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co-founders

we are Alison, Allison, Bobby and Craig

We all live in the Chelsea/Flatiron neighborhood in New York City, just blocks away from apple seeds 25th Street location. Allison, Craig and their 3 sons, Sam, Ari and Dov, live just north of apple seeds.  Alison, Bobby and their 2 daughters, Maddie, Sydney and son Jack, live just west of apple seeds. We met 6 years ago in a neighborhood Music Together class and from that point on everything changed.

We were all raising twins in an area that was becoming flush with families...but besides Madison Square Park, there was nowhere to take them to run around, play and explore in a safe, clean, fun environment.  So we decided to create one -- apple seeds.

Now that our four oldest have "aged out" of our play space (although they still roam the halls, "work" in our offices and loiter at the front desk on a daily basis) we are re-living the whole apple seeds experience with our little ones, once again in Chelsea, and now also on the Upper West Side.

 

Read more from Allison & Alison in the blog.
Check out some of our recent press.

 

Allison Schlanger 

Allison was born in New York City and raised in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. After college, she moved back to New York and has lived in the city since 1993. Allison is an Emmy-nominated television producer who worked at MTV Networks for over ten years. In 1996, Allison began volunteer teaching at a West Harlem elementary school. Over the course of eight years, she taught 3rd-5th graders current events and conflict resolution. Allison met Alison Berna and her beautiful daughters in a parent/child music class.

 

Alison Qualter Berna

Alison grew up in Short Hills, New Jersey and has lived in New York City since 1994. After working in production at NBC News, she changed careers and received her Masters degree in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University, focusing on children. Alison then spent years working and traveling for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) where she managed a global program using sports as a vehicle to protect children and foster their development in countries around the world. Alison met Allison Schlanger and her adorable sons in music class and instantly connected.

 

Craig Schlanger 

Craig grew up in Oceanside, New York and has lived in NYC since 1993. After graduating from the University of Michigan, Craig pursued an equity trading position at Spear Leeds & Kellogg and by 1998 was co-managing the new issue trading department on the NASDAQ desk. In 2002, after Spear Leeds & Kellogg merged with Goldman Sachs, Craig was one of the first to transition onto Goldman's trading desk in their Biotechnology/Healthcare sector. In 2005, shortly after his sons Sam and Ari were born, Craig left Goldman to eventually take on his current project -- apple seeds.

 

Robert Berna 

Bobby was born in New York City and raised in Maryland. Bobby returned to New York in 1997, working within the Marketing division of New Line Cinema. He transitioned to a career in advertising after receiving dual MBA degrees from Columbia Business School and the University of California at Berkeley. He joined one of the pioneer online advertising firms, L90, as a business development executive. Bobby then joined the start-up team at BoxTop Media, a non-traditional advertising company, where he led all aspects of business development and served as partner. He continued to serve on the company’s Board until it was acquired by Advantage Sales & Marketing in 2013.