Dana Alqinneh
Dana Alqinneh is an early childhood educator, trauma-informed specialist, writer, and mother of three raising third culture children. Palestinian-Canadian with Jordanian citizenship, born in Kuwait, and now living in the UAE, she has spent her life belonging to more than one place at once, and her work returns again and again to the same question: do children feel seen in who they are? Dana holds an M.Ed. and is a Certified Master Trainer in Trauma-Informed Practices through Starr Commonwealth. She spent nearly a decade as an educator and nursery principal in Dubai before stepping into her current role as Head of Pedagogy Innovation and Early Years Thought Leadership at Parent App, a childcare management platform serving families and educators across the GCC, Canada, and the US. She is also the founder of The Early Years Academy by Parent App, a free professional development hub built to support early childhood educators wherever they are in their journey. Her own childhood shapes her work as much as her training does. Dana arrived in a Canadian kindergarten speaking only Arabic, and searching for belonging. That search became the emotional spine of her children's book, Home. Home was written for every child who carries their home with them in the things no one can take away: a smell, a taste, a word only one person says to you, a small object that outlives a memory. Rooted in Dana's own experience of arrival and belonging, with Palestine as its central claim of identity, the book asks children and adults, to notice what home really is, and to understand that it is rarely just an address. During her school visits, Dana aims to bring the book to life, helping children realize what a sensorial experience "home" really is. Dana hosts The Early Years Podcast, where she talks with voices across the early years field, and shares conscious parenting content with families under @ourcuriousplay. Across all of it, her focus stays the same: helping children hold onto who they are, and helping the adults around them learn how to truly see them.
Instagram: @ourcuriousplay
LinkedIn: Dana Alqinneh
