safely. As a result, her students emerge from these experiential classes with a feeling of accomplishment and self- confidence in learning new practical skills, and they take great pride in their finely crafted creations.

Preparing food with children has always been part of Karen’s work in Waldorf classrooms, and she has successfully incorporated cooking into her online kindergarten program. Her young students eagerly anticipate the fun weekly cooking activities she shares in her classes, so it was not a surprise when she stepped forward to bring her joyful exuberance to teach Cooking Complements for students in Classes 1 through 8 in the Fall of 2024. Her classes instill a feeling of competence, independence, and enthusiasm in her students as they learn to prepare healthy and delicious dishes for their families.

Karen was born to older parents who took early retirement just after her birth. With a 16- foot travel trailer hitched to the back of their car, her family drove across the country for two years, finally settling in rural Mississippi to live next door to her grandparents. Karen’s family continued their love of travel and regularly enjoyed extended trips in their camper RV exploring the West and Midwest national parks. Telling stories, moving to music, making crafts, baking, and painting were activities that filled her life as a child. Although not a Waldorf child herself, living a simple childhood with much time spent outdoors filled Karen’s heart with fond memories and adventurous stories, some of which your child may hear in her classes!

Karen attended Mississippi State University and graduated with a degree in Graphic Design. After moving to Atlanta, she worked at Turner Publishing for the next six years, designing a wide variety of books. She’s kept her hand in graphic design throughout her life, and now she helps Lotus & Ivy with occasional design projects.

Karen and her husband have two daughters who live in the Atlanta area. Her older daughter and son-in-law bestowed the title of grandmother on Karen, and she now has four precious grandchildren. Her younger daughter enjoyed a K-12 Waldorf education in Atlanta. She spent her college career at Auburn University, where she graduated with a degree in Industrial Design. 

In her free time, Karen is often in her upstairs classroom space creating prototypes of projects she’ll make with her students, in her backyard garden growing vegetables, in her kitchen testing recipes, and in her front yard greeting neighbors who’ve stopped by to claim a book at the “Little Free Library” that she maintains. Her two beloved dachshunds, Oscar and Remy, bring joy and playful exuberance to her home.

Ms. Gemignani is a passionate educator dedicated to fostering a love of learning in young children and igniting genuine curiosity. She brings 7 years of experience to the classroom, having previously nurtured students through their educational journeys from 1st to 4th grade in a Waldorf-inspired setting. This year will be her third year with Lotus & Ivy.

Ms. Gemignani believes in the immense power of the Waldorf methodology, especially when in relationship to homeschooling, which cultivates well-rounded development by engaging a child's head, hands, and heart while being surrounded by engaged adults. She is a strong advocate for integrating nature into the curriculum, fostering a connection with the natural world that mirrors her own love for the outdoors.

Ms. Gemignani is a curious learner, actively participating in professional development courses offered by the Sunbridge Institute and the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education. She is currently deepening her knowledge of Rudolf Steiner’s work through the Mich-ael Institute's Grades Training.

Her passion for teaching began as a child as she watched her grandmother teach elementary school, bake pies, and paint gorgeous watercolor landscapes. As she’s grown up, she’s followed in her grandmother’s footsteps, mentoring children of all ages in classrooms, schools, youth sports, and collegiate athletics.

She, her partner, and their 2 dogs reside in Portland, Oregon where you’ll find her painting, drinking tea, biking in the rain, or muddy in the garden.

She is thrilled to embark on this educational journey with the first grade students and their families at Lotus & Ivy. She is eager to foster a collaborative learning environment that sparks curiosity, ignites imaginations, and celebrates the joy of discovery.

When Audrie was 18, she happened upon the Waldorf Institute, which was in Detroit at the time.  She immediately sensed the richness and truth that emanated from the education, but it took homeschooling her own children before she actually stepped on the path as a teacher. 

Audrie began her career in Northern Arizona, teaching grades 6-8 on the Hopi Indian Reservation.  Several years later, she began homeschooling with the support of a teacher who was a guiding light for her.  After attending years of Waldorf conferences and trainings, Audrie co-founded Crystal Springs Education Association, a Waldorf-inspired school initiative in Northern Michigan.  As a board member, organizer, and teacher, she worked with other home school families to develop a community around education, festivals, conferences and study, to support a vibrant cultural life to meet their children’s educational needs.  During those years she taught small groups of early grades children in collaboration with their homeschool parents. 

Audrie’s teaching degree is in health education, and she has worked in natural health and wellness as a nutritional guide, massage therapist, and yoga teacher.  She received her Waldorf teaching certificate at the Waldorf Institute of Southeast Michigan, and has done ongoing continuing education throughout her career.

After her children were grown, Audrie became a class teacher at Monadnock Waldorf School in New Hampshire, and then taught third grade at Green Meadow Waldorf School in New York.  Coming around full circle, Audrie is now supporting a new generation of homeschoolers through Lotus & Ivy. 

Audrie is most interested in how healthy foundations for the child’s future are laid down in childhood, and how we can best support that as grown-ups and educators.  Using speech and poetry, music and singing, painting and drawing, developmental movement, story-telling and puppetry, Audrie aspires to enliven young children’s imaginations and build joyful pathways to learning.  She is committed to providing a nurturing, developmentally attuned educational environment for children, being a source of support for families, and a colleague that works with openness and integrity in all aspects of the school community.   

In her free time, Audrie enjoys gardening, cooking, sewing, spinning (wool), natural dying, yoga, painting, community singing, swimming in Lake Michigan, and long walks. She particularly enjoys doing these things with her family and friends, especially her adult children.  

Corinna Rezzelle has been amazing Lotus & Ivy second graders with her magical storytelling ability and quick wit since 2022! Corinna grew up in a small town in Georgia to a theatre family. She spent most of her life watching her mother direct, act, and create professional theatrical performances all over the Southeast. This experience inspired in her a love of theater and inspired her to gain a B.F.A in Performing Arts and a minor in Art History from the Savannah College of Art and Design. After graduating from college, she moved to the Atlanta area and worked for several professional theatre companies there. While working with one theatre company, she became introduced to Theatre for Young Audience plays and started leading Literacy Through Drama workshops in Fulton County Title One Schools. This changed the entire course of her life! By working in that first classroom of third grade students, she knew that teaching students through the arts was her calling. 

She knew that she wanted to gain further education to make sure that she would be the best teacher for her students. Leaving Atlanta, Corinna began pursuing her M.A. in Educational Theatre at New York University and a teaching credential in English. While pursuing this degree, she ran her own theatre company, The Jewel Conservatory Theatre, that had the mission of providing the Low Country with affordable theatre education and Theatre for Young Audience performances that would inspire children to be imaginative, creative, and find confidence in communicating with others. The theatre company started with six students, and in its final year had flourished to over 400 students, a well-established teacher residency program, and a wonderful relationship with the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia. 

After completing her Masters and teaching credential, Corinna packed up her two cats and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to marry her now husband. Since living in California, Corinna has worked with several public and private schools, teaching English/Language Arts, Speech, and General Music (she holds a Music Certification as well). Her joy was creating drama programs and working with early childhood to middle school teachers in finding ways to utilize Drama in their classrooms. She has also found theater homes in Children’s Fairyland, American Conservatory Theatre, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, and East Bay Children’s Theatre. She also realized a life-long dream of learning puppetry and works with the acclaimed Puppet Company. She believes that all of these experiences (a deep love of stories, puppetry, music, and literacy) has paved the path that led her to value Waldorf education! 

By happenstance, she stumbled upon a video of a Waldorf teacher leading a morning circle. Though looking back now, she feels as though she has been a Waldorf-inspired teacher all along without even knowing it. Needless to say, Corinna was hooked. She had to learn more about this pedagogy. That hunger for knowledge inspired her to join Antioch University’s M.ED in Waldorf Education program and pursue her doctorate in Waldorf Education. Her specialization is in making arts-integrated and drama teacher training accessible to Waldorf teachers and students alike. 

Ms. Rezzelle taught Lotus & Ivy Second Grade Main Lesson last year, and continued with us during her doctoral work in Waldorf Education as our Drama teacher. This year, Ms. Rezzelle joins Ms. Jones-Schmidt and Ms. A. Brown of our First Grade Team to offer a third option for students on the wait list!

In addition to working with Lotus and Ivy, Corinna is engaged in full-time research for her dissertation with several Waldorf schools working in the elementary grades. As an avid playwright, Corinna enjoys writing scripts for schools across the globe to enjoy. She looks forward inspiring your students to learn through story, engage in creativity, and flourish with Lotus and Ivy.

Mary Jo AbiNader’s journey as a Waldorf teacher began in 2002 with her first class of 30 students in Portland Oregon. Over the years, she has grown along with her two classes that she taught from 1st through 8th grade. Those children are now grown and doing marvelous things out in the world working in business, engineering, architecture, the arts, journalism, education and law. It is awesome to see how they are taking their strengths and applying them in higher education and life through perseverance, creativity, initiative and courage.

Now back in Portland, Ms. AbiNader is the founder of Space & Grace Learning offering Educational Support, Academic Tutoring and Creative Enrichment in one:one and small group settings.

Ms. AbiNader was certified in 2023 as Educational Support Specialist and Remedial Educator with Association for Healing Education. She is a certified Waldorf Teacher and has a BA in Theater Education and Creative Dramatics. Ms. AbiNader continues to study to stay connected to new trends in education and deepen her understanding of Waldorf pedagogy to meet the needs of all children and their learning styles. She has experience with Orton-Gillingham Dyslexia Program, HANDLE Sensory Integration Institute and Brain Gym.

Ms. AbiNader enjoyed the sunshine and beaches while living in Hawaii. Here in Portland, her loves include biking, bookstores, and hiking through the forest and her cats and plants.

She is looking forward to meeting the parents and children of each third grade class at Lotus & Ivy and to working collaboratively with grown ups to create a rich, nurturing environment for the children’s education bringing the education to life in every way.

Amberly Barry McGee has always been drawn to teaching and working with children. As a child she went from playing school with her dolls and younger sisters to organizing theater groups for her sisters and the many children she babysat in her neighborhood during high school. From there she went on to earn a Bachelor’s of Art in Psychology and a Master’s of Art in School Psychology at the University of Memphis. Though she loved the field of psychology, and her experience teaching at the college level, something was missing. She found that missing piece when she learned about Waldorf education. It seemed to fulfill all the things research continues to find about how children learn (by engaging the whole child).

Amberly taught at a Waldorf school for two years (grades 4 and 5) and had two years of Waldorf Teacher Training at Rudolf Steiner College. She was so inspired by her students and by the material she was teaching that she felt healed, creative, and wanting to learn more. She went on to earn her Waldorf Teaching Certification with the Sophia Institute. She has been happily teaching at Lotus & Ivy from the beginning in 2021

Amberly and her husband, Robert, have spent most of their married life in Georgia. Amberly has been homeschooling their daughter using a Waldorf-inspired curricula and methodology from the beginning. In fact, her daughter was part of the first Lotus & Ivy Grade 4 class! Amberly has been teaching since 2018 at The Dreamers’ School of North Georgia, an in-person Waldorf-inspired sister-school of Lotus & Ivy. She also offered teacher training and parent training in-person and online workshops for The Dreamers’ School of Orlando, FL. Forever a learner, she has jumped on many opportunities to continue her education through conferences, homeschool teacher trainings, and virtual courses. Amberly has a cat and a dog that enjoy being included in some aspects of homeschool life. 

When Amberly is not teaching or spending time with her family, she is usually doing something artistic. She loves taking in inspiration from nature on a long walk with her dog. Painting and music fill her cup. Her hands are often kept busy with some form of handwork. She loves to relax anywhere with a good book.

Olga found Waldorf Education as she was searching for a school for her first son. She wanted his school to nurture his talents, keep his curiosity alive, and be a place he loves. The school offered all of these things and much more. Leaving behind a career in business, Olga turned to fulfilling her newly found passion of bringing developmentally appropriate education to children. She completed her Waldorf teacher training and Masters Degree at Sunbridge Institute in NY, where she has now joined the faculty ther and has a passion for teaching other teachers.

She has now raised three children who attend Waldorf schools and has served in various roles at the schools. She enjoys teaching middle grades classes, especially main lessons in math, physics, chemistry, geography, language arts as well as math and cyber civics track classes in grades 5-8. Her first Class Teacher position was for an 8th grade class, and this is where she has developed a keen interest in working with adolescents. She is delighted by their sense of humor, curiosity about the world, their developing reasoning capacities and independent thinking.

The math curriculum she brings supports these qualities naturally. Geometry lets us experience balance, harmony, polarities, and the universal laws of nature. Artistic representations of geometry and arithmetic provide for engaging with concepts deeply and activating one’s long-term memory. Learning math the Lotus & Ivy way also includes learning about the great questions that have puzzled humans for thousands of years, like patterns in nature. Number games and stories turn math into a fun and engaging subject. Finally, biographies of famous mathematicians offer encouragement and motivation for teenagers as they approach adulthood. Math is Olga’s favorite!

In her free time, Olga enjoys kayaking and reading. She lives with her husband and children in South Florida. 

Tesia Brown was raised in a Waldorf household in British Columbia, Canada. She had the pleasure of attending a Waldorf school during her elementary years and, after graduating high school, she did a four-year training in the art of eurythmy. 

In 2009 Tesia began teaching in earnest. She continued teaching eurythmy while she gained her bachelor's degree from Acadia University in Theater Performance. After graduating she was asked to start a small, independent Waldorf-inspired school in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. There she taught 7-10 graders Physics, Chemistry, History, Literature, Drama etc. and loved sharing her enthusiasm and curiosity with her students.  During this time she also gained her Waldorf teaching certification from Antioch University. 

In 2017 Tesia and her husband made the move to Salt Lake City, Utah where she had the opportunity to delve into teaching the younger grades. This is also where her elder son was born. In the Summer of 2022 Tesia's family returned to Nova Scotia to be closer to relatives for the birth of their second son. She now resides in the Annapolis Valley and is thrilled to be able to continue sharing her passion for Waldorf Education.

Gabriela Higgins is a dedicated Waldorf teacher who is passionate about holistic education that inspires a love of learning and a true interest in the world and its workings. She has three years of Class Teacher experience and a lifetime of inspiration from her own upbringing - she attended Waldorf schools from kindergarten all the way until the end of high school. 

Gabriela grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. She was aware from a young age of how special her school was, and she has many fond memories of lessons filled with warmth, investigation and awe. She strives to bring these elements to her lessons, for when interest is ignited, children can develop a real connection to what they learn and become active participants in their own education. 

As a teenager, Gabriela became very involved with a children's camp that was affiliated with Waldorf education in its approach to rhythm, routine, and an understanding of child development. She began to actively build her relationship with this philosophy and, after some time traveling in South Africa, Gabriela attended the Centre for Creative Education, receiving a Waldorf teacher training and earning her Bachelor of Education. 

Gabriela's certainty that Waldorf education can truly meet growing children in a health-bringing, developmentally appropriate way has only strengthened over time. She was a Class Teacher at Michael Mount Waldorf School in Johannesburg, South Africa, for three joyful years before she became a mother and chose to dedicate some full-time attention to parenting. During her time as a Class Teacher, Gabriela also started a choir for older primary classes and taught music to Classes 1, 2 and 3. She loved watching the children in her class grow each year, developing relationships with them, their learning needs and their contexts. Some "magical memories" in her class over the years were learning to write in cursive, local geography, exploring fractions and their relationship to decimals, natural science Main Lessons, and Class Plays. Gabriela loves finding connections between and within subjects, as she has found this helps the lessons to "come alive". 

In preparation for teaching online, and in her seeking for work that could balance her love of teaching with her commitment to being a full-time parent, Gabriela obtained her Level 5 TEFL certificate. This will serve her well as she begins her journey with Lotus and Ivy teaching Language Arts. 

She is thrilled to be joining the Lotus & Ivy community and looks forward to her work with the students and their families. 

Donovan Gay is a Waldorf educator and writer. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, his own connection with Waldorf education began when he attended Michael Mount Waldorf School from Class 8 to Class 13. After moving to the UK in 1991, he trained as a Steiner/Waldorf teacher at Emerson College in Sussex.

Over a teaching career spanning more than twenty-five years, Donovan has worked in Waldorf schools in South Africa, Scotland and Wales. He has taught across Classes 1 to 10 as a Class Teacher and subject teacher and has also worked extensively in teacher mentoring, curriculum development and professional development. Alongside his classroom work, Donovan has held leadership roles within Waldorf schools, including serving as Chair of the College of Teachers.

In 2019, Donovan moved to Spain, where he founded Waldorf Ways. Initially an online teaching platform offering educational resources and courses, Waldorf Ways has evolved into a space for writing and deeper reflection on Waldorf education, child development and the principles and intentions that stand behind Waldorf practice.

Donovan now teaches online with Lotus & Ivy, working primarily with children in the middle and upper school years, while continuing his writing and wider work through Waldorf Ways. Across both, he is particularly interested in what children need at different stages of their development and how education can meet the developing human being rather than simply prepare children for academic achievement.

Drawing on more than three decades of involvement in Waldorf education, Donovan's work explores the relationship between child development and the curriculum, the inner development of the teacher and the larger question of what education is ultimately for. Through his teaching and writing, he seeks to bring the deeper understanding of the human being that stands behind Waldorf education into thoughtful conversation with the realities of childhood, parenting and education today.

Sophia has always loved children and has been interested in teaching from a very early age. She always wished to find a method of teaching that would be more than just a purely academic training and would also give space and time to artistic and practical activities.

Sophia has over twenty years of teaching experience in a wide variety of settings. After gaining her B.A. in English Language and Literature at Birmingham University and an M.A. in Shakespeare Studies at The Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, she went to live in Thessaloniki, Greece, to teach English as a Foreign Language. She returned to the UK to train to teach English and Drama to 11-18 year olds at Cambridge University and once qualified, taught in many different schools. Sophia had always been interested in Waldorf Education and yearned to teach in a less intensely exam-focused education system, so she enrolled in the London Waldorf Teacher Training Seminar. The rich variety and balance of activities, along with the depth of study and reverence for the journey of the developing child were extremely enlightening and rewarding for her. Before taking the plunge into class teaching, Sophia gained an acting diploma and worked as an actor in children’s theatre. After touring the length and breadth of the country, Sophia decided the time was right to settle in one place and she was appointed Class 1 teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley. Sophia took this class all the way through to Class 8, after which she left full-time teaching for family reasons. Since then she has worked part-time as a Waldorf teacher and currently teaches piano and English Language and Literature to individual pupils. During the Covid-19 pandemic she has been sharing the treasures of her training by home schooling her 8-year old niece. Sophia is delighted to be sharing these riches more widely as Humanities Teacher with Lotus and Ivy!

After living in many parts of the UK and abroad, Sophia has returned to her hometown of Hitchin, near London. Sophia is a keen student of Iyengar Yoga, and loves walking in the countryside, reading, singing in a choir, playing piano and guitar and writing songs. She has released an E.P., Blue Sky Falling, available on all streaming platforms.

Angelika Di Pasquali was born and raised in Germany and lived in Germany until 1992. She holds two citizenships, German and Italian, and has spent many years living in Italy. She graduated as a Waldorf teacher in Mannheim, Germany, and begin her teaching career in Italy in 1992. She taught grades 3, 4, and 5 and, after that, took on with another class in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8 as their class teacher. 

After this, she taught exclusively German in a private High School in Bolzano for over 10 years and gave classes for all levels, including adult classes in the evening in a training center. At the same time, she studied modern languages at the University of Trento, Italy and became an examiner for the international Goehte Institut, which releases certificates for German studies. 

From 2015 until 2018 she was the German teacher in the Spring Valley Waldorf School in Beijing, China and also gave lessons in the teacher training center of Spring Valley for Movement, Rhythms and Bothmer. In the year 2019,  she was the leader of a summer camp for the Worldwide Waldorf Sommercamps in Yunnan, China. In addition to teaching German to Lotus & Ivy students, she is also the Class Teacher of Grade 4 at “Freie Waldorfschule Innsbruck“ in Austria. The time difference allows her to be a class teacher by day and a German teacher in the evenings!

Angelika’s greatest passions are watercolor painting and travelling. She looks forward to the new experience of teaching children online at Lotus & Ivy.

In St. Petersburg, Florida, as the parent of a two year old son, Kim entered the Waldorf inspired nursery at the First Unity church and knew that this was the pedagogy in which to raise her family. This was the lifestyle that fit her philosophy, and 28 years later it feels just as true as it did that day. 

Kim is a third generation Montanan who grew up with Yellowstone National Park just beyond the mountains outside her bedroom window.  The reverence for nature, joy of the great outdoors, and wholesome childhood that her parents provided were completely in alignment with the Waldorf principles she would eventually discover.  A love of the Spanish language and exploring led her to live in Ecuador, Venezuela and Mexico before graduating from Montana State University in 1992 with a degree in Modern Languages, Secondary Education, and a specialization in flute pedagogy. 

Kim moved to Florida after graduation and was a founding parent of a Waldorf-inspired preschool at the Unity church, and then a kindergarten parent at the Suncoast Waldorf School, while teaching public high school Spanish.  During a semester of Waldorf Teacher Training at Suncoast in 1999 Kim sensed her path was not only Waldorf parent, but also Waldorf teacher.  She left the public school system after six years and began homeschooling her son and a friend’s daughter while teaching flute and piano lessons from home.  Eventually a daughter of her own joined the family and it was time to expand horizons:  A career opportunity awaited in North Carolina!

Fast forward almost two decades and Kim has just left her teaching position at the Emerson Waldorf School in Chapel Hill, NC, where both her children graduated, and for 18 years she joyfully told stories, sang, danced, played, laughed and connected daily with children of all ages.  By creating deep, meaningful relationships with students, families and colleagues, she enlivened the Spanish program and instilled a genuine appreciation for the language and culture in a generation of students.  

Kim attended courses on teaching World Languages and completed Foundations Studies in 2012.  She has developed curriculum, served on the College of Teachers and in various mentoring and leadership roles at the school, and currently serves on the leadership team of the Waldorf Spanish Teachers Association (WSTA).  She particularly enjoys leading training workshops and mentoring new language teachers in various parts of the country.  In keeping with her love of travel and enabling students to broaden their horizons, Kim developed a service learning program, and since 2012 has taken over 75 students and adults to Waldorf communities in Guatemala and Peru to explore, fall in love with the people and the country, and discover the joy of being in service to others.  When not traveling, she prefers quiet time with family and friends, playing music, or just being in the great outdoors of North Carolina.

Malisa’s involvement in Waldorf education began in 1999, when she landed at the Urban Waldorf School as a substitute teacher. She was immediately struck by the beauty, vibrancy, and sense of community there. Malisa soon enrolled at Antioch University to learn the philosophy behind her felt experience, obtaining a master’s degree in Waldorf Education. Her thesis was on the teaching of reading in Waldorf schools, and literacy education became a specialization over her career. 

During her fourteen years at the Lake Champlain Waldorf School she served as class teacher for two classes. She loved planning engaging lessons and adapting those lessons to meet what the children in front of her needed in the moment. Multi-sensory methods, learning through movement, and a strong interest in social justice guide her approach. She is grateful to every child she’s ever taught.

Malisa is a poet, an energy healer, and a mother. She loves the sky at sunset, the gold of autumn birch leaves, and her very affectionate cat. You’ll find her baking muffins in her kitchen or snorkeling in the Mediterranean Sea. She has a passion for puppets, crystals, and making silver jewelry. Malisa feels the many stories she’s told over twenty-five years of teaching live strongly in her soul life.

Additionally, Malisa holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and homeschooled her son through his middle school years. She currently lives in Malta and is eager to meet and love the students of Lotus & Ivy.

Stephanie Packer is a committed Waldorf teacher who believes that all children deserve to spend their golden years surrounded by what is beautiful, what is good, and what is true. That is why she has chosen to dedicate her path in this life to bring Waldorf pedagogy to everyone that she can. She brings over 15 years of experience as an educator, 13 of which have been dedicated to Waldorf education, and she is thrilled to be joining the Lotus & Ivy team.

Stephanie grew up in New Jersey and went on to receive her BA from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. Although she lived just a short distance away from Waldorf schools in both of these places, it wasn’t until shortly after her college graduation when she discovered both her passion for teaching, as well as for the Waldorf Pedagogy. It was through an experience volunteering on a Biodynamic farm in Princeton, NJ that Stephanie discovered this path, and since then she has dedicated her professional striving to serve this movement.

Stephanie began her Waldorf teacher training in the private mentoring program through the Center for Anthroposophy and completed her Foundation Studies at the Waldorf School of Princeton. She then went on to finish her grade school training at the Centro de Formacion de Pedagogia Waldorf in Madrid, Spain. While Stephanie was completing her certification, she picked up roles in Waldorf schools as an Early Childhood assistant, Grades School Aftercare Teacher, long-term substitute in both Early Childhood and Grade School, and Educational Support Coordinator. Aside from the valuable experience this afforded her, it also enabled her to learn by observing many veteran teachers.

Once she completed her certification, Stephanie began working in various Waldorf schools both locally and abroad. She began by sharing her love of the Spanish language and culture as a Spanish teacher for Grades 1 through 8 at Three Cedars Waldorf School. She then picked up her first class as a Class Teacher which she carried through their eighth grade graduation, teaching all blocks from Grades 4 through 8. Alongside these roles, Stephanie also gained experience in the Administrative realm of Waldorf schools where she worked as an Assistant Dean of Students and taught High School Spanish.

Stephanie and her family now reside in Southern Spain where they enjoy spending time together in nature, reading, hiking, and cooking. She is currently supporting the local Waldorf school and is completing her certification in Waldorf Learning Support/Extra Lesson. She continues to hone her teaching methods to the new demands of the present times and is committed to ongoing education through annual professional development opportunities through Sound Circle Center and Antioch University, among others.

She is eager to share her passion for Waldorf education with Homeschooling families and looks forward to her work with students in a range of subjects in various grades!

Maja came to Lotus & Ivy warmly recommended by some of the parents of Lotus & Ivy students that she had been teaching privately. Her love for sharing handwork skills and knowledge is reflected in the joy of her students as they explore the art forms and accomplish their projects. Maja’s approach is rooted in understanding how creativity and an imaginative mindset can enrich individuals' growth and help children thrive in many aspects of their lives. She draws artistic and crafting expression from her education in Anthropology and Ethnology, Graphic Design, Textiles and Fine Arts as well as from her deep connection to the wonders of nature.

After earning her bachelor's degree from the Academy of Visual arts, she and her husband moved from Slovenia to the United States. Ms. Ljubic’s practical arts classes are a safe space for exploration, observation and channeling inspiration, all while building unique handwork skills, patience and perseverance. Her knowledge and experience allow her to engage with an uplifting and encouraging presence where each student can find creative expression in their own time, direction and style. Prior to teaching wool felting her field was strongly connected to puppetry art, working in theatre as a puppet builder and holding workshops for children of all age groups, adults as well as special needs groups. Based on using natural materials, her teaching approach is gentle and holistic, inviting a heart inspiration and balance.

Ms. Ljubic lives in Maryland with her husband and their 5-year-old son. Raising her son, inspired her to draw from the Waldorf pedagogy and philosophies, that naturally suit their family and invite wonder in their everyday life.

Ms. Laurent was born and raised in Milan, Italy, and from her earliest years she knew she wanted to be a teacher. That instinct stayed with her through a winding journey that took her across continents, through a business degree, a Master’s in Multicultural Communication, marriage, three children, and the gradual discovery of the vocation that had been waiting for her all along.

When Ms. Laurent first encountered Waldorf education, she recognized it immediately, not as something new, but as something she had always sensed was possible and needed: an approach to childhood that combined deep developmental understanding with genuine reverence for the human being. She trained as a Waldorf class teacher at Rudolf Steiner College in California and as a support/Extra Lesson teacher at the Gradalis Institute. She began what would become more than twenty years of dedicated practice at an established Waldorf school in Northern California, where she trained and worked in supportive education, guided two full eight-year cohorts of students from Grade 1 through Grade 8, and taught High School Humanities blocks.

Ms. Laurent believes that the teacher’s essential task is to facilitate the unfolding of each child’s capacities, to create the conditions in which every child can grow into who they are. That work, in her experience, is carried above all by enthusiasm for learning, through wonder and beauty, and by patient and attentive observation of each student’s individual humanity. Every child arrives with something unique and unrepeatable. The teacher’s art is in learning to see it.

Recently, she completed her Doctor of Education at Antioch University. Her dissertation research reflects the questions that have animated her entire career: how children find their place in the world, and what schools and communities can do to support that process.

Multilingual in English, Italian, French, and Spanish, dual citizen of the United States and Italy, Monica brings to her work a genuinely international perspective, shaped by a life lived across cultures and a career dedicated to understanding what education can be when it truly serves the developing human being

At the heart of Monica’s work is the belief that relationships are the foundation of all good educational work. The relationship between a teacher and a child, and between a teacher and a family is where learning begins.

Outside of her work, Monica finds joy in time with family and friends, walking in nature, and traveling, always drawn to new places, new people, and new cultures. She also has a deep love for working with her hands: cooking, gardening, ceramic work and everything to do with textiles and fiber, which allow her to enjoy the satisfaction of creating something from raw material.

Rachel is an educator, poet, performer, creative speech artist, and relational arts practitioner whose work lives at the threshold where language becomes encounter. Her teaching and artistic practice bring together Waldorf education, anthroposophical speech and drama, therapeutic recreation, performance, and poetry.

She is especially interested in the ways speech, imagination, and artistic practice can awaken presence, deepen perception, and support more meaningful human connection.

Rachel is the adjunct professor for Speech and Drama at Anitoch University of New England. She holds a Master’s degree in Waldorf Education from Antioch University and a B.S. in Therapeutic Recreation from Ithaca College. She also holds a Permaculture Design Certificate and is currently pursuing advanced training in Anthroposophical Creative Speech and Drama through the Performing Arts Section at the Goetheanum.

As a teaching artist, Rachel supports Waldorf school productions through speech coaching, character development, hair and makeup design, costuming, and the cultivation of ensemble presence. She also performs character-based roles at events, creating immersive personas and interactive experiences that invite play and genuine encounter.

Her poetry has been published in Open Color Magazine, Los Angeles Press, and The Sopris Sun. She performs and produces creative arts events, is one half of the musical-poetry-comedy duo mylk && honey, and created The Lemon Aid Stand, a relational art project rooted in deep listening and humanitarian activism. Across classrooms, stages, and public spaces, Rachel’s work seeks to restore wonder, enliven language, and remind us that presence itself is an art form.

Heather Pearl is excited to be teaching at Lotus and Ivy, and to share her love of movement and circus to more children. For 19 years, Pearl taught Movement Education to 2nd-8th graders at Cedarwood Waldorf School in Portland, OR. The years were full and wonderful, and provided much experience to take out into the world doing other teaching and performing! 

In 2018, Pearl graduated from the 5 year Spacial Dynamics Program, and she integrates Spacial Dynamics into her movement teaching. She also uses reflex integration, Brain Gym, and other modalities to enhance healthy movement and brain development.

Currently Pearl mentors Movement teachers, leads teacher workshops and does residency and guest teaching in schools. 

In a parallel career, Pearl is also a  professional Clown and Circus Artist, performing at theaters, libraries, festivals and events. She has worked with the Nomadic Theatre Co, Do Jump!, Dell’Arte, and the SF Woman’s Circus, and continues to create new material.

Jeffrey Hipolito’s path to Waldorf education was paved early on—he grew up in a household that discovered and became dedicated to it while he was growing up.  His mother, Jane Hipolito, trained teachers for many years at the Waldorf Institute of Southern California.  Many years later, Jeff helped to train current and future Waldorf teachers at the Sound Circle Center for the Arts and Anthroposophy in Seattle, Washington.  He was mentored by Betty Staley at Rudolf Steiner College, where earned his Waldorf high school teaching certificate.  He has been a Waldorf teacher of middle school and high school students for nearly twenty years, at the Seattle Waldorf School and the Waldorf-inspired Eastside Community School in Issaquah, WA.  

Though he is a Waldorf teacher at heart, Jeff did not come to it right away.  He took a detour through the academic world, earning a PhD. In English literature from the University of Washington, where he pursued his love of Romantic poetry with two legendary teachers, Hazard Adams and Ernst Behler.

Jeff’s focus is on language, literature, and history, and is an active published writer.  He is the chairperson of the Owen Barfield Society (www.owenbarfieldsociety.org), which is dedicated to promoting the work of this fantastic writer, who was a friend of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, but whose best friend was A. C. Harwood, who started the first Waldorf school in the English-speaking world.  Jeff is the author of two books about Owen Barfield.  When he’s not teaching, he is sometimes invited to give talks about Barfield, including at Cambridge University and the Temenos Academy in London, England.

Jeff gets the most joy from spending time with his blended family of three adult children, and one just entering 5th grade.  He and his wife, who is also long-time Waldorf teacher from early childhood through high school, have created an educational consulting company for parents looking for advice in helping their tween and teen children navigate the choppy waters of adolescence in healthy and harmonious ways.

Vivian has been teaching for over thirty years, and this will be her sixth First Grade class. She never planned to be a teacher; however, her college mentor suggested that she explore early childhood education, and she did. After graduating from the College of William and Mary with a degree in Government, she travelled up the road to the University of Virginia, where she received her Master’s degree in Education. Having discovered that she loved teaching, she was one of the first Kindergarten teachers in Virginia’s new public Kindergarten program.

As music and especially singing had always been part of her life, Vivian sang in the College Choir and in Gilbert & Sullivan productions throughout her undergraduate years. G&S called to her again in Charlottesville, and that’s where she met her husband, a college history teacher. She then worked as an artist for several years before their daughter was born.

One day, Vivian walked into a Waldorf Kindergarten and felt she had found Heaven. When their daughter, Rebecca, reached Kindergarten age, Vivian started studying the education. She knew she was drawn to the school, but what was this unknown education about, anyway? Finally satisfied that, in fact, the school’s practices resonated with everything she’d always thought an education should be, she began teaching Handwork at the same time Rebecca entered Kindergarten.

After a few years as a Handwork teacher, class teaching called her, and she started with her first class of sparkling and challenging students, most of whom she is still in contact with, and some of whom now have children of their own. Vivian has spent most of her teaching years at the Charlottesville Waldorf School but was also privileged to teach for two years at the Richmond Waldorf School. She has also served in many leadership positions at CWS. She has mentored several teachers, and she was one of the earliest members of the Editorial Board of Renewal: A Journal for Waldorf Education, for which she has written several articles about Waldorf Education. She has written many poems and songs for her classes, and a few of her middle school plays have been gathered into the book Three Plays for Small Classes.

Vivian is blessed with two adorable granddaughters.