MEET OUR TEAM
At PHMS, our faculty and staff combine passion, dedication, and flexibility with the wisdom of many years spent teaching children to achieve their fullest potential.
Ms. Tanja Kogel
Program Director
Ms. Tanja joined PHMS in 2022. Before PHMS, she has over 15 years experience working in the field of preschool education, specialize in Montessori teaching. Ms. Tanja holds a Montessori teaching credential for Early Childhood (3-6 years). From 2012 to 2022, she was a Primary Class Lead Teacher in a Montessori school in San Francisco. Prior to teaching, Ms. Tanja worked in the fields of marketing and public relations in England. Currently, she still enjoys organizing school holiday, charitable, and multicultural events. Ms. Tanja was born and raised in South Africa, while she also called San Francisco her home since she has been living in San Francisco for about 20 years.
Ms. Jessica Yang
Administrative Director
Ms. Jessica’s passion for education embarked 10 years ago and becomes her lifelong endeavor. Before she determined to devote herself to education, she was a corporate attorney with San Francisco based law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe for a few years. Her strong desire to help others learn, however, and witness personal growth has led her to make a purposeful career shift to education. After years of teaching and school administration in two Montessori schools in San Francisco and East Bay, she joined PHMS in 2022. Ms. Jessica received her Law Degree from NYU School of Law with Dean’s Award and Advanced Business and Law Certificate from NYU Stern Business School. She used to work in Beijing, Hong Kong and New York before moving to San Francisco. She now lives with her husband, son and cat Aria, and loves exploring parks and playgrounds with them during her spare time.
Ms. Antonique Williams
Infant Class Junior Teacher
Ms. Antonique (Nik) holds a Bachelor’s degree majored in Child Care Development from The City College of San Francisco and ranked top 5% in her class. She has 9 years of experience as an Infant and Toddler teacher in various day care centers in San Francisco. Ms. Nik is passionate about the Montessori pedagogy since her daughter went to a Montessori school and she enjoyed being a Montessori parent herself. Ms. Nik is also getting the Montessori Certificate training for Infancy (0-3 years old). She now lives in Potrero Hill with her family.
Ms. Carmen mo
Infant Class Assistant Teacher
Ms. Carmen graduated from South China Normal University in 1998, majoring in Early Childhood Education. She has over 12 years of experience in early childhood education in China and U.S. She is passionate, motivated, sincere and honest. She loves children and strives to create a context-rich teaching environment along with interesting emergent activities that make the children learn and grow happily everyday!
Ms. Sukie Sun
Toddler Class Montessori Certified Junior Teacher
Ms. Sukie received both of her Montessori Certificates for Early Childhood (3-6 years old) and Infancy (0-3 years old)) from American Montessori Society (AMS) . Before joining PHMS, Ms. Sukie has gained 3 years of experience in teaching young children in China and 2 years of experience as a Montessori teacher in Bay Area. She graduated from a renowned college in China majoring in English in 2019. Ms. Sukie speaks English and Mandarin. In her free time, Ms. Sukie enjoys traveling with friends, and exploring the Bay Area.
Ms. Francesca Guevarra
Toddler Class Assistant Teacher
Ms. Francesca recently graduated from San Jose State University and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. She has extensive experience working with youth students and young children during her high school and college years. Before joining PHMS, she has been an assistant preschool teacher at San Jose State University, where she created and implemented developmentally-appropriate, multi-sensory activities and lesson plans for preschool students that enables all children to be actively engaged. She also has been a math, English and reading tutor for a couple of years.
Ms.Stephanie Yan
Primary Class Head Teacher
Ms. Stephanie is originally from China and came to the U.S. to pursue a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering. While pursuing her studies at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, she began teaching Mandarin in an after school program. She fell in love with teaching and with Montessori, and decided it was her true vocation. After receiving her Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering, she went on to receive her AMI primary certification from the Washington Montessori Institute along with a Master’s of Montessori Education from Loyola University. Before joining PHMS, Ms. Stephanie had been working as a Primary Class Head Teacher in a large Montessori school in Southern California for 7 years. Ms. Stephanie was thrilled to find PHMS where she can apply the Montessori philosophy with her previous classroom experience. Outside of work, Ms. Stephanie enjoys reading, cooking, yoga, traveling, and exploring different places and cultures.
Mr.jongki lee
Primary Class Junior Teacher
Mr. Jongki Lee was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. He was an elementary school Head Teacher for 8 years in South Korea before he relocated to Bay Area in 2019. Mr. Jongki had also been a Head Teacher in a preschool in San Francisco from 2021 to 2022. He loves working with children and would love to continue his enthusiasm at PHMS. Mr. Jongki received his Bachelor degree in Education from Gongju National University of Education and his Master degree in Church Music from Sungkonghoe University in South Korea. He completed his Early Childhood Education courses from Saddleback College. In his spare time, he loves reading books, playing piano, and singing. He now lives in Mission Bay with his family.