Play Based Early Childhood Teachers: Sally Haughey & Team

About Sally

Sally Haughey began Wunderled™ in 2010 from a desire to share her own journey, bringing play-based education to public school settings that often left little room for imagination, curiosity and wonder. After 20 years working on the frontlines, Sally knew there was so much work to be done – so she began sharing what she had learned about how to bring play-based practices into even the most traditional learning environments.

Wunderled™ has now grown into a thriving team that supports a community of over 240,000 educators — and a worldwide movement that is changing the face of childhood education, day by day.

Our Guiding Principles

Children’s rights matter.

Our business is built on a passion for defending the wonder and magic of early childhood. We believe young children have the right to play, to be collaborators in their own learning, and to dream into their future.
Education is a living, breathing art form.

In our experience, there is no single “correct” formula for teaching. It is an art that can be developed with knowledge and skill, but that still requires incredible intentionality and heart.
It all begins with play.

Play is at the heart of who we are at Wunderled™ – and who we all are as human beings. Play for children. Play for teachers. Play for us. We bring joy into everything we do. Let’s play!
It takes a village.

We honor the journey as teachers, investigators, life-changers, and advocates for children. We nurture children to build their own ideas – and in the same way, we challenge ourselves to be
constant researchers and innovators.

We live our principles through…

Being the support and the change we want to see in the world.

This is what drives our business. We support teachers in crisis, fund projects, award scholarships, deliver free content, and donate to causes that are making a difference in children’s lives. This is what gets us up in the morning ready to serve early childhood educators worldwide.

Bringing ourselves 100% to this work.

It is our deepest desire to provide the world’s best professional development at a price that everyone can afford. We want to exceed your expectations and provide a resource where you find not only information, but also transformative experiences that inspire and motivate you.

Serving our people – you!

We are not for everyone. We are a stand for a certain kind of education. We are here to provide support for those who find themselves losing heart in a pushdown era. If you believe children have a voice in their learning, then we are for YOU. Let the children lead the way.

MEET THE TEAM

This is us – a team passionate about play-based learning for children, and dedicated to supporting the adults who teach them.

Abbey Haughey

Abbey is our COO.

She started her teaching journey teaching English in Taiwan as a Fulbright scholar. After her time in Taiwan, she taught Elementary Art to K-5, and has partnered with a local museum developing infant and toddler play explorations for local families. After doing part time work with Wunderled™, Abbey made a full time transition in the summer of 2018. Now she leads the team and is committed deeply to the mission of Wunderled™.

Sara Del Rio

Sara is our Head Content Creator.

She was born in Lisbon, Portugal, and worked for 17 years in Graphic Arts. When her children were infants, she opened to the public a children’s atelier in her hometown to welcome children’s curiosity and desire to discover through play. That’s when she embraced early childhood and received her certificate in Inquiry Processes in the Early Years Classroom. She loves to engage with the Wunderled™ community and create meaningful play invitations and resources to support educators around the globe.

Jelaila Gonzalez

Jelaila is our Wonder League Coordinator.

She is originally from Chicago, Illinois, and now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jelaila began working with children 15 years ago as an afterschool helper in her mother’s preschool classroom! Jelaila resumed work in Early Childhood after becoming a mother and went on to graduate from the College of Southern Nevada with a degree in Early Childhood Education. Jelaila has a deep passion for community and empowering Early Childhood Professionals to take a stand for themselves and for a child’s right to wonder, create, and unfold! She believes that through community, connection, and a collective learning journey, we can ensure the future of Early Childhood Education will be one that honors the human experience and the science that supports child-led learning.

Nicole Hill

Nicole is our Wunderled Approach Certification Coordinator.

Nicole Hill is the Wunderled Approach Certification Coordinator and also helps coordinate the Wunderled Leaders program. She has been a part of the company since 2016. Her journey with Wunderled started when she met and worked with Sally years ago in a Reggio Inspired Preschool. This set the fire inside her to see play as the gold standard globally. She is a mom to 3 children and resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Being married to a South African, she holds the international community of this program close to her heart. Her degree in Elementary Education with a concentration in Early Childhood Education, has set the foundation of her journey to walk alongside educators and bring that joy, wonder, and support to them just as we do to children everywhere.

Jill Cook

Jill Cook is our Customer Service at Wunderled.

Prior to joining the Wunderled™ Team, she worked as both a Program Director and a teacher in the early childhood field for 23 years. She also received her Multiple Subject Teaching Credential in June, 1999 and taught First Grade in the public schools but was quickly drawn back to her first passion which was working alongside children in the early years. Jill currently lives in sunny San Diego and enjoys spending free time reading and being with her husband of 24 years and her two boys who are now 19 and 22.

Leslie Haughey

Leslie wears many hats at Wunderled™.

She is passionate about each customer’s experience and loves to research ways we can continually up-level our platforms and processes. Leslie has a Masters in Human Development and Family Science from Oklahoma State University. Throughout her educational career she was involved in multiple research projects. After graduating OSU, Leslie was a social worker for an Early Childhood program for low income families for 7 years before joining the Wunderled™Team. Leslie currently lives in Bixby, Ok and enjoys going on many adventures with her husband of 12 years and her 7 and 5 year old sons.

Lynnette Arthur

Lynnette is the host of our wildly popular podcast, The Power of Pedagogy.

Lynnette Arthur is a NYC teacher & artist, deeply influenced by the Reggio Emilia philosophy of play-based learning that focuses on a child’s process rather than product. She has worked with young learners for 20 years. Founder of Reggio Children Inspired Online blog. She is an educator, lecturer, artist, actor, and mother. Fun fact: Lynnette wrote, sang, and produced the music intro to the podcast. Incredible!

Liana Ling

Liana is our marketing pro.

Liana is a former attorney turned traffic and marketing pro.She has owned her digital marketing agency for 10 years and has gone from marketing trickling campaigns to scaling across networks for her clients.

About Wunderled™

Bringing the magic and genius of early childhood, one heart-centered educator at a time.