Claire Smizer

Claire Smizer-Muldoon is an education strategist, curriculum architect, and advisor with 10+ years of experience driving digital transformation and modernization in K-12 classrooms. She has joined Brighterly as an Educational Advisor, aiming to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and classroom practice, with a passion for organizing the educational process around individual preferences.

Education and Professional Skills

Claire holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics with a minor in Education from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Master of Arts in Curriculum & Instruction from California State University, Fresno. 

She is a credentialed teacher through CalState TEACH, holding a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential with specialized coursework in educational reform and justice, mathematics instruction, and the design of learning environments for English Language Learners.

Claire Smizer’s Experience Before Brighterly

Before Brighterly, Claire had extensive experience with classroom-based teaching and EdTech consulting. Her core achievements throughout the years include:

• 6 years serving as a lead teacher, curriculum lead, mentor teacher, and technology lead across 4-7th grade
• Curriculum & Product Manager with a gamified SEL company
• Director of Operations for a STEM company serving 100+ districts, including Chicago Public and NYC DOE
• Director of User Experience for a Brain-Computer Interface STEM start-up serving a variety of East Coast districts, including Boston Public 
• Customer Success Manager with a large SIS and LMS provider
• Co-Founder of Loop + Ledger — transformation services focused on equipping leaders with the skills and tools to navigate AI and other innovative technology safely and ethically. 

Now, powered by her past experience and qualifications, she joins the Brighterly team.

“What drew me to Brighterly is simple.”

While the industry races to automate differentiation, they recognize that learning is a human experience. They don't start with grade-level assumptions and work backward. They start with the child in front of them — pairing them with a real instructor, responding in real time.

Claire Smizer

Brighterly Educational Advisor

Current Activities and Approach to Students

Claire has a unique experience as both an educator and a champion of the development of personalized, applicable learning systems. Her knowledge spans from enterprise-level platforms that serve thousands of students to building educational companies from the ground up. This variety helped her gain unique insights into what works well and what should be avoided in the modern EdTech.

Today, she successfully brings educational theory into practice to show how it works in a real classroom. All her activities are based on the two core pillars:

• The belief that education is never static but constantly evolving in response to new realities and needs.
• Building the ed-system based on individual needs to reveal the maximum potential.

“Learning is personal, and always has been.”

When we build systems that actually reflect that, everything changes — for every kid, regardless of the advantages or disadvantages they come to the table with.

Claire Smizer

Brighterly Educational Advisor

As a parent of two elementary school kids, she perfectly understands the role education plays in shaping each child’s personality. So, she keeps observing what clicks in her own experience, then applies that knowledge to create the most tailored curricula, which would be convenient for both educators and students.