An essential part of the Enlightened Generation team is our Global Board of Educators. We created this board to ensure we remain thoughtful and responsive to the diverse and ever-evolving teaching and learning styles around the world as we develop our books and collections.
Our educators also play a key role in selecting the winners of our "Win Something Magical" submissions.
Authors, educators, researchers, and changemakers from around the world.
Susan Verde
New York Times best-selling children's book author and former elementary educator
Susan Verde is a New York Times best-selling children's book author and former elementary educator. In addition to writing, she teaches yoga and mindfulness to children and faculty in schools.
She is part of the founding Enlightened Generation team, is their resident author, and contributes to many facets of the brand, including their Give Back program. Susan believes in the power of wonder, curiosity, and paying attention to the world in which we live, as it makes us healthier, happier, and cultivates empathy and connection.
She is honored to work with the team at Enlightened Generation to create incredible classic clothing that helps kids and their grownups share moments of learning and awe together.
Best-selling and award-winning author, editor, educator, producer, performer, and writing coach
Emma Walton Hamilton is a best-selling and award-winning author, editor, stage, television, and podcast writer/producer, performer, and arts educator.
Together with her mother, Julie Andrews, she has co-authored over thirty books for children and adults, nine of which have been on the New York Times best-seller list, including The Very Fairy Princess series (#1 New York Times Bestseller), Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies, Julie Andrews' Treasury: Poems and Songs to Celebrate the Seasons, the Dumpy the Dump Truck series, Simeon's Gift, The Great American Mousical, Thanks to You: Wisdom From Mother and Child (#1 New York Times Bestseller) and Andrews' second memoir, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years.
A faculty member for Stony Brook University's MFA in Creative Writing and Literature, Emma teaches all forms of children's book writing at the graduate and undergraduate level and serves as Director of their annual Children's Literature Conference, as well as Executive Director of the Young Artists and Writers Project (YAWP), an interdisciplinary writing program for middle and high school students.
Founder of the Georgie Badiel Foundation, Miss Burkina Faso 2003, Miss Africa 2004, and international supermodel
Georgie Badiel-Liberty is a Burkinabé model, author, and activist living and working in New York City. Badiel-Liberty was Miss Burkina Faso in 2003 and Miss Africa 2004. Shortly after being crowned Miss Africa, Georgie began her modeling career in Paris, France. Her client list includes Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Lanvin, Zan Toi, and Diane von Furstenberg. She has been featured in Russian and Italian Vogue, Marie Claire, GQ and Essence, among other publications.
Her modeling career eventually brought her to New York, where Georgie began using her platform to take on the issue of the lack of potable drinking water in her West African homeland. She runs the Georgie Badiel Foundation, which is dedicated to building and restoring wells in Burkina Faso. To date, the Georgie Badiel Foundation has provided access to water for over 360,000 people who previously suffered from water scarcity.
In 2016, Georgie co-created the children's book The Water Princess with legendary illustrator Peter H. Reynolds and author Susan Verde. The Water Princess is a picture book that tells the story of Georgie's life as a young girl who dreams of bringing clean water to her people. The book was published by Penguin Random House. Georgie then published a new children's book, Princess Giegie Water Is Here, in 2019 under her own imprint, Princess GieGie Publishing.
For her work bringing clean water to Burkina Faso, Georgie received her nation's highest civilian honor, Chevalier de Merit Burkinabe, on February 28, 2018 at the Burkina Faso United Nations Mission in New York. She is married to Chid Liberty, a Liberian-American social entrepreneur.
Co-founder of Toki Rapa Nui and renowned concert pianist
The Toki Rapa Nui Music and Arts School was inspired by one of its founders, Mahani Teave Williams, who at 9 years old had to leave her home, the island of Rapa Nui, to pursue her dreams of being a pianist, as there were no pianos on the island.
Years later, she wanted to give young people on the island of Rapa Nui the opportunities she had without having to move away. In partnership with philanthropists, volunteers, and ultimately a renowned architect, the school became a reality that continues to enrich the lives of the people of Rapa Nui.
Distinguished Research Professor, anthropologist, Nasca Lines researcher, and recipient of an award from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Masato Sakai is a Distinguished Research Professor at Yamagata University in Japan and serves as the Deputy Director of the university's Nasca Institute. He is a specialist in Andean archaeology and anthropology and is internationally recognized for his research on the Nasca Lines along the southern coast of Peru.
His work seeks to understand how ancient people related to the landscape: what they saw, how they experienced it, and what kinds of meanings and intentions they may have embedded in the geoglyphs. To explore these questions, Professor Sakai combines long-term fieldwork with advanced methods such as artificial intelligence and remote sensing. These tools allow him to analyze the distribution patterns of the Nasca Lines, examine their characteristics, and uncover the complex systems of information embedded within them. In recognition of this work, he received the Cozzarelli Prize from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in April 2025.
Beyond his academic research, Professor Sakai is also deeply involved in efforts to protect the Nasca Lines as a UNESCO World Heritage site. He collaborates with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture and NAPRA (Nasca Geoglyphs Preservation and Research Association) to help safeguard this remarkable cultural heritage for future generations.
His work also speaks to broader questions that resonate with families and children alike: what we can learn from the past, and how we can care for the cultural and natural heritage of our world today. By bringing together archaeology and cutting-edge technology, his research expands our imagination of the ancient world and highlights the importance of passing its legacy on to the next generation.
In the classroom
Bring a box into your classroom
We partner with schools on customizable experiences: curated boxes, original books, themed clothing, and optional author visits from Susan Verde, for grades K to 3.
Boxes ship straight to your school, ready for a read-aloud, a hands-on experiment, and a conversation that goes home with every student.
To Professor Masato Sakai and the team at Yamagata University in Japan for their incredible help and guidance in ensuring the accuracy of our data on the Nasca Lines of Peru. For more information on their work, please go here.
To the Rapa Nui Codeipa Council for approving the Moai of Rapa Nui collection, and to the Sernatur Rapa Nui for approving the content of our book.
See how it all comes together
See how the books, the clothing, and the discovery come together in every box.
