Faculty
- Anmol Nijhawan (Ms. Anmol) – Infant (Nido) classes
- Alessandra Barreto
- Ana Maria Mejia
- Carrie Loth
- Divya Nulisetty
- Farha Dumba
- Gayathri Bellapu
- Jansi Rani
- Jasmine Priya (Ms Priya)
- Lakshmi Kakumanu
- Lavanya Kondapally
- Maria Dimitrova
- Nayana Saha
- Neelam Walia
- Pawan Kaur
- Prasanna Lakshmi Bheemisetty
- Sailaja Sappa
- Seema Chandak
- Shweta Sharma
- Sondos Ayesh
- Sonia Kumawat
Anmol Nijhawan (MS ANMOL) is a Teacher at CDBM Aurora Campus in the Nido Infant Class. She grew up in Calcutta, India where she completed her Bachelor’s in Commerce from the University Of Calcutta in 1997. She has been in the USA since 1997 and she received her Early Childhood Education and Care certificate from the College of Dupage in 2003. She has worked in various preschool teaching roles since 2001. Her family includes her husband, her daughter, and a son. In addition, she has an adorable Cavapoo dog named Quincy who really is the master of the house. Ms Anmol is a very outgoing person who enjoys meeting new people and traveling around the world with family. She is most passionate about helping children learn and grow. She gets very excited when children are able to achieve goals of her curriculum. Ms. Anmol has been working in the Nido Class since October 2019.
Alessandra Barreto
Alessandra Barreto grew up in Brazil, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology in 1994.She worked as a Science Teacher in 4th and 5th grade from 1995 until she moved to
Chicago in 1999. She’s been working with younger children, in the U.S., since 2000. She received her Paraprofessional Certificate from Seton Montessori Institute in 2011. For the past ten years her teaching experience was working with toddlers in a Montessori environment. She is a proud mother of two girls and her passion is her family, friendships, and taking care of students at Casa. She also speaks Spanish and
Portuguese fluently. She joined the CDBM family in January 2018 and she enjoys watching students discover and learn new things every day.
Ana Maria Mejia
Ana Maria Mejia grew up in Panama. She earned her first Montessori Certification from the Pan American Montessori Society (PAMS) in 2001 and a second teacher certification from American Montessori Society (AMS) in 2008. Ana Maria had the opportunity to work in Montessori schools in Texas, New Jersey, Brazil and Utah throughout her career. With about twenty years of active teaching, She has been a
guide to her Students, Colleagues, and School Administrators.
Ana Maria now lives in Naperville with her husband and two teenage daughters. She has many hobbies, most of which include spending time in our gorgeous surroundings with her two dogs Bow & Ozzie. Ana Maria also loves to bake, ride her bike, read and watch Korean movies translated into Portuguese. One interesting fact about her family is that they also lived in Brazil for almost three years; they speak Spanish and have conversations in Portuguese, too. Ana María is excited to share the opportunity to support the children in their learning journey and to guide them to become a citizen with moral and civil values worthy of making a significant difference in our world. Ms Ana Maria joined CDBM in April 2021.
Carrie Loth
Carrie Loth attended Harper College and majored in child psychology and child development. She has been working with children for 30+ years. She decided to become a teacher because of her strong passion for children. She received her Montessori certification from Seton Montessori in 2002. In the past, Miss Carrie taught, co taught, ran a Montessori school, and was fortunate to have her own school in Oak Brook, Il. In her free time she enjoys music, nature, walking and hiking. She also enjoys traveling and spending time with family and friends. She is thrilled to be a part of the team here at Casa Dei Bambini since July 2021!
Divya Nulisetty
Divya Nulisetty was born and brought up in Andhra Pradesh, India. She has completed her Post Graduate in Master of Business Administration. She currently lives in Aurora with her husband and two lovely children – a daughter and a son. She loves her students and she is passionate about teaching. She moved to Chicago in 2013 from India. Ms. Divya joined CDBM in March 2023.
Farha Dumba is the assistant in Nido at CDBM. She completed her Bachelor’s of Commerce in 2009, from Karnataka State Women’s University. She has lived in multiple locations in India such as Hubli, Pune, and Bangalore, and has also lived abroad in Tokyo and now Naperville, IL USA, since March 2023. Farha is married and blessed with 2 children, a daughter (now 12) and son (now 5). She is an avid networker and considers herself a people person who is very creative. She also enjoys her family in her spare time and harnessing her creative projects. She is very passionate about helping children grow and happily joined our school family in August 2023.
Gayathri Bellapu is from India and completed her post graduation in Masters of Computer Applications. She is currently living in Aurora with her family including her husband and two children. They moved to the USA in 2012 from India. Miss Gayathri is very passionate about teaching. Family is her core and strength. Her hobbies include cooking, volunteering, and learning new technologies. Her stress relief is in the joy of her children. She joined the CDBM school family in May of 2023.
Jansi Rani
Jasmine Priya (Ms. Priya)
Lakshmi Kakumanu
Lakshmi Kakumanuwas born and raised in Gunter District of India. She graduated from Padmavathi University Tirupati and she received a Masters in MBA from JNTU University in 2013. She has been in the USA since 2013. In the past, Ms Lakshmi volunteered in Montessori schools where her child used to go. She then gained experience working with toddlers as their teacher and loves to work with this age group. In her spare time, she loves to cook different cuisines and singing / dancing are her favorite hobbies! She joined CDBM in September 2022.
Lavanya Kondapally
Lavanya Kondapally grew up in India. During her childhood, she used to hear a lot from her father, uncles, aunts about “Montessori” as they got their primary education from Montessori schooling in India!! She truly admires the philosophy and the holistic approach of Montessori curriculum has even groomed her own daughter during her early childhood education. Lavanya observed that her daughter works independently and with peers showing focus and creativity, with all-around capabilities. Lavanya completed her Masters degree in Material Science. She even taught Physics to high school students in India! Her husband is an IT professional and she has one daughter in undergrad and one son in middle school. Her hobbies include listening to songs, container gardening and cooking. She always wanted to work in Montessori school and now she is completing her paraprofessional training. She joined CDBM in June 2022!
Maria Dimitrova
MARIA DIMITROVA grew up in Bulgaria, where she attended Sofia University and received her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education with a qualification in Music. In 2011 she received her Diploma in Medical Billing and Coding from Everest College.She has more than 15 years experience in Early Childhood education and more than 20 years experience in Montessori education. She attended Seton Montessori Institute and received her Montessori 3-6 Credential with American Montessori Society. Maria is also Director Qualified.Miss Maria is married with two children. Her daughter is the Head optician at Eye care clinic and her son is a Real Estate Agent. In her spare time, Maria enjoys hiking, traveling, gardening and spending time with her family and friends. She also has a passion for cooking and crafting. Maria joined the CDBM school family in May 2022.
Neelam Walia
Neelam Walia is a highly qualified Montessori teacher with more than 20 years of experience. She grew up in New Delhi, India where she attended New Delhi University and received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in political science. She obtained a preschool and kindergarten certification through North American Montessori Center in 2006 and an Early Childhood certification through American Montessori School in 2009. She has taught in several schools in the Naperville area and is highly praised by both her colleagues and her students’ parents. She has two sons who both attended Northwestern University for their undergraduate education. Her oldest son is in medical school and her youngest son has completed dental school. She joined the Casa Dei Bambini family in January 2018 and looks forward to continuing to serve the local community.
Ms Pawan Kaur grew up in New Delhi, India, where she attended Delhi University and received a Bachelors and Master’s degree in Political Science. She moved to the United States in 2010. She has previously worked as a substitute teacher in the Indian Prairie school district for the last 3 years for K-5. Ms Pawan and her husband live close by with two children. She is a very creative person and she loves to do art in her free time. She believes in allowing students to take the lead in their own learning which helps them gain confidence and independence. She happily joined CDBM in April 2023!
Sailaja Sappa
Sailaja Sappa has a Master’s in International Montessori education from India. Teaching in Montessori education is her passion. She worked with children, between ages from 2 to 6 using Montessori methodology. She has Montessori teaching experience in both India and the USA. She worked in Greenwood Montessori, Bangalore India for 4 years. She has also worked at Arlington Montessori, Arlington Heights, IL as a teacher for 3 years.
She also does voluntary work to teach Indian language (Telugu) for small children on Saturdays at a local church in the Aurora area. She is a proud mother of Surya, a Biology major at Loyola University…and Chandra, a Finance major at the University of Illinois (UIC) at Chicago. Sailaja joined CDBM in January 2019 and she is both Teacher Qualified (TQ) and Director Qualified (DQ).
Seema Chandak
Seema Chandak was born in Maharashtra, India and she has extensive credentials in Engineering and Technology. Seema has over 7 years of experience teaching Engineering students and other technology graduating classes. She is passionate about teaching all ages. Seema moved to Chicago in 2015 and is a mother to a 5 year old charming kindergartener. She joined CDBM in March 2022 as a teacher assistant and enjoys her time with her new school family.
Sondos Ayesh
Sonia Kumawat
Sonia Kumawathas her Master’s degree in Commerce. She grew up in India and moved to the U.S. in 2008. Teaching is her passion, and she has prior experience as private tutor, assistant, and substitute teacher. She is currently working toward the completion of her Early Childhood Credential from Seton Montessori Institute and is doing her internship at CDBM. She enjoys working with students helping them to learn new skills every day. She and her son began at CDBM in March 2022. Her hobbies are cooking and listening to music. She also loves to spend time with her family.