Janet Molina Watt

Janet Molina Watt has an extensive record of turning her commitment to experiential learning for children and the environment into improvements across her hometown of Long Beach, California. Just as Richard Louve, the founder of the Children in Nature Network, has advocated that “time in nature is not leisure time; it's an essential investment in our children’s health,” so too has Janet worked to create lasting programs that provide children with vital access to nature in her community.

An architect by training and a successful entrepreneur, Janet with her husband Laurence, founded designed, and constructed Little Owl School, which follows Reggio Emilia, an Italian-borne philosophy which advocates that a child has three teachers: parent, teacher and the environment. Little Owl’s campus is a facility that features green roofs, living walls, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, animals, and a backyard forest setting for children within an urban setting.

Recently Janet and Laurence created a non-profit, Little Owl Foundation for Childhood Education whose mission is to promote, engage, and support progressive education for children.

Prior to the founding Little Owl, Janet was long involved in Molina Healthcare, Inc., a Fortune 200 managed care company founded by her family, which serves over four million members nationwide through government-funded health programs.

Janet graduated with a BA in Interior Design from CSULB and a Master of Architecture from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.