The Center for Inspired Education
MEET THE TEAM
COACHES & TUTORS
Alicia Cardina
Executive Functioning Skills Coach and Academic Tutor - Specializing in Elementary Students
Retreat & Workshop Facilitator
Alicia Cardina spent sixteen years teaching in elementary schools in Asheville NC, the US Virgin Islands, and Guatemala. During her time in the classroom, she developed an intuitive skill of how to compassionately connect with students while supporting their social-emotional and academic growth. In addition to her work with the Center for Inspired Education, Alicia is a consulting teacher for the Center for Responsive Schools and trains teachers throughout the country in the Responsive Classroom approach. She received her Master of Education from Lesley University and undergraduate degrees in cognitive psychology and education from Hamilton College.
One of Alicia’s main areas of interest is compassionate communication and effective language for teachers and parents. She is excited to bring this into her work with children and families. She brings her love of nature, music, and creativity into her lessons that help children connect to their inner gifts and wisdom. Alicia offers coaching in executive functioning skills as well as academic tutoring.
Melissa Henry
Writing Coach
Executive Functioning Skills Coach
Melissa Henry has a 25-year history of inspiring young learners. She currently teaches English Language Acquisition at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. She is a certified instructor of English, a published writer, and a graduate of UC Berkeley. Melissa holds a North Carolina CORE and Employability Certificate in addition to her bachelor of arts degree in English. She also serves as an artist mentor with Asheville Writers in the Schools and Communities.
Prior to her time with the Center for Inspired Education, Melissa worked as a writing coach and an executive functioning coach, interacting with Asheville youth during UNCA’s creative writing summer camp, WriteNow. She also conducted creative writing workshops at Lenoir Rhyne’s WordFest. Melissa also has shared her music and poetry publicly in Asheville and has worked as a resident artist with the TAPAS collaborative arts program in Asheville City Schools.
Dan Chase
Math Tutor
Dan Chase has taught math at the middle school and high school levels for twenty years in Asheville-area public and independent schools. Dan attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, NC, completed his undergraduate degree at UNC Chapel Hill, and earned his Master of Arts in Teaching from Western Carolina University.
Dan’s teaching extends beyond the traditional classroom. He tutors high school students for the ACT and SAT tests. Additionally, he has decades of experience as an outdoor educator at several summer camps around the United States. Currently Dan works with fifth-grade students through the Muddy Sneakers outdoor science classroom program, and he runs his own nature hiking guide service that provides families with educational outdoor experiences.
Jessica W. Rivers, Ph.D.
Executive Functioning Skills Coach - Specializing in Students and Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum
Jessica W. Rivers, Ph.D., received her doctorate in child and human development from the University of Georgia, her master’s degree in special education from UNC-Chapel Hill, and her undergraduate degree is in psychology from Oberlin College in Ohio. She has served as a teacher and preschool director, one-on-one therapist, and a consultant on a long-term research project investigating the incidence of autism spectrum disorder in children in the US. She has also created a business to support children with ASD in their homes and communities.
Jessica’s work in public and independent schools includes time in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, and London, England. Additionally, she has facilitated various trainings for teachers, school staff and families across the country. Jessica joins her wealth of experience with a commitment to building strong relationships with students and their families to the Center for Inspired Education.
Sara Penninga
Executive Functioning Skills Coach
Teaching has delighted Sara for most of her adult life. She was a classroom teacher for grades 1-5 along with teaching middle and high school classes. Sara’s compassionate curiosity helps clients find and embrace their passions and purpose in the world. Sara values creating a deep connection with her students and clients to create effective academic, personal, and executive functioning goals. Her deep listening, observation, and understanding allow for the creation of goals that support students to move into empowered choices and actions.
Sara has also supported children and adults with physical and cognitive challenges for over 10 years. Because of her own struggles with dyslexia and learning to read, Sara has a unique way of supporting new readers.
Sara’s interests include interpersonal communication, personalized goal setting, creatively and consistently working towards goals set, supporting fine and large motor skill development, and empowering clients through the arts and nature connection.
Brittany Young
Executive Functioning Skills Coach
Math Tutor
Brittany Young is an impassioned educator who is rooted in the understanding that education is a vehicle for helping human beings remember and honor their true nature while also discovering their unique relationship to the world within and around them. She has been a Waldorf teacher and teen mentor for six years. She created a Rite of Passage teen girl’s camp in her previous hometown of Sedona, Arizona, and is intentional about continuing to help teens and parents to understand and harness the wisdom within these powerful development stages of child-to-adolescent-to-young adult.
Besides being a coach and tutor for CIE, Brittany currently teaches middle school and high school math and tutors students in math from basic elementary concepts up to Algebra 2 at a local middle school.
Brittany has a Master’s degree from DePaul University in Social and Educational Foundations of Education. She spent many years traveling abroad and specifically traveled to and from India, which she considers to be a deeply formative stage in her life, helping her to build a spiritual relationship to service in joy. She loves to inspire the youth and young adults to meet life from an inspired and self-directed place.
Kelly Dwoinen
Executive Functioning Skills Coach - Specializing in Elementary Students
Math Tutor
Kelly has been in education for over 27 years. Her experiences include: being an elementary classroom teacher in both public and private schools in North Carolina and Colorado for grades 1,2,3,5,6 and ELL, tutoring reading, math, and executive functioning skills for grades K-7, working as a health educator for the University of Colorado Health and Safe Kids UCHealth as the coordinator of a bike helmet safety program, and working with new parents to educate them on car seat safety.
After receiving her bachelor's degree from Colorado State University, Kelly went on to receive her Elementary Teaching License from the University of Colorado Boulder. As a teacher at Carolina Day’s Key School she was certified in Multisensory Math, as she was the 3rd grade math teacher there for six years. What she values most about teaching is the connections with students and their parents, and working to support students to believe in themselves, their gifts, and gain a deeper understanding as to how they best learn. Kelly has a deep love for nature, adventure, and travel.
Milena Blanco
Spanish Tutor
Milena was born in Havana, Cuba, an island like no other. She lived for 20 years in Chile. She coexists in a truly international family. Her mom and she are Cuban, and her two daughters, 13 and 23 are Chilean. Her "big" daughter just graduated from Political Science, Philosophy and Sociology at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Milena loves the outdoors and meeting with friends. Although she loves to talk, she also loves listening.
Being a teacher has been her dream forever. Her mom said it was her favorite game as a child. Milena's language teaching experience ranges from pre-K to 12th Grade. Currently, she feels grateful to be teaching in lower school. This target age is the perfect soil to seed a new language and is very rewarding. She also teaches private classes to teenagers and young adults. She served as an administrator, Academic Director and IB Coordinator in an international school for 16 years in Chile, where she had the opportunity to work with teachers from more than 9 different countries. Her mind is wide open!
Milena studied English Language and Literature Education at Universidad de la Habana, Elementary School Education at Universidad Catolica del Norte, Chile and a Post Graduate program in Innovation and Creativity in Education at the same university. Currently, she is about to complete her Masters in the Teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language in the University Carlos Tercero de Madrid, a very prestigious European University. Milena is certified as an International Baccalaureate teacher and was a speaking examiner for the University of Cambridge in Chile. In summary, above all, she wants to share her language and culture. She believes this lays the foundation for humans to connect on a deeper level and co-create a more inclusive world!
Mark Hanf
Executive Functioning Skills Coach
Mark is a life-long learner, an educator, and a designer who has been exploring the nexus of science and art his entire life. In 1995, he attended the NC Governor’s School in Mathematics, and went on to attend Davidson College, where he received a BA in Visual Arts in 2000.
Since 2001, Mark has taught STEAM subjects (science, technology, engineering, art and math), primarily in middle school and high school where he developed unique curricula based on the integration of learning styles. He has led numerous professional development and adult workshops on hands-on Geometry and interdisciplinary learning around the country at schools, universities, and museums. In addition to this, he has also worked actively as a visual artist / graphic designer of numerous educational projects including animated multimedia, https://education-integrity.com/videos, as well as game and toy design. https://education-integrity.com/flexistix
His goal is to share his love of learning with students of all ages in an engaging and fun way and help inspire them to remember their connections to Self, Community, Nature, and Spirit.
D Dausener
Executive Functioning Skills Coach & Academic Tutor specializing in Math
After graduating with an undergraduate degree in Geology in 1998, D Dausener discovered her love of teaching while working at a field studies program on Andros Island in the Bahamas. Years of experience with young people in various settings revealed a particular joy in learning with people with neurodiversity. Soon after, she earned a Masters degree in teaching students with learning disabilities from the University of Charleston in 2002. She then spent 14 years in a variety of classrooms, elementary through high school level, all in high needs schools of Lowcountry SC. Additionally, she has served as a personal tutor and Executive Functioning Coach for typical and neurodiverse students of all ages for over a decade. D is passionate about helping people grow into their best selves with a talent for strengthening their self compassion, patience, and trust in their innate abilities.
Beyond her love of teaching and mentoring, D has a deep connection to Nature, learning with plants and animals, handcrafting, and enjoying living with a grateful heart. She spends a lot of time learning with her exuberant five-year-old son in the beautiful mountains of WNC!
Rosalind Buda
Executive Functioning Skills Coach
Rosalind Buda offers her deep passion for learning and the desire to work with others within the realms of creativity, mindset, goal setting, inner and outer organization, and personal expression and communication. Her background as a high school teacher and administrator in a Waldorf inspired program gives her a unique perspective on teenage development and the emergent needs of today’s young people. Rosalind has also taught music (bassoon and bagpipes) to students of all ages both individually and in workshop settings and has taught at Mars Hill University and Gardner Webb University.
Rosalind’s perspectives from teaching and practicing music radiate through her work and bring a driven, creative, wholistic view to her approach. Rosalind looks at the whole person in her coaching, examining and considering what motivates them and helping them tap into their own unique gifts and strengths. Rosalind also looks with compassion at how students are caring for themselves, what they are using as inputs and inspirations, and how all of these elements influence how they are learning and experiencing the world. Her desire as a coach is to joyfully explore ways to stay grounded in a busy world and grow and connect deeply with ourselves, the natural world, and our communities.
Rosalind holds an MM from New England Conservatory of Music and a BM from The University of Iowa as well as a Waldorf Education Foundations Certificate.
Rhonda Underwood
Tutor for Orton-Gillingham Reading & Multisensory Math
Executive Functioning Skills Coach - Specializing in Elementary Students
Rhonda is a dedicated educator with a passion for fostering learning in young children. She graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in Elementary Education and furthered her education at The University of Virginia, where she earned her M.Ed. in School Administration and Curriculum. With over 25 years of combined experience as an elementary teacher, tutor, and reading specialist, Rhonda is committed to providing expert educational care, particularly during the critical early childhood years.
As a certified Reading Specialist in North Carolina, Rhonda holds a current NC Educator’s License and has completed specialized training in the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading instruction through IMSE. Her extensive professional development includes training in Foundations, The Foundations of Reading, Heggerty, CKLA, and LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling). LETRS is grounded in the Science of Reading, equipping Rhonda with a comprehensive approach to literacy instruction that she applies in her practice.
Rhonda is particularly skilled in individualizing curriculum for students with learning differences or delays in reading and math. Her Orton-Gillingham training now includes Multisensory Math, which helps offer concrete, explicit, and multisensory instruction in both reading and math. Her teaching philosophy is rooted in scientific research and the multisensory process of learning, ensuring that her students not only learn to read and understand letters and numbers but can also develop a love for learning.
Shauna Young
EFS Coach
Shauna earned her Master of Health Science in Occupational Therapy from the Medical College of Georgia and her Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Georgia. With over 17 years of experience, she has supported individuals recovering from brain injury and stroke, as well as those with learning and developmental differences, in developing practical life skills for organization, planning, time management, and self-regulation.
Drawing on this background, she supports clients in building strategies for attention, memory, problem-solving, and visual processing that promote success at home, in school, and in the community. Her experience has taught her how to adapt approaches to fit different learning styles and needs, guiding each client toward strategies that truly work for them.
What Shauna loves about coaching is being able to empower each client to embrace their strengths and interests and guiding them toward their goals with greater clarity and confidence. When she isn’t coaching, she enjoys tending her vegetable and fruit garden, vintage shopping, and spending time outdoors with her family.
ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM
Joanie Lamb
Director of the Center for Inspired Education
Executive Functioning Skills Coach
Joanie received her Master’s in Special Education (K-12) from Boston College, and her undergraduate degrees in Elementary Education, Special Education, and Philosophy from Boston College. She has taught students with learning differences, ADD/ADHD, on the Spectrum, behavioral challenges, and various types of developmental differences in public and private settings, including the Lab School of Washington, DC, the first school for students with learning differences in the nation. Two of her three boys have dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD and attended the Key School in Asheville, NC where she taught for several years and began the school’s Rites of Passage experience which still continues many years later. Besides being an experienced classroom teacher and tutor, Joanie has been a teacher trainer, educational diagnostician, educational therapist, and a special education department chairperson. She is trained in the Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory reading approach. Joanie is also trained as a Presence-Based Life Coach which has enabled her to work more deeply with her clients and to include presencing and somatics, which have been vital to her own transformation.
After graduating from college, Joanie went to San Vito, Costa Rica, to “save the world”, starting a special education program at a high school in a community where students with developmental disabilities simply stayed home. What she discovered that year was that she had a 6 months of giving capacity. After 6 months, she was toast. Humbly she came to learn that to sustain service she needed to have her Divine Source fuel her endeavors and to add regular practices that helped keep her connected and inspired. This crucial turning point in her life is the foundation for the Center for Inspired Education.
