Lili has a B.A. degree in Communications from UC San Diego and her J.D. from NYU School of Law. Her path has taken many twists and turns. She was born in Tehran, Iran and immigrated to southern California when she was nine. In 2010, she took a leap of faith by leaving her career as a lawyer in New York City and moving with her husband to a wilderness area in South Africa where she discovered many gifts – most important being the healing power of nature when anchored in a strong community. She spent 2 years in South Africa during which she completed a permaculture design course, started a nature-based after-school program at a rural primary school, worked on a regenerative land-use project with rural wetland farmers, cared for an abandoned mongoose and made life-long friendships. In 2013 she became a mom to Kaiaan, her greatest teacher of all, and moved back to southern California. 

 

Her passion for children, the natural world and building relationships and community steered her to Earthroots where she taught Forest Kindergarten from 2015 until 2017 when she had her daughter, Yara. She took a break to be a full-time mom and then taught again at Earthroots in 2019 until early 2020 when the program went on a temporary pause due to the pandemic. 

 

She is grateful to be a part of the Head, Heart and Hands community and to witness her children’s joy and freedom as they learn and grow in a loving and supportive community. She is also grateful for having had the opportunity to teach Project Based Learning alongside teachers she greatly admires and she is excited to continue on a path of learning and growing as a teacher which will include joining a Waldorf teacher certification program this summer.