.jpg)
Staff Bios
Executive Director
Fran
Fran (she/her) is the Executive Director of Kidspace! She started working at Kidspace in 1998. She has experience as a Lead Toddler Teacher and overall, has 15 years of solid experience working with children. Fran moved to Seattle from New York in 1994, where she managed a group home for developmentally disabled adults for many years. Fran has a BA in political science and has taken many early childhood education classes throughout the years. She loves the daily challenges and rewards of being a Director! In her spare time she enjoys music, sports, nature, and spending time with her daughter and husband.
Assitant Director
Olivia
Olivia (she/her) is the Assistant Director. She began working at Kidspace in 2014 as a substitute teacher. She has held every teaching job title during her time here, and continues to pursue more! Her undergrad was in Individual and Family Development (minor in Women's Studies) and completed a Masters in Early Childhood: Inclusive Education with a specialty in Infant Toddler Mental Health in 2022. When not at Kidspace, Olivia is found spending time with her family and friends, and exploring great eats around Seattle!
Mentor Teacher
Kim
Kim (she/her) has been Kidspace’s Mentor Teacher since 2010. She has worked in ECE for 40 years as a teacher, program director, and a parent educator. She grew up in sunny southern California and earned her BA at Cal State Fullerton. She and her family lived in San Francisco and Berkeley until moving to Seattle in 2005. She holds an AA in Early Childhood Ed from NSCC and is active in NAEYC. Kim loves Kidspace for its dedicated staff and amazing families, and especially enjoys conversing with the children. Her interests include live music, textile arts, and exploring cities through the lens of a camera.
Chef
Jack
Jack (they/them) is the Kidspace Chef!
Born and raised in the Philippines with Bachelor’s of Science Major in Hotel Restaurant Management. With 15yrs of Professional experience in the kitchen. In 2015, they started work for Intergenerational Learning Center in Providence Mt Vincent in West Seattle. After that, their first 5 years was working in childcare facilities, with Kidspace being their 4th child care and almost 4 years working as KS chef. Outside of work, they love watching cooking shows, Horror Movies and Documentaries. They love eating and Karaoke night with their friends. Jack loves cooking because its their LOVE LANGUAGE.
Maple Room
Michelle
Michelle (she/her) is the Lead Maple Preschool Teacher at Kidspace. She began working at Kidspace in 1990! She has an AA in ECE from Seattle Central and has a mentor teacher certificate through SCC. Her favorite things about Kidspace are the hip staff, wonderful parents, and amazing children. Michelle has a deep interest in adoption, as she was adopted at a young age. Her other interests include baking, hiking, working out, shopping, politics, and spending time with her daughter, Mackenzie!
Maple Room
Alex
Alex (he/him) is the Assistant Maple Preschool Teacher and started working at Kidspace in September 2024. He previously was a substitute teacher's aide for Childcare Careers. He's since realized that early childhood education is his passion, and plans to attend college for the subject in the near future. In his free time, Alex enjoys sewing, baking, and playing with his pet rats!
Aspen Room
Pat
Pat (he/him) is the Co-Lead Teacher in the Preschool (Aspen) Room and started working at Kidspace in 2007. Previously he worked at Able Child Children’s Center for 17 years. While at Able, Pat worked for several years as a lead teacher in the infant and toddler classrooms, then a lead teacher in the preschool classroom. Over the years he has been a very active and well-known member of the Seattle early childhood community. Pat has 32 credits in ECE from North Seattle Community as well as a BA in Biology from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
Aspen Room
Shamali
Shamali (she/her) is the Co-Lead Teacher in the Preschool (Aspen) Room. She has been with us since January 2020.
Dino Room
Tracey
Tracey (she/her) is the Co-Lead in the Young Preschool (Dino) room. She is an east coast native who moved to Seattle in 2004. She was born and raised in New Jersey and attended college and graduate school in North Carolina where she received a Master’s degree in Child Development and Family Relations from East Carolina University. Tracey’s early career was focused on early intervention services for preschool children and shifted after moving to Seattle to nonprofit work focused on advocating for families in crisis (homelessness, domestic violence). Tracey balanced that work while also being a live-in nanny for a few years and eventually decided to refocus on her Early Childhood. Her favorite interests in her spare time are road trips, the beach, music, astrology and photography
Dino Room
Yvette
Yvette (she/her) is the Co-Lead in the Young Preschool (Dino) room. Yvette has been at Kidspace for an indeterminate period of time. She started in the Dino Room, moved into Aspen, and stayed for ten years. She then came back to work in the afternoons, and finally returned as an Apple teacher before circling back to Dino. Her favorite part of working with preschoolers is when they ask difficult questions. When not moving rooms at Kidspace, Yvette likes to perform, read, write, and travel. One memorable trip was getting to tour preschools in China with then Washington State first lady, Mona Locke. Yvette feels promoting her '80s teenage angst-driven high school novel, The Last Year of the Rest of My Life is a completely acceptable way to end her bio!
Treefrog Room
Jennifer
Jennifer (she/her) is the Lead Teacher in the Young Preschool (Treefrog) Room and has been working at Kidspace since 2001. She previously worked with children as a nanny and as an assistant teacher in Alaska. Jennifer has an AA in visual communications from the Art Institute of Seattle. She enjoys the community-oriented atmosphere and the high level of parent involvement at Kidspace. She also likes that children are treated as individuals and with respect. Jennifer’s interests include anything arts-oriented, music, hiking, camping, snow boarding, and exploring Seattle.
Treefrog Room
TBD
Apple Room
Janelle
Janelle (she/they) is the Co-Lead Teacher in the Toddler (Apple) room. Janelle is a passionate educator who cares deeply about developing meaningful relationships with their students and families. They have over 8 years of experience in the education field with a variety of work experiences including being a K-5 music teacher in Franklin Pierce (Tacoma) and Seattle Public Schools, a piano teacher, a math tutor, a nanny, middle/high school choir teacher, and of course working with kids primarily in the Dino room (young preschool) and the Apple room (toddlers) at Kidspace. She graduated from SPU with a bachelor’s degree in Music Education and obtained her Washington Teacher Certification in K-12 Music in 2018. In addition to her Kidspace position she works with Seattle Girls Choir as a pianist and music theory instructor. In her spare time Janelle enjoys quality time with her friends and family, going out to live shows, reading, caring for her pets, and exploring new fun things to do around Seattle
Apple Room
Izzy
Izzy (she/her) is the Co-Lead Teacher in the Toddler (Apple) room since August 2024. She studied Elementary Education at Grand Valley State University. She has experience working with children from 4 months to middle school age! Izzy loves the community at Kidspace and the lower ratio numbers which allows her to connect with each child even more! In her free time, Izzy loves hiking, camping and reading!
Willow Room
Pauline
Pauline (she/her) is the lead teacher in the Waddler (Willow) room and has been working at Kidspace since 1996. She has more than 16 years of experience working with infants through school-age children. Pauline likes the warm, nurturing environment, low ratios, great benefits, and the male teacher role models at Kidspace. Pauline’s interests include dancing, writing, and helping others.
Willow Room
Ru
Ru (they/he/she) is the Assistant Teacher in the Waddler (Willow) room and has been working at Kidspace since July 2024.
Sequoia Room
Venus
Venus (she/her) is the Lead Teacher in the Sequoia (infant) room since July 2024. She has been in childcare since 2016. She has worked in infant and toddler rooms in California, Arizona, and Washington. She is currently working towards her bachelor’s degree in early child development through North Seattle College. She will graduate in 2025. Venus joined the Kidspace family after she moved to Washington in 2023. She enjoys the community and wonderful families at Kidspace. On her spare time she enjoys being outside, snowboarding, camping, and reading.
Sequoia Room
Kirsten
Kirsten (she/they) is the Assistant Teacher in Sequoia (infant) room and has been at Kidspace since 2017. She is currently working on a degree in Sociology and Gender Studies, and is passionate about the ways that those topics integrate with her work with children — for example, Kirsten recently wrote and presented an in-service training to Kidspace staff on the topic of transgender & nonbinary inclusion in early childhood education. She is also a freelance musician and performs with various instrumental groups in the greater Seattle area. When she’s not teaching at Kidspace, you can find her playing drums, teaching music lessons, and seeing as much live theatre as Seattle has to offer.
Preschool Floater
Jae'onna
Jae'onna (she/her) is the current Preschool Floater teacher and the afternoon teacher in the Aspen room. She has been with us since March 2023.
Young Preschool Floater
Jenny
Jenny (she/her) is the current Young Preschool Floater Teacher and has been at Kidspace since July 2024. She is from Bangkok, Thailand. She graduated in Human Resources Management, Ramkhumheang University of Thailand and Vocational college in Accountings. Jenny has over 5 years hand on- experience working with children, working in International school in Thailand. (Harrow international school Bangkok and King's college international school Bangkok). Addition to being a nanny for 3 years. Jenny came to the U.S. in 2022 and worked both as an Assistant and as Lead teacher in New York City, ranging in ages from one to three. She has a strong passion working with children. Jenny loves to do creating and fun activities for crafts and games to help them with new knowledge. Including observing each child daily to asses skill and interests. Working at daycare helps her understand different children and to be a part of a good team.
Infant/Toddler Floater
Barbara
Barbara, (she/her), earned a AAS Degree in Early Childhood Education from North Seattle Community College and her BA in Education from Central Washington University, majoring in ECE and minoring in Elementary Education, receiving a WA Provisional Teaching Certificate. Committed to continuing education some of which includes classes at Hilltop, Pacific Oaks, and a year long mentoring program through Rice University in their Early Literacy Project. Barbara lives in Magnolia with her husband and loves to get out for walks and garden.