People

• San Francisco State University, MA Education
• Mills College, Teaching Credential Program
• University of Santa Barbara, BA Psychology

Elena joined LLA in 2021, as the Chief Academic Officer. She is an educator with over 15 years experience in the Bay Area, and has been a teacher, an instructional coach, and an administrator. Elena enjoys supporting students and teachers in creating dynamic learning environments, where students are inspired and encouraged to dream big and set meaningful goals. She adds, “I believe it is our job as educators to help students set goals and then build on their skill sets in order to meet those goals. Nothing is more powerful or satisfying than empowering students to have ownership of their learning environments.”

Why I Teach at LLA

As a child, I was educated in an environment that had a clear vision for education that prioritized building relationships, experiential learning, and fostered critical thinking skills. In that environment I was able to really develop my academic identity, relationship building and problem-solving skills, and building strong relationships. The lessons I learned at my elementary school I still put into practice today. I see the same dedication to educating the whole child at LLA and I am thrilled to join the LLA community because of this commitment to providing students with a comprehensive education that allows students to thrive. I am excited to help design learning experiences and foster skills that allow the LLA students to realize their potential and foster a love of learning. I feel lucky to work with such a dedicated team of staff and students who really believe in the power of community and change.

• Academy of Art University in San Francisco, MFA

Since 2003 Reza's paintings have been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Iran and the United States of America. He was accepted for the Annual Homa Art Gallery’s group show “Selected of the New Generation” in 2006 Tehran, Iran and the 18TH Annual "New Generations" group show at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, United States of America in 2014. He has been accepted to the Society of Iranian Painters (SIP), Oil Painters of America (OPA), California Art Club (CAC), and Bay Area Arts Group.

Why I Teach at LLA

I have extensive teaching experience in all levels of painting and drawing, from high school to college, since 2007. I like the culture and the mission of Life Learning Academy and this is one of the key reasons which made me think about teaching visual arts here.

Kelly Baker has been at Life Learning Academy since 2017. She supports both the School and Development Program as Director of Administration and Operations. Kelly attended the University of Oregon where she was a sociology major. Kelly is new to the Bay Area having moved recently from Arizona, where she worked for a practice of orthopedic surgeons.  She enjoys working in the school environment, especially LLA, where the unique education model supports the individual challenges their student population has.

Email Kelly

• BA Religion – Whitman College
• Teaching Credential – Cal State University, East Bay

I began working at Life Learning Academy in 2019. I was born and raised in Oakland where I still live. I have taught at all kinds of schools in Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco, San Lorenzo, and the Dominican Republic. I love working with students of all ages, from preschoolers to high school seniors and beyond. I love supporting high school students enrolled in college classes as I'm inspired by anyone who is committed to their learning. I have a particular interest in history, anthropology, writing, music, languages, drama and puppets.

Why I Teach at LLA

As a student in my youth and as a teacher in my professional life, I struggled to find a community in which I felt like I fit. I had read about LLA in the Chronicle and knew it was a special place, but I didn't know just how special until I began working here and passed under the words "Welcome To Change" emblazoned on the front entryway. I was ready to welcome a change in my own life, but more than that, I wanted to be in a place that embraces, encourages, and teaches the transformational value of change. What LLA teachers and administrators do for the students every day is astounding. The faculty and staff at LLA treat students and each other with the compassion, patience and love that I missed at practically every other school. To me, teaching lifelong learning requires much more than just instruction in skills and knowledge- to become lifelong learners, students must feel safe and honored in their own identities, celebrated for their successes, cared for, worthy, and loved. I am equally overjoyed and proud to teach at LLA.

• Two year interpersonal communications and liberal arts curriculum through the Delancey Street Foundation.

I worked for four years full-time in the accounting department and accounts payable for the Market On Market while working part-time at Life Learning Academy in the dorm. I’ve since come to work full-time at Life Learning Academy. I’ve grown to love being part of this community!

Why I Teach at LLA

It has been an amazing opportunity for me to become part of this incredible community and family that we have here at LLA! The opportunities are endless.

• Master in Public Health - San Francisco State University
• Master of Science in Behavioral Health - University of San Francisco
• Bachelors in Psychology - University of California, Los Angeles

Originally from a small town in Southern California, I moved to the Bay Area in 2017 to complete my graduate studies. I received my Masters in Behavioral Health, and my Masters in Public Health, with a focus on Community Health Education. I previously worked at SF State, where I developed health education materials, facilitated workshops, and planned health promotion events for the SF State community. My personal, professional, and academic experience continues to drive my passion to further explore the power that education, information, and support has on how individuals and communities can succeed.

Why I Teach at LLA

Schools and classrooms are a unique space to foster connections, learn from each other, and build support with others. LLA creates this environment and more. My time here has allowed me to support students with gaining knowledge and skills in making decisions that have a positive impact on their health. It’s amazing to know that our youth have a space where they can ask questions, access information, and feel supported so that they aren’t ill-equipped to navigate life’s challenges. I am grateful to be a part of this space and with this staff.

• California Preliminary Credential: Educational Specialist - Multi-subject
• Masters of Science and Technology Policy - ASU
• Bachelor of Arts, Innovation in Society - Arizona State

During my time at Arizona State, I found every opportunity I could to be involved in empowering young learners - from running advocacy clubs on campus to interning at a school abroad. I also worked my way up from a research fellow to the Lead Curriculum Designer and Community Architect for an educational technology company that focused on producing games and a "connected-growth platform". I utilized this platform to design my own curriculum in youth advocacy for my honors thesis and unpacked the data around one of California's leading human trafficking prevention curriculums for my graduate thesis. Upon graduation I joined Teach for America and moved to Los Angeles to earn my teaching certificate while working in a local underserved school. While LA was great, I decided to move to San Francisco, where I joined LLA in 2023.

Why I Teach at LLA

Growing up, all of my teachers fostered my leadership and voice, helping me become someone I never imagined I could be. LLA provides me the opportunity to take after the educators I regard so highly and continue encouraging a life-long love of learning in others. While I may not have similar histories or background to many students, I am here for them to know that they are seen, heard, and valued - to encourage them to achieve and do all that they are meant to in this world. I can tell that there is so much good in everyone here because the sense of community I feel at LLA is one that I have rarely felt before. I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to be part of something with such amazing people all around.

• BA Philosophy and Economics — Amherst College
• MA Education — Stanford University
• BA Philosophy and Economics — Amherst College

I was born and raised in the Bay. After college, I joined Americorps, where I helped run an after school program in San Jose. I found that working with young people is an incredibly cool experience. Young people are not just the future; they are the present and the past too. They are life, embodied. I started my teaching career at a continuation school in Oakland. I love the challenge of making math fun and approachable, but also rigorous, particularly for students who have bad experiences with math or who have gaps in their math knowledge.

Why I Teach at LLA

When I was teaching at other schools, I often felt demoralized. So many systemic barriers stood between students and their success. My colleagues and I could not break down those barriers on our own, so all we could tangibly offer was a warm, listening ear. LLA was founded upon breaking down those barriers. There’s food, there’s housing, there’s job training, there’s structure. With this tangible support, students can be themselves, be present, and be hopeful about their future. I am proud to work at a school that is so wholeheartedly committed to its students.

• BS: Plant Sciences: Colorado State University
• Professional Educator’s License: Biology, Health, Environmental Sciences, & Agricultural Sciences: Northeastern Illinois University

My teaching career began by growing food for my local community. While working at a community ranch and garden on the Colorado front range, I had the opportunity to hold an ecology and agriculture science class for the kids who lived on the ranch. While working with the kids, I began to realize the most valuable things we were growing were community and genuine curiosity. My passion to teach continued as I got to host a variety of educational seminars and programs while working at a nursery and greenhouse in Fort Collins. When I decided to commit myself to education, I returned to my home city of Chicago. In Chicago I got to teach personal health and lifestyle wellness while instructing classes at a gym that focuses on individual health choices and lifestyle harmony. Meanwhile, I was volunteering at the Wildlife Discovery Center, where I worked my way up to the hired position of Educational Director. As the Educational Director at the Wildlife Discovery Center, I got to develop educational camp programs that focus on the conservation and rehabilitation work done at the Wildlife Discovery Center. While in school at NEIU, I was able to student-teach at two alternative high schools in Chicago Public Schools. I continue to grow as a teacher and as a person with the great teachers I have gotten to know in Chicago Public Schools. Upon completion of my program at NEIU, I moved to the bay to teach at LLA!

Why I Teach at LLA

Every staff member I have met at LLA expresses a genuine passion for their work and a genuine compassion for their fellow staff. I have found that people who express these two qualities know the value they are bringing to the world and feel valued as a person. That is the kind of team that I want to be a part of.

When I first visited LLA, I saw students planting a garden and painting murals on the walls. The students were actively learning and proud to be leaving their learning legacy on the school. Life Learning Academy teaches life-improving skills. Life Learning Academy is itself a living and growing learning environment. I want to work in a growth-mindset environment. I want to work with a team that knows the value they are bringing to the world and is grateful for the opportunity to do so. That is why I have chosen to teach at Life Learning Academy.

• B.A. Political Science - San Francisco State University
• M.P.S. Candidate - San Francisco State University

Elizabeth joined LLA in 2021 as a teacher and, as of 2023, is the Director of Alumni Services and the Community Schools Liaison. With a degree in Political Science from San Francisco State University, she honed her passion for civic engagement and social movements. Her Master's degree delves into the heart of civic discourse. Elizabeth enjoys cultivating an environment where students flourish and actively participate at LLA and beyond. We collaboratively empower the future leaders of our vibrant communities.

Why I Teach at LLA

I work at LLA because it's a place where my passion for civic engagement and education align perfectly. With a commitment to fostering student growth, I enjoy creating spaces where students thrive and become active participants in their communities. LLA shares my vision for empowering our community, allowing me to make a meaningful contribution.

• San Francisco City College

“Change the way you see things, and the things you see will change.”

As a graduate of the Delancey Street Foundation, I am a firm believer that every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be.

Why I Work at LLA

Having an employer say to me that in all her years in working with student interns, our student from Life Learning Academy who recently worked with her during the Fall Semester, had shown the most improvement of any student that she had worked wiith and really benefited from her mentorship. And this is why she does what she does, by offering internships to youth, particularly underserved youth. It made me feel very proud to be a part of that particular youth’s work experience.

• Professional mechanic in bicycle repair shops and community education programs

I discovered the joys of bicycles while participating at a community bike program called Bicis del Pueblo when I was in middle school. Through that program I was able to get an apprenticeship at a bike repair shop when I was in high school and really develop my skills as a mechanic. After a few years working at the bike shop I returned to Bicis del Pueblo to support their open wrench nights, bike rides, and youth program. Having been a participant first, mechanic, then program lead, I have been fortunate to experience the different aspects of working with bicycles.

Why I Work at LLA

I discovered fulfillment through my experience with bicycles. Newfound self reliance when getting around the city and self sufficiency from learning to repair my bicycle were important healthy outlets for me growing up. I'm happy to now be able to share those things with youth.

• BA History - Cornell College
• EdM Education - Harvard Grad School of Education
• Human Relations Training Program graduate - General Electric
• Teaching Credential and Outstanding Student Teacher Award - University of San Francisco

Prior to becoming a teacher, I worked in Pennsylvania and New York for General Electric. As an HR member, I recruited engineers for the Transportation Division and overseas assignments. I transferred and worked in the Nuclear Division in San Jose. I then was hired by Raychem Corp to create their foundation and develop the Community Relations dept. Years later, I decided to become a teacher and earned multiple subject and single subject credentials for math. I've taught elementary, middle and high school and served as an adjunct professor at USF in the Teacher Education department..

Why I Work at LLA

I choose to work at LLA because it was started by people who know the value of second, third and innumerable chances for students who have been made to believe that they are not capable of learning. LLA challenges students to have dreams and provides the love and structure needed to attain them. LLA provides the tough love that will not allow a student to internalize the negative messages that they were told at other schools. LLA knows that everyone has worth!

• College of San Mateo

I am a Graduate from the Delancey Street Foundation where I spent 13 years developing the best of myself working my way up to become the Administrative Assistant and Personal Secretary for the President, Dr. Mimi Silbert.  Throughout those years I learned every skill that is needed to run an office of a busy executive from keeping her calendar, making travel arrangements and setting up meetings to with CEO’s of large Corporations as well as facilitate meetings with dignitaries in Congress and the White House.  Along with my primary duties in the office, I worked in many of the Delancey Street training schools that ranged from the Crossroads Café and Delancey Street Restaurant to our intake department and interviewing of new residents.  Along with the work I did in the office, I learned how to become a counselor who has both the warmth and empathy to feel what others feel and with the ability to provide a kind strictness that allowed others to fix the things that work against them.

Upon graduation of Delancey Street, I was fortunate enough to work with those in the Criminal Justice field where I ran a drug and alcohol program for 4 years that was within the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City, Ca.  I used my skills as a counselor to deal with the behavior of those who were incarcerated and who wanted to change by learning that if they change their habits and behaviors that would help them internalize within to become productive members of society.

Why I work at LLA

When LLA reached out asking if I would be interested in working at LLA, without hesitation and not knowing what this entailed, I said yes.  I felt that this was an opportunity to help and give back what was given to me. I believe that a student’s job is to get the best education possible and by helping those students who may have slipped through the cracks of the larger schools by giving them the support need in a home where they feel safe, feel supported and get an opportunity to thrive.

• University of San Francisco, B.A. Politics

Matt joined the LLA community in 2022 as a member of the school’s student support team and academic assistance program. Now, he is Coordinator of Academic Advising, helping students achieve their full potential in the classroom. As a Bay Area native, Matt has had the opportunity to attend both high school and college in San Francisco. He enjoys being able to work with students from diverse backgrounds to achieve their goals.

Why I work at LLA

Growing up in a household that stressed the importance of education, I have learned invaluable lessons both academically and professionally. LLA offers me the space to not only help young people across the Bay Area meet their educational goals, but also to pass along invaluable life experiences that transcend the classroom setting. In my time here, I have had the space to work with an amazing community of staff and students that are dedicated to learning, collaborating and striving for success.

• BA in History - Eastern Nazarene College
• Ma Secondary Education - Eastern Nazarene College

Morgan values exploring the complexities of history with her students and helping develop their critical analysis skills while operating through an anti-racist lens.

Why I Teach at LLA

I work at LLA because I believe the world needs more community!

• Saint Mary's College of California, M.A 21st Century Leadership
• Howard University, B.A. Advertising
• Root To Bloom, A Healing and Transformative Service for Community Providers, Season 3

I began my career in youth development in central California in 2014. As an intern at Yosemite Church for the Next GEN Ministries, a program leader for Young Life, and as an elementary classroom instructor at Building Young Leaders, an educational enrichment center for home schooled children. While gaining experience in the youth based direct service field, in my personal time I wrote a nonfiction book that was published in 2017. From there, I moved back to the Bay Area where I am from and grew up, to work as a literacy intervention program leader for Girls Inc. of Alameda County. Following this, I worked at Community Youth Center (CYC) for three years as the Bayview Youth Advocates (BYA) program coordinator. I came to Life Learning Academy in 2022.

Why I Teach at LLA

I want to prove to disinvested youth to expect that opportunity knocks for them too! Belonging and protection are values I uplift for myself and others every day. My goal is to welcome youth to a life changing environment that will catapult them into a path of success where they steer themselves into the positive risks taken and opportunities sought, by knowing how and where to look for them. I want to support youth to be optimistic about their futures as leaders on their unique paths. My motto is #BeWillingToGrow.

• B.A. English, University of Massachusetts

Adam moved from Boston, Mass to San Francisco in the summer of 2000 to pursue a career in the music industry as a recording/performing artist. Fate intervened and brought him to the Delancey Street Foundation where the founder, Mimi Silbert, offered him an opportunity at a then Delancey program, the Life Learning Academy. Adam began teaching American Literature, and Music Appreciation and Entrepreneurship. His current administrative position as Student Affairs Director has him working closely with the students who continue to inspire him. Adam still writes and records music, and has released five studio albums. 

Why I Teach at LLA

I attended a field trip with about 25 LLA students to a digital arts college in Berkeley. We had two students on the trip who were from rival territories in San Francisco. Soon after the tour of the facility began, we started to sense tension between the two. I grabbed one of the students and took him back to my car. We left the facility and began driving home. During the ride, the student expressed to me all the frustration he was feeling. He explained that he wanted to make something of his life, and that it would be difficult for him to separate from the street life he grew up around and was so familiar with. He was still in defense mode from what had happened on the trip and I could feel him getting angrier and angrier, unable to let go of his inner turmoil as we traveled over the Bay Bridge and made our way back to Treasure Island. Suddenly I realized that I hadn’t come prepared with enough money to pay the tolls. I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to pay a steep penalty. But given that my student was still in the throws of emotion, I didn’t bring up the dilemma in conversation. Just as we approached the tollbooth, he became apparent to him that I didn’t have the proper amount. This student, who did not have much money himself; a 15 year old fighting deep internal conflict, in the blood boiling aftermath of a near confrontation minutes earlier, reached into his pocket and gave me the money for the toll. He told me not to worry, that he just didn’t want me to have to pay a penalty. It reminded me of who hides under these tortured exteriors…underneath the disillusionment; the scowls, the paranoia and strong defenses are loyal, thoughtful, compassionate teens that have simply lost their way. It has affected and informed my approach to Life Learning students ever since.