The Jennifer Barnum Luria Early Childhood Center

Bailey Brandt joins us from Chicago, where she worked as a Developmental Therapist, providing play-based interventions for children aged zero to three, tackling developmental delays. Prior to that, she worked as the Director of Early Childhood Education at a Montessori-based infant and toddler school. 

She has a Masters of Science in Child Development with a concentration in Infancy and Administration from Erikson Institute, and has been working with children and families for sixteen years, both as a direct caregiver and as parent support. Bailey is beyond excited to join The Jennie and CBI, and to join CBI staff in building an incredible school for our community.

Born in the Bay Area, Bailey moved to Portland as an adolescent, where she graduated from Metropolitan Learning Center (a few blocks away from CBI!) and obtained her undergraduate degree from Portland State University. After nine years exploring Chicago (and picking up her Master’s degree!) she decided it was time to come home and be near family again.

Bailey has spent her career practicing and building on the skill set of inclusive and anti-oppression early childhood care, and feels deeply that raising children with responsive and quality caregiving is the best way to create a peaceful and joyful future for all.  She uses a relationship and community building approach, believing that our communities and interpersonal connections as adults, fuels and supports positive childcare experiences for children.

Click here to email Bailey

 Zoe Weiner joins us from Saint Louis, where she worked as a Patient’s Assistant to a medically complex child and his siblings aged zero to ten, providing enriching activities, care support for parents including but not limited to: nannying, coordinating appointments with therapists and doctors, assisting children in completing therapy and learning tasks, and providing total support for the kids.  

Prior to her time in St. Louis, Zoe worked as preschool teacher at Congregation Temple Beth Tikvah in Roswell, Georgia. She has worked in early childhood education and special needs care for over ten years, both in Jewish education specifically and general early childhood education. Zoe attended the Congregation Beth Israel early childhood program herself as a toddler living in Portland, and as a result is incredibly excited to have the opportunity to work for, and give back to a community and a program that gave her many happy experiences.  

Zoe moved to Portland at the age of 1, living in the Southwest Hills until fourth grade. After completing high school in Kansas City, Kansas, Zoe moved back to Oregon to attend University of Oregon, where she received her undergraduate degree. Go Ducks! After graduating, Zoe spent 6 years living, and working in Atlanta, and St. Louis, but always knew she wanted to return to Portland as soon as possible, to be with family and old friends. 

Zoe has extensive experience working, nurturing, teaching, and supporting young children, and is personally committed to providing a safe, welcoming, and stimulating environment for each individual kiddo at the school.

I have worked with young children in various capacities for more than ten years. Though my career goals have taken me to other industries, I have always returned to working with children as it feels the most kismet and purposeful. I hold a B.A. from the University of Texas at Arlington and an M.A. from Columbia University. In addition to being a teacher, I am a trained full spectrum doula with a specialization in pregnancy herbalism. I am especially grateful to have joined the community of The Jennie as we have a chance to cultivate a fresh and organic learning environment to a new preschool. Outside of work I am an avid traveler, having been to more than 30 countries.

Hello! My name is Alondra. I am 24 years old and going to school to become a pediatric nurse. I have been working with kids since I was 16 years old. I started working in child care when I volunteered to work at my school’s daycare program and have loved it ever since. I’ve had the joy of working with children of all ages. My favorite activities to do with kids are art projects and reading books. I come from a big family, I am the youngest of 6 so I have always been a family-oriented person. In my free time I love to be outdoors with my two dogs Toby and Bella, I also enjoy spending a lot of my free time with my fiancé. I have recently moved to Portland from Beaverton and look forward to exploring more of it and all it has to offer.

Katrina Shoda-Iwasaki is Portlandian born and raised! She has worked with children ages 6 weeks to 15 years for nearly 15 years in a variety of settings (camp, nannying, youth sports and rec, and early learning centers). She’s been a background player in the Portland Jewish Community since 2010 when she worked for the MJCC lifeguarding, teaching youth sports, running soccer leagues, helping with rentals and events, working the front desk, and best of all being a camp counselor. It was an easy transition from MJCC to PJA where she got to have CBI’s Executive Director Josh’s daughter Fiona for her first class in Portland! She also got some behind the scenes work under her belt when she spent a year as the Assistant Director and Office Manager at The Gan.

Outside of work she enjoys practicing martial arts, as she is an internationally recognized 4th Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do through the Kukkiwon in Korea and started training in Shindo Muso Ryu (a Japanese multi-weapon martial art) during the pandemic. She also loves working out, baking, dancing (having taught and competed/showcased multiple styles over the years), singing, going to musicals, and getting to spend time in the pool (fun connection: she taught Cantor Green’s boys how to swim).

Her approach to early learning stems from the belief that children are intelligent capable beings who either need to be given tools or shown how to utilize the tools they intrinsically have. She believes in meeting children at their level and scaffolding their learning, mostly through play and creating intentional experiences while modeling positive behavior. She loves building relationships with not just their kiddos, but their families as well. She still keeps in touch with the little ones she nannied for when they were 2 months and are now teenagers!