Early Childhood Faculty
Red Rose Kindergarten Extended Day Assistant Jane Blackburn
Joined SWS 2024
Red Rose Kindergarten Lead Assistant
Sasha Ebrahim
Joined SWS 2018
“My goal as a teacher is to help build a classroom community where each child feels welcome, where they discover a sense of belonging and significance,” says Sasha (she, her). A graduate of California State University, Fresno, Sasha received her degree in Liberal Studies with a focus on early childhood development and, subsequently, her California Multiple Subject teaching credential. From 2005 to 2014, she served a teacher and program director at an educational therapy center in the Central Valley, specializing in literacy development and support for students with dyslexia and other learning differences.
In 2015, believing deeply in its philosophy and seeing a great need for its principles in both school and home settings, Sasha became certified as a Positive Discipline Parent Educator. She found a home in Waldorf education because it values the importance of the development of the whole child and the deep inner work of the teacher.
Sasha enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, connecting with family and friends, engaging in home improvement projects, and exploring Sacramento’s many outdoor activities.
Rosebud Preschool Teacher Lea Nelson Gemmell
Joined SWS 2024
Lea Nelson Gemmell lives in Fair Oaks with her husband, three dogs, and two cats. A devoted mother and grandmother, she delights in spending time with her three grown children, three grandchildren, a stepdaughter, and three step-grandchildren—all living in California.
Lea has been teaching in Waldorf early childhood classrooms since 1999, including parent-child, preschool, and kindergarten programs. She has taught and mentored at multiple Waldorf schools throughout California and currently leads our preschool program at Sacramento Waldorf School. Lea studied at Grossmont College and completed her Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher Education at the Waldorf Institute of Southern California.
Lea was drawn to Waldorf education over three decades ago by its reverence for the developing child and its integration of arts, movement, and spirituality. She continues to find inspiration in the beauty and rhythm of the curriculum and in supporting families on their parenting journeys. Whether in the classroom, on walks to the farm, or through gentle conversations with parents, Lea brings presence, experience, and deep care to the children she teaches.
Parent-Child Program Teacher (Monday & Tuesday)
Red Rose Kindergarten Lead Teacher
Julie Mulrooney
Joined SWS 2021
Julie (she/her) has more than seventeen years of experience teaching in Waldorf and other private schools. Seven of those years were taught in an early childhood setting. Julie strives to bring warmth to her classroom, holding space for each child and their unique abilities.
Julie loves working with children artistically and values the freedom to use nature, imagination, and storytelling as teaching tools within Waldorf pedagogy. She says, “I feel deeply connected to storytelling, the magic of being in the present moment; I appreciate how it can teach many life lessons. Storytelling helps to build a strong and beautiful relationship with the natural world, promoting the care of our planet.”
Julie has a BA in Fine and Applied Arts from the University of Oregon and a Waldorf Teaching Certificate from Rudolf Steiner College. Additionally, she has continuing early childhood credits from Los Rios Community College. Julie is a lifelong learner and is continuously developing her teaching methodology.
Julie lives with her husband, two children, and three cats, Jingles, Freya, and Maizee. Julie’s two children have attended Sacramento Waldorf School. Her oldest is an alum 2025, and her son is heading into our high school. Julie and her family enjoy mountain biking, camping, and swimming in the ocean in their free time.
White Rose Kindergarten Lead Assistant
Natalia Kosareva
Joined SWS 2021
After the birth of her son, Natalia’s (she, her) family lived in different countries. She describes that period as an exciting experience of immersion in different cultural traditions, during which she was able communicate with many new people from other backgrounds. When her son was four years old, Natalia started looking for a school for him. She says, “When I first stepped into a Waldorf Kindergarten class, I realized that I wanted to stay there forever, and I started working there as an assistant.”
Natalia loves being with children and developing both professionally and personally. She teaches at Sacramento Waldorf School because the Waldorf philosophy aligns with her worldview, and she believes that Waldorf education helps parents raise healthy children who can think for themselves, empathize with others, and build a better world.
Natalia’s teaching philosophy is to take care of the essential people in life, our children, with love and reverence. In her work, she supports the healthy development of the physical body in the first seven years of life and aims to help families develop a sustainable rhythm at home. Natalia’s professional goals include more deeply understandinging the nature of the child, studying curative education to enhance her work with children and families, and pursuing a master’s degree in teaching and education.
Natalia studied dance at Moscow State University of Culture and Arts from which she received both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. She has additional training in Child Development and Early Childhood Education from American River College, is enrolled in a Waldorf education training program, and has completed level one of “Making Sense of Children: Developmental Science in Practice,” a course from the Neufeld Institute.
Natalia lives in Carmichael with her husband and son, who is a student at Sacramento Waldorf School.
Parent-Child Program Teacher (Wednesday - Friday)
Ann Elizabeth Landgraf
Joined SWS 1988
Ann (she, her) spent 30 years as a Kindergarten teacher and now serves as Parent-Child Program leader. She has completed coursework in art and psychology at Sacramento State College, in early childhood education at American River College, and general coursework at Rudolf Steiner College. A 50-year resident of Fair Oaks, Ann enjoys pottery, painting, drawing, and gardening.
She appreciates teaching with others and sharing the developmental picture of the growing child, as well as embracing a spiritual approach to education. Married for 49 years, she has two children and one grandchild. Ann believes every child is born with gifts that need nurturing. She says, “Rhythm, reverence, and repetition are healthy for each of us and important for the young child to experience.”
Rosebud Preschool Assistant
Shwetha Nagaraju
Joined 2021
Shwetha (she, her) discovered Waldorf education after her son was born and she fell in love with the way it engages children’s learning through head, heart, and hand. After being inspired by the Waldorf philosophy of imagination and creativity, and her love for working with children, she decided to become a teacher.
Shwetha is in the process of completing her Associate teacher certificate for early childhood education. She also holds an Engineering degree in Information Science, a Master of Technology in Computer Networking, and a Master of Science in Project Management.
Shwetha believes that each child is a spiritual being, who is here to share their beautiful qualities with others and also learn and grow in all aspects to become who they want to be when provided with a loving and caring environment.
Rosebud Preschool Extended Day Assistant Karen Petty
Joined SWS 2024
White Rose Kindergarten Lead Teacher
Eloisa Rodriguez
Joined SWS 2005
Before joining the White Rose Kindergarten at Sacramento Waldorf School, Eloisa (she, they) worked as a Kindergarten Assistant and Gardening teacher at Cedar Springs Waldorf School and spent time as a Kindergarten teacher at East Bay Waldorf School. She holds a Waldorf Early Childhood Teaching Diploma.
Eloisa enjoys listening to music, rural living, vintage vehicles, family road trips, and camping.
White Rose Kindergarten Extended Day Assistant Tracy Russell Bonilla
Joined SWS 2024
Kindergarten Eurythmy Teacher Alice Stamm
Joined SWS 2022
Alice Stamm has been teaching eurythmy since 1975. She began her eurythmy training in Eckwalden, Germany and finished with Else Klink in Stuttgart. Alice also trained in therapeutic eurythmy, receiving a diploma from the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland.
Having moved back to the States in 1978, she has taught in trainings, Waldorf schools, and did performing work in Spring Valley, Kimberton, Chicago, on the west coast in Los Angeles, and now in Fair Oaks. For the past 12 years until she retired, she built up both pedagogical eurythmy and remedial work at a Highland Hall Waldorf school in L.A. and since 2004 has been teaching at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks as well kindergarten eurythmy at Davis Waldorf School and several public schools in the Sacramento area. She does mentoring of colleagues as well.
She is president of the Eurythmy Association of North America which she began with six other colleagues in 1979. She also helped to form the Section Collegium for the Performing Arts in North America in 1988.