Verónica Guzmán
Co-Founder, Director
Verónica was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia. She came to the United States for college, earning a B.A in Political Science and International Studies from The University of Chicago. A few years after working in Washington, DC., she pursued a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from The University of California, Berkeley.
Maria Oneto
Co-Founder, & Círculo Mágico Teacher
Maria has a B.A in Early Childhood Education from the Catholic University (Pontificia Universidad Católica) in Lima, Perú. She has taken courses in Mindfulness from Mindful Schools and Mindfulness Northwest as well as the Training of Trainers Program in High/Scope Curriculum from The High Scope Foundation in Michigan.
Elena Kazanjian
Assitant Director &
English Teacher 3rd/4th grade
Elena has a Washington State certification in elementary education, grades K-8th. She started teaching in 2015 at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), where she taught filmmaking and worked to develop curriculum for their educational programs. Elena spent two years living in Antigua, Guatemala where she taught 1st-3rd grade at the Antigua Green School and helped develop their new project-based learning curriculum.
Ireny Youssef
English Teacher K & 1st/2nd Grade
Ireny has spent the past 11 years working as a teacher in Cairo, Egypt, where she taught elementary at American, British, and German International Schools (B.B.C. International School, British Ramses School, Dr. Nermien Ismail International Schools, and Roots International School). Ireny has a Master’s Degree in Education from Acacia University in Arizona.
Emily Frisk
English Teacher TK/K & 1st/2nd Grade
Emily grew up near Chicago, Illinois before moving to Germany to finish high school and later attending university in Austria. After several years in Vienna, she returned to the U.S., finally settling in Washington in 2015. Her Washington State Teaching license is in Elementary and Special Education and she also has a BA in German Studies.
Sol Flaherty
Spanish Teacher TK & 1st/2nd grade
Sol was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sol came to the US to work in Biomedical Research. She completed graduate studies at NYU School of Medicine, earning a Phd in Biomedical Sciences. In 2016, after several years of doing research, Sol decided to follow her dream career, being an educator. She first taught Pre-Kindergarten for 2 years at Bright Horizons. This experience further confirmed to her that teaching young kids was her calling.
Priscilla Portocarrero
Spanish Teacher K & 1st/2nd Grade
Priscilla has a B.A in Psychology from Universidad Femenina del Sagrado Corazón (UNIFE) in Lima, Perú and a specialization in Family Therapy from Universidad de La Sabana in Bogotá, Colombia. Her area of expertise is the socio-emotional development of children. She has ample training in Conscious Discipline and is a certified Positive Discipline Parenting Educator from the Positive Discipline Association
Sonia Cobo
Spanish Teacher 3rd/4th Grade
Sonia has a multicultural background: she was born in Mexico City, her parents were Spanish, and has lived the United Stated for the past 25 years, in the Seattle area since 2009. For the past 18 years she has worked assisting preschool classes and teaching Spanish from pre-K to 5th grade in private schools such as Canterbury School in Fort Wayne, IN; Franklin Road Academy in Nashville, TN; St. Thomas School in Medina near Bellevue, SnoSprings School in Issaquah, and Cascadia School in Redmond.
Iris Hubbard
English Teacher 5th grade &
Teacher Assistant Kinder
Iris attended Western Washington University for her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Elementary Education. She has a Washington State certification in elementary education, grades K-8th. After her graduation from Western, Iris received a Fulbright grant to teach English in Taiwan for one year. She gained many valuable experiences from the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) methods of bilingual education in Taipei.
Mayela Castillo
Spanish Teacher 5th Grade &
Teacher Assistant Kinder
Mayela was born and raised in Mexico City. After pursuing a career in medicine, Mayela became a certified physician specializing in hospital nutrition and eating disorders. Recently, Mayela completed a Master’s in Education with endorsements in Elementary Education and Multilingual Education at City U. in Seattle. Her love for education brought her to the Issaquah School District where she made sure all her students felt supported, challenged, and engaged, while embracing their diverse cultural backgrounds.
Javiera Izquierdo
Math Curriculum Lead & Math Teacher
Javiera is a passionate educator, deeply dedicated to her students’ growth and well-being. She has a bachelor’s degree in primary education from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, specializing in mathematics. She broadened her horizons through a university exchange program at the University of Ottawa where she engaged in elective courses related to education, enriching her pedagogical knowledge and skills.
Lizbeth Huerta
Art Teacher & Administrative Assistant
Lizbeth has a B.A. in Administration from the National Polytechnical Institute in Mexico City. She moved to the Pacific Northwest sixteen years ago. For the past 8 years, Lizbeth worked as a teacher assistant in grades K-5th at her children’s school in Sammamish. She has always enjoyed and worked with different art forms and uses an art and crafts approach to help students find their inner strengths, supporting them to build their self-confidence.
Juan Miguel Lavista
Computer Science Teacher
Humberto Castañeda
Computer Science Teacher
Humberto works at Google as a Product Manager in the area of video calling and video meetings. He has been doing computer programming since he was 10 years old and he loves playing video games. Humberto has two wonderful daughters. When he is not at work or teaching, you will find him jogging with his dog. Humberto is originally from Bogotá, Colombia.
Mia Rozmyn
Computer Science Teacher
Mia is a Civil Engineer with over 47 years of experience in software development. Her journey into engineering began in high school when she was introduced to computers during her Honors Math class. This was the era of the IBM System/360, a groundbreaking innovation that revolutionized the way we design, build, and use computer systems—an impact still felt today. That transformative experience as a student is what Mia now strives to share as a teacher.
Mary Ewald
Music Teacher
Mary is a professional theater artist. As an actor she has performed in NYC, various regional theaters around the country, all the major Seattle theaters, as well as touring internationally. As a director, music director, and teacher, she has worked at Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle Waldorf School, and the Seattle Waldorf High School.
Andréia Azevedo
Afterschool Teacher
Jennie Knapp
Volunteer Librarian
Jennie Knapp received a B.S. in Cultural Anthropology from Northern Arizona University in 1979, inspired by her year as an exchange student in Colombia in 1973. After working in Public Health for 18 years managing programs allocating funds to non profit community clinics, she pursued a second career as a teacher by obtaining her teaching certificate through the University of Washington, Bothell campus in 2001.
Beth Robinson
Volunteer Librarian
Beth studied Biology in Oregon and received a degree in Nursing Science from Columbia University. After working many years in cancer units, she moved to the Seattle area with her husband and two young boys where he was a stay-at-home mom and volunteered in a preschool. Beth found her call: she loved the laughs and creativity of young children instead of having to deal with people dying. As the children were older, Beth decided to reinvent herself in the education field. She received her teaching credentials form Seattle Pacific University and for 20 years she was a K to 3rd grade teacher.