About Us
About Center for Thriving
Personalized professional learning that begins with understanding how educators thrive.
Center for Thriving is a coaching and professional learning organization grounded in the science of resilience, nervous system regulation, executive functioning, and sustainable well-being. We work with educators, school and district leaders, students, parents, and the wider communities that nurture human potential every day. Whether a single teacher seeking 1:1 coaching or an entire district navigating systemic burnout, our approach stays the same: meet people where they are, honor the complexity of their experience, and walk alongside them as they build lasting capacity for well-being.
Our platform brings that philosophy into a living, growing resource hub. Visitors can explore self-paced classes on nervous system regulation and related developmental pathways, browse a curated library of videos, articles, research, and guided practices, and engage with a podcast series built for educators who want to listen and learn on the go. We offer a personalized AI wellness guide, on-demand breathwork and meditation practice generators, and meal planning tools. A private community discussion board invites educators to share, reflect, and grow together between sessions.
For school and district leaders, we offer the Thriving Educator Map, a diagnostic assessment that translates the science of burnout and resilience into a personalized professional development pathway, alongside a systemic burnout assessment designed to surface where stress cascades are forming and how to interrupt them. In-person and virtual retreats, induction and mentoring support, yearlong cohort programs, and custom podcast production extend the work into the school year itself, turning insight into lasting habit and culture shift.
Center for Thriving is built and led by co-founders Todd Scholl and Jelena Popovic, who bring together backgrounds in education, coaching, and nervous-system-informed practice. Together, they designed this platform to make evidence-based, compassionate support accessible to the people who nurture human potential every day.
The People Behind the Work
Meet Todd & Jelena
Todd Scholl
Co-founder & Director
Todd Scholl is the Co-Founder and Director for the Center for Thriving. He previously served as Founder and Director of Wellness and Communications at The SCEA's Center for Educator Wellness & Learning (CEWL). He is the former Coordinator of Communications & Program Development at South Carolina's Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention & Advancement (CERRA). Todd is a 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher. He also spent over fifteen years in the classroom in Horry County and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia College where he teaches a course called Classroom Well-Being. Todd's passion is to empower educators with tools and information related to resilience, nervous system regulation, executive functioning, and sustainable well-being. Todd has facilitated hundreds of professional learning sessions for educators.
Through the Center for Thriving, Todd partners with individuals, schools, and districts to design coaching and professional learning that honors the complexity of the human experience and builds durable capacity for resilience.
Jelena Popovic
Co-founder & Director
Jelena Popovic is a Co-Founder and Director of the Center for Thriving and a lifelong advocate for the well-being of educators, students, and the communities that surround them. Her work weaves together school psychology, social-emotional learning, and trauma-informed care into practical, compassionate practice.
Jelena's approach is shaped by years of direct work with children, families, and school teams. She is a veteran school psychologist and author of Peace of Mind's Early Childhood curriculum. Jelena believes that thriving is not an individual achievement but a relational practice, something we cultivate together, moment by moment, in the everyday life of a classroom or community.
Jelena has guided numerous in-person and virtual retreats and workshops for educators, including Greenville County School District, Buncombe County Schools, Mindful Schools, Copper Beech Institute, and the international At Home In the World family retreats. She also provides individual executive functioning coaching for students, facilitates an Awakening Joy for Educators series, and serves as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia College where she teaches a course called Classroom Well-Being.
She previously served as a WholeSchool Mindfulness Director and designed and managed certification programs for Mindful Schools. At the Center for Thriving, Jelena leads coaching, curriculum, and program design that helps school communities build cultures of connection, regulation, and growth.