Our Story
About Us
Why I founded Isle
I trained at Norland College, one of the world’s most respected early years colleges, and have spent over a decade working inside private households in the UK and the United States. That means I’ve seen the early years from the inside: not from a clinic, a classroom or a webinar, but from the kitchen at 5pm, when everyone is tired and nothing is going to plan.
What I noticed, over and over, was the same gap. Many of the people caring for young children in private homes have never been formally trained in early years development. Training at this level takes years, and specialist-trained nannies are rare. So while children are lovingly cared for, there’s often no specialist to turn to when a routine falls apart, no one to translate a developmental stage into what it actually means on a Tuesday afternoon, and no consistent approach across the household. Advice arrives in fragments and conflicting opinions, from friends, from the internet, from whoever answered last.
Isle exists to close that gap.
About our founder
Sofia Parish
Hello! I’m Sofia, a Norland-trained nanny and founder of Isle, a New York-based early years consultancy offering tailored support for families and their nannies. My aim is simple: to make family life a little easier, while supporting children’s development in the place they spend so much of their time, their home.
For over ten years I’ve worked with a wide variety of children and families, developing practical tools that work for them. While my Norland training gave me the knowledge to support children’s development, my experience across so many different family set-ups taught me that every child is unique, and that the real skill is finding what works for each one.
I created Isle with this in mind: to turn that knowledge into real, everyday routines that work on a busy afternoon, not just on paper.
“She has a particular gift for making reluctant eaters more enthusiastic and involved” but “perhaps most importantly, Sofia truly understands how to work in partnership with parents. She observes, listens, and shares her perspective in a constructive, respectful way.”
— Parent, London
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“Sofia was very observant of the children’s behaviour and developmental milestones and communicated this to us in a very knowledgeable manner. She planned activities for both our girls which supported and promoted their development”
— Parent, Guernsey CI
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“Sofia performed this role with extraordinary skill and reliability; she was essential to the functioning of our family and to the welfare, happiness, and education of our son… I trusted her implicitly with my most important responsibility and we, as a family, truly enjoyed her company.”
— Parent, New York City
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We may be a new company, but our Norland-trained founder has been supporting families for over ten years
Testimonials