Marlo Holdren has lived in Austin since 2006 but was born and raised in Houston as a 5th generation Houstonian, growing up on the bayou in the same house that her parents built upon a ravine. She and her brother grew up on a couple of acres of beautiful ancient oak trees covered in Spanish moss, with a horse that belonged to her next door neighbor but grazed in her backyard. Even though they were in the city, it felt more like the country and it gave Marlo and her brother many opportunities to explore nature, find unusual plants and bugs and and pick blackberries. As her parents were building the house, Rice University came to excavate on the land and they found Native American tools, horse bones, and many other amazing discoveries, which also peaked Marlo’s interest in history and archeology.

             Marlo comes from a very close family, with her grandparents living only 5 minutes away, so she saw them almost every day. As the first born, eldest child on both sides of her family, she frequently took care of her brother and her cousins on both sides and was able to act as a strong role model for them. While Marlo’s mother occasionally worked as a substitute teacher, her grandmother kept her. She has many good memories with her grandmother of drawing unique and original paper dolls on paper and making clothes for them by cutting them out and fitting them.

            Marlo’s mother introduced her to anything and everything and allowed her to decide where her interests blossomed. She grew up playing piano, dancing ballet, entering drawing contests and cactus growing competitions, and taking art, acting, and sculpture classes in the summer. Her mother also often gave her children’s books from the 1920’s-1940’s to read, so as a result some of her favorite magical books growing up were The Box Car Children, Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (published in the 1800’s), The Girl with the Silver Eyes, the Nancy Drew series, and Campfire Girls.   

            Because her parents started their own family business which included her mom and aunt, her father traveled often, so he frequently brought the family with him on his travels and for summer trips. As a result, Marlo has traveled to almost every state in the U.S., as well as England, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Greece, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, the Caribbean, Austria, Ireland, Scotland, Alaska, Estonia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Hawaii, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and China.  

            Marlo has a degree of a double major in English Literature and Media from Houston Baptist University, a Master of Liberal Arts degree from HBU, as well as one year beyond her Masters degree. She also attended the University of California at Berkeley summer program as well as taking English literature classes in the program at Oxford University in England. She worked at an NBC television station in Houston, The Houston Symphony, The University of Phoenix in Houston, as well as at The Children’s Courtyard and the Capitol in Austin. Marlo worked at The Children’s Courtyard preschool in Austin teaching children ages 3-4 in order to help them learn and foster self confidence. She created unique art projects, special educational games and exciting activities for the children in order to expand their natural potential and broaden their horizons both academically and socially. 

            Because of her English degree, Marlo has a zest for learning and literature. She was a first place winner of the Danny Lee Lawrence Creative Writing Award. She loves creating stimulating and fun classroom discussions for children through books, original art and lively music in order to enable each child to thrive and blossom into the very best version of themselves. While working at the Courtyard, she met and worked with with Lauren Boyle. As a teacher she implemented learning activities for children to help them grow into themselves and fully achieve their potential.  She led many stimulating and fun classroom discussions through books, original art and lively music, which enabled each child to thrive and blossom into the very best version of themselves. 

            Creating a dynamic and interesting environment of learning for the children to be very engaged and active in is very important to Marlo. While working as a preschool teacher, she always made sure to encourage each child in their academic achievements as well as all their social accomplishments, successes and self-esteem. In doing this, she helped the Pre-K children gain self-confidence in order to prepare for school, she fostered their individual creative development and nurtured their unique talents. She often tailored her learning styles depending on the needs and abilities of each child in order to help them reach their individual potential. Marlo values teamwork and is a good team player. She is very excited to be joining Lupine Lane, and she feels that it is her dream job to be able to implement fun, stimulating, and exciting activities in which the children are actively engaged, as well as interact with children in a calm, nurturing manner. In her free time Marlo loves exploring Austin, hosting potlucks and outdoor movie nights with her neighbors on her rooftop deck, and playing with her beautiful Dalmatian in the greenbelts of Austin.