CAMARILLO — KidSTREAM, an emerging children’s museum, recently added three new members to its board of directors to help bring hands-on STEM learning, reading and the arts to the region’s children and families. New members Jena Mehrotra, Ph.D., Martha Martinez-Bravo, Psy.D., and Joe Borchard bring a blend of professional and personal strengths to support kidSTREAM’s mission to create a place where kids and families can engage in fun, interactive learning.
“We are thrilled to have Jena, Martha and Joe join our board,” said Kristie Akl, kidSTREAM’s board president. “Their experience and ideas will provide dynamic support to our board and to kidSTREAM’s core value of providing access for all children in our community to explore and develop their critical thinking, problem-solving and collaborative skills through creative play.”
Mehrotra is owner and CEO of It’s Behavioral, a Camarillo organization providing intervention services for children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental delays. First and foremost an advocate for children and their families, Mehrotra has extensive experience in the fields of child development, early childhood education, and parent education. A board-certified behavior analyst, Mehrotra earned her doctoral degree in child development and family studies from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and both a master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in child development from Maharaja Sayajirao University, India. She is fluent in Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi. A long-time resident of Ventura County and parent of three grown children, all of whom are avid museum goers, she continues to seek new ways to enrich the lives of parents and children.
Martinez-Bravo has worked with underserved minorities in the areas of special needs, substance abuse, and community- and school-based mental health. She holds a doctoral degree and a master’s degree in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and social behavior from the University of California, Irvine. A Ronald E. McNair Research Scholar, Martinez-Bravo has worked with children, couples, and families using a systemic theoretical psychological orientation, and she has extensive experience in psycho-diagnostic assessment of children. A member of the American Association of University Women and her local Parent-Teacher Association, she organizes the annual Women in History program at her children’s school, and volunteers both in the classroom and as a coach for their sports teams.
Newbury Park resident Joe Borchard works as global sales manager at Ventura Coastal, LLC, a fruit processor headquartered in Ventura. Prior to Ventura Coastal, Borchard was a professional baseball player and played for the White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins and San Francisco Giants organizations. An all-round athlete of baseball, football and basketball, he won a silver medal in baseball as part of the Team USA 2001 World Cup in Taipei and is a 2012 Ventura County Hall of Fame athlete. Borchard currently shares his love of sports and its many learning opportunities by serving as coach for his children’s sports teams. Borchard earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University.
Founded in 2016, kidSTREAM is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to create an engaging environment for children and families to explore, play and discover; inspiring them to become critical thinkers, innovators, and life-long learners. For more information, visit www.kidstream.org