About Us
Zadie Walker
With a strong educational background and an unwavering passion for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Zadie Walker has emerged as a respected leader in the field. Inspired by his mother’s 30-year dedication to education, Zadie grew up witnessing the profound impact of nurturing young minds and fostering a love for learning.
After spending a year as a substitute teacher, he gained a deep appreciation for the vital role SEL plays in every aspect of life. He believes SEL transcends age, race, and gender and is a foundation for personal and professional growth.
Beyond his work in SEL, Zadie is a gifted filmmaker. He is producing a TV series exploring America’s journey in 1844. His ability to craft compelling narratives reflects his dedication to education and storytelling. As a brand specialist, he leverages his creativity to forge meaningful connections between products and their audiences. His entrepreneurial spirit also extends into the culinary world, having launched Sandwhich, a pop-up restaurant that showcases his culinary talents.
Through his vision and relentless dedication, Zadie Walker is reshaping education, empowering learners, and championing a future built on empathy, resilience, and emotional intelligence. His work transforms how we learn and shapes a more compassionate and connected world.
Tanya Brown-Gatlin M.Ed.
With over 27 years of experience in education, Tanya is an accomplished curriculum specialist, education consultant, and learning coach. Through many years of providing rich learning experiences to both compulsory students and alternative learners, Tanya has developed a keen insight into the impact social and emotional learning has on character development and intrinsic academic achievement. This insight has helped her create pedagogic strategies and curricula to enhance learner Self-reflection, Self-development, Self-assessment, and higher-order thinking that grows beyond Level One Depth of Knowledge Skills. Witnessing her learners achieve beyond typical academic standards has led Tanya to innovate the approach to social and emotional learning (SEL) and expand on the current SEL five-core competencies.
Tanya's passion for education is evident in her distinct experience in the field. She is the proud mother of 4 young adults she independently homeschooled for 23 years from “Kindergarten to highly successful college undergrad and Master's degrees.” Through her leadership at Our University Private Home-School, Tanya developed and facilitated innovative curricula, including high school engineering, robotics, dietetics, fashion design, art, and psychology endorsement career pathways. Her dedication to providing enriching opportunities for both homeschooled and compulsory students led to successfully paid internships, student volunteer programs, and many academic achievements. Tanya believed in working holistically with her learners and students, helping them discover their natural strengths, interests, and visions for personal success beyond the classroom.
In addition to her work in homeschooling, Tanya has been an active member of the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) community, serving as a team mentor, Judge, Judge Advisor, and Senior Mentor for FIRST headquarters from 2019-2021. Her commitment to promoting STEM education was recognized with the Volunteer of the Year Award at the First Lego League Official Qualifying Tournament in 2017 and the First Lego League East Area Championships Volunteer of the Year in 2019.
Currently, Tanya designs and develops custom curricula and educational support materials for independent organizations and education companies locally and internationally. She also specializes in consulting with homeschool families and groups helping them create effective and sustainable learning communities.