Elisha Georgiou: Founder and Executive Director of Willow Nest Studio, which has been growing in community with Brooklyn families since 2015.
Elisha Georgiou is the founder and director of Willow Nest Studio, a place that grew from years of dreaming and planning and finally took root in Brooklyn in 2015. What began after earning a Master’s in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University slowly unfolded through years of teaching, listening, observing, and trusting the path. Her journey has taken her from a first grade classroom teacher in California, to a K–6 language arts specialist in New York, and finally into New York city classrooms as a teaching artist. Gathering stories along the way, she has traversed a broad range of educational roles and landscapes and distilled what she’s learned, not only as an educator, but as a parent, into all aspects of her work with children.
Born and raised in Northern California’s Napa Valley and then beginning her education career in East Bay public schools before settling to make her home in Brooklyn, Elisha thinks of herself as truly bicoastal. Since 1999, New York City and Upstate New York have taken up a huge place in her heart where she resides with her husband and two children, both now in college. Motherhood deepened her desire to build a space where children could move freely, imagine wildly, and feel deeply known. Willow Nest has become that space — a living, breathing community that leads with connection and creativity at its heart.
Over the years, she has had the rare gift of growing as a teacher alongside children from ages two to twelve. Some have participated in the program for many years - long enough to watch their voices change, their hands grow steadier, their questions deepen. Elisha feels that to witness a child become who they are becoming is one of the greatest privileges and hopes that one day she will have time to sit down and share the stories that live in her notebooks and enormous collection of visual documentation.
Elisha loves just about everything art, from dance to theater, visual art and music. She adores being in places that celebrate the arts across all cultures and ages and histories. And outside of her own practices as an artist, whether that be painting, drawing, sewing, sculpting, dressing up or home decorating, Elisha loves to simply observe the wonders of the natural world, especially on her long walks in the park with her Golden Retriever pal Hudson.
Elisha’s way of working is to always be in conversation with materials — always listening for what they have to say. This means that scraps, cast-offs, and overlooked bits of beauty call to her and ignite the feeling of “what is possible”. She loves to share this spirit with the children she works with. She is inspired by artists who rescue what’s been discarded and give it new life, reshaping how we think about waste, sustainability, and our fragile planet. Elisha believes that making art and appreciating materials can open hearts and shift perspective in a deeply meaningful way. When children learn young to value what we might otherwise throw away, they begin to see possibility everywhere. They learn to care. They learn to steward. They learn that even the smallest things matter.
Keeping Willow Nest going is a true labor of love that Elisha recognizes is only made stronger and possible by the community she serves. It also means she is always wearing many hats — some days all at once. Elisha moves between emails and paint jars, budgets and block towers, lesson plans and mopped floors. She hires, mentors, documents, researches, sorts materials, dreams, prepares, and revises. It is exciting, exhausting and heart opening work and she is so grateful to be doing it.
The future of Willow Nest is unknown because it is always shifting and morphing with the needs of her community. Elisha is ready to lean into change, new and novel directions, growth and living in the spirit of innovation. Outside of Willow Nest, she looks forward to future collaborations on wonderful projects relating to children, art, earth stewardship and education.
Our approach
Our mission is to guide and support children’s early development so they may grow into the confident, expressive, and thoughtful human beings they are meant to be. We believe children learn best when they feel safe, valued, and deeply engaged, so we provide a nurturing, beautiful environment where curiosity is welcomed and every child can thrive.
Our philosophy is child-centered, holistic, and inquiry-based. We see children as capable, creative, and full of potential, and we focus on their strengths while honoring their unique ways of thinking, feeling, and learning. Guided play—supported by caring, attentive, and playful adults—lies at the heart of our practice. Through listening closely to children and inviting their ideas, we co-create meaningful learning experiences together.
Our curriculum centers on interdisciplinary arts and exploration. We integrate visual art, music, creative movement, dramatic and story play, puppetry, light and shadow theater, nature and science inquiry, sensory-rich materials, and collaborative group experiences. These experiences support social skill development, problem-solving, communication, and joyful self-expression.
We are influenced by the Reggio Emilia approach, the play theories of Lev Vygotsky, and other leaders who emphasize the vital role of play, relationships, and the multi-modal arts in early childhood development. These foundations help children develop a strong sense of self, executive functioning skills, and the confidence needed to become lifelong learners.
Learning at Willow Nest Studio unfolds through exploration, documentation, reflection, and discovery. By making children’s thinking visible and honoring their questions and ideas, we create an emergent, developmentally appropriate curriculum that grows naturally from their interests.
Our teachers are dedicated, creative, and joyful guides who are deeply committed to making learning a positive and meaningful experience for every child. Through this holistic approach, children develop the skills, independence, and curiosity needed for school readiness while also growing as compassionate, imaginative, and engaged citizens of the world.
