Kirsten is Kidevolve’s founder. She took one look at the substantial science in support of practicing mindfulness and realized that kids were missing out, because the tools and instruction didn't connect with the unique ways that children learn. This is when she had her Aha moment… what kinds of approaches could be used to make learning mindfulness more relevant (read: more fun) for kids? Armed with decades of communications, training and marketing expertise running TKO Communications Inc. (her global business communications firm), a clear vision about what needs to be built, and a remarkable ability to motivate others, Kirsten has pioneered new and innovative ways to help kids become more compassionate, resilient and self-regulated. At first glance, Kirsten is all CEO. But if you take a closer peek, she’s also the sensitive mother of a precocious and thankfully mindful twelve year old boy. Her son - Kidevolve’s Inner Samurai of Business Development - continually inspires Kirsten to keep the kid's perspective at the forefront of everything Kidevolve builds. Kidevolve’s SEL training programs feature unique Creative Mind Journeys™, enabling children aged 6-10 to discover the power of mindfulness meditation in a playful, creative way that delights their imagination.

Jeff Warren is a core Kidevolve Contributor and Creative Advisor. As a writer and meditation instructor, his primary subject is the mind. Jeff is a former producer for CBC Radio, and the author of The Head Trip, a travel guide to sleeping, dreaming and waking consciousness. He also writes a column about the shifting experience of consciousness for Psychology Tomorrow. Jeff is the founder of The Consciousness Explorers Club (a community of meditators, celebrators and activators in downtown Toronto). In 2017, Jeff joined forces with Good Morning America's Dan Harris on a cross- USA 10% Happier: Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics Mindfulness Tour - meeting Americans from all walks of life to bring mindfulness training to their everyday realities. In this same year, Jeff co-authored (along with Dan Harris and Carlye Adler), the New York Time’s best seller Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. Jeff lends his many talents, insights, foresights and writing skills to Kidevolve's evolution and has been a founding advisor. Most recently, Jeff has contributed to writing and developing our Creative Mind Journey™ audio tracks - super fun stories that double as guided practices for kids. Jeff’s extensive ecosystem of goodness can be found here.

Cyndi Cornblit is a core Kidevolve Teacher and brings her playful yogi spark to our team. She is the founder of Young Yogis Toronto - a yoga and mindfulness program for children and families. Cyndi believes in helping kids of all ages and abilities discover their inner voice, encouraging them to connect in a nurturing environment through conscious breath and playful movement. She leads classes within the TDBS, and also at yoga studios, community centres and privately. Cyndi is a graduate of The Yoga Space 200hr yoga teacher training program and has been practicing yoga for over two decades. Cyndi is a mother of 2 young children who inspired her to begin teaching yoga to children. Cyndi believes that yoga is the bridge between body and mind and with focus and patience the possibilities are limitless. “That is what makes teaching children’s yoga so gratifying; you see the positive impact straight away. It is an incredible experience!”

Marni Levitt is a core Kidevolve Teacher with a magical musical performer spark planted deep inside. Most recently, Marni has contributed to writing and developing our Creative Mind Journey™ audio tracks - super fun stories that double as guided practices for kids. Marni is also the founder of Move-n-Music - a program that provides transformative and interactive performances and workshops for all ages and abilities, with a special focus on children and youth. Marni’s programs are filled with the gifts she has gained from her 10+ years leading teams, designing ground-breaking curriculum, teaching adults, and teaching some of the most vulnerable children in the public school system. Marni brings 20+ years performing as a singer-songwriter, 10 years in traditional African drum-dance (including 2x study trips to Guinea, West Africa), and 10 years of study in Yoga and Mindfulness (including specialized certifications to teach children and seniors).  Marni’s experience, along with degrees in Education and Broadcasting, uniquely positions her as a modern-day wellness guru, guide and cultural animator.  Marni has worked with hundreds of children, families and organizations across the GTA.  She offers workshops, training, presentations & coaching in English and French, for adults and children of all abilities.  For more on Marni, check out this Move-n-Music video.

Cecile Choi is a core Kidevolve Teacher and brings her heart-filled, tactical, wee warrior spark to our team. Cecile has worked in the Annex community for 18 years as a Montessori teacher at Taddle Creek (part of Mildenall Hall Montessori Schools), and now as administrator of their Junior School program. Cecile has created and designed a private children's yoga program for 3-6 year olds called Wee Warriors to inspire and teach young kids to have their own creative yoga practice. When she speaks, kids listen with their entire selves. Cecil's yoga program has been facilitated at Bayview Glen, Baby and Me Fitness as well as a multitude of creative cafés, community centres and schools in Toronto.

Rachel Weinstock is a core Kidevolve Teacher and part real Rainbow Fairy. Rachel brings a spark to everything she touches as an elementary school teacher, professional artist, public speaker, workshop facilitator & life coach. She is best known as Ms. Rainbow Fairy because of her healing approach to teaching that with a focus on creativity, mentorship and self-esteem. She is passionate about creating a better world through play and creativity. Rachel has an absolute gift for creating safe spaces where people are able to explore their most authentic self! Her workshops are known to be deeply inspiring and transformational! Rachel runs PlayFULLY Creative Workshops, which offers expressive arts programming for adults, children and youth.

Catie Fenn is a core Kidevolve Teacher. Catie is a powerful and spark-filled combo— a litigator by day, and on her off-litigator hours she brings her passion for the practice of mindfulness and meditation to others through teaching, writing and speaking about its benefits.  Her gratitude for the support she was given as a youth inspired her to commit to supporting youth across Toronto; from teaching girls kayaking and swimming as a camp counselor, to facilitating restorative sharing circles with young offenders through Peacebuilders International, to coaching and mentoring kids in high priority neighbourhoods about leadership and community engagement through Future Possibilities for Kids. Kidevolve is the perfect avenue to combine her love of helping support kids to become caring, compassionate leaders of the future, with her passion for the power of meditation and mindfulness. Katie’s most recent mindfulness and world-changing goodness efforts can be found here.

Ali Stark is a core Kidevolve Teacher and brings the grounding spark of Qigong to our program. She is a certified Qigong instructor of Chow medical Qigong and a level 1 & 2 instructor of Radiant Lotus Women’s Qigong, and has become deeply passionate about how to integrate these healing exercise into daily life, for the whole family, among friends and through community. Ali has been using these moving meditations to manage her own chronic pain for many years and with the experience of working in a pre-school that had a program for children on the Autism spectrum she has first hand experience in blending mindfulness into day to day reality with a sense of play and inclusion. It is one of Ali’s joys in life to work with the whole family when it comes to mindfulness techniques and exercises which she shares through an integrative model of this ancient healing art. Ali has been studying Qigong since 2001 and teaching in Toronto and Montreal since 2009. She currently offers weekly classes for beginners, integrative healing retreats, Qigong in the Boardroom lunch and learns, workshops and private family sessions

Kathleen Paramonczyk is a core Kidevolve Teacher and Jane of all trades. Her inner kid-wrangler spark shines bright. Being mindful is something Kathleen has been working on for her entire life—it's a life-skill that she believes both kids and adults should have at their fingertips.  For the past 10 years Kathleen has been sharpening her marketing skills within the Canadian investment industry.  Before that,  she was an activities manager for kids recreational programs both in Toronto and on a cruise ship for 3 years. Her programming prowess, inner kid qualities and marketing savvy have been braided together for her unique role at Kidevolve. Kathleen is on a mission to ensure as many kids and their adult influencers are given the opportunity to practice mindfulness in all sorts of awesome settings.

Hope Paterson has been a founding advisor to Kidevolve, and believes strongly in the spirit, personality and potential of a little person. She’s young at heart, and devoted to the cause of enabling every kid to get in the driver’s seat of their mind. As a tenured marketer and shrewd social media sage, Hope has been instrumental in helping Kidevolve to define, connect with and expand its audience. With a serious knack for building fun into the personality of company culture, being a mother of two amazing kids, and having created marketing and outreach initiatives for several kid-focused businesses (like Real Food For Real Kids and the Rainbow Food Education Foundation under her belt), Hope’s been able to apply her operational know-how and marketing smarts to bolster Kidevolve’s social media presence, create our Ambassador program and connect Kidevolve with community members who want to give back and support social and emotional learning in kids. Hope has also provided voice talent for our Creative Mind Journey™ audio tracks - super fun stories that double as guided practices for kids. Hope’s most recent writings, contributions and innovations can be found at MamaHopey - where she shares honest and provocative insights on family life, travel, food and wellness.

Alexander Gagliano is one of Kidevolve's sound designers, a second year student in the Creative Industries program at Ryerson University, as well as a part time music producer and audio engineer. His summer job involves working as a photography assistant at St. Joseph Content, focusing on fashion photography for clients such as Joe Fresh, Sears, and Shoppers Drug Mart. He believes that in this crazy world everyone needs a little extra mindfulness every day, and helping kids to learn such an important skill is an amazing opportunity. Alex has always been interested in music, starting from piano lessons as a four year old, to being a part of the many wind ensembles, jazz bands, and choirs as were available at his high school. Recently he has taken an interest in the world of hip hop and electronic music, and has been working with rappers across the world to help them hone their craft and create the best music they possibly can. Alex has been using daily meditation along with yoga for years to help his chronic pain, and only wishes he had tried it sooner! He understands that the right choice of music can make or break your meditative session and really immerse you in the experience, and is thrilled to be working with Kidevolve to that end. Most recently for Kidevolve, Alex has contributed to sound engineering for our Creative Mind Journey™ audio tracks - super fun stories that double as guided practices for kids.

Amy Smithers is a Kidevolve Contributor, freelance writer, and editor, whose primary subjects are travel and animal welfare. Most recently for Kidevolve, Amy has contributed to writing and developing our Creative Mind Journey™ audio tracks - super fun stories that double as guided practices for kids. Amy previously worked for a travel company, helping clients find a little piece of mind in faraway lands. Amy has a post-graduate degree in journalism, and believes in the power of communication and storytelling to change the way kids (and adults) see themselves and the world around them. She continues to work on her own mindfulness, and is often inspired by her volunteer work with a local animal rescue, where the dogs always seem to have a natural focus on the present. Amy’s creative stories allow kids to get playful while learning about the way their own bodies and minds are connected.

Jason Whissell is one of Kidevolve’s magical, uber-talented sound designers. With over 25 years in television production experience, Jason has a good understanding of how to tap one’s imagination. He is also a teacher at The College Of Sports Media, where he encourages students to not only learn the fundamentals of editing, but to explore the creative process so they can bring their visions to life. On top of all this, Jason is a musician, playing shows locally with his band The Freakin Lolas. In short, Jason is fortunate to lead a life where creativity isn’t just hobby… it’s a lifestyle. It’s that creative spark that he hopes to pass on to his students, his own two children and to everyone who listens to Kidevolve’s Creative Mind Journey™ audio tracks - super fun stories that double as guided practices for kids. The imagination is a beautiful thing, one that should be used as much as possible in all that we do in life.

Nick Flanagan is a Kidevolve Contributor, writer, standup comedian and musician. Born in Toronto, Nick's love of Tiny Toons, Pee Wee Herman and general silliness led to a career in comedy and kid's television writing - his first credit was for Babar & The Adventures of Badou, and he's also written for Dino Dan, Oh No! It's An Alien Invasion, The Day My Butt Went Psycho, Odd Squad and Playdate and League Of Super Evil. Coinciding with his career as a television writer was an interest in mindfulness, with instruction from Patricia Rockman and a study of the work of Jon Kabit-Zinn. The practice has been integral since then, and Nick is thrilled to use his writing skills and sense of humour to spread the benefits of mindfulness as much as he can, especially to kids, through Kidevolve's amazing and unique Creative Mind Journey™ audio tracks - super fun stories that double as guided practices for kids. It's a great way to help our future adults focus and feel better about themselves.

Erin Oke - Erin teaches meditation and is the Executive Director at the Consciousness Explorers Club, an innovative contemplative community and think-tank based in Toronto. Her focus is on meditation for self-care and emotional well being and she has taught mindfulness skills in health care, education, corporate and non-profit settings. For Kidevolve, Erin develops and facilitates Stress Busters workshops (fusing visualizations, soothing sounds, grounding exercises and relaxation techniques) to teach Grade 9 & 10 North Toronto C.I. students to calm and care for themselves. Erin has mentored meditating teenagers on iBme’s Toronto Teen Retreat and oversees CEC’s burgeoning youth engagement initiative. As Youth Programs Coordinator for Evangel Hall Mission from 2007-2018, she ran a centre with free programs for low-income children and youth designed to foster confidence and creativity. She also studied and worked in theatre for many years, and loves to infuse her teaching with a sense of play and creative exploration. Erin is passionate about the confluence of meditation practice and social justice, and using mindfulness in the service of caring better for oneself and others.

Christine Alevizakis - Christine’s a movement and mindfulness junkie who has been scheming up different ways of inspiring adults, kids, and everyone in between to find new and meaningful ways to connect to their bodies and minds. For Kidevolve, Christine develops and facilitates Stress Busters workshops (fusing visualizations, soothing sounds, grounding exercises and relaxation techniques) to teach Grade 9 & 10 North Toronto C.I. students to calm and care for themselves. Christine is also passionate about storytelling - especially the kind that make us laugh, dream, think or spark us into action, or non-action for that matter. She’s used that passion to fuel her career as a filmmaker and directs and writes documentary films that have been broadcast on CBC, Discovery Channel, TVO, and YTV amongst others. Her latest venture into joy-creation is as a contributor to Kidevolve's amazing and unique Creative Mind Journey™ audio tracks - super fun stories that double as guided practices for kids (and her CMJs are among our most popular). A mom of three shape-shifting kids, Christine takes delight knowing that change is the only constant.

Kevin Lacroix - Kevin teaches meditation at the at the Consciousness Explorers Club, an innovative contemplative community and think-tank based in Toronto. Kevin has studied with Shinzen Young and Soryu Forall and is currently enrolled in the Unified Mindfulness teacher training courses. Kevin has a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Syracuse University, and has trained independently as a musician since he was a teenager. Since leaving his position as Senior Designer with CBC News in 2015, Kevin has kept busy touring, playing guitar in Ron Sexsmith’s band, as well as bass guitar in Communism - a trio created by Canadian music mainstay Don Kerr (Rheostatics, Ron Sexsmith, etc) and interdisciplinary artist Kurt Swinghammer. For Kidevolve, Kevin developed and facilitated a Stress Busters ‘Musical-Mindfulness’ workshop for high school students at North Toronto C.I., to teach relaxation/mindfulness techniques through the exploration of ‘overtone singing’ (focused listening through simple humming/singing exercises and conducted group music making).

Kelsey Santerre - Kelsey brings a wide range of tools and expertise across academic and real-life settings. She completed her undergraduate and post-graduate studies in Cognitive Psychology, studying language and music processing. Following that, she stepped into the world of yoga and meditation with a background in Hatha Yoga, Kids Yoga and Reiki. She is passionate about creative writing and loves to play with the art of word through her poetry and meditation creations. She is currently in pursuit of her Master's in Psychotherapy while multi-tasking with her Toronto community teaching babies, toddlers, kids, teens and adults. Kelsey encourages a space of self-discovery and creative expression in everything she does. For Kidevolve, Kelsey facilitates Stress Busters workshops at North Toronto Collegiate high school, and also develops concepts for Kidevolve’s Creative Mind Journey™ audio tracks - super fun stories that double as guided practices for kids.