Our Team

Meet the people behind Thrive.

Great classes matter. Great people matter even more. At Thrive, every teacher, leader, and team member plays a part in helping kids feel known, build confidence, explore their creativity, and know they belong. We’re here to teach. To encourage. To listen. To help kids grow. And to make sure families feel supported every step of the way.

Our Leadership Team

Our leadership team helps protect the Thrive experience — from the programs we create to the way families are welcomed and supported.

Lisa Harper

Owner & Founder

Lisa started Thrive with a belief that arts education could be about more than learning how to play the right notes or finish the right project. She wanted to create a place where kids could build real skills while also growing in confidence, creativity, courage, and connection. Today, Lisa helps guide Thrive’s vision, culture, and future while keeping one question at the center of the work:

Will this help a child become more confident in who they are and who they can become?

James Shin

Director of Operations

James helps make sure the Thrive experience feels just as thoughtful behind the scenes as it does in the classroom. He works across the organization to create clear systems, support the team, solve problems, and make it easier for families to feel cared for from their first question to their hundredth class.

His role helps protect the consistency, communication, and quality that allow Thrive’s teachers and programs to do their best work.

Dan Bell

Programs Manager

Dan helps turn Thrive’s educational philosophy into the experience students have each week. He supports teachers, strengthens programs, and helps make sure classes are engaging, intentional, and aligned with what Thrive believes about kids and learning. His work helps create programs where students are known, challenged, encouraged to create, and given meaningful opportunities to grow.

Our Family Support Team

The people helping your family along the way.

Choosing a class, changing a schedule, asking a question, or figuring out the right next step should not feel complicated. Our family support team is here to make the Thrive experience easier. They help families:

Find the right program
Navigate scheduling
Get answers to questions
Solve problems
Stay connected
Feel welcomed and cared for

At Thrive, family communication is not separate from the experience. It is part of it.

Bailey Anderson

Studio Coordinator

Bailey helps make sure every family feels welcomed, supported, and cared for from the moment they walk through the door.

She oversees the parent experience and day-to-day studio flow, helping everything feel organized, warm, and easy to navigate. Whether she’s answering a question, helping a family find what they need, or making sure the studio is ready for a great day of classes, Bailey helps create the kind of experience that makes Thrive feel like home.

Our Teaching Team

Teachers who see the child before the skill.

Thrive teachers do more than teach music or art. They build relationships. They notice progress. They ask questions. They encourage kids to take risks. They help students work through frustration. They celebrate small wins. And they create a place where children can grow without feeling like they have to be perfect. Our teachers are here to help students become stronger musicians and artists.

But they are also here to help kids become more confident, creative, courageous, and connected.

What makes a Thrive teacher different?

They know the child.

We want every student to feel seen. Our teachers take time to understand who their students are, what they enjoy, where they are growing, and when they need encouragement.

They create belonging.

Great learning happens when kids feel safe being themselves. Our teachers intentionally build relationships and help students connect with one another.

They encourage courage.

Mistakes are part of learning. Thrive teachers create an environment where kids can try, adjust, ask questions, and keep going.

They make room for creativity.

We do not want students simply copying everything a teacher does. Our teachers give kids opportunities to make choices, explore ideas, solve problems, and create.

They keep growing too.

Great teachers never stop learning. Our team works together, shares ideas, receives feedback, and continues developing so we can keep creating better experiences for students.

Meet the teachers.

Music Teacher

Beatrice

A VCU jazz graduate and active performer, Beatrice teaches bass, piano, guitar and more with a supportive, creative approach.

Music Teacher

Ben

A multi-instrumentalist who brings hands-on learning, encouragement and strong technical foundations to every lesson.

Music Teacher

Christian

A guitarist, vocalist and recording artist who loves how music brings individuals and communities together.

Art Teacher

Erika

An artist and educator with more than 20 years of teaching experience who shares the joy of creative exploration.

Music Teacher

JoAnne

A violinist and music educator with over 25 years of experience teaching strings, orchestra and group music.

Music Teacher

LaJuan

A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist passionate about helping students reach their potential.

Music Teacher

Shalini

A drummer with over 17 years of experience who centers accessible learning and strong technique.

One team. One experience.

Different people have different roles at Thrive. But we share the same responsibility. We want every child and family who walks through our doors to feel: Known. Welcomed. Encouraged. Supported. And excited to come back. Because the Thrive experience is not created by one person. It is created through hundreds of small interactions from a team that believes every one of them matters.

Come meet us.

The best way to get to know Thrive is to experience it. Come meet our team, explore a program, and see what it feels like to be part of a creative community built around helping kids grow.