Who we are
Hana Education Partners was founded by Kai-leé Berke and Tia Disick, the former CEO and CMO of Teaching Strategies and the Co-Founders of Noni Educational Solutions, which was acquired by Teaching Strategies in 2021. They each bring deep early childhood and classroom expertise to a decades-long track record of developing successful, compelling solutions that serve hundreds of thousands of teachers, children, and families.
Kai-leé Berke
Kai-leé Berke is a lifelong early childhood educator. She is a nationally known early childhood expert and an author of numerous widely-used early education classroom solutions, including all editions of The Creative Curriculum and the GOLD assessment system. She is the former CEO of Teaching Strategies and has particular expertise in leading growth companies, building SaaS businesses, developing long-term strategic plans, and creating positive company culture. Her interest in relationships as the foundation for all successful early learning is rooted in her extensive experience as an educator and administrator in infant/toddler, preschool, and kindergarten classrooms. Her commitment to relationship-based, reflective teaching practice has remained a core area of focus throughout her career and in her writing, influencing the ability of thousands of early childhood educators across the country to build intentional, safe, and secure relationships with the children that they teach and care for.
Kai-leé Berke, Founding Partner
Tia Kaul Disick
Tia Kaul Disick has spent the entirety of her career working with organizations that serve the early childhood field, including Girl Scouts of the USA, Scholastic, and most recently, Teaching Strategies, where she held a variety of roles including Chief Content Officer and Chief Marketing Officer. Her highly unique skill set combines deep early childhood knowledge with executive business experience and a mar-comms focus, leading to an in-depth understanding of the early childhood market and the needs of educators across all market segments. Tia received her undergraduate and Masters’ degrees from Tufts University, at the nationally renowned Eliot-Pearson School of Child Development, where her research interests focused on representations of race and ethnicity in children’s animated programming and their impact on young children’s understanding of hero and villain status.
Tia Kaul Disick, Founding Partner
Our Network
Through decades of working within the education field, we’ve been fortunate to collaborate with some of the best and brightest in the business. From product development to branding and website design, to educators with expertise in literacy, self-care, professional development design and delivery, writing and editorial support, Spanish language translation, and so much more, our vast network of partners and consultants can be brought in to support any project or initiative. Here’s just a small sample:
Åsa Johansson Kendzie
Creative Direction
Åsa is running a small start-up that partners with individuals and companies—whose missions are aligned with the United Nations General Assembly Sustainable Development Goals, a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. Åsa received her degree in Graphic Design from Art Center in Pasadena, CA. Her identity work in early childhood has been internationally recognized and published by renowned designer Bill Gardner’s Logo Lounge.
Through her start-up, Design for Good AB, Åsa is driven to combine her experience in visual communication with the urgency to leave a resilient and sustainable biosphere for future generations. In 2018, she received a certificate of distinction for “Transforming Development: The Science and Practice of Resilience Thinking,” an online course offered by the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University.
Heather Minter
Author; Wellness and Self-Care Expert
What drives her work, both internal and external, is a commitment to mitigating the effects of her own story of trauma and helping others do the same. Whether through painting, sculpture, words, or touch, her message is consistent – all bodies deserve radical love.
Betty Paxton
Editorial; Product Layout; Database Management
As director of technology-based curriculum products at SRA/McGraw-Hill, Betty led a team of 35 writers, videographers, designers, and editors to produce the multimedia portion of a national K-6 textbook series. Later, she joined WeeSchool, and worked alongside its founders, Julie and Will Clark, who also founded the Baby Einstein Company. There, she co-created and authored a first-of-its-kind, play-based curriculum for children from birth through age 5, assuring preschool readiness, and beyond.
Rosi Perea
Editorial; Spanish Language Translation
She has worked and continues to collaborate with international publishers such as Oxford University Press, Macmillan Education, and Cambridge University Press, and organizations like the Council on International Educational Exchange, lending her editorial expertise to produce leading courses used by educators and students around the world. Previously, she served as Spanish editor at Teaching Strategies, LLC, where she worked with a talented team of authors and translators to bring the company’s products and resources into Spanish-speaking classrooms. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Rosi is a native speaker of Spanish and an avid traveler. She holds a Master’s degree from the Oxford International Centre for Publishing at Oxford Brookes University (UK) and a BS in Business from Indiana University (Bloomington).
Victoria VanVoorhis
Founder and CEO, Second Avenue Learning
She has served as a PI on several grants for the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Education, exploring how to thoughtfully design for education to improve outcomes. A former teacher at the middle school, high school, and college levels, Tory is committed to making learning more engaging and more effective by creating innovative learning experiences that empower teachers and while motivating and inspiring students. She is committed to working closely with her clients to define and build innovative educational products that meet their shared vision to transform education.
Heather Wiederstein
Product Development
Her proven track record demonstrates her to be keenly tuned in with practitioners in the field and to convert that connection to meaningful products that improve classroom practice and student learning while driving business growth. Formerly a certified classroom practitioner holding licensure in Pennsylvania, Ms. Wiederstein has successfully brought to market innovative solutions in early childhood education and literacy learning (preK-12). She has recently transformed an organization from a single, legacy solution, to a burgeoning portfolio of business lines, including professional learning, creating change across the organization to successfully support sales, marketing, and implementation success. Her core values for designing, delivering, and scaling product in the education market are to put students first, to build good stuff, and to stay curious.
Who we are
Hana Education Partners was founded by Kai-leé Berke and Tia Disick, the former CEO and CMO of Teaching Strategies and the Co-Founders of Noni Educational Solutions, which was acquired by Teaching Strategies in 2021. They each bring deep early childhood and classroom expertise to a decades-long track record of developing successful, compelling solutions that serve hundreds of thousands of teachers, children, and families.
Kai-leé Berke
Kai-leé Berke is a lifelong early childhood educator. She is a nationally known early childhood expert and an author of numerous widely-used early education classroom solutions, including all editions of The Creative Curriculum and the GOLD assessment system. She is the former CEO of Teaching Strategies and has particular expertise in leading growth companies, building SaaS businesses, developing long-term strategic plans, and creating positive company culture. Her interest in relationships as the foundation for all successful early learning is rooted in her extensive experience as an educator and administrator in infant/toddler, preschool, and kindergarten classrooms. Her commitment to relationship-based, reflective teaching practice has remained a core area of focus throughout her career and in her writing, influencing the ability of thousands of early childhood educators across the country to build intentional, safe, and secure relationships with the children that they teach and care for.
Kai-leé Berke, Founding Partner
Tia Kaul Disick
Tia Kaul Disick has spent the entirety of her career working with organizations that serve the early childhood field, including Girl Scouts of the USA, Scholastic, and most recently, Teaching Strategies, where she held a variety of roles including Chief Content Officer and Chief Marketing Officer. Her highly unique skill set combines deep early childhood knowledge with executive business experience and a mar-comms focus, leading to an in-depth understanding of the early childhood market and the needs of educators across all market segments. Tia received her undergraduate and Masters’ degrees from Tufts University, at the nationally renowned Eliot-Pearson School of Child Development, where her research interests focused on representations of race and ethnicity in children’s animated programming and their impact on young children’s understanding of hero and villain status.
Tia Kaul Disick, Founding Partner
Our Network
Through decades of working within the education field, we’ve been fortunate to collaborate with some of the best and brightest in the business. From product development to branding and website design, to educators with expertise in literacy, self-care, professional development design and delivery, writing and editorial support, Spanish language translation, and so much more, our vast network of partners and consultants can be brought in to support any project or initiative. Here’s just a small sample:
Åsa Johansson Kendzie
Creative Direction
Åsa is running a small start-up that partners with individuals and companies—whose missions are aligned with the United Nations General Assembly Sustainable Development Goals, a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. Åsa received her degree in Graphic Design from Art Center in Pasadena, CA. Her identity work in early childhood has been internationally recognized and published by renowned designer Bill Gardner’s Logo Lounge.
Through her start-up, Design for Good AB, Åsa is driven to combine her experience in visual communication with the urgency to leave a resilient and sustainable biosphere for future generations. In 2018, she received a certificate of distinction for “Transforming Development: The Science and Practice of Resilience Thinking,” an online course offered by the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University.
Heather Minter
Author; Wellness and Self-Care Expert
What drives her work, both internal and external, is a commitment to mitigating the effects of her own story of trauma and helping others do the same. Whether through painting, sculpture, words, or touch, her message is consistent – all bodies deserve radical love.
Betty Paxton
Editorial; Product Layout; Database Management
As director of technology-based curriculum products at SRA/McGraw-Hill, Betty led a team of 35 writers, videographers, designers, and editors to produce the multimedia portion of a national K-6 textbook series. Later, she joined WeeSchool, and worked alongside its founders, Julie and Will Clark, who also founded the Baby Einstein Company. There, she co-created and authored a first-of-its-kind, play-based curriculum for children from birth through age 5, assuring preschool readiness, and beyond.
Rosi Perea
Editorial; Spanish Language Translation
She has worked and continues to collaborate with international publishers such as Oxford University Press, Macmillan Education, and Cambridge University Press, and organizations like the Council on International Educational Exchange, lending her editorial expertise to produce leading courses used by educators and students around the world. Previously, she served as Spanish editor at Teaching Strategies, LLC, where she worked with a talented team of authors and translators to bring the company’s products and resources into Spanish-speaking classrooms. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Rosi is a native speaker of Spanish and an avid traveler. She holds a Master’s degree from the Oxford International Centre for Publishing at Oxford Brookes University (UK) and a BS in Business from Indiana University (Bloomington).
Victoria VanVoorhis
Founder and CEO, Second Avenue Learning
She has served as a PI on several grants for the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Education, exploring how to thoughtfully design for education to improve outcomes. A former teacher at the middle school, high school, and college levels, Tory is committed to making learning more engaging and more effective by creating innovative learning experiences that empower teachers and while motivating and inspiring students. She is committed to working closely with her clients to define and build innovative educational products that meet their shared vision to transform education.
Heather Wiederstein
Product Development
Her proven track record demonstrates her to be keenly tuned in with practitioners in the field and to convert that connection to meaningful products that improve classroom practice and student learning while driving business growth. Formerly a certified classroom practitioner holding licensure in Pennsylvania, Ms. Wiederstein has successfully brought to market innovative solutions in early childhood education and literacy learning (preK-12). She has recently transformed an organization from a single, legacy solution, to a burgeoning portfolio of business lines, including professional learning, creating change across the organization to successfully support sales, marketing, and implementation success. Her core values for designing, delivering, and scaling product in the education market are to put students first, to build good stuff, and to stay curious.
Who we are
Hana Education Partners was founded by Kai-leé Berke and Tia Disick, the former CEO and CMO of Teaching Strategies and the Co-Founders of Noni Educational Solutions, which was acquired by Teaching Strategies in 2021. They each bring deep early childhood and classroom expertise to a decades-long track record of developing successful, compelling solutions that serve hundreds of thousands of teachers, children, and families.
Kai-leé Berke
Kai-leé Berke is a lifelong early childhood educator. She is a nationally known early childhood expert and an author of numerous widely-used early education classroom solutions, including all editions of The Creative Curriculum and the GOLD assessment system. She is the former CEO of Teaching Strategies and has particular expertise in leading growth companies, building SaaS businesses, developing long-term strategic plans, and creating positive company culture. Her interest in relationships as the foundation for all successful early learning is rooted in her extensive experience as an educator and administrator in infant/toddler, preschool, and kindergarten classrooms. Her commitment to relationship-based, reflective teaching practice has remained a core area of focus throughout her career and in her writing, influencing the ability of thousands of early childhood educators across the country to build intentional, safe, and secure relationships with the children that they teach and care for.
Kai-leé Berke, Founding Partner
Tia Kaul Disick
Tia Kaul Disick has spent the entirety of her career working with organizations that serve the early childhood field, including Girl Scouts of the USA, Scholastic, and most recently, Teaching Strategies, where she held a variety of roles including Chief Content Officer and Chief Marketing Officer. Her highly unique skill set combines deep early childhood knowledge with executive business experience and a mar-comms focus, leading to an in-depth understanding of the early childhood market and the needs of educators across all market segments. Tia received her undergraduate and Masters’ degrees from Tufts University, at the nationally renowned Eliot-Pearson School of Child Development, where her research interests focused on representations of race and ethnicity in children’s animated programming and their impact on young children’s understanding of hero and villain status.
Tia Kaul Disick, Founding Partner
Our Network
Through decades of working within the education field, we’ve been fortunate to collaborate with some of the best and brightest in the business. From product development to branding and website design, to educators with expertise in literacy, self-care, professional development design and delivery, writing and editorial support, Spanish language translation, and so much more, our vast network of partners and consultants can be brought in to support any project or initiative. Here’s just a small sample:
Åsa Johansson Kendzie
Creative Direction
Åsa is running a small start-up that partners with individuals and companies—whose missions are aligned with the United Nations General Assembly Sustainable Development Goals, a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. Åsa received her degree in Graphic Design from Art Center in Pasadena, CA. Her identity work in early childhood has been internationally recognized and published by renowned designer Bill Gardner’s Logo Lounge.
Through her start-up, Design for Good AB, Åsa is driven to combine her experience in visual communication with the urgency to leave a resilient and sustainable biosphere for future generations. In 2018, she received a certificate of distinction for “Transforming Development: The Science and Practice of Resilience Thinking,” an online course offered by the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University.
Heather Minter
Author; Wellness and Self-Care Expert
What drives her work, both internal and external, is a commitment to mitigating the effects of her own story of trauma and helping others do the same. Whether through painting, sculpture, words, or touch, her message is consistent – all bodies deserve radical love.
Betty Paxton
Editorial; Product Layout; Database Management
As director of technology-based curriculum products at SRA/McGraw-Hill, Betty led a team of 35 writers, videographers, designers, and editors to produce the multimedia portion of a national K-6 textbook series. Later, she joined WeeSchool, and worked alongside its founders, Julie and Will Clark, who also founded the Baby Einstein Company. There, she co-created and authored a first-of-its-kind, play-based curriculum for children from birth through age 5, assuring preschool readiness, and beyond.
Rosi Perea
Editorial; Spanish Language Translation
She has worked and continues to collaborate with international publishers such as Oxford University Press, Macmillan Education, and Cambridge University Press, and organizations like the Council on International Educational Exchange, lending her editorial expertise to produce leading courses used by educators and students around the world. Previously, she served as Spanish editor at Teaching Strategies, LLC, where she worked with a talented team of authors and translators to bring the company’s products and resources into Spanish-speaking classrooms. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Rosi is a native speaker of Spanish and an avid traveler. She holds a Master’s degree from the Oxford International Centre for Publishing at Oxford Brookes University (UK) and a BS in Business from Indiana University (Bloomington).
Victoria VanVoorhis
Founder and CEO, Second Avenue Learning
She has served as a PI on several grants for the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Education, exploring how to thoughtfully design for education to improve outcomes. A former teacher at the middle school, high school, and college levels, Tory is committed to making learning more engaging and more effective by creating innovative learning experiences that empower teachers and while motivating and inspiring students. She is committed to working closely with her clients to define and build innovative educational products that meet their shared vision to transform education.
Heather Wiederstein
Product Development
Her proven track record demonstrates her to be keenly tuned in with practitioners in the field and to convert that connection to meaningful products that improve classroom practice and student learning while driving business growth. Formerly a certified classroom practitioner holding licensure in Pennsylvania, Ms. Wiederstein has successfully brought to market innovative solutions in early childhood education and literacy learning (preK-12). She has recently transformed an organization from a single, legacy solution, to a burgeoning portfolio of business lines, including professional learning, creating change across the organization to successfully support sales, marketing, and implementation success. Her core values for designing, delivering, and scaling product in the education market are to put students first, to build good stuff, and to stay curious.