2026 DEC SFQC Infant/Toddler Conference

Zoila Cartagena

Zoila Cartagena, an early childhood educator, coach, and trainer with San Francisco Quality Connections (SFQC), has over 22 years of experience in early childhood education. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with young children, classroom teachers, and parents. These experiences have strengthened her commitment to culturally and linguistically responsive, anti-bias practices and the decolonization of education. Zoila strongly recognizes that, as an early childhood educator, a commitment to attachment-focused work with children means prioritizing their emotional well-being and creating a secure environment where they feel safe and loved. By nurturing positive relationships grounded in empathy, love, and commitment, children are supported in building resilience and the ability to cope with feelings of loss. These vital connections foster healthy childhood development, enabling children to form new healthy attachments.

Elizabeth Criswell

Elizabeth Criswell began working in the early childhood education field in 2001. She previously held a variety of roles in early care and education programs, including therapeutic preschool teacher, special education coordinator, and mentor for student teachers. She currently works as an instructor and coordinator in the Early Childhood Education degree program at the University of Minnesota and as a mental health consultant for childcare programs in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Jennifer Delos Reyes

Jennifer Delos Reyes is the Early Learning Programs Quality Manager at the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood and has been in the field of Early Care and Education for over 25 years. She has held various roles at private nonprofits serving San Francisco’s most vulnerable children and families. In addition to program work, Jennifer is an instructor at SFSU and has facilitated trainings with First 5 San Francisco. She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of San Francisco (1997) and an MA in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College (2009). Jennifer is the proud mother of two beautiful SFUSD students, and in her spare time, loves to bake, knit, and spend time with her family.

Janelle Espino

Janelle Espino is a Senior Program Associate at WestEd and has supported various WestEd projects focused on infant and toddler care since 2009. She currently works on the San Francisco Quality Connections (SFQC) project, which provides training and support for early childhood educators in center-based and family child care programs throughout San Francisco. Janelle supports the SFQC project through content development, team professional development, and ongoing project planning. Prior to joining WestEd, Janelle was an infant/toddler teacher in Reggio Emilia-inspired programs and a trainer/coach of early childhood educators. She earned her MA in Education with an emphasis in ECE from California State University, Fresno.

Winnie Kong

Winnie Kong has been in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) field for over 18 years. She holds a Master of Education degree in ECE and a Master of Nursing degree. Her previous experience includes roles as an ECE content trainer, PITC PARS contributor, curriculum specialist, and ECE field assessor and anchor throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, Winnie works as a registered nurse at a local hospital and as a Child Development faculty member at City College of San Francisco and Chabot College. Winnie has a strong interest in attachment-focused work, as it provides a meaningful framework for understanding how early relationships shape emotional development and lifelong patterns of connection. This perspective informs her approach to supporting children and families with empathy and building safe, trusting relationships.

Amber Morabito

Dr. Amber Morabito is the Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) Curriculum Manager, co-author of the PITC Curriculum, and a core member of the PITC leadership team, in the content area of Infant and Toddler Care. Amber is responsible for four key areas of work—project leadership, team and project management, communication, and marketing. She leads, mentors, and supervises a team that delivers PITC Curriculum implementation, training, and coaching nationally. Additionally, she develops proposals and strategies to expand this important work across the country. Amber has worked in education for 25 years and holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology. Prior to joining WestEd, she held a wide variety of positions in the field of early childhood education and psychology, including training and coaching early care and education staff in center-based and family child care programs. She has also worked as an adjunct faculty member in the Psychology and Early Childhood Education Departments in higher education. Currently, she is an adjunct faculty member in the Psychology Department at Santa Rosa Junior College.

Cathy Tsao

Cathy Tsao is a Senior Project Director at WestEd, where she has worked on projects related to infant/toddler care since 2004. Cathy has been in the field for about 35 years and feels honored every day to work on behalf of young children. Prior to joining WestEd, Cathy was an infant/toddler caregiver, family child care educator, Executive Director at the UCLA Megan E. Daly Infant Development Program laboratory school, and Director of Early Childhood Education at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development. Cathy’s long-standing interest in the significance of early relationships is both professional and personal. As someone who was trained in attachment theory, she tries to encourage grown-ups to provide children with the safety to grow and space to bloom. On a personal level, attachment theory provides great insight into her “befores” and her “nows.”

Meenoo Yashar

Meenoo Yashar previously worked with the San Francisco Unified School District as Chief of the Early Education Department for almost a decade. The San Francisco Department of Early Childhood (DEC) is fortunate to have her on staff with over 30 years of experience in progressive educational management and leadership. Meenoo’s career trajectory started in community settings in San Francisco and Seattle through direct services to children and families as an educator and child & family therapist. Now, she is joined by a small but mighty team of leaders in DEC’s Early Learning Division.

Cynthia Zierhut-Ursu

Dr. Cynthia Zierhut-Ursu (PSY 19810) is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience working with young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families. She completed her doctoral training at the University of California, Los Angeles, and spent more than a decade at the University of California, Davis, MIND Institute, where she managed clinical trials and led the training program for the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM).

Her career shifted to community-based work after spending over a year at La Trobe University in Australia with Dr. Dissanayake and Dr. Vivanti, contributing to the first randomized controlled trial of the Group Early Start Denver Model (GESDM). She later founded Early Days Autism Center, Inc., which partners with the nonprofit Every Child to equip educators with GESDM strategies for preschool settings.

Dr. Zierhut-Ursu also supervised a research program led by Dr. Irene Russo and in collaboration with the University of Salerno, Italy, using implementation science to improve the dissemination of GESDM strategies in inclusive settings across Italy and the U.S. Following this, together they opened Every Child Bay, a model GESDM and Inclusive preschool program and are working on the second location, Every Child Oaks.