Meet Stephanie Woo
Head of School
Ms. Lam Montessori Brooklyn
A Childhood Spent in Montessori. And Then Running Away From It.
Stephanie Woo grew up watching her mother do something remarkable.
In 1984, Ms. Lam was the first person to bring the Montessori Method to Taiwan. She built what would become one of the most respected Montessori schools in Asia, with 14 campuses in Taipei and a philosophy rooted in following the child.
Stephanie watched all of it from the inside.
And then, as rebellious young adults sometimes do, she decided she wanted nothing to do with it.
She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in History. She built and ran a greeting card company for ten years. She made a life entirely outside of Montessori.
Then she got pregnant with twins.
Twins Change Everything
When Brooke and Mackenzie arrived, something shifted.
Stephanie turned to the one person she trusted most: her mother. Ms. Lam showed her what was possible when infants are brought up using the Montessori Method. What she saw changed everything. There was no turning back.
When her twins were just 5-months-old, Stephanie enrolled in AMI 0 -3 training at The Montessori Institute in Denver, Colorado, studying under Judi Orion, the same AMI Montessori trainer who had trained her mother decades earlier.
She documented everything about her journey raising Brooke and Mackenzie. The experiments, the observations, the failures, and the moments that made her stop and watch in awe. That documentation became Montessori on the Double, a blog and YouTube channel that has since been read and watched by parents around the world.
When the twins were 2.5 years old, Stephanie continued her AMI 3-6 Primary training at Montessori Northwest in Portland, Oregon, studying with Ginni Sackett and Sarah Andrews Werner. Her husband trained alongside her, earning his own diploma in the AMI 6-12 Elementary level.
When the twins turned six, Stephanie began her AMI 6-12 Elementary training at The Montessori Northwest and graduated 3 years later.
She now holds AMI diplomas at all three levels, 0-3, 3-6, and 6-12, one of the relatively few educators in the country trained across the full span of childhood development.
Three Children. All at Ms. Lam.
Brooke and Mackenzie are now 15. Harper is 9. All three attend Ms. Lam Montessori.
That is not a marketing point. It is the most honest thing Stephanie can say about what she believes.
The School She Was Born Into
Ms. Lam Montessori is celebrating its 42nd year. With 14 campuses in Taipei, Taiwan, and 5 campuses in Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, and Park Slope. It has educated tens of thousands of children who have graduated reading and writing fluently in both English and Mandarin.
Stephanie grew up inside that legacy. She worked at the Taiwan campuses as a teenager. She watched the school grow. And she eventually chose to bring it to Brooklyn, building something that carries her mother's founding philosophy forward alongside her own decades of observation, training, and parenthood.
Credentials
AMI 0 - 3 Assistant to Infancy Diploma. The Montessori Institute, Denver, CO (studied under Judi Orion)
AMI 3 - 6 Primary Diploma. Montessori Northwest, Portland, OR (studied under Ginni Sackett and Sarah Andrews Werner)
AMI 6 - 12 Elementary Diploma. Montessori Northwest, Portland, OR (studied under Elise Huneke-Stone)
B.A. in History. Columbia University
Author. Raising Your Twins: Real Life Tips on Parenting Your Children with Ease (Without Kicking Your Spouse to the Curb!), Aviva Publishing, 2013
From Stephanie's Blog
Montessori on the Double is Stephanie's journey raising Brooke and Mackenzie the Montessori way from 0-3 years old. Parents regularly reference specific articles months after reading them. Many find Ms. Lam, the school, through the blog first!
Her blog documents the practical side of Montessori parenting: from solving toddler tantrums by understanding a child's need for order, to her husband Mark hand-building a running child-sized sink for their home!
Read Montessori on the Double →
Come Meet Her
The best way to understand Ms. Lam Montessori is to visit during the morning work cycle. Stephanie and our admissions team would love to show you what forty-two years of Montessori practice looks like in action. Stephanie regularly gives workshops about Montessori - email admissions@mslammontessori.com to find dates for her next workshop. We can’t wait to welcome you.