I work at the intersection of education policy, curriculum design, and emerging technology — with a singular conviction: that belonging is not a soft skill, it is the precondition for learning. I advocate for public schools in Berkeley and beyond to build systems worthy of every child they serve.
"Belonging is not a program you add. It is the architecture of the school itself — the hidden curriculum that determines whether a child's mind is open or closed before the lesson begins." — Ivi Kolasi
Learning happens when children feel seen, safe, and challenged — in that order. Everything else is implementation.
A child who does not see themselves in their school's walls, books, and people cannot fully learn. Belonging must be structural — woven into curriculum, staffing, and culture — not treated as a DEI add-on.
The CA Math Framework is a floor, not a ceiling. Every child deserves a math education that builds genuine reasoning — not just procedural compliance — with clear pathways to advanced work that don't foreclose options early.
Children growing up today will navigate AI-shaped systems their entire lives. AI literacy — including ethics, limits, and power — belongs in elementary school, not as a tech elective but as civic preparation.
Children's literature shapes identity before children can articulate why. Global characters, emotional complexity, and authentic representation in school and public libraries are not optional enrichment — they are foundational.
I spent fifteen years working on commercial strategy and go-to-market in infrastructure and technology — learning how systems get built, scaled, and changed. The same questions that drove that work drive my education work: how do you change something at scale, in a public institution, with real constraints?
I live in Berkeley, CA, where my children attend BUSD schools. What started as engagement became advocacy, and advocacy became a genuine intellectual project: understanding how public education works, where it fails, and what it would take to rebuild it in ways that actually serve every child.
I believe the most important design question in public education is not "what should we teach?" but "who do we believe can learn it?" Everything else follows from that.