Meet Our Team

Seewan is a lifelong learner and educator with diverse experiences leading for equity in non-profits, ed tech, education research, start-up charters, and urban public schools. She has a track record building tech-enabled, evidence-based solutions and fostering high-performing, collaborative cultures. She brings expertise in agile methodologies, stakeholder engagement, and change management. Seewan will be leading the Mindful Schools team to accelerate teamwork and aligned decision-making to efficiently prioritize and execute the organization’s goals and mission.

Amy Allum-Poon has over ten years of experience in the non-profit and education sector. She received her BA in Psychology and Sociology from UC Santa Barbara. Amy worked for an education non-profit in Washington DC and later taught English in Korea and Indonesia. Upon her return to the Bay Area, Amy worked for two local energy efficiency non-profits before joining Mindful Schools. Amy began her mindfulness practice in earnest after attending a 10-day retreat in India in 2009 and is grateful for the impact that it has had on her life. She is thrilled to be a part of the Mindful Schools team where she is able to combine her passion for education and meditation.

John is our kind-hearted Accounting Associate. He’s a Bay Area local and UC Berkeley graduate who brings over 30 years experience in accounting and finance. He first introduction to mindfulness was through a high school meditation class.

Martha Brown is a Bay Area native and received her BA in Communications and Ethnic Studies from U.C. Berkeley. She brings over fifteen years of experience in operations and human resources management from an eclectic career that has spanned hospitality and tourism; TV and film production; PR and media communications; and performing arts education. Martha has worked for a variety of companies, including Sheraton; The Shubert Organization; MTV Networks; and The Port of Oakland. She also spent several years running after school programs for the City of Oakland; she has been a substitute teacher for OUSD; and a one-on-one aide for autistic children.

After taking a year off to nest with her new son, Martha was seeking mission driven work and joined Mindful Schools in 2013. Going to work every day in service to the mission of bringing mindfulness to children while achieving personal and professional growth with a diverse, intelligent, and compassionate team has been and continues to be a gift.

Martha is an active Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) member working toward advanced SHRM-SCP certification.

Todd brings over 15 years of hands on Agile Product Development experience at both startups and enterprise companies across a wide range of industries with a focus on education, entrepreneurship and disruptive innovation. He has led high-performing teams that deliver amazing user experiences.

Todd leads his team to empathize with customers to understand their needs, define and evangelize the product vision, develop the product strategy and roadmap, collaborate cross-functionally with different groups of stakeholders, and work closely with designers and engineers to actually build the product.

Ruben brings 10 years of experience in education, enrollment, and operations to Mindful Schools, most recently having served as Assistant Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. He holds a B.A. in Music from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA, and calls the Central Coast of California home.

He is excited to be a part of the Mindful Schools team, and looks forward to doing his part in assisting the organization in bringing the benefits of mindfulness to communities all over the world.

Beck brings more than 10 years of non-profit communications and development experience to the Mindful Schools team. She is passionate about creating positive change in the world through programs that develop mindfulness, self-awareness and social/emotional skills. Her previous experience includes managing communications strategy for nonprofits, including the GO Project and DREAM in New York City, and Inner-City Arts in Los Angeles. Beck also worked as a fundraiser for the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, and for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Charlotte, NC.

Beck loves working within positive, mission-driven teams. She is originally from Australia, where she earned her B.A. in Arts/Professional Writing and Editing, and now resides in Oakland with her husband and two young boys.

Betsy works as the principal writer across our social media channels, providing resources, research, and inspiration to practice for educators, parents, and new mindfulness practitioners. Long interested in collaboration with classroom teachers to create mindful classrooms, Betsy completed the Year-Long Certification Program at Mindful Schools in 2014.

As a Community Mentor in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Betsy has taught over 1400 children and teachers. Her chapter on working skillfully with diverse youth is featured in Teaching Mindfulness Skills to Kids and Teens (Guilford Press, October, 2015). She has presented nationally on mindfulness practices for youth, as well as to groups of parents, teachers, and graduate students in clinical psychology and social work.

A long-time ally in the LGBTQ movement for equal rights, Betsy received the Outstanding Trans Ally of 2014 Award from the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and consults with parents of transgender children and their teachers to insure a safe school experience for all children.

Her mindfulness practice started in 2004 and includes retreats and courses in MBCT.

Bio coming soon …

Alison brings 15 years of marketing expertise and a passion for growing brands across a wide range of industries. Her early career included many years in marketing and sales at the leading entertainment studio in Burbank. As an Oakland native, she returned to Bay Area to raise her children and she immediately engaged with the parenting community. Prior to joining Mindful Schools, Alison managed Development and Communications for one of the largest nonprofit parent organizations in the Bay, and also co-founded and launched an independent children’s apparel brand.

Alison is passionate about progressive education and raising happy and kind kids (she has two young daughters).

Nicole brings over twelve years of experience in recruitment and admissions to her roll at Mindful Schools. She received a BA in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego and an MDiv at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University. Before joining the MS team, Nicole served as the Director of Recruitment and Admissions for Pacific School of Religion, in Berkeley, CA. Prior to that, she worked at Santa Clara University where one of her roles was as a retreat director for a variety of different types of retreats, including silent retreats. As a mother of three, she is thrilled to join an organization that has such a direct and positive influence on the lives of children. Through her work at MS, she is reminded of the benefits of a mindfulness practice and has slowly begun to reincorporate it into her own life. “It is wonderful to be a part of an organization that not only supports and nurtures the well-being of others (in direct and indirect ways), but also supports and encourages the well-being of its employees.”

Nicole’s favorite things are spending time with her family and friends, enjoying live theater, playing board games and cards, and practicing and performing with her comedy improv group in Berkeley – her favorite way of “being in the moment”.

Linda has a long history in the financial management of social service non-profits including a 11 years as controller for a child welfare organization, 8 years as accounting director with a hospice provider, and 2 years with an affordable housing organization. AS such, Linda is well versed in the technical and cultural challenges of non-profit organizations.

Having raised 2 children in the rough and tumble environment of public and private schools she can appreciate the benefit students could derive from mindful practices and she looks forward to contributing her skills toward making the program accessible to as many educators as possible.

Linda’s lives with her husband, Hans, in quiet Benicia and enjoys gardening, swimming, and hiking with her dog, Rita.

Sarah Rudell Beach taught high school social studies for 17 years before founding Brilliant Mindfulness, LLC. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Minnesota, and is a licensed teacher in the state of Minnesota. She served in the Wayzata Public Schools from 1998 to 2015, and was honored as an Esteemed Teacher seven times by the district. Additionally, she writes about mindfulness, mindful teaching, and mindful parenting for the Huffington Post.

Sarah has had a personal mindfulness practice for many years, and describes mindfulness as life-changing. She firmly believes that teaching compassionate attention and self-care to students, teachers, parents, and families can change the world.

Lacey’s mindfulness practice began thanks to an elective class offered in high school. This inconceivably influenced her life’s trajectory—she became a high school teacher herself, for ten years, and offered semester-long mindfulness electives. She helped to create online teacher-training curriculum, mentored new educators, participated in research studies, and presented best practices at conferences. She holds a Master’s Degree in English Literature and a Spanish/English Teaching Credential.

Lacey continues to study and teach mindfulness under the guidance of qualified masters, carving out time for retreat whenever possible. In 2019 she completed a two-year Mindfulness-Based Leadership Program with the Dharmata Foundation.

Lacey loves fundraising for Mindful Schools, drawing upon six years of partnership-building in the Bay Area philanthropic landscape, working within nonprofits and charitable foundations.

David Selsky joined Mindful Schools in May 2017 as a Group Enrollment Specialist, working with groups of educators to provide mindfulness trainings to youth K-12. He has worked in the nonprofit space since 2000 for a variety of arts, environmental, technology, and human rights organizations, most recently at VolunteerMatch where he helped businesses grow their employee volunteer and community engagement programs.

David received his BA in Film Studies from UC Berkeley and his MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University. He has explored a variety of mindfulness practices over the last two decades and is excited to be able to help bring the benefits to younger audiences. In his free time he enjoys photography, vegan food, long walks around cities and redwoods, and hanging with his cat Sufi.

Beth has spent her career in nonprofits administration and public accounting. As a parent and volunteer PTA board member, she’s worked closely with teachers, parents, and children to support public schools. She is now excited to combine her finance and nonprofit experiences to support the Mindful Schools mission – giving children the positive tools they need to handle their complex emotions and supporting educators with professional development opportunities.