Our Challenge Island HQ STEAM Team

Every Challenge Island kid knows that the secret to success is having a STEAM team with just the right combination of strengths and passions!

Sharon Duke Estroff M.A.T.

Challenge Island Founder and CEO
Award-winning educator and author Sharon Duke Estroff is founder and creator of Challenge Island®, the World's #1 STEM/ STEAM Program. Sharon started Challenge Island in her 2nd grade classroom in Atlanta, GA in 2002 and has grown it to over 160 franchises in 36 states and 4 countries. A veteran educator in Atlanta public and private schools, Sharon was voted best teacher in Atlanta by a major Atlanta newspaper. In addition to being the author of the bestselling Challenge Island STEAM Adventure Book Series, Sharon is a Penguin/Random House parenting author and educational journalist for numerous publications including Scholastic Parent and Child, Parents, Woman’s Day and Good Housekeeping Magazines. Sharon received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Emory University and Duke University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude. She is most proud of her four grown children, all of whom are former Challenge Island kids! Sharon lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Lee (Challenge Island's Chief Operating Officer) and her three very-spoiled doodles.
A Note of Gratitude

“As a lifelong educator, seeing the smiles on children’s faces across the country and the world as they take part in Challenge Island programming has been the greatest gift and privilege of my career. I am so grateful to the thousands of schools and organizations that embrace Challenge Island for their students and communities - and, of course, to the STEAMtastic Challenge Island franchise owners who make the magic happen every day through their passion, hard work, and unwavering dedication to our core mission of bettering the lives of the children for today and tomorrow.”


- Sharon Duke Estroff

Lee Estroff

Chief Operating Officer

Lee Estroff serves as Chief Operating Officer of Challenge Island, guiding the franchise’s growth and innovation. With nearly 40 years of operational and planning leadership in the sports broadcast industry, he has overseen some of the nation’s most iconic events, including Super Bowls, NBA All-Star Games, NCAA Final Fours, and NHL Stanley Cups. In 2010, Lee won a Sports Emmy® for his contribution to CBS Sports' broadcast coverage of the Masters Golf Tournament. Having been connected to Challenge Island since its inception, Lee brings unique insight, operational expertise, and a passion for supporting franchisees as the brand continues to expand. Lee is a proud alumni of the University of Georgia where he received his BBA. He and his wife Sharon (Challenge Island's CEO and Founder) live in Atlanta, GA with their three dogs: Kirby, Piper and Jessie.
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Robin Bergeron

Chief of Development

Robin is a veteran elementary school teacher and Challenge Island owner extraordinaire. As Chief of Development, she is the face behind the remarkable growth of Challenge Island and the reason we have the most fabulous franchisees in the world!
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Leslie Thibodaux

Chief of Operational Support

Leslie is a veteran gifted and talented teacher and rock star Challenge Island owner. As our ever calm Chief of Operational Support, she sets up our owners for ongoing success as they navigate the thrill and excitement of Challenge Island ownership.
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Lorna Bulpin

Chief Knowledge Officer

Lorna has 26 years of classroom experience and holds degrees in Language, Linguistics, and Education from the UK. She has taught in France, Spain, Hong Kong, and the US, and joined the Challenge Island STEAM Team in 2012. Lorna excels in curriculum development, bringing insightful classroom expertise, creativity, and multilingual fluency.

Carrie Mills

Chief Financial Officer

Carrie is an accountant extraordinaire and the math mind of our STEAM Team. As Chief Financial Officer, she oversees all things financial for Challenge Island Global while providing our owners with her fiscal wisdom as they grow their local Challenge Islands!

Jessica Nathan

Director of Franchisee Business Operations

Jessica Nathan brings over 15 years of experience leading large-scale operations, launching programs, and coaching leaders. A successful entrepreneur and high-performing Challenge Island franchisee, she excels in strategy, financial management, and compliance. Jessica now leads Challenge Island’s Ops Mastery Program, a franchisee focused initiative that drives operations efficiency, strategic growth, and sustainability. Jessica holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Fordham University and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Florida International University.

Ashley Mitchell

Fractional Chief Marketing Officer

Ashley Mitchell joins us with an extraordinary depth of franchise and brand leadership experience. She has spent her entire career leading marketing and communications strategy for respected national brands, building and executing comprehensive marketing initiatives that drive franchisee growth while protecting and elevating brand integrity. Ashley has been consistently recognized as a leader in the franchise industry, most recently named a Top Franchise Influencer and a Top 50 Franchise CMO Gamechanger.

Sydney Shores

Creative Director

Sydney Shores is the Creative Director at Challenge Island, where she leads the visual direction and design of the brand across all platforms. She has played a key role in shaping the company’s marketing presence, including the design of a comprehensive program catalog and the development of cohesive digital and print materials. With a degree in Graphic Design from the University of Georgia, Sydney brings a strong eye for color, layout, and illustration to her work. Her background includes years of freelance experience creating branding and design solutions for small businesses, as well as illustrating multiple children’s books—an influence that brings a sense of creativity and fun to the brand. Known for her hands-on approach, Sydney is passionate about creating visually engaging, thoughtful designs that help bring ideas to life and elevate the brand experience for franchisees.

The Challenge Island Story

In 2002, award-winning educator Sharon Duke Estroff was becoming increasingly concerned about the overall direction of education (a.k.a. a standardized testing-palooza that was intent on fitting every child into the same rigid box (or should we say multiple choice bubble?)). That, compounded by a growing presence of screens in her students' lives and intense societal pressure for them to perform stellarly both acodemically and extracurricularly, left her worried about their present and future well being. Sharon came up with the idea of Challenge Island as a means of counteracting these forces while making school enjoyable again (for both her students and herself!). During Challenge Island time. Sharon's second graders were transported to a parallel universe where learning felt like a party. kids ran the show, and failure was considered a fun opportunity to try something new. Wrapped in whimsical trimmings (colorful headbands, floral leis, treasure chests and the island drum) Sharon's classroom buzzed with a kind of excitement and enthusiasm that was rarely present in the modern school setting Her students bubbled over with creativity and innovation as they collaborated with their STEAM Teams to fearlessly tackle challenges using only a few low-tech supplies and their boundless imaginations. Every morning. Sharon's students begged her to let them do Challenge Island that day - and the more Challenge Island her students did, the more the magic swirled around them. Suddenly, the children in her class felt more empowered, creative, and collaborative: they were stronger problem solvers, more flexible thinkers, less anxious and more resilient. Sharon became convinced that the Challenge Island experience was absolutely essential to the social-emotional and academic wellbeing of not only her 2nd graders but of every other stressed-out, over-tested, overscheduled, screen-saturated millennial child. At the end of that school year, Sharon decided to devote her full-time career to bringing Challenge Island to as many children as possible. In 2013, she embraced the franchising model to help her get there. Today, thanks to over 100 fabulous franchisees who share her Challenge Island vision, 5 million children in 15,000 schools and organizations have now been touched by the Challenge Island magic, and that

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