Sandra El Satri attended ASB from Kindergarten until graduation in 2003. The youngest of three - her brother, Victor ('96), and Vanessa ('99), were also graduates from ASB - Sandra studied Business Administration at Pompeu Fabra before completing her Masters in Fashion Communications at Instituto Europeo di Design in Madrid. She has since worked in management roles in fashion and retail brands in Barcelona, Dubai, and Amsterdam.

While in Amsterdam, Sandra became interested in education and the concept of developing Emotional Intelligence. She returned to Barcelona to study NLP, a course on Positive Psychology, and completed her Postgraduate work in Emotional Intelligence. At that time, she also became a substitute teacher at ASB and really enjoyed the experience.

With my business background and entrepreneurial spirit, combined with my will to bring emotional intelligence to younger children, I came across the Montessori pedagogy. I found it to be the perfect approach and start for young children to grow resilient, strong, and autonomous," she shares.  

I also wanted to bring children back to nature as I know the beneficial effects on humans.  I found a lack of green environments in daycare centers within Barcelona, which is why I decided to open my school, Little Forest Montessori, as a green space daycare where kids learn to interact with nature."

My vision is to positively impact the future world's society by helping to raise individuals that demonstrate deep emotional and social awareness in the way they act and interact with society and nature."

Upon reflecting on her time as a student at ASB, Sandra comments, "I was part of a generation before the influence of social media in the world. We were grounded and very connected to our community. I hope to be able to bring that kind of connection to the children of our upcoming generations too.

You can find out more about Little Forest Montessori here.

Congratulations, Sandra! We wish you all the best with your new venture!

Once a Lynx, Always a Lynx!
#Lynx4Life #ASBtogether

Contributed: September 2020