Charlie Martin

they/them

Charlie grew up in the Arizona desert, dreaming of the beach and the Redwoods! After moving to Oakland in 2006 to study Illustration and Printmaking, they discovered a love for urban gardening and foraging, and assisted in the creation of two public food and dye gardens during their time at California College of the Arts. They delight in finding loquats, nettles, wild radish, nasturtium, and other urban edibles while out walking, and they know where the good secret cherry trees are. A proud non-binary trans person, Charlie believes in building and holding a safe, fun container for children to freely explore who they are, applaud one another in all their successes, hold one another through difficulties, and embrace that human beings are never through with our joyful labor of growth.  

Charlie has worked with young children for 20 years, providing private childcare, and teaching in after school and summer programs. Their first job was in high school, as costume designer for children's theater. Much later in life, they worked as an after school Drama teacher for Kindergarteners in San Francisco. Charlie was thrilled to rejoin the team at Berkeley Forest School in summer 2020 after 4 years away, fondly remembering dreamlike summers as a substitute teacher, digging in the mud and observing caterpillar friends.

After several years heading up the BFS Kindergarten program and two as BFS Summer Camp lead, Charlie now splits their time between teaching both Pre-K and Toddlers and building systems, curriculum & lines of communication as part of the school's administrative team. Charlie is grateful to be in a position to utilize their entire range of administrative, artistic, and childcare skills to best serve our children and families.