About Us

Finding and developing the STEM potential in every student through consistent, continuous and captivating programming

Our Vision

Strive towards a future in which every student dares to pursue the education in STEM they dream of, and where everything is possible.

Our Mission

We aim to find and develop the STEM potential in every student.

Equity

Inclusion

Continuity

Consistency

Our Leadership

Zohreh Khoshnamak

Founder and CEO

Zohreh is a lifelong journalist and editor who has spent her career covering and fighting for social issues, especially those having to do with kids and women. She is deeply passionate about education and believes in the importance of ensuring that all children have equal opportunities to enhance their lives and build their futures.

Contact: khoshnamak@chrysalisdg.org

Babak Pirouz

CFO

Babak has extensive experience working in the financial and equity markets as well as working within the UN system and as a World Bank consultant designing projects, financial structure and supervising their implementation.

Contact: bpirouz@chrysalisdg.org

Chinmaobi Onwunli

Board Member

Chinmaobi is a Computer Engineer with over 16 years of software development, cybersecurity, data management and leadership experience – designing, developing, documenting and supporting enterprise applications and data warehouses for US federal agencies, institutions of higher education and various commercial industries. Chinmaobi is committed to life-long learning, community involvement, mentorship, and K-12 STEM program development.

Committed to Making a Difference

Chrysalis Development Group is committed to providing affordable, stimulating STEAM programming and opportunities to elementary school, middle school and high school students through interesting, fun, and engaging events as well as supporting them academically through after-school classes in math and programming.

Although Northern Virginia is rich in diversity, data shows that equity is still an issue and consistent challenge in the education of the youth in our region. While the problem is much more nuanced in larger school systems such as Fairfax and Arlington, it is much more pronounced in a smaller school system with a single high school such as Alexandria. To address this disparity, Chrysalis intends to get students interested and passionate about STEM early, help them academically, and give them the confidence to pursue it.

Partners

Meet our partners who help make it all possible!

Become a Chrysalis Partner Today!

How We Began

Chrysalis Development Group was born of one mother’s desire to expose her child to STEM. When she was unable to find classes that were interesting, affordable, and close by, she decided to do it herself. Over a couple of years, what started as a two-student adventure club expanded into a weekly science club meeting drawing in upwards of 100 students a week until it had to be paused because of COVID. Along with the weekly club meeting, the annual event, Spooky Mad Science Expo celebrating science and Halloween, was started eight years ago reaching around 500 attendees, the maximum feasible number considering that it was held in a community with limited space.

Now, the Chrysalis Development Group is going to make the annual event city-wide while targeting the West End specifically. Furthermore, we intend to apply the same approach to middle school students and high school freshmen and sophomores through interesting, fun, and engaging events as well as supporting them academically through after-school classes in math and programming, initially concentrating on the West End students. We also plan to establish robotics, droid, and cyber security competition teams in places where none exist today.