Sharen Hausmann
Vice President of Early Learning
United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta

Sharen Hausmann serves as liaison to The United Way of Metro Atlanta's Early Learning Commission. The commission was formed to shape a broad directional agenda for Metro Atlanta's early learning needs, and works to develop a regional action plan and coordinated continuum of care to help Georgia’s youngest residents grow to be our state’s most successful community members.

Mrs. Hausmann is an expert in child development, specifically early childhood, and has dedicated her life to improving the quality of care for all children—a crucial piece of the academic and social preparedness puzzle for children ages birth to five. As the Director of Smart Start, Sharen has helped develop innovative programs that foster quality early learning environments and provide training for child care providers.

Prior to joining Smart Start, Sharen served as a consultant, lecturer, teacher and trainer, empowering early childhood professionals to promote healthy growth and development in young children. She received her master's degree in Child and Youth Care Administration from Nova Southeastern University. She also took part in the Reggio Emilia Education Approach Summer Institute in Reggio Emilia, Italy and participated in the School-Age Child Care Leadership Institute by the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women. In addition, she is affiliated with a number of state and national early care and education professional organizations.

Cori Cain
Senior Director, Smart Start

Cori Cain, a native of Detroit MI, serves as Senior Director of Early Childhood Programs for Smart Start, the Early Learning Division of the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. Her responsibilities include program development and implementation, grant management and state and local collaboration initiatives.

Prior to assuming her role at Smart Start, she worked as an Early Intervention Specialist/ Parent Educator at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Philadelphia. There she provided home and centered-based services to families with deaf and hard of hearing children ages birth to five, as well as facilitated parent support groups.

Cori holds a B.A. degree in Early Childhood Education from Clark Atlanta University and a M. A. degree in Family-Centered Early Childhood Education with a focus in Deafness from Gallaudet University.

Katrina Mitchell
Senior Director, Early Reading First

Native New Yorker Katrina D. Mitchell brings a wide variety of personal and professional experienced to her role as Senior Director of Smart Start, the Early Childhood Division of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. There, she is primarily responsible for providing leadership and oversight of federally funded early literacy initiatives. Her past professional experience includes work with Literacy, Inc. and the National Urban League.

With a passion for touching the lives of the children—as a godparent, a mentor and a role model—Katrina also lends her dedication to an advisory role on the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom School Curriculum Committee. She holds a BA in English from Wellesley College, and received a MEd from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education with a focus on Language&Literacy and Arts in Education.

Charmaine Godley
Director, Get Ready to Read! Southeast Regional Center

Charmaine Godley currently serves as the Director for Get Ready to Read! Southeast Regional Center. With more than 20 years of experience in education that encompasses infant through adult learners, Charmaine also established the Early Childhood Care and Education program for Griffin Technical College, where she continues to serve as an adjunct instructor.

Ms. Godley received her B.S. Degree in Family and Consumer Sciences Education, with a Minor in Child Development from La Sierra University in Riverside, California; and a Masters Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision from Georgia State University. She is also a graduate of the WestEd PITC - Program for Infant / Toddler Care, a collaboration between WestEd and the California Dept of Education.

Hollie Pavloff
Director, Early Education Substitute Teacher Program

Hollie Pavloff, Director of the Early Education Substitute Teacher Program, is a long time resident of metro Atlanta. She holds a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Early Childhood Education from the University of Miami, and a M.Ed. from Georgia State University. Hollie blends a background in sales, marketing, training and management experience at Coca-Cola USA with a distinguished 11-year career in the early childhood education field. Now, she focuses her energy and considerable passion toward her work with Smart Start--educating adults to provide nurturing and quality educational experiences for children birth through age five.

Andrea Irvin
Project Manager, Early Learning Community Based Partnerships

Andrea Irvin, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, serves as Project Manager of the Early Learning Community Based Partnerships Initiative -- recently transitioning from her previous role as Project Coordinator.  Andrea received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Spelman College with a minor in Management and Organization. She started working with Smart Start over 2 years ago with the Early Education Substitute Teacher Program and prior to that as Director of the Austin Elementary School after-school program through the Cowart Family / Ashford Dunwoody YMCA.

Laura Miller
Project Manager, Early Learning Community Based Partnerships

Laura Miller has worked over six years in educational programming, administration and outreach.  Prior to joining Smart Start, she served as Education Manager at Georgia Public Broadcasting, wherein she managed educational programs for parents and caregivers of school-age children.  Laura holds a BA degree in English from Spelman College and a M.A. in English Education from Clark Atlanta University.

ERF STAFF BIOS:  

Helen McCroskey is a native of Tennessee, and has worked in the field of early education for the last 26 years, serving in a variety of capacities including teacher, director, consultant and as an adjunct college professor. She has degrees and certifications in Human Services Management, Early Childhood Education, and a M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts in Boston, MA.

Tawanda Braswell
Early Reading First Literacy Coach, READERS

Tawanda has taught pre-school and worked as a consultant with numerous child care centers to seek, achieve and maintain. She holds degrees in speech and language, management and urban policy, and is pursuing a doctoral degree in post-secondary education.

Emily Gilead
Early Reading First Literacy Coach, READERS

Emily Gilead, has been an Early Literacy Coach with READERS for nearly ten years, and has worked in the field of early childhood education assisting teachers with furthering their education, program accreditation, and literacy for her entire career. She earned her undergraduate degree from Mercer University, and is currently seeking her Master’s in Education from Concordia University.

Tameka Smalls
Early Reading First Literacy Coach, READERS

Tameka holds a B.A. in Early Childhood Education from Clark Atlanta University and an M.A. in School Counseling from Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York.  Born in Charleston, S.C.

Tanya Wallace
Early Reading First Literacy Coach, READERS

Tanya has more than fifteen years of experience in the areas of early childhood education, special education, and children’s programming/design. She holds degrees or certificates in Child Studies, Special Education, and Speech-Language Pathology&Audiology from Old Dominion University and Georgia State University.

Leah Austin
Early Reading First Project Director, LIGHT

Jilo was born in Detroit, Michigan and holds degrees in Comparative Literature from Northwestern University (B.A.) and Early Childhood Education from The University of Michigan (M.Ed.). She has 15 years of experience in education which includes working with families in birth to three-year-olds through the Parents as Teachers program, classroom teaching in grades pre-k through eight and administration and instruction in high school and university settings.  Prior to coming to Smart Start Jilo was the manager of education programs for the Atlanta office of the national non-profit organization, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.

Barb McWethy
Early Reading First Coach, LIGHT

Barb holds a Masters Degree in Education with an emphasis on Early Childhood Education. While she’s not working with Smart Start, Barb lends her talents to community literacy programs for children and adults. Her past work experience includes positions as a pre-school teacher, center director, and literacy specialist. 

Kimberley Hyler
Early Reading First Coach, LIGHT

Kimberley Hyler recently relocated to Georgia from Milwaukee, WI. She has six years of early childhood teaching experience. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Educational Studies with an emphasis in Day Care from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and a Master’s degree in Reading and Literacy from Walden University.

Elizabeth Clarkson 
Early Reading First Coach, LIGHT

Elizabeth Clarkson recently relocated from Boulder, Colorado.  She has 5 years of classroom teaching experience in preschool and pre-K in both public and private schools and has also directed a small program focused on health and well-being in young children.  She received her Bachelor’s degree in Birth-Kindergarten Education from Appalachian State University in NC and her Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Colorado.  

Angelle Cooper
Professional Development Manager, Early Reading First

Angelle was an educational consultant prior to joining Smart Start. She brings more than twenty years of experience in program management&professional development to the organization, having worked with various non-profit agencies throughout the metro Atlanta area, including Cool Girls,Inc., SciTrek, and Zoo Atlanta. She holds a B.A. in English from Spelman College and a M.S. in Environmental Communications from the University of Michigan. She is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas.