About Us

Jessie Cox, Founder and Executive Director,

Jessica has a passion for social justice and inequality. Yoga is a practice that is not accessible for most people. Understanding the transformative power of the practice in her own life, she wanted to figure out a way to offer the practice to those who otherwise may not be afforded the opportunity. Shortly after her eldest daughter entered kindergarten, the idea for Bambini Yoga Project manifested. Jessie started working with the 4th grade students of San Pedro Elementary School in the spring of 2017. Since then she has compiled a team of educators, therapists, and mindfulness and yoga instructors to teach, inspire and empower our next generation of super stars.

Core Principles

Our desire to connect with each child on their level is our most important goal
We want each child to feel safe, to feel valued and to feel like they have someone who believes in them
Our program is custom tailored to the unique needs of each site and student population
We maintain a high level of integrity in the way we do business
We practice what we teach

Meet our Instructors

Our instructors are all credentialed experienced yoga and mindfulness teachers.

Each member of our team is deeply passionate about teaching and positively impacting the lives of children.

Teacher training experience includes trauma-informed training and communication, conflict resolution and mediation, non-violent communication, sensory motor integration, early childhood education, etc.

Katy Dagle -
BYp Lead Instructor

Katy has been teaching yoga, mindfulness and meditation to children for over a dozen years and is a certified E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) and an RCYT (Registered Children’s Yoga Teacher.) She has vast experience teaching children of all ages and training yoga teachers.
TRAINING: Children’s Yoga Teacher Training through Karma Kids Yoga; Postnatal and Baby Yoga Training with Jyoti Larsen of Yoga Mom, Buddha Baby; Trauma-informed Children’s Yoga Training through Yoga ED; Yoga Teacher Training for Children with Special Needs with Every Child’s Yoga; Reiki Master Teacher certification; Studying Buddhist Meditation with Lama Migmar Tseten.

veronica Jeanna geretz, M.A. - community engagement liason & byp facilitator

WHY I TEACH: I am committed to promoting peace, first within one’s own self and then in our communities, through her work as a yoga teacher. Her classes offer fluid sequencing with a calm intensity and gentle reminders to stay deeply connected to one’s own unique rhythm.
TRAINING: M.A. Peace and Justice Studies, Yoga trainings with Jolie Cash, Sienna Smith, Alison Smith, Hala Khouri, Nubia Teixeira, and Ashley Sharp through schools of yoga including Corepower Yoga, Nature’s Whisper Yoga, Yoga Mountain Studio, Namaste Yoga Studio, Prison Yoga Project, Yoga for At-Risk Youth and Bhakti Nova.

Hy Long.JPG — Hy long nguyen -

BYP Instructor

WHY I TEACH: My classes are noted to come from the heart. Sweet, grounded, precise and powerful. I share the traditions of the practice by leading students into stillness; with a clear guidance through alignment, dynamic movement and the encouragement to meet their edge developing a safe experience to open the body and the continued pursuit of one’s purpose to life.
TRAINING: RYT-500, with nearly 1000 hours of study, -Assistant RYT-200 Teacher Trainer. Teachers include: Joan Hyman, Carmen Fitzgibbon, Michele Klink, Lesley Desaulniers, Mynx Inatsugu, John Berlinsky and Jai Uttal.

Melissa mclaughlin, m.a. -community outreach specialist & byp facilitator

WHY I TEACH: I love to see the spark of understanding, that one flash of brilliance in a person’s eyes when they connect to a deep understanding of their own inner strength and capacity for growth. To play any role in supporting a person to feel empowered through learning is a great gift.
TRAINING: Preliminary teaching credential, Sonoma State University; M.A. Global Studies, CSUSB; Fitness, Nutrition, and Health certification, Santa Rosa Junior College; American College of Sports Medicine certified trainer; 300-hr training, Jason Crandell Yoga; 200-hr training, the Mindful Body SF; Workshops in Equity and Justice, Trauma-informed teaching, Community wellness and more

Malachi Website Pic.jpg — Malachi Leopold - BYP Instructor

WHY I TEACH: I love using yoga to help children of all ages build confidence, practice mindfulness, get into nature, and realize their full strength and creativity. I integrate creative storytelling, nature-based themes and experiences, and a sense of fun and adventure into teaching kids yoga in a way they find accessible, useful, and joyous.

Stacey Capobianco, MA-BYP Facilitator

WHY I TEACH: I owe most of my sanity to practicing yoga and I love helping others find the peace I feel after moving, breathing and relaxing. My aim is to pass along tools that students might use in their everyday lives. I find yoga classes to be magical spaces for building self-awareness, inner strength, the power of empathy and the warmth of community. Practicing yoga can help one feel empowered to show up as their best self and tune into a space to slow down and experience what their life has to offer.

TRAINING: Tufts University B.A., Child Development; New York University, Steinhardt School of Education M.A., Early Childhood and Elementary Education; Little Flower Yoga, Children’s Yoga Certification; Karma Kids Yoga, Children’s Yoga Certification; Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Health Coach Certification; Nexus Institute, Costa Rica, RYT 200 hour