Biography

Michelle Barnea has worked on behalf of young children and families for more than 35 years in hospital, home-based, and center-based settings. She began her career as a Pediatric Nurse with a BSN from Duke University before completing her MSEd in Infant and Parent Development from Bank Street Graduate School. Michelle is especially passionate about infusing reflective practices into early childhood programs and creating a more intentionally focused and informed early childhood workforce. For the past 25 years, she has been an independent consultant providing professional development support to anyone who touches the lives of young children. She has provided presentations at local, state, and national Conferences. She has been an adjunct professor for both undergraduate and graduate ECE programs. Most recently, she has provided trauma-informed workshops for EC educators, CASA workers, Home-visitors, and Nurses. 

A member of NAEYC since 1995, Michelle served as NJAEYC’s VP of Professional Development for 10 years. She has served as Co-facilitator of NAEYC’s Early Childhood Consultants and Authors Interest Forum, as well as Consulting Editor for Young Children. As an Affiliate Advisory Council member, Michelle has been excited to support the work of NAEYC. Additional board services include NJAEYC, NJ CITE (Coalition of Infant/Toddler Educators), NJ Regional Early Intervention Coalition, and NJ Regional Hadassah, where she was honored as 2013 Woman-of-the-Year. 

Michelle lives in Pennington, NJ with her husband Mark, where she enjoys spending time with her 2 daughters whenever they come to visit. Her hobbies include photography and acrylic painting. 

For the candidate's personal statement, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3KE3LZktAE