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.

Gabriella Herrera
Education and Research Project Specialist

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.
Before coming to Boston, Gabriela worked for four years as the Head Teacher at La Escuelita Kindergarten School in Mexico City, where she also contributed to their Extended Day Program with creative dance lessons for parents and their children. Gaby joined the EPCS community five years ago. She has worked at the school as an EP graduate Fellow from the Dept. of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University, the Enrichment Program Coordinator, and Head Teacher. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Universidad de las Americas in Mexico City and an M.A. in Child Study and Human Development from Tufts University. Gabriela’s personal interests include hiking, biking, yoga, and photography. When she is not working, she enjoys exploring local art and culture, cooking, hiking, and traveling (when the world was a different place).

Katie Brayden-Calias
Special Rights and Program Quality Specialist

Katie Brayden-Calias, M.Ed., PMC, is a Senior
Lecturer and Undergraduate Director of the
Early Childhood Education program at the
University of Massachusetts Boston. She has
worked in the field of urban Early Childhood
Education for almost 40 years in a variety of
capacities including special needs teacher, ECE
teacher, director, program manager, Family
Support Coordinator, and quality improvement
consultant.
Katie has been a consultant to EPCS over the last ten vears in different capacities,
particularly with program assessment, national re-accreditation and licensing processes
Katie’s commitment to workforce and leadership development is rooted in her strong
belief that quality depends on the classroom staff. She has spent the last 15 years
training and educating early childhood educators. Currently, she is enrolled as a
doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research focus is on
developing supportive induction programming for novice teachers as they transition
from student to teacher and exploring characteristics of highly effective organizations in
urban settings. A lifelong resident of the greater-Boston area, she received her Post
Master’s Certificate from the University of Massachusetts Boston, her Master’s in
Education from Simmons College, and her bachelor’s degree in English from Suffolk
University

Marisa Doyle
Enrichment Program Coordinator

Marisa recently attended the University of Connecticut, where she graduated with a BA in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. She has extensive experience working with children as a camp counselor, teaching assistant, and as a one-on-one special education assistant. We are very excited to have her in our 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.