Reiko Nakauchi

Founder, Sora International School (Silicon Valley) | Creator of "JOY-katsu" | Educator | Author

For 26 years, Reiko Nakauchi has called Silicon Valley home.

Born in Taiwan and raised in Japan from age 8, she speaks English, Mandarin, and Japanese. She holds Japanese national licenses as a kindergarten and nursery school teacher and studied Froebel theory professionally before earning her International Montessori Diploma (AMI) in the United States.

In 2007, she founded Sora Classic Arts. In 2011, she opened California's first state-licensed Japanese-English bilingual preschool — Sora International Preschool. Today she runs five campuses across Silicon Valley (San Carlos, Campbell, Daly City) and Japan (Tsukuba), with a Los Angeles campus opening in 2026. Over 17+ years, she has guided families from 25+ countries, including engineers from Google, Apple, and other leading Silicon Valley companies.

Reiko is the founder of the "Sora Method" — an original synthesis of Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and Froebel pedagogy — and the creator of the "SMILE Method," a framework of five non-cognitive skills children need in the AI era. A TEDx speaker ("Beyond AI: Nurturing Future Innovators"), she is the author of two best-selling parenting books in Japan: "Silicon Valley Style: The World's Best Parenting" (Amazon #1 in three education categories) and "JOY-katsu."