All About Issa

I’ve always been countercultural. I’m tattooed with stretched earlobes and unusual hair – it used to be a hot pink mohawk and is rather chill these days in gray dreadlock extensions. I’m an atheist, although spiritually also a bit Pagan. Politically, I’m all the way to the left, and I’m not shy about it. I speak my mind and encourage others to speak theirs.

A friend once called me “belligerently myself”. As a child, my mother often accused me of “only doing what you want to do when you want to do it!” I thought that was a pretty weird thing to say – doesn’t everyone only do what they want to do? I’m older now than she was then, and I still find myself acting like a defiant teenager in ways that are sometimes very silly. I have anxiety, control issues, sensory issues, and I’m extremely resistant to social expectations.

I’ve always embraced an image of myself as a radical rebel. Then a few years ago I learned about Pathological Demand Avoidance. When I first heard it described, I literally said, “Oooooooohhhhhhh…..!!!” out loud and had to laugh at the sensation of pieces of understanding falling into place.

Seeing Kids Differently

In 1990, as a 13-year-old babysitter, I didn’t know the terms autism or ADHD, and it would be another 30 years before my own own diagnoses. But there was a certain kind of kid that I particularly enjoyed relating to, and that has expanded throughout my career. There are some children I just “get,” even when others don’t. Kids tend to like me because I don’t talk down to them or act like a perfect, all-knowing adult. I’m as curious and playful as they are! I’m direct, respectful, and “real”. I understand where they’re coming from. I appreciate them for the whole people they already are with meaningful lives happening right now.

When I first meet a family, there’s a pattern that has replayed many times over the years. The parent talks about their child with an almost apologetic tone. They’ve been criticized so often or their child has not fit in elsewhere. When I immediately connect with their child and delight in their presence, the parents are often visibly surprised and relieved. Some are even a bit skeptical at first about whether I really mean it when I say nice things about them!

What a heartbreaking state of affairs! There are so many kids being made to feel like there’s something wrong with them, when they just have a different style of interacting with the world. I feel a deep drive to be a safe place for these kids. I wish I could remake the whole world to be more accepting and accommodating about the wonderful differences between people.

Trial By Fire

I started my childcare career in 1999 as a preschool teacher. I had never worked with kids as a group before. Nevertheless, the center placed me as the sole teacher in a room of 23 two-year-olds. Yes, that was illegal, way beyond the teacher-to-child ratio guidelines. I’ve called it my “trial by fire” because you learn fast when you have that much responsibility.

Eventually, the parents of one of the kids in my class hired me away to be their private nanny. Working as a nanny had a more relaxing pace, giving me lots of time to pursue professional training in childcare and childhood development. Additionally, I studied self-directed education (SDE) models, and I began training in Non-Violent Communication (NVC).

I spent a few years as a Childcare Consultant, providing services to families and businesses like playroom/classroom design and developmental evaluations. During this time I became a columnist for an online parenting site, which eventually grew into writing workbooks and courses to help parents move towards respectful, non-coercive relationships with their kids.

I became a full-time Parenting Coach, working with families one-on-one. This work was incredibly intense and deeply satisfying. My NVC training helps me hold empathy for everyone in a family. I can connect non-judgmentally with parents who want to change but find it hard in the day-to-day. For children who are so wonderfully, “belligerently themselves”, I can give voice to their experiences in a way that their parents can understand. I saw so many families make life-changing transformations to how their families related, and I felt like I helped make the world a better place for some of the kids out there.

Wild Spaces

I eventually quit my coaching practice to focus on my own family. While homeschooling my kids, I found lots of great programs and groups here in Knoxville but also some areas that were lacking. I was looking for something wilder, where kids were free to be their messy, noisy selves. A place that rejected parent-pleasing crafts in favor of kids being creative in ways that make sense to them. Somewhere kids could escape overly designed, absurdly safe play spaces and take more risks.

In 2024 I became a facilitator at Big Tree ALC, an Agile Learning Center. After wishing for so long that Knoxville had a self-directed learning program, Big Tree was a dream come true. My youngest son attended, and I enjoyed doing workshops and just hanging out with the big group of kids from ages 5-13. My son and I were both heartbroken when it closed a year later.

I considered opening my own program at that time, but I wasn’t quite ready. While I immensely enjoy working with kids, I don’t love the financial, legal, and marketing aspects that come with running a business. I held out hope that I could find another program locally that would work for my youngest son. He’s 6 years old, wonderfully noisy, constantly moving, and full of ideas. I enrolled him in a large co-op, but almost immediately it didn’t work out. There was too much sitting still and too much being quiet.

It’s hard to find places built for kids like him, and I’ve met so many other families who have the same problem. Our kids are treated like “too much”. These are smart, curious, delightful kids, and I wanted a space where they could be themselves.

Finally, WonderWild

The question on my mind was, “If I designed the exact program my 6-year-old needed from the ground up, what would it look like?” It would be a place where kids could freely move their bodies, make lots of noise, explore sensory experiences, and also be able to get away from sensory input. It would have an indoor classroom vibe and also spill out into the natural world outside. It would be playful, messy, exploratory, and based on following kids’ curiosity. It would seamlessly and joyfully weave in academic subjects (because my son wants to know everything!)

During Covid, a friend moved into a cabin on the land with my home. After she bought her own house and moved out last year, I had an empty cabin just waiting for a purpose. Could the cabin be the right home for this new program I was imagining? Was there enough room for worktables for projects? Could a bedroom turn into an indoor playground? Was there room to fit a quiet hideaway corner? After lots of planning, configuring, and constructing, the answer was yes, yes, YES!

WonderWild is the culmination of my almost 30 years of working with kids and families. It combines my devotion to respecting kids and their need for play and autonomy, my love for designing welcoming and functional spaces, and my own drive to approach learning with curiosity and wonder.

WonderWild opened in January 2026, and it has been a magical journey already. I recently overheard one of our learners say, “It’s so fun here, I wish I could stay here forever!” Seeing kids get to be their full-bodied, full-spirited selves in a learning environment is a dream come true.