Felicia Zulhendri
Co-Founder & Lead Guide
Felicia Zulhendri earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology from San Francisco State University, and her Master's in Education from Loyola University, Maryland. She received her internationally-acclaimed Association Montessori International (AMI) training for Casa dei Bambini (2.5 to 6 years) from Montessori Teacher Training Center in Mountain View, CA; her Assistants to Infancy (birth to 3 years) diploma from The Montessori Institute in Denver, CO; and her Elementary (6 to 12 years) diploma from Fondazione Centro Internazionale Studi Montessoriani in Bergamo, Italy. In addition to her academic degrees and AMI Montessori diplomas, she is also a certified Positive Discipline Early Childhood Educator, and a certified It’s Yoga Kids Instructor for kids aged 0-13 years.
Felicia has worked extensively with young children for over 14 years—from nannying infants and toddlers to tutoring elementary children in her college days—eventually becoming a Founding Lead Teacher at a private Montessori school in San Francisco. After researching a range of educational approaches, she found that the Montessori philosophy resonated best with her foundational belief in the value of integrated education—one that addresses the physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, social, moral, and even character-based aspects of a child’s development.
Felicia currently lives in San Francisco with her husband, Sudhar, and their newborn daughter who is the first student at Provident Montessori! In her spare time, she loves traveling, hiking, reading non-fiction books, and spending time in the kitchen cooking and baking.
Sudharmono Siman
Co-Founder & Co-Guide
Sudhar earned his Bachelor's of Science in Management and Administration, graduating summa cum laude, from San Francisco State University. He has over 13 years of professional tutoring experience, working with students from elementary through collegiate levels. It was during these years of tutelage that the voiced concerns of parents, along with his own observations of student struggles, led him to a stunning realization: virtually all of his learners’ attitude, behavior, and academic challenges stemmed from those students’ earliest experiences. With this understanding in hand, Sudhar saw that most of the issues he was helping his students overcome could have been prevented when they were still in their formative years (from 0-6 years old).
It was as he was searching for an educational philosophy that emphasized the importance of these early developmental years that his wife introduced him to a book by Dr. Maria Montessori, whose principles resonated with his fundamental pedagogical beliefs. Invigorated by Montessori’s ideas, Sudhar soon attained the internationally-acclaimed Association Montessori International (AMI) diploma for Casa dei Bambini (2.5 to 6 years) from Montessori Northwest in Milpitas, CA and the Elementary (6 to 12 years) diploma from Fondazione Centro Internazionale Studi Montessoriani in Bergamo, Italy. He has worked as an administrator in a private Montessori school in the Bay Area, as well as directly with children in the Montessori classroom.
Sudhar’s professional background before Montessori was in business. During college, he founded Pacific Republic Inc., a company he ran for several years that specialized in the production of vegan gelatin. In this capacity, he worked with the Indonesian government's trade attaché and represented his business in the International Fancy Food Show.
Sudhar currently lives in San Francisco with his wife, Felicia, and their newborn daughter who is the first student at Provident Montessori! In his spare time, he loves playing guitar, singing, and frequenting all-you-can-eat restaurants.