Meet our on-set teachers who are certified teachers in the United States of America, Lori Yearwood and Erika Hurth. Erika and Lori are also eligible to work throughout the USA, as well as in Canada.
Lori Yearwood
Ahimsa Media’s Head of Education / Studio Teacher / California Certified Teacher
Lori first discovered her love of teaching in high school as a dance instructor, teaching students as young as 4 ranging all the way to adults at recreational and competitive levels. This is where she developed her “Enthusiasm is Contagious” motto that she still applies to her teaching today. Lori believes that if a teacher is excited about what she is teaching, the students will be excited to learn. She went on to study education at the Institute of Child Study affiliated with OISE/University of Toronto. This is a research based program that equipped her with a thorough understanding of the learning process. Upon graduating, Lori wanted to explore a variety of teaching opportunities. She began by teaching students on location during film and television shoots in Toronto with Laurelwood Productions. Lori then became the Director of Education for Sylvan Learning Centre where she applied her skills and witnessed education from the perspective of the student, parent and fellow teachers. Putting her knowledge to the ultimate test, Lori created a family and had two children of her own, her are both now wonderful and conscientious adults! This has proven to be her greatest adventure yet.
Throughout the years, Lori has maintained her interest in theatrical arts and has acted as creative consultant for various productions, both live and media related. Her family relocated to Los Angeles and lived there for 5 years. She pushed her own studies forward by obtaining a California Studio Teacher’s license. A return to working with school-age actors has been the perfect fit for Lori. She views her position from many angles:
- Having had a husband and children who acted in film and television, she understands the needs of the students she works with and knows the concerns of the parents.
- Having experience on the production side, she also relates to the intricacies involved in completing a project.
- As an exceptional teacher and mom, who fought to ensure her kids got a quality education in both Canada and the United States.
When Lori brought her family back to Canada to reside in Vancouver, she found a great support system with Ahimsa Kids and enjoyed working with students from Canada as well as the United States. That relationship grew into Lori becoming Head of Education for Ahimsa Media and Lori being a Founding Board Member of our Non-Profit, the StoryToGo Society, which she co-created with Erica.
If you see Lori on set you are likely to realize she is meeting her goals of fostering a fun, nurturing environment for both students and fellow crew, creating an atmosphere that is safe for self-expression and growth, while promoting confidence in learners of all abilities.
Erika Hurth
Oregon Certified Teacher
Raised on the flat plains of Wisconsin, USA, Erika Hurth grew up under the impression that in order to have fun, you’d have to get creative. Writing stories, stapling together homemade books of bad jokes, leaving notes on rocks for backyard animals to read… these are just a few ways that Erika spent her childhood and became the writer, teacher, naturalist and hobby-artist that she is today. Growing up in the early 2000s meant that she was exposed to a wide array of digital technology in a rapid and enthusiastic way. Like many-a-late millennial, Erika is a native of two worlds: one before the internet and one after. This puts her in a unique position to write well for a wide range of audiences and purposes, inspiring her student’s in storytelling with both older and newer mediums.
Erika graduated from Reed College in Portland, Oregon where she studied literature and wrote her thesis on the effect that Zen Buddhism had on mid-century poets. When she’s not busy herding children around school yards or parks, she enjoys chatting about philosophy, tea, walking in the woods, and gardening.
