Hi, I’m Jacquelene.
Educator. Founder of Illuminate Academy. Mom of five.
I’ve spent 20 years with kids who have hard moments, and the families who love them. I know how heavy those days can feel. I also know they don’t have to stay that way.
I built a place for the kids everyone else had run out of ideas for.
I have a master’s degree in special education. My whole career has been in autism-specific intervention and neuroaffirming education. Neuroaffirming just means we work with the way a child’s brain is wired, not against it.
Thirteen years ago, I started building Illuminate Academy in Nashville. Today it’s home to about 50 learners, kindergarten through high school. A lot of them came to us after hearing some version of “we don’t know what else to try.”
At home, I’m a mom of five: four boys and a girl. So I don’t just know the hard moments from the classroom. I know them from the car ride, the dinner table, and bedtime too.
Most families will never walk through our doors in Nashville. Connect & Curate is how I bring what we’ve learned to you, wherever you are.
What I believe
Connection before correction.
A child has to feel safe with you before anything else can land. Start there, every time.
Real growth is possible.
At 7, at 17, at 21. I’ve watched it happen too many times to believe otherwise.
Failure is normal.
You will get it wrong sometimes. So will I. We try again tomorrow. That’s how this works.
Better together.
Nobody does this well alone. Not parents, not teachers, not me.
- 20years in autism-specific and neuroaffirming education
- 13years building Illuminate Academy
- ~50learners, kindergarten through high school
- 5kids of my own: four boys and a girl
If you’re not sure where to start, start here.
Spend one hour with me. Your child can be 7, 17, or 21. Diagnosed, undiagnosed, or neither. You’ll leave with three shifts you can start using tonight.
Save my seat