Our Team
Founder
Stacey is passionate about sharing mindfulness skills with those who have the least amount of access, but would likely benefit the most.
While running her own business, Stacey has been employed as a mindfulness teacher/specialist in the School District of Philadelphia, in a private special education school for behavioral needs and for Engaging Support Enriching Lives, a multi-year project focused on ameliorating punitive practices in schools. She is featured in the documentary film “Divided Attention: When the Children Who Need the Most Receive the Least”. Stacey authored the Afterword titled “Rage from the Mindful Moment Room” for the book Lost Voices of Prisoners Serving Death by Incarceration in Pennsylvania.
Stacey is a certified professional mindfulness teacher (CMT-P) with the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. She interweaves best practices and components from diverse teachers and curriculums, and considers herself a lifelong student of Tibetan Buddhism. She is a certified Trauma-Competent Professional through Lakeside Global Institute, and occasionally facilitates on trauma awareness. Previously, Stacey spent 15 years teaching grades K-8 in CA, NJ and PA, and four years as an instructional coach/facilitator for Children’s Literacy Initiative. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Foundations of Education from California State University - Los Angeles, and a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Stacey volunteers as a mindfulness and meditation instructor for incarcerated people, as a prison monitor for PA Prison Society and as a pardon coach for Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity. She serves on the Board of Directors for CMP Radio Foundation and International Mindfulness Teachers Association; she is a core member of Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools and a coordinator for the Mindfulness and Social Change Network. Stacey co-hosts the podcast “Too School for Cool”, creates “keep open” boxes and is a Reiki practitioner and certified aromatherapist.
Stacey Mandel
Special Assistant
Big is part English Mastiff, part American Bulldog and 115 pounds of mindful, open-hearted awareness.
On walks, Big is known to stop and plop, cross his paws and just be. When he meets small dogs, he pays attention to their energy and will often sit or lay down. He practices gratitude for every pat, and meets challenges like long waits at the vet with acceptance. He walks down the street with an open mind as he uses his senses to take in the present moment.
Big is working on calming his amygdala when he sees an out-of-place trash can.
