about us

Co-founders Emma & Meera are Evanston moms and lifelong friends with backgrounds in early childhood development. As researchers and practitioners, they spent the last 15 years engaged in a range of work to support families - from large scale research studies to family therapy to school startup.

Emma Huntley

Emma has dedicated her career to understanding and supporting children with diverse needs and abilities. She conducted multidisciplinary research through the University of North Carolina with families of children with varied genetic and neurodevelopmental profiles. This research led Emma to a career in individual and family developmental therapy, and training for teachers and staff working with children with developmental differences.

Emma received a BA in psychology from Pomona College, and holds a Master’s in Child Development with a Specialization in Children with Special Needs from Erikson Institute. Emma loves cooking, spending time with her toddlers, and traveling with her family.

Meera Sinha

Meera has spent her career designing programs and products that increase access to high quality early childhood education, with a focus on the Montessori approach. Her experience includes researching the development of early childhood self-regulation at NYU’s Neuroscience & Education Lab, starting a Montessori school in New York City, and running a national incubator for teachers starting their own Montessori microschools. As a parent of young children, she loves applying her background to her own parenting journey and she is thrilled to collaborate with other parents through ParentConnect.

Meera received a BA from Duke University, a Master’s degree from NYU in early childhood social and emotional learning, and her Montessori teacher training certification from the Montessori Institute of San Diego. She lives in Evanston, IL with her husband and their two children ages 5 & 7.

Press

  • Sheridan Road Magazine

    It Takes a Village

    “‘Our ultimate dream is to create a world where no parent feels alone,’ says Sinha, ‘where finding your support network is as easy as meeting your neighbor next door.’”

  • Evanston Round Table

    ParentConnect: The in-real-life antidote to the internet

    “There is an appetite for a place to ask questions and seek advice from a trusted community–instead of the entire Internet–after a class ends. They hope the forthcoming app will capture the feeling and culture of their ParentConnect groups and be an “open, nonjudgmental, very Evanston space,” said Huntley.”

  • Chicago North Shore Moms

    Meet a Mom

    “Their story is as heartwarming as their mission: childhood neighbors who grew up running between each other’s backyards, they now find themselves raising young families in the same neighborhood where their friendship began.”

  • Evanston Round Table

    Lifelong friends launch business to bolster new moms

    “Fundamentally the concept has always been to create a village, a support network, a community of parents, we want it to be joyful. We want it to be focused on parents.’ The vast majority of programming for young families, she suggests, is centered around children. ParentConnect aims to fill the void.”