Human Intelligence Certification For Educators

Dr. Ilana Nankin—the Founder & CEO of Breathe For Change and a Professor of Practice at William Jewell College—is an award-winning entrepreneur, teacher educator, and former public school teacher committed to using wellness as a vehicle for healing and social change. Ilana earned degrees in both psychology and education at UC Berkeley, and received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at University of Wisconsin. Her dissertation revealed the critical connection between educator well-being and student learning, and the positive impact that wellness and social-emotional learning can have on teachers and students’ lives. Inspired by her research, Ilana founded Breathe For Change, a movement on a mission to enhance the health and well-being of educators, students, and entire communities. Breathe For Change offers the world’s only 200-hour Mindfulness, SEL, and Yoga Teacher Training specifically for educators, and provides wellness and SEL professional development for schools, districts, and organizations. Since 2015, Breathe For Change has certified 10,000+ educators through their 200-hour training, who are now positively impacting the lives and well-being of over 2,000,000 students around the country.

Sam is the Senior Vice President of Product at Breathe For Change and a member of the founding team. He started his career as an educator, first as an ESL teacher in the Middle East and later as a middle school science teacher in Washington, D.C. He is a successful entrepreneur in the education sector, where he’s held leadership positions at innovative companies in K-12 and higher education like Amplify, Coursera and Hone.

Sam is a certified professional coach, transformational leadership facilitator and certified yoga teacher (through Breathe For Change). He holds a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University, with a concentration in mind, body and spirituality practices. He has facilitated workshops in leadership for tens of thousands of leaders across the globe over the past decade.

Sam lives in Boulder, CO and enjoys spending time with his growing family – his wife Talia and 2 young children, Jonah and Nora. Sam is a triathlete, and completed his first Ironman race in 2020. He loves to travel, meet new people with different perspectives, and is continually humbled by all there is to learn and experience.

Allison Briscoe-Smith, PhD, is a child clinical psychologist and educational leader who has spent over two decades helping schools, nonprofits, and media organizations design environments of belonging, emotional safety, and equitable support. She earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard and her PhD in clinical psychology from UC Berkeley, and completed specialized postdoctoral training in trauma and ethnic minority mental health at UCSF. In her work she addresses how children—especially those from marginalized backgrounds—experience identity, bias, trauma, and resilience, and she helps educators and leaders translate psychological insight into practice.

She is currently serving as the Diversity Lead for Student Life at the University of Washington and as a Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, where she works on bridging differences across communities. As a consultant, trainer, and speaker, Allison brings a rare combination of clinical depth, pedagogical skill, and cultural fluency to support organizations in navigating conflict, identity, and healing. Her expertise in trauma-informed practices, belonging, and child development makes her a powerful subject matter expert for curriculum, student well-being, and inclusive learning systems.

Michael Jacob MD, PhD, is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and an affiliate of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. As a physician-scientist, he studies the dynamic relationship between the brain and body, particularly how heart–brain communication shapes emotion, cognition, and human intelligence. His research on mind–heart coherence explores how synchronized neural and cardiac activity supports focus, emotional regulation, and well-being, providing new insights into the biological basis of resilience and mental health.

Using advanced brain imaging and heart monitoring techniques, Dr. Jacob studies how the body’s internal rhythms—such as heartbeat and brainwave patterns—work together to shape perception, emotion, and behavior in both healthy individuals and those with mental health conditions. He brings deep expertise in neuroscience, psychiatry, and human performance to help design curriculum that bridges science and practice.

Kelli spent more than 29 years in public education with roles ranging from classroom teacher to building principal to district Director of School Leadership.

After earning her doctorate in curriculum from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, she began to work to design a new teacher induction program for Texas schools that was grounded in positive behavior, systems, mindful practices, and social emotional health. During the years that she served as a district director, a professional development, she always grounded her professional development presentations and trainings in mindful practices regardless of the content being delivered, so that every educator that she had the privilege to lead received tools for their own well-being that then informed their professional practices. She’s also a 500-ERYT yoga instructor, is a certified Masters of wisdom meditation teacher, and is certified by The Chopra Center as an Ayurvedic health coach. All of these yoga tools inform her practices as an educational leader.

One of her greatest strengths is coaching and empowering school leaders to create environments of health and well-being for their staff so that ultimately staff are doing the same thing for the students and families they serve. She firmly believes that without wellness being kept as a priority at the leadership level, schools will never perform at the level of expectations that our state legislature is setting for them.

Michelle Cordero, Breathe For Change’s Head Trainer, has devoted the last 3 decades to deepening her connection to and sharing the powerful practice of yoga with the world. Michelle has led retreats, workshops, and teacher trainings internationally, and was voted “Best Yoga Teacher of the East Bay” by Oakland Magazine. She is certified at the highest level with the Yoga Alliance E-RYT 500 & YACEP credentials.

Michelle’s greatest passion is inspiring educators to teach yoga in an inclusive and accessible way. She teaches with a sense of humor, curiosity and compassion. Michelle’s classes are inclusive, gender affirming, trauma-informed and uniquely tailored to meet the needs of each student regardless of experience, age, gender, or body shape.Michelle has contributed greatly to the development of Breathe For Change’s 200-hour Training, 300-hour Training, Professional Development offerings, and Educator Collective events.

Michelle has her Master’s Degree, a certificate in Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy and is a Certified Wellness Coach and Craniosacral Work practitioner, and has trained with the Trauma Center’s Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TC-TSY) program and the Trauma Informed Resilience Oriented Approach (TIRO). She also completed a 75-hour Skill in Action training with Michelle C Johnson, focused on the intersection of Yoga and Social Justice. Michelle is inspired and honored to be guiding you along your yoga teaching journey.

Adriana Robertson is an entrepreneurial educator whose holistic programs have helped thousands of people find purpose, wellness, and belonging. She is co-founder of the conscious leadership company PRDX, and lead faculty at Soma+IQ, a world-leading breathwork certification. She also serves individuals and relationships as an embodiment coach.

Adriana is currently enrolled in Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing training, deepening her expertise in trauma-informed, body-based healing. Her roots are in K–12 education, where she led an after-school leadership program for under-resourced high school youth in Washington, DC, and taught yoga in elementary and middle schools. She later served as a Leadership Trainer at Harvard, where she developed the university’s first institution-wide training on belonging.