The project of bradcartwright.com was originated somewhere around 2018 in Santiago, Chile. The recurrent realization that economics was everywhere around us has been the true inspiration of this website (more on that in a bit).
The course of IB Economics asks a lot from students and teachers: it has its own particular language, there is no prior course that looks anything like it, time is pressing, there is no “team” to run things by (maybe another colleague, if you’re lucky). Everyone is pretty much figuring things out on their own.
Our mission is to connect with the global IB Economics community of learners and educators, empower them with tangible strategies that will enable them to build solid skills, and ultimately excel in what they are doing – whether it is teaching for the first time, wanting to collaborate and check-in with peers, looking for a top result on the IB Exam, or just interested in what else is out there.
All of this is possible thanks to the group of professionals that believe in the power of education, and ultimately wish to contribute to fostering creative, open-minded, reflective, and caring citizens of the world. Read below to find out who we are.
Brad Cartwright
Founder | Instructor
Brad Cartwright created this site in 2018. He was most likely making himself some mate on a Tuesday morning. For some odd reason, everything always seems to happen on a Tuesday in Chile. If you are wondering, mate is a South American - Andean tea, that is served in a gourd and sipped pretty much endlessly. (If you want to know more, click here)
Brad went to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he was a highly-competitive soccer athlete and double-majored in History and Public Policy. As he traveled through Europe and Asia playing sports, his curiosity about countries, cultures, people and stories started shaping his life and his purpose.
From traveling several months through Southeast Asia, to becoming a United States Peace Corps Volunteer, where he lived and worked in the developing community of Los Marranitos in the Dominican Republic, Brad’s understanding of the importance of education became pivotal for the rest of his career in education.
“The World is Our Classroom” is the lens through which Brad sets about his work as an educator. The impact of education lies in curiosity, in diversity, in discovering, in researching, and experience. The world and other people’s realities enhance our studies from textbooks.
Brad has worked in diverse school settings: The all-girls college preparatory school in Atlanta, Georgia, The Atlanta Girls’ School, the American Nicaraguan School in Managua, Nicaragua, and The International School Nido de Águilas in Santiago, Chile. His work includes serving as High School Principal in Nicaragua, leading curriculum strategic planning in all schools mentioned above, IB Economics teacher, Theory of Knowledge teacher, and Extended Essay Coordinator.
Currently he is living in Santiago, Chile—at least for now—and dedicates his time not only to IB Economics, but also modest simple things like: visiting the Pacific coast, carpentry, gardening, yoga, and planning his future beekeeping project.
Sofía Elizalde
Project Manager
A vital part of bradcartwright.com from its inception in 2018, Sofia’s insights, deft eye for design, and multicultural perspective pervade nearly every aspect of the project. At various times serving as a consultant, an editor, and a web designer, Sofia now serves as Project Manager where she oversees all aspects of design and long-term planning for the project.
An artist, a writer, and an actor by training, Sofia attended university in Santiago, Chile and at Oxford in the United Kingdom where she specialized in Shakespeare and Elizabethan theater. She obtained her Master’s in Theater in New York City in 2010. Upon her return to Chile, Sofia taught IB Theatre and Dance at the International School de Aguilas, the school where she herself was an IB student.
Apart from her work with bradcartwright.com, Sofia currently serves as the Assistant Director and Literary Manager at Zoco, the most prestigious theater company in Santiago. Her work includes researching, reading, analyzing, and selecting plays for the yearly theater productions. She is the co-creator of a university fellowship program for theater graduates in the areas of theater and stage design. She also continues her work as a certified yoga instructor in the Desikachar lineage of yoga–a lineage that focuses on individualized yoga practices for practitioners.
She currently lives in the mountains in the outskirts of Santiago, where you may find her hiking the hills in the early morning with her two beautiful dogs, reading, writing, or finishing off her yoga practice in the early evening hours.
Kurt Supplee
Instructor
Kurt joined bradcartwright.com in 2021 as an IB Workshop Instructor and colleague. He brings with him over 27 years of educational experience as a teacher and IB Examiner of IB Physics and IB Math, and most significantly as the IB Diploma Coordinator at the International School Nido de Águilas for the last five years.
Kurt holds an undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Education from the United States. His journey began at a small ski academy in Crested Butte, Colorado which set the foundation for his passion to connect with high school students both inside and outside of the classroom. After stops in California and Caracas, Venezuela, Kurt currently resides with his family in Santiago, Chile
A life-long outdoorsman, Kurt is happiest when out from under a roof, be it skiing, hiking, surfing, or just listening to the crackle of an early evening campfire.
Jennifer Mayes Kloepfer
Graphic Designer
Based out of Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States, Jennifer has served as a consultant and graphic designer for us since 2019. Jennifer is an experienced Environmental Graphic Designer who is passionate about art, design, and everything that falls in between. She is the creator and founder of design.jmk, a full environmental graphic design firm that provides creative solutions for brands, company identity, and custom illustrations.
Jennifer earned her degree from the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Art majoring in Industrial Design with a focus in Toy Design.
If you showed up at her house on the weekend you may find Jennifer in her backyard either gardening, beekeeping, collecting eggs from her chicken coop, and most certainly with her yerba mate and thermos nearby.