how we started

Diana’s love of international cultures and travel began when she was chosen as her High School's Foreign Exchange student through the American Field Service, spending a summer in Germany. 

Diana received her undergraduate degree in Politics from Princeton University, where she volunteered as a “Big Sister” to children in need, participated in Field Hockey and Track & Field, and taught outdoor survival skills to at-risk youth. After graduation, Diana began her insurance career at Chubb Insurance Company, where she became AVP and Upstate New York Regional Marketing Manager.  She later joined Putnam Benefits & Insurance. Diana was a member of several Boards, including the Independent Insurance Agents Association and Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters. In 2003, she was voted as the Joel S. Pollack NY State Young Agent of the Year. In 2009, she joined Kollevoll & Associates LLC as Partner. 

After a volunteer teaching trip to Livingstone Zambia in 2019, Diana was inspired by her experience to co-found The Educated Zebra.  She is very excited about the opportunities that will be created through various projects and collaborations. 

Marlynne Marlow was born in South Africa and grew up in Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province.  She obtained a BA Honors degree in Afrikaans-Dutch (cum laude) and a master’s degree in Afrikaans Linguistics (cum laude) from the University of Stellenbosch. She started her career in education as a high school teacher and subsequently taught at Vista University (Soweto Campus) for five years before moving to Europe, where she taught English and German to adults at several language schools in Germany and The Netherlands. In 1999, Marlow moved to the United States with her husband. 

Marlow’s true passion lies with early childhood education. She believes that a solid foundation lays the groundwork for successful lifelong learning and decreases the high school dropout rate significantly.   

As the parent of a young son, she became actively involved in the early childhood, elementary school, and then middle and high school programs at her son’s schools through her work with their parent associations over a period of many years. Over the course of her involvement, she served as treasurer, a few terms as president and also chaired the fundraising committee numerous times. Marlow was then invited to serve on the board of trustees for Princeton Junior School in Princeton, NJ for a number of years.  She also served as a member of the board of trustees at The Pennington School in Pennington, NJ.   

After a volunteer teaching trip to Livingstone, Zambia in August 2019, she was inspired to create and develop The Educated Zebra Foundation.  She is excited to focus on the education of young children in impoverished areas in Zambia and South Africa. 

Marlow resides in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware with her husband and son, a student at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to her volunteer and charitable work, she enjoys tennis, reading and traveling. She is also an independent stylist for a clothing company.

Ana Maria has always believed in the power of education. She immigrated to Puerto Rico as a young child and later came to the United States on a scholarship. She earned her BS at Case Western Reserve University and MS at Georgia Institute of Technology in Computer Science. She knows first-hand the huge difference that education makes and the opportunities that education provides. After working for twenty years in software development, she left the corporate world to start a non-profit organization to raise funds for various causes.

She joined The Educated Zebra because she knows that a child born into poverty has very limited opportunities and she wants to help change that, one child at a time. She is organizing fundraisers as well as cultural and social events to raise awareness about the foundation’s goals.

In her free time, she enjoys yoga, ceramics, tennis and hiking with her husband and their 2 children.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Nelson Mandela 

Catherine Clowes is the Digital and Automated Services Librarian at The Hill School in Pottstown, PA. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Education and a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science. In her capacity at The Hill School, she designs, updates and maintains the main library website. She also consults with students and teachers in information literacy, research and the use of technology in learning and presentations.  

 Kiersten graduated from Susquehanna University Cum Laude with a major in Marketing from the Sigmund Weis School of Business. After graduation she obtained her Property & Casualty license and worked at Kollevoll & Associates for two years as a marketing specialist. Kiersten is currently in her first year of her MBA Program at University of Florida in Gainsville. Kiersten has worked with children for years and has had great success raising money for The Educated Zebra's various programs.