Who we are

Jenn O’Malley

Founder, Director

Originally from Philadelphia, Jenn has made Jersey City her home and has become a well-known Jersey City resident.  Her involvement as an organizer of the JC Moms Meetup Group and her success in organizing several large family events for JC Moms, inspired her to find a career where she could be with her children and continue to work with families in Jersey City.

Founded in 2011, three little birds, was Jenn’s vision. A stylish and whimsical place where moms and their children could both enjoy fun, unique classes. Having experienced the craze of running around to various classes, at different locations for each of her three kids, her goal was to create a single space where parents and kids could come for it all; yoga, art, music, dance, parties and even a toddler drop off program.  “I wanted to open a business that my family would love, since they would be spending a lot of time there,” Jenn explains.  She goes on to say, “we offer special, creative programming with a great team of teachers in a clean and artful environment.”  Her love of design and creative elements comes from her 18 years working for Banana Republic in Store Design/Visual Merchandising. This background is evident in the choice of location as well as her attention to detail in the design of the space. Everything exudes creativity.

With the opening of the three little birds West Side at the Lincoln Park location, Jenn expanded her vision of providing the highest quality, authentic and play based education and camp for children in their important early years. As three little birds grew, so did its students, and in 2020 the West Side location expanded to become Chilltown Elementary School as many of our preschool families were looking to stay in a program where their children flourished.

Jenn has 3 daughters: Mia (16 years) Keira (14 years) and Sophia (12 years). She lives in the Hamilton Park neighborhood. She is a mom on the go – she is a lacrosse coach for the JC Girls Lacrosse team, she spends her weekends with her daughters going to breakdancing battles or Irish Dance competitions, going to lacrosse practice and sneaking in some gardening when she can. At home, the family loves game night, Just Dance and baking. Her favorite movies are the Star Wars movies, and favorite books are Harry Potter!

“We do not need magic to transform the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves.” J.K. Rowling

Rachel Gahan

Sparrows – Pre-K 3 Head Teacher, Assistant Director

Part of the tlb family since 2018

From a young age, Rachel could be found caring for her younger cousins and family friends around her backyard in Queens, New York or at her grandparents’ farms in Ireland. She realized even back then that she loved educating and inspiring young minds.

Fast forward 30 years and here she is in Jersey City pursuing her dreams of preschool education! She deepened her teaching skills and abilities at The City College of New York, and spent 9 years putting those ideals and beliefs of what early education should be into practice. Rachel believes that play is what motivates, entices, and generates learning in preschool education, and is the forefront of her teaching philosophy. She often appears as Chilltown’s own Land Shark, so lets just say she practices what she preaches!

As Mr. Rogers said, “Play is often talked about as it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning.”

Rachel is a gifted teacher – a gem that is very rare. She truly understands the role of a preschool teacher by providing a nurturing, consistent, creative and playful learning environment. Her keen understanding of the mission and goals of the school and how to execute those everyday, make her incredibly valuable.

Rachel connects deeply with her students and families and cultivates a strong home-school connection. She has a wonderful rapport with students of all levels and ages and the students get so excited when she comes to visit their classroom. As the students throughout the school say, “Rachel rocks!”

Rachel recently rocked her Masters with a 4.0

Go Ms Rachel!

Gina Montalto

Summer Camp Activities Director

Part of the tlb family since 2020

Gina Montalto is the Head Teacher for the PreK4 class at Chilltown Elementary. Gina has worked with children starting off as a babysitter, a nanny and a camp counselor before becoming a classroom teacher. She has been an educator for the past 8 years since graduating from Rutgers University Graduate School and County College of Morris with an Associates of Fine Arts in Dance, a Bachelors in Italian, and a Masters degree in Education/teaching of Foreign Language.

Growing up Gina tried a bunch of activities like softball, swim team and piano lessons, but her true love was ballet. She danced at New Jersey School of Ballet and performed in the Nutcracker at Paper Mill Playhouse for many years and was a part of their Intensive Program. Now a certified dance teacher with Associated Dance Teachers NJ, Gina teaches at dance studios throughout New Jersey, while permanently residing as Head Teacher/Choreographer at Starstruck Dance in Stirling. Gina has also danced professionally in New York City and shown her own work as a freelance choreographer for Contemporary Dance Festivals throughout New York City.

Gina’s Italian language teaching experience has been with students of all ages and backgrounds – from a bilingual Preschool, to Livingston High School and Drew University and to current Zoom classes at Learn Language Hoboken. This depth and variety of background experience in arts and language provides Gina with a unique teaching perspective in Chilltown Elementary’s classrooms.

Gina’s favorite teacher is her mother, an elementary school educator. She taught Gina how to find her place in the world and to be a good person. “She is a such a caring and wonderful soul, and her students all adore her. I hope to be as great as a teacher as she is!” Gina truly loves teaching the future generations and hopes to inspire in her own students a love and passion for knowledge, the arts and education, and above all else, that learning is fun!

Gina’s favorite book series is the Harry Potter series. She grew up alongside the books being published and they were a major influence on her life. One of her favorite quotes is from Dumbeldore: “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

On the weekends Gina likes to relax with her kitten Stormcloud, “He’s the best!”

Alexis Stefani

Kindergarten Teacher

Part of the tlb family since 2022

Ever since she was a child, Alexis knew she wanted to be a teacher. Alexis graduated from High Point University with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. But after accepting a pre-k teaching position, she quickly realized how much she loved teaching early childhood. Alexis believes in creating a safe, caring community where children can blossom and grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. Every child is unique and as an educator she strives to develop each child’s skills, strengths, and interests to extend their learning.

Laura Montanari

Music Teacher

Part of the tlb family since 2022

Laura Montanari was born and raised in Umbria, Italy where I she fell in love with music coming from different parts of the world thanks to my music and dance teachers. Ms Laura has been teaching music in NYC for more than a decade before joining the TLB family. She holds a Master's in Music Education from NYU and is currently writing my dissertation towards my Ed.D. degree in music education at Teachers College (Columbia University). Ms Laura is also an adjunct professor of music education at Montclair State University and of songwriting at NJIT. 

You can hear her original children's song "Let's Make Our Sound" on Spotify and YouTube under the pseudonym Cupra:Ring. In 2022 she self-published her first children's book based on the very same song, an invitation to explore body percussion and creative movement. Grown-ups can hear her voice on the podcast, "Learn Italian with Music".

When working with younger students she enjoys exploring the connection between music and movement in personal, creative ways. She also invites students write original music from a very young age as a way to encourage self-expression and promote the central role of their intrapersonal intelligence.

Victor “Kid Glyde” Alicea

Breakdancing Teacher

Part of the tlb family since 2013

Victor “Kid Glyde” Alicea is our breakdancing teacher. He has been working with our very own Chilltown Breakers bboy/bgirl crew since 2013. Originally from Queens, NY, Kid Glyde is the president of the acclaimed NYC breaking crew, Dynamic Rockers.

Kid Glyde is the son of legendary bboy Glyde, of the original Dynamic Rockers, and he has been breaking for over sixteen years, In addition to teaching at Chilltown Elementary and coaching the Chilltown Breakers, Kid Glyde also coaches the Dynamic Kids, an elite group of breakers that perform and battle all over the world. Kid Glyde runs the Kids Breaking League which has its headquarters in Harlem at the KBL Studios.

Having the Dynamic Rockers’ torch handed to him isn’t something Kid Glyde takes lightly. He feels the history of the art form, and of hip hop in general is something he has been tasked with passing on to the next generation. Kid Glyde believes that teaching breakdancing goes beyond cool moves. He teaches his students respect for their crew mates, respect for the dance, and respect for those who came before.

Kid Glyde discovered himself through the art of breaking and he prides himself on giving kids the space to explore and innovate in their own way, discovering that they can do anything they set their minds to it and if the beat is fresh!

To say he has an impressive resume is an understatement, Kid Glyde is a legend in the modern breakin’ scene. He had his first major battle victory in 2006 at the Universal Zulu Nation B-boy/B-girl Throwdown, and didn’t stop. He has taken titles at major events such as the Rock Steady Crew Anniversary Battles in 2007 and 2008 and won Eurobattle 2009 with his crew. He also represented the USA in the 2009 Red Bull BC One competition. Recently, Kid Glyde and the Dynamic Rockers have been taking battles by storm, winning first place in the Masters of the Art 6 battle in NYC, Funk What U Heard in Connecticut, and representing the USA at IBE (International Breaking Event), the largest international b-boying tournament.

Kid Glyde’s credo is “If you can conceive it, you can achieve it” and if you ask him, he’s not even close to being done conceiving!

Rossana Villaflor
AKA Bgirl GI Jane

Breakdancing & Art Teacher. Summer Camp Counselor

Part of the tlb family since 2018

G.I. (as Ms. Jenn likes to call her) stood to watch her first breakin’ cypher in 1997 at age 12, during her eldest sister’s birthday party. This moment sparked the beginning of her journey as a bgirl in Hip Hop culture. Raised in Jersey City, G.I.Jane is a product of the public school system where she met her original crew members in Raw ElementZ Crew (REC). G.I. Jane and her crew would practice by clearing out a classroom after school, or by setting up linoleum and duct taped cardboard boxes outside a nearby park. As kids, breaking served as a positive outlet for G.I. Jane and her crew. In high school, she was recruited by a top Jersey crew called NBK, alongside several members of her former crew. Since then, G.I.Jane represented NBK in battles all over the East Coast for nearly two decades. 

Bgirl G.I.Jane has battled and rocked the cyphers in notable competitions, such as the 2006 Lincoln Center We*Bgirlz Battle Outdoors, as part of the commemoration for the first Lincoln Center Breaking Battles; Freestyle Session; Kings of New York; and Rock Steady Crew Anniversaries. She has represented breaking in theater performances with Full Circle Productions, alongside her mentor Bgirl Rokafella, and was featured several times in the New York Times, and included in the 2011 Miami Art Basel. Aside from her experience a competitor and bgirl artist, G.I.Jane also became a cofounder and leader of a local nonprofit CUDA Culture in 2008, an organization that seeks to empower young people and uplift communities with the art of bboying/bgirling. 

Her current career as a public-school art teacher allows her to mentor young people in both visual arts and in breaking, and to keep the tradition of bboying/bgirling alive and thriving for many generations to come.  

Cynthia Sierra

Pre-K Assistant Teacher

Part of the tlb family since 2023

Torre Randel

Dance Teacher, Ballet Instructor

Part of the tlb family since 2023

Torre is a multi-talented artist who's joining our team to inspire young dancers to reach for the stars.

Torre's passion for the arts and her dedication to nurturing young talent have led her to discover a love for teaching. She's had the privilege of sharing her talents with academy students at several theaters and public school children in New York and its surrounding areas.

Now, she's here to inspire and guide the next generation of dancers right here at Chilltown. Torre's energy, expertise, and commitment to fostering a love for ballet are sure to make every class a delightful and enriching experience.

Torre teaches our school movement classes and ballet classes afterschool on Wednesdays!