Hanna Gebretensae
Director
Hanna Gebretensae joined Eliot Pearson the summer of 2013 as the new Director. Prior to that, she was the Director of Early Childhood Programs at Aspire Institute/Wheelock College. She has extensive experience in the field of early education and care including direct services, administration of programs, teacher education, training/technical assistance, mentoring, anti-bias curriculum/cultural competency and policy work across Massachusetts and nationally. Hanna has been a program director at Acorn Center for Early Education and Care, a bilingual Chinese/English center and a Mentor-Director for early childhood programs in Boston supporting accreditation and quality of programs in the city. She is a diversity trainer certified by Anti- Defamation League (ADL) and various programs and organizations. Hanna has held adjunct faculty positions at Lesley University, Wheelock College and the Urban College of Boston on a variety of early childhood topics. Prior to coming to the US, Hanna also managed early childhood program development and projects in East Africa and worked with UNICEF. Hanna received a bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Early Childhood Education from Lesley College; received her master’s in Educational Administration, Planning, and Policy from Harvard University; and a Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership with a concentration on Curriculum and Instruction from University of Phoenix. She also holds a certificate in Educating Children with Special Needs from the Golda Meir International Training College in Haifa, Israel and is a CAYL Fellow in Early Care and Education Policy.
Gabriela Herrera
Associate Director
Gaby has been in the field of early childhood education for over nine years. She has held both classroom and administrative positions in different school settings. Her experience working in several countries and with diverse populations have helped her understand the value of culturally diverse practices and integrating it into her daily work. Gaby is passionate about enabling children to use their unique perspectives and talents to contribute to their community
Leah Eyob
School & Operations Coordinator
Leah is excited to be a part of the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School administrative team. She attended George Mason University and studied English Literature. At Mason, she was particularly interested in how the history and cultures of immigrant populations were preserved through folklore and mythology. She worked at Apex, a company that worked with publishers, museums and archives to preserve their collections. She spearheaded a research project to find out how to help university generated materials meet new and comprehensive standards for accessibility. Leah has also worked with grant recipients to make user friendly free archives for historical newspapers. Before coming to Boston, Leah worked at Visiting Angels, a company that provides elder care. There she coordinated with families and medical professionals to provide empathic, safe, and customized home care services for the elderly. Leah has been privileged to work in environments that value demographic and experiential diversity. As a result, she knows how much richness and intelligence that diversity can bring to the learning experience. Leah comes from a large extended family that blessed her with lots of experience in childcare. She hopes to bring her passion for social justice, accessibility, storytelling to the school. In her free time, Leah enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, learning about other cultures through food and travel, and spending time with family and friends.
Marisa Doyle
Enrichment Program Coordinator
Before working at EPCS Marisa graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2021 with her BA in speech, language, and hearing sciences. She has worked extensively with children at the 4-H New London County Camp as a counselor, teaching assistant at Sacred Heart University’s Horizons Program, and one-to-one special rights assistant at John Mead Elementary School. Marisa started as Eliot-Pearson’s staff assistant but is now the Enrichment Program Coordinator. She plans to attend Tufts University’s Public Health Program in the fall semester and concentrate on healthcare statistics and analytics. Throughout Marisa’s life dance has been her passion, especially tap dancing. While at UConn she was tap team coordinator and performed at multiple competitions across New England. Marisa’s personal interests include exploring Boston, traveling, attending hockey & baseball games, and painting.
Lindsey Isenberg
Staff Assistant
Lindsey recently graduated from SUNY Geneseo in 2022 with her BA in Psychology with a minor in human development. She is currently a second year Master’s student at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development. She has been invested in children with special rights since high school and hopes to continue to make a difference as a School Psychologist in the future. At Tufts Lindsey is currently co-authoring a paper with Dr. Mistry looking at how to increase a person’s awareness and critical thinking of their own identities. In Lindsey’s free time she likes to play sports, be with family, go on adventures and paint! Lindsey is looking forward to another year of learning and watching children grow through all of their unique perspectives
