Christine Kuglen (founder)

Christine Kuglen is, most importantly, the very proud mother of four marvelous children to whom she is grateful for being the best teachers she has ever had. She is married to a Costa Rican native for the past 34 years.  Christine homeschooled her children for 16 years, organized multiple homeschool fairs, and ran a homeschooling cooperative. Previously she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Sociology  at UC Santa Barbara 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 and Costa Rica, and traveled throughout other Central American countries. 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.

She is currently the Director of I.A. full time. About Innovations Academy, she says, “I continue to be excited about working on this creation and seeing how far we can stretch our hearts and our imaginations. I expect the journey to be unforgettable.”

 Danielle Strachman (founder)

Danielle is a Cofounder of Innovations Academy and was Director of Student Growth for Innovations Academy’s first two years. She was inspired and invigorated knowing that she made a difference in the lives of hundreds of families in that time. Today she sits on the board of directors and is thrilled that Innovations Academy is a thriving school that all started from one conversation and a drive to create new opportunities for the children of San Diego.

Previous to her work at Innovations Academy, Danielle Strachman was the Director and Primary Educator of Heightened Learning, a private practice educational program that focused on teaching through students’ interests and emotional needs. It was through this work that she met Christine Kuglen and worked in her homeschooling coop where she taught creative writing and fell in love with the homeschooling community there because of their deep love of learning and exploration. When Christine first came to Danielle about the idea of starting a school she was intrigued to see if they could bring what worked in homeschooling cooperatives to the public school setting.

When she left IA it was to move to the Bay Area, yet as a founder and board member she still holds the Innovations Academy vision strong in her work. She worked with the Thiel Fellowship which encourages alternative learning paths for college aged students and is now the Co-founder and General Partner of 1517,  a venture capital firm that works with young founders at the earliest states of their careers and companies.