www.indyed.com - IndyEd.com
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Meet the IndyEd.com Team


Mary Middlebrook
Owner

Mary Middlebrook is the founder and owner of IndyEd.com. She has a BS in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University, and has been an entrepreneur since 1991. Her first career was in the aquarium industry, importing fish and corals from all over the world to sell to aquarium stores in the United States. She also operated the first coral aquaculture farm on the West Coast utilizing natural seawater and sunlight. In her over 25 years in the pet industry, she created innovative marketing strategies that are now the mainstays of the marine aquarium trade. 

In 2006 she sold her primary aquarium business and began homeschooling her youngest son. During this time she discovered her love for teaching. In 2011, she began teaching other homeschool students in their homes and in co-ops in Los Angeles. Demand for her classes quickly outpaced her time, and she took her popular classes online in 2015, opening Next Level Homeschool. Since then, the school has grown to almost 100 classes and taught thousands of students. 

IndyEd.com was founded in 2024, driven by her passion for education and marketing, along with a vision to fill a niche she identified: creating a comprehensive, easily searchable database that consolidates the world's best educational opportunities. 

Mary lives in the Republic of Panama (where she holds annual marine science workshops for her students) with her husband, Brian, and their three dogs- Ike, Selva, and Tico. 



Lara Monshaugen
Operations Manager

Lara is an administrator and leads management of operations at IndyEd.com. She has a BA in theatrical design and technology from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX, with an emphasis on scenic design and scenic art. She earned her MBA from the University of Colorado at Denver.

Outside of IndyEd.com, Lara is a homeschool teacher for Next Level Homeschool, teaching literature, language, visual, and theater arts, as well as art history. Lara also works in administration and operations management for private companies in the live entertainment industry. She has decades of work experience in theater arts and arts education: as a teacher of the arts, scenic artist and designer, theater technician, and freelance muralist.

"I have long been drawn to arts education for young people, in large part due to how the arts shaped my life from a very early age. I love teaching the arts, especially to young people, because I seek to guide the growth of their inner artist, so that they might find a sense of direction in life through the arts (whether literary, theatrical, or visual arts) like I was so lucky to find for myself as a young person and turn into my life’s work. As a teacher, I love that I can be a part of IndyEd.com and help spread educational opportunities to students of all ages around the whole world!"



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