Christine Kuglen (founder) is, most importantly, the very proud mother of four marvelous children and the happily married wife of an awesome Costa Rican native who works as an engineer by day and is a fantastically active father by night. Christine has homeschooled her children since 1997, organized multiple homeschool fairs, and ran a homeschooling cooperative. At UC Santa Barbara, Christine obtained her bachelor's degree in Sociology and soon after went on to get her California Teaching Credential at the University of San Diego. with a Bilingual Certificate of Competence. Christine is a very diverse individual who speaks Spanish fluently and has lived and traveled in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Central America. She loves listening to music,  reading, film, learning, and striving for excellence in all that she does.

Christine finds herself continuously involved in the community: at one time working with emotionally distressed children in an institutional setting, becoming a La Leche League Leader and then a Lactation Educator, a terrific translator, running a profitable family business, and now creating a community of learners at Innovations Academy.

About Innovations Academy, she says, "I am so excited about working on this creation and seeing how far we can stretch our hearts and our imaginations. I expect the outcome to be a work of genius."

Danielle Strachman (founder) is the Director and Primary Educator of Heightened Learning, a private practice educational program originally based in San Diego. Since following her dream of becoming an empowering educator in 2003, Danielle has played an active role in the lives of students all over San Diego county.

At Simmons College, a women's private college in Boston, MA, she obtained her bachelor's degree in Psychology and further course work at Harvard University.

She also worked as a psychometrician, assessing clients' cognitive abilities at Beth Israel Hospital, a Harvard teaching hospital. Her exceptional training at Beth Israel has left her with a keen eye for observing individuals' strengths, as well as areas that need improvement. By integrating her careers, she is able to understand how a person cognitively functions, as well as how to apply that information to a teaching setting. Having this varied background in education and neuropsychology makes her an amazing teacher.

Danielle was the Director of Student Growth at IA during the first two years. She was inspired and invigorated knowing that she made a difference in the lives of hundreds of families in that time. 

Currently she lives in the Bay Area and still holds the IA vision strong in her work while she encourages parents to make positive choices in their children's education.  She is also working behind the scenes at IA to make sure that administration can spend most of their time doing what they do best, connecting with children to inspire them everyday.  Feel free to connect with Danielle any time.