About the Owners

Michelle Rosales Palmer – Co-Owner & Former Director 

Michelle is co-owner of Cultured Kids of Madison and the loving mother of one daughter and three boys. While putting herself through college, she spent several years working in various after-school programs for elementary school age children in Phoenix, Arizona and then as a computer teacher for a K-6 grade school.  She completed her B.S. in Marriage, Family & Human Development at Brigham Young University. After she and Ryan moved to Madison in 2002 Michelle worked in a local well-established childcare center and also a large national daycare provider as a teacher.  She is grateful for the opportunity to have been a stay-at-home mother for four years before opening Cultured Kids and was excited to bring to the center many language, music, and healthy habit practices for kids from home.

Michelle regularly researches natural and preventative health practices for her family, loves all forms of dance, especially international folk dance, ballroom, and salsa, and enjoys the peace that being outside among trees, nature and the sunshine provides.

 

Ryan Palmer – Co-Owner & Administrator

Originally from Idaho, Ryan grew up on a potato farm where he often struggled to communicate with migrant workers from Mexico. His first foray into formal foreign language training was a semester of Spanish his junior year in high school. His increase in Spanish skills was mediocre at best.

From 1997 to 1999 he served a 24 month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Philippines. In the Philippines he became fluent in Waray-waray, and proficient in Tagalog and Cebuano. It was there that he really learned to understand the value of walking a mile in another person’s shoes. He came to understand how happy and comfortable an “outsider” can become by adopting the cultural norms of others, or in other words, living in a way such that the majority of your personal experiences enable you to empathize with others through common triumphs and trials.

After his mission he went on to receive a B.S. in Business Management-Finance from Brigham Young University and meet his wife Michelle.  He obtained an MBA in 2009 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison having specialized in Entrepreneurial Management. Both before and after starting Cultured Kids, Ryan was an accountant, licensed real estate broker, and CFO working in commercial real estate development, leasing and management in Madison, Wisconsin.

Ryan and Michelle are currently raising their four kids in a Spanglish speaking household.