Meet the Team

Gabriel Guyton walks alongside children and families with careful attention and fierce commitment to inclusive, emotionally responsive education. As Co-Founder and clinical lead of ConnectEd Circles and Co-Director of the Bank Street Center for Emotionally Responsive Practice, she weaves together more than three decades of classroom wisdom, trauma-informed practice, and a deep belief in the power of reflection and relationship.

Drawing from dual master’s degrees - in General and Special Education from Bank Street Graduate School of Education (with a focus on the critical 0–3 window) and in the Psychology of Counseling with a concentration in marriage and family therapy - Gabriel creates safe spaces where educators can grow, children can flourish, and communities can heal together. She holds the Infant Mental Health Endorsement (IMH-E®) as both an Infant Family Specialist and Infant Family Reflective Supervisor.

Her work is anchored in the unwavering belief that every child deserves to be seen, every family’s culture honored, and every educator supported in their journey of growth. After Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, Gabriel deployed therapeutic playgroups and crisis response interventions in the community, work that became the basis for a manuscript submitted to Young Children (NAEYC). Her published work includes “Using Toys to Support Infant-Toddler Learning and Development” (Young Children, NAEYC, September 2011).

Marcela is a bilingual early childhood educator with deep roots in the Asheville community. She brings expertise in multicultural education and family support, with years of experience in Western North Carolina’s early childhood programs.

As a bilingual consultant, Marcela bridges language and cultural gaps that too often leave Spanish-speaking families underserved. She provides workshops, coaching, and family support in both English and Spanish, ensuring that families feel seen, heard, and empowered in their own language.

Skylar is a foundational architect of the ConnectEd Circles Community, serving as an Early Childhood Consultant, Reflective Supervisor, and passionate Family Advocate. Their background is a unique synthesis of the creative arts and clinical pedagogy - they hold a BA in Theatre and Performance from Purchase College, SUNY, a training that deeply informs their body-based, playful therapeutic approach. They are completing an MA in Early Childhood Education through Boulder Journey School at the University of Colorado Denver (expected August 2025).

Skylar is an endorsed Infant Mental Health Specialist (IMH-E®, 2025), a Circle of Security Parenting Facilitator (2021), and a Triple P Provider (2022). Their clinical experience includes direct intervention as a Behavioral Therapist implementing evidence-based strategies tailored to autistic children, and four years as a Lead Mentor Teacher and Reflective Supervisor at an Asheville-based early learning center (2020–2024). They currently work in independent practice and in partnership with FIRSTwnc, offering case management and specialized coaching for families navigating special education and IEP processes.

Skylar’s clinical philosophy is defined as a “power-with” approach - honoring neurodivergence by nurturing children’s inherent strengths. They use practical tools including Shoebox Tasks, Object Schedules, and therapeutic block play. After Hurricane Helene, Skylar coordinated emergency resources and mutual aid networks for over 2,000 displaced families, and raised $5,000 for targeted disaster relief.

Turkessa is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate based in Asheville, NC, specializing in therapeutic work with families navigating substance use and its impact on children and caregiving relationships.

Her clinical expertise brings a dimension that most early childhood consulting teams lack: the ability to hold the complexity of addiction, recovery, and family healing alongside child development. Turkessa understands that supporting children means supporting the whole family system - including the hard parts no one wants to talk about.

Omaira brings vital multicultural perspectives, linguistic competencies, and targeted intervention strategies to the ConnectEd Circles team. As Co-Founder, Bilingual Consultant, and Early Childhood Specialist, her work bridges significant accessibility and communication gaps, particularly within the Hispanic community. She holds a master’s degree in bilingual education and a strong foundational background in developmental psychology, with professional and educational roots spanning both New York City and Colombia.

Omi currently serves as an Early Childhood Professional with the Child First team at RHA Health Services. Within ConnectEd Circles, she specializes in ASD coaching - providing intensive, in-classroom coaching and strategic support to educators working with neurodivergent children within inclusive settings across the Asheville area.

Her strength-based philosophy prioritizes early secure attachments, the emotional well-being of the entire family unit, and the construction of trusting, reciprocal relationships between caregivers, educators, and parents. She has also coordinated food box distributions through partnerships with Appalachian Community Relief, meeting families where they are in their most vulnerable moments.

Anja brings a public health and data science lens to ConnectEd Circles’ work, helping early childhood programs understand and communicate their impact through evidence that is meaningful - not just measurable. She holds a Master of Public Health from UNC Chapel Hill and a BA in Psychology from UNC Asheville.

Anja has worked in Asheville’s early childhood sector supporting the Teacher Resilience Project and serving as a Lead Infant Room Educator. That dual experience - on the ground with infants and in program-level evaluation work - gives her a rare ability to design data systems that feel useful to the educators who complete them, not just to the administrators who read the reports.

Within ConnectEd Circles, Anja specializes in helping programs tell their stories with data: designing evaluation plans, analyzing outcomes, and translating findings into language that resonates with funders, families, and communities alike. She believes that good data should make invisible work visible.

James is an integral community member, social worker, and Infant Mental Health professional (IMH-E®) associated with the ConnectEd Circles ecosystem. He is a key member of the Steering Collective for the Sankofa Infant Mental Health History Project - a critical initiative spearheaded by the Indigo Cultural Center that aims to decolonize and revitalize infant mental health discourse by elevating the contributions, stories, and perspectives of racially and culturally diverse practitioners and scholars who have historically been marginalized within the field.

As an Adjunct Lecturer at Columbia University, James brings academic depth and science communication expertise to the team, helping programs translate research findings into accessible language for families, funders, and communities. Beyond clinical advocacy, he demonstrates a profound commitment to literal community building - his exceptional organizational acumen and project management skills reflect the team’s overarching ethos of creating structured, safe, and connected environments at both community and classroom levels.