In this new episode of Wide Walls, I’m thrilled to welcome Merve Cerit, a PhD Candidate from Stanford University working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, learning sciences, and mental health. Merve’s work explores how we can better understand the impact of digital media on individual well-being, using innovative person-specific and c…

For today’s episode, I’m thrilled to welcome our first-ever professional musician guest on Wide Walls: Jerome Rossen! Jerome is a composer, songwriter, and professional musician whose work spans TV, film, video games, advertising, theater, and more. You’ve likely heard his music in hit TV shows like The Bachelor, Temptation Island, Extreme Makeover…

For the first time on Wide Walls, we welcome not one, but two incredible guests—Emma Callow and Tom Doust! Emma and Tom serve as the Creative Content Lead and Associate Director at the Institute of Imagination in London, a wonderful organization dedicated to designing and championing creative learning experiences across arts, science, and digital t…

I am excited to share this new episode of Wide Walls on a very special day for my wonderful guest, Isabelle Hau, as her first book, Love to Learn, is released today! Isabelle is the Executive Director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, and a passionate advocate for young children’s development and well-being, rooted in educational research a…

A conversation with Sedinam Worlanyo is always packed with joyful stories, unexpected reflection, and actionable insights! Once you start this episode, I bet her contagious energy will keep you on! Sedinam is a Senior UX Researcher at Coursera, focusing on learner experience, as well as international expansion efforts, to make learning accessible t…

Let’s start 2025 with a wonderful conversation with Dr. Maggie Broderick about social-emotional learning and the similitudes between music and language learning! Maggie is an Associate Professor and Dissertation Chair in the Department of Teacher Education at National University in San Diego. With over 20 years of experience in education, both in h…

Scott is an inspiring Product Leader in the Toys and EdTech industries with more than 20 years of experience in the field and a wealth of knowledge and insights. In this episode, Scott explains the importance of spatial cognition to predict success in STEM fields along with insightful stories and research on the topic. He also shares his thoughts o…

Andy is a Group Product Manager for ChromeOS Education at Google - reaching more than 50 million children - and co-creator of the award-winning Toontastic app designed to help kids easily create and share their own animated stories. In this episode, Andy shares his entrepreneurial journey building Toontastic and his design approach to support child…

Ryan Jenkins defines himself as a constructionist educator, a term we will define further in our conversation. After working for more than 10 years at the Exploratorium, the fantastic science museum in San Francisco, he co-founded Wonderful Idea Co. with Nicole Catrett to support the exploration of art, science, and technology through making and ti…

Elaine Chung is the Founder and Chief Play Officer of My Play Type, a company she launched in 2020 to educate and inspire organizations on how to integrate a Playful Practice as a foundational approach to work and life, leveraging play neuroscience to create cultures with strong cross-collaboration, innovative solutions, and even happier, more fulf…

Danny Joe LaBrecque is a preschool teacher, early childhood specialist, and the creator and host of the amazing children's show Danny Joe's Tree House. Danny Joe uses play-based therapies including puppetry to help children, teachers and parents process complex social issues. He created Danny Joe’s Tree House to invite families to slow down and eng…

Evren Yiğit is a renowned author and expert in children’s content and storytelling, with a background in child development studies, media creation, and creative writing, and over 15 years of experience in the industry. She co-founded Mako Kids in 2017, a children-first media, production, and consultancy company that specializes in creating quality …

Janella Watson is an educational and organizational strategist and champion of inclusion, equity, and authentic representation in Children’s Media. She is an executive leader, brand manager, experiential learning specialist, and researcher whose transformative approach to advising inspires and guides clients to create curriculum, experiences, and m…

Mathilde Cerioli owns a PhD in Cognitive Neurosciences from the University of Montreal with a focus on cognitive training for adolescents. After a few years conducting research in neuroscience, she embraced the world of entrepreneurship by co-founding Fly Little Dragon to connect parents with experts in children’s development and learning. She is c…

Dr. Sonia Tiwari is a fantastic Learning Experience Researcher and Designer whose current research explores the ethical design of virtual influencers for children. She is, in fact, the creator of the world’s first virtual influencer designed for children’s education! Sonia started her career in the gaming industry as a character design artist befor…

This episode is the first part of my conversation with Josh Mason. Click here to listen to the second part on Josh’s podcast "Loops and Lifecycles". Josh Mason is a former Air Force pilot who now provides strategic guidance and technical expertise in cybersecurity and risk management to startups and large companies worldwide. As a cyber instructor …

Chris Bennett is an affiliate at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. He currently studies and practices ways to apply Game Design Thinking, an approach that combines game design, behavior design and neuroscience to help companies innovate, motivate and grow beyond simply using gamification. In this episode, we explore the concept of Game Des…

Carly Ciarrocchi is a writer, host, and producer for some of the most exciting tv shows and podcasts for kids. You may have seen her in Sunny Side Up, Snug’s House, The Big Fun Crafty Show on Universal Kids and Weird But True on Disney+ for National Geographic for which she earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Daytime Program Host. She’s also …

Polina Lulu is a fantastic designer and researcher who is dedicated to engaging children in playful and meaningful learning experiences, particularly through technology. She focuses on integrating children's rights and voices into creating products, experiences and environments that help children thrive. In this episode, we first delve into Polina'…

Ingvi Ómarsson serves as a Senior Advisor for the Ministry of Education in Iceland, where he leads the implementation of large-scale educational policies. Prior to this role, he spent 7 years as the Chief Innovation Officer of the Skagafjörður School District, leading innovation and transformation by organizing and facilitating workshops focused on…

Kavindya Thennakoon is an educator and entrepreneur who founded Tilli, a play-based platform to support social emotional learning for children. In this episode, we cover Kavi's incredible journey from Sri Lanka to the USA, her approach and motivations for supporting SEL for children, and her take on social impact and activism through entrepreneursh…

Carmelo Presicce is an educator and researcher currently pursuing his PhD at the MIT Media Lab. Carmelo's work focuses on the design and facilitation of creative learning experiences for children and educators, in person and online. In our conversation, Carmelo shares his journey from growing up in a small town in Italy to joining the MIT Media Lab…

Renato Russo is currently pursuing a PhD at Columbia Teacher's College, where he focuses on two main subjects: cultural renderings of maker spaces around the world and digital literacy to combat online disinformation. Beyond these topics, we also discussed how his childhood in Brazil shaped his journey towards becoming an educator and a researcher.…