Meet the Team
Dedicated, Licensed, & Certified
Founder, Owner, & Director
Jennifer Bonin Brown
Meet our Founder, Owner, & Director, Jennifer Bonin Brown. She holds a Master's Degree in Education from University of New Orleans with a focus on Early Childhood Development. Her minor is in Psychology with a focus on nutrition and its connection to mood, behavior, and brain development. She has worked hard to achieve a level 4 Director designation in 2025, holds an Administrator's Certificate, and has gained over 150 hours in continued education. She holds an Ancillary License for ages birth through Kindergarten and Louisiana Praxis for ages kindergarten through 6th. She is actively involved in providing every-day training for the teachers, obtaining scholarships from the Department of Education to ensure all teachers are educated and licensed, building all classrooms, and assisting in providing advanced curriculum & daily lesson plans in each class. She purchases all of the food items to ensure the meals are nutritious and made daily with nearly all organic ingredients. During the entirety of the 2024-25 school year, Jennifer also participated in the New Leader Fellowship program through Agenda for Children in St. Tammany Parish. In 2026, she became certified through the St. Tammany Parish Ready Start Network as a CLASS Observer for infants, toddlers, and Pre-k. These valuable programs have helped her gain knowledge and partnerships that assist her in understanding how to best serve families and children in an early childhood development educational setting. Jennifer has lived in Mandeville for the last 22 years where she has been raising her three children in the Mandeville and St. Tammany Parish school systems since they were babies in daycare and preschool.
Lead Infant Teacher
Ashley Pingno
Our Lead Infant Teacher, Ms. Ashley Pingno, is dedicated to creating a nurturing and educational environment in our baby room. With her expertise and passion for early childhood education, Ms. Ashley leads our baby room care-giver team to ensure that each child receives personalized attention, care, and guidance. Through her employment with Magnolia Preschool, Ashley was granted a scholarship from the Department of Education and has completed over 100 hours of early childhood education courses to obtain her Child Development Associate's Degree and Ancillary license. Ashley has received observation scores in the Magnolia Preschool baby room at over 6 out of 7 from both the St. Tammany Parish School Board and the Louisiana State School Board.
Dee Boudreaux
Kitchen Manager
Ms. Dee Boudreaux is our Kitchen Manager and Cook. She is dedicated to ensuring that breakfast and lunch are cooked fresh every day, nutritious snacks are prepared, our organic ingredients are kept in stock in the kitchen, and each child in every classroom is served healthy meals and snacks. She was employed as a cook at Abita Middle School for over 20 years and keeps our kitchen in immaculate condition. Ms. Dee is also certified in Pediatric CPR & First Aid.
Assistant Teachers
Our Assistant Teachers provide a supportive and caring role in the classroom. The Lead Teacher and Assistant Teacher work together harmoniously, with careful communication, to create an environment of patience and compassion so that they are able to provide the best care for each child's individual needs.
Madison Carter
Toddler Assistant Teacher
Ms. Madison Carter assists with providing care to and teaching toddlers at Magnolia Preschool, from one- to two-year-olds. Ms. Madison has over 3 years of experience in Louisiana early childhood education. She is trained by Magnolia Preschool's Director and by Agenda for Children on how to use best teaching practices with our advanced play-based curriculum.
Kaitlyn Ponce
Baby Room Assistant
Ms. Kaitlyn Ponce is our Baby Room Assistant. Through her employment at Magnolia Preschool, she will obtain a scholarship and work towards obtaining her Child Development Associate's Degree and Early Childhood Ancillary License to teach young children from birth through 5 years old. Ms. Kaitlyn and Ms. Ashley work together to provide wonderful care to our babies who are ages 8 weeks to 12 months old.
Lead Pre-k Teacher
Ms. Elois Hill
Our Lead Pre-k Teacher, Ms. Elois Hill, works with our 3–4-year-olds and specializes in facilitating development in Language, Literacy, Social Studies, Science, Technology, & Mathematics. She promotes Social-Emotional, Language, Cognitive, and Physical growth through fun and engaging activities using our advanced Pre-K curriculum. She is passionate about ensuring that the children in our Pre-k class develop skills in a safe and stimulating environment to help prepare them for kindergarten and elementary school. Ms. Elois has an Associates in Early Childhood Development and over 15 years of experience teaching young children in St. Tammany Parish.
Toddler Lead Teacher
Ms. Mary Angela Hembree
Our Young Toddler Lead Teacher, Ms. Mary Angela Hembree, cares for our toddlers ages 12 -24 months. Ms. Mary Angela is committed to helping our young toddlers achieve language, cognitive, social-emotional, and physical growth. She provides a nurturing environment where the children feel safe to explore, develop, and learn. She is trained by our Director and by Agenda for Children on how to use best teaching techniques with our advanced curriculum for one-year olds. Mary Angela holds a certification in Early Childhood Development: Global Strategies for Implementation, where many of her courses transfer to her training to obtain her Associates in Early Childhood Development and her Ancillary License to teach young children from infants to 5 years old.
Lead Toddler Teacher
Ms. Taylor Newgaard
Our Lead Toddler Teacher, Ms. Taylor Newgaard, is committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment for toddlers, ages 2-3 years old. She promotes social-emotional, language, cognitive, and physical growth and development through the use of fun, hands-on, play based activities. Ms. Taylor is trained by our Director and by Agenda for Children on how to use best teaching techniques with our advanced curriculum. Ms. Taylor has an Associates in Early Childhood Development and has been working with Magnolia Preschool since February of 2026.