Born in Springfield, Illinois, she moved at the age of thirteen to Alaska alongside her mother and two brothers. She graduated from Dimond High School and decided to move back to Illinois to begin college, where she met the father of her children. Growing up with optics, she soon fell into the career and moved to Washington State with her soon-to-be husband. She began taking courses in Optical Science while working as an optician and lab technician in Tacoma.  After completing the course work in Washington State, she moved back to Alaska to be both an optician and office manager, running the family business, Cook Inlet Eyewear. She continued to work there for over thirteen years and still helps out whenever needed. She obtained her American Board of Opticians Certification (ABO) in 2000, and National Contact Lens Examiners Certification (NCLE) in 2003 and was on the board of the Alaska Board of Opticians.  

Ms. Shana continued her schooling at UAA studying accounting and business management while at the same time starting her family. Her first son was born in 2006 and three years later, hoping for a girl, had beautiful identical twin boys. Unable to attend because of having twin infants, she was recognized at the 10^th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Business in 2009 for her fraud investigation work. In 2010, she received her BA in Accounting from the University of Alaska Anchorage.

In 2016, she decided to make a big life change and applied to Winterberry as their Business Manager. With a family business mentality "to do what needs to be done," she stepped into her role, ready to wear any hat that was needed. Ms. Shana is Winterberry’s IT guru, budget magician, purchasing Queen, solo HR department, and she does it all with grace, style, confidence and, best of all, laughter. Holding our school together in so many ways, that is Ms. Shana.

Ms. Shana currently lives in Eagle River with her three teenage boys as a solo parent and a hockey mom. When she isn't working her magic at Winterberry, she is often seen at the hockey rink cheering on her boys, riding dirt bikes, camping, or traveling with her boys on their next adventure.  

Ms. Colleen was not looking for a job when, by twist of fate, she received a phone call from a Winterberry parents asking her to apply to be the Administrative Assistant at Winterberry. At the time, she had just received her teaching certification for Hatha Yoga and Kids Yoga and was teaching at a couple of studios in town.

After accepting the job at Winterberry, she found that the principles of yoga and of Waldorf pedagogy are similar. She comes every day, seeing the inner light of each student.  Holding children who might need help with stillness or with finding a calm place is one of her strengths.  

Ms. Colleen is more than the Admistrative Assistant, she is the face of Winterberry and greets everyone, parent, grandparents, students, and staff members with a smile and knowledge of all. With Ms. Colleen as our front desk, “It is always a Wonderful Day at Winterberry.”

Nurse Katrina joined the Winterberry team in 2018 as their school nurse. She was born in Greeley, Colorado, and moved to Ashland Oregon at the age of 7. Throughout her life, she has spent summers commercial fishing with her 3 sisters and mother in Nikiski Alaska, (and continues this family tradition to this day).  She obtained a Liberal Arts degree from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and then migrated to Seattle, Washington, where she completed her nursing degree at Seattle University.  She worked briefly in Seattle with Health Care for the homeless as a TB nurse, and then relocated to Chinle, Arizona to work on the Navajo reservation.  In 2000, she accepted a nursing position at Kanakanak Hospital in Dillingham, Alaska.  She has lived in Alaska ever since.  In 2005, she moved to Anchorage to work as an emergency room nurse at The Alaska Native Medical Center, where she worked for 9 years.  After, Nurse Katrina took a year off to spend time with her daughter and their 4 (now 6) alpacas, and completed a 200 hour yoga certification. 

Nurse Katrina fell in love with Winterberry the moment she stepped through the doors of the school. Her child started Kindergarten when Winterberry planted new roots on Bryn Mawr Court, and they immediately felt the warmth and beauty that permeates the halls of this school. She feels so blessed to be a part of the Winterberry community not only as a past parent but as a staff member.