Tracey Frost, CEO & Co-founder

Tracey was born and raised in Australia. She has lived in New York City for 10 years. Tracey has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology in Sydney and a Master of Business Administration from Macquarie University Graduate School of Management in Sydney. For 13 years, she worked in banking, most recently as a director in commodity derivatives at Deutsche Bank. Throughout her years in banking, she always wanted to start her own business. As soon as she identified a need in the marketplace for a hip, modern club for families with young children, she jumped on the opportunity. Tracey left her banking job in 2003 to launch Citibabes. She and her husband live in Tribeca with their 2 young daughters.

Dane Johnston, CFO

Dane comes to Citibabes with over twenty years of financial leadership including mergers and acquisitions, new site development and consolidations in the public and private sectors.

Dane has spent the last six years in the spa world and most recently, was the CFO of Exhale Spa, a national franchise, where he managed the finances for ten locations nationwide. During his tenure, he oversaw the opening of eight new spas in two years.

Originally from Boulder, Colorado, Dane attended the University of Connecticut where he received his degree in accounting. He lives in Hamden, CT with his wife.

Tonya Jacobs, COO

Tonya Jacobs brings to Citibabes fourteen years of operations and sales experience and an extensive background in managing multi-faceted luxury health and fitness clubs, including Reebok Sports Club/NY and The Sports Club/LA. She was instrumental in launching The Sports Club/LA at Rockefeller Center, Upper East Side, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco locations.

In addition, Tonya has a background in fitness, teaching group exercise classes, and was a professional dancer who toured in Southeast Asia for eight years performing in luxury resorts and casinos. She has also taught dance classes for children ages five to twelve years in Australia.

Born in Brazil and raised in Australia, Tonya has called New York home for the past sixteen years. She lives with her husband and young daughter in Long Beach, Long Island. Tonya left her fourteen year career in health and fitness to pursue a new passion: children.

Kelley McMillan, Marketing & Communications Director

With over seven years of experience working in advertising, marketing and publishing, Kelley oversees Citibabes’ marketing and communications efforts, strategic partnerships, CitiScoop and The Citibabes Magazine.

Prior to Citibabes, she was a freelance journalist, contributing to several regional, national and international publications including Departures, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Vital Juice Daily and CITY magazine.

Previous to her writing career, she worked in advertising sales as the Director of East Coast Advertising at Billboard magazine. She has also held sales positions at CITY magazine and Conde Nast Traveler.

Kelley graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado with a degree in Anthropology, and received her MFA in non fiction creative writing from the New School. She lives in New York City.

Brian Dougherty, Director of Sales and Operations

Brian Dougherty draws on his background in luxury hotel management and private club sales & marketing to lead the day-to-day operations for all Citibabes’ locations. Most recently, Brian served as director of business development for Group RCI, a division of Wyndham Worldwide, where he was responsible for strategic planning, new revenue generation and brand expansion with developers of private resorts throughout the U.S. and Canada. Prior to joining Group RCI, he worked with DPS Development Co. as a sales consultant on private membership clubs in the Turks and Caicos and Jackson Hole, WY, where he worked on-site.

In previous roles, Brian has served as a sales manager for the SoHo & Tribeca Grand Hotels as well as the five-diamond Hilton Short Hills in New Jersey. He holds a bachelors degree from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia PA.

CZ Zuckerman, Director of Children's Programming

CZ joined Citibabes in 2006 as Director of Children’s Programming. She loves talking about children, their early development and particularly enjoys guiding Citibabes’ families through the ups and downs of parenthood.

CZ began her career in book publishing; including stints as advertising manager at Simon and Schuster, managing editor at Avon Books and as a literary agent with ICM. At every point, she was always involved in some aspect of children’s literature. After her daughter was born, CZ started her own literary agency where she specialized in representing authors of children’s and adolescent books.

In 1997, CZ returned to her first love: early childhood education. For nine years she was the admissions director and assistant director at the successful “Sunshine Kids Club” a preschool of music and art located on the upper east side of Manhattan.

CZ graduated with honors from New York University with a dual major in Psychology and Early Childhood Development.

Aaron Goldschmidt, Creative Director & Head Teacher

An experienced educator with a passion for the arts, Aaron Goldschmidt oversees and develops Citibabes’ educational offerings while helping the company keep a finger on the pulse of the urban early childhood classroom.

After finding success as a writer and performer, Aaron began his career in early childhood education while living in San Francisco, apprenticing at the prominent California Street preschool. With a new found appreciation for the Reggio Emilia teaching philosophies, he moved back to New York City, where he worked for six and a half years as the head teacher at The Educational Alliance’s Parenting and Family Center of the 14th Street Y. There, he developed and taught classes for children 1-5-years-old and their families.

Aaron’s multi-disciplinary background affects his approach to early childhood education and is evident in the classroom. His energy and passion, combined with his arts-based curriculum, have inspired both children and adults for years.

Aaron’s stature as a respected and savvy educator has also been recognized by the global children’s publisher, Scholastic, where he sits on the Teacher Advisory Board to the school’s Book Clubs. He is also an invited educator to the Scholastic Early Childhood Summit and helps to keep Scholastic on the forefront of early childhood education.

Jenny Pham, Director of Suzuki Education

Jenny graduated as a music major from Hunter College studying violin and voice. Originally from Minnesota, she attended Arkansas State University and studied violin, voice, and bassoon. Jenny has held numerous orchestral and choral positions with ensembles including the ACDA Women’s Honor Choir, The United Nations Singers, Canopus Ensemble, New Amsterdam Singers, One World Symphony, and Brooklyn Symphony and has toured the United States, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Japan, and Italy.

While in Arkansas, Jenny was instrumental in the formation and expansion of performing arts programs in Northeast Arkansas . Through her organizations, she excelled at marketing, administration, and funding, all the while teaching a variety of age groups and disciplines.

In addition to Directing the Suzuki Program for Citibabes SoHo and Scarsdale, Jenny also teaches music at The Brooklyn College Prep. Center and PS 58 and is the Vice President for the New Amsterdam Singers Board of Directors as well as the Director of Music for her newly formed non-profit, Thesia Arts.

Sararose Anderson, General Manager, SoHo

Sararose Anderson has been involved in early childhood education since she was ten years old, when she created a ballet class for toddlers. From that point on, her consistent passion and goal in life has always been improving the quality of life for all children.

Sararose received her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After six months back-packing through South America, she then returned to school for her Certificate in Early Childhood Education. While working at a daycare center in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood she accepted a three year childcaring position for a family who lived in London, New York, and Los Angeles.

She first encountered Citibabes during stays in New York with the family’s two small children and was immediately impressed with the quality of the club. When she completed her work as a nanny, she came to Citibabes working in membership services. From there Sararose took over as events manager (her success in this area led to her being featured in Time Out New York Kids – see Press section) before taking on the responsibility of general manager of the Soho location.

Sararose has visited childcare facilities throughout the world including Europe, Russia, Central America, the Caribbean, Cuba, South America, and Japan.

Her association with Citibabes is the culmination of a life spent pursuing excellent care and education opportunities for children.

Kim Proal, General Manager, Scarsdale

Kim Proal comes to Citibabes with a wealth of sales and management experience.She has a background in launching companies and helping them to grow successfully.

Most recently, Kim worked in fashion, running a successful handbag and accessories showroom in New York City. As the showroom’s manager, she increased sales, expanded their store base nationwide and was instrumental in introducing new designers to the showroom’s roster.

After moving to NYC after college, Kim began her career managing the high-end men’s grooming salon, John Allan’s. She launched John Allan’s at Saks Fifth Avenue and the Tribeca location, growing them into the successful businesses they are today. During her tenure at John Allan’s, Kim oversaw the launch and development of four new John Allan locations nationwide. In addition, she was responsible for the sales and marketing of John Allan’s skin and haircare lines.

Kim received her BA in public relations from the University of Rhode Island. Originally from upstate New York, Kim currently resides in New York City.