Community

Adam is self-taught with 10+ years of experience. He started his journey building the tech community in Madison, WI before becoming an instructor at General Assembly. Adam believes Make School is an important part of the solution to a broken system of Higher Education. In addition to JavaScript and Python, he is fluent in or can read Spanish, German, Ancient Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and French.

Adriana has previously been an iOS developer and CTO of a startup. She’s been building projects in teams of all sizes since 2014. Adriana is at Make School because she loves contributing to a major change in higher education - making it accessible for everyone.

Anne holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics and started her career as a CS Professor at Colorado Mesa University. After years of teaching at a traditional college, she moved to San Francisco to work as a software engineer, then help start Dev Bootcamp, and build internal technical training for software engineers. Anne is passionate about empowering students to build the software of today and change the world of tomorrow.

Alan holds a BS and MS in Computer Science focusing on AI, ML, and NLP. I left academia because I wanted to build products, but knew I'd eventually become a teacher. He worked as a software engineer at Twilio, then as an early employee at Leap Motion where he designed the real-time hand motion tracking API used by 50k+ developers. He loves seeing ideas click in students’ minds.

Celisse holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Higher Education. She has been working in higher ed for 10+ years in residence life, first year experience, student activities, and student government most recently at Whitworth University. She is excited that Make School is dedicated to giving students an innovative educational learning experience where they can thrive.

Dan is an author, award-winning entrepreneur, and growth marketer. Throughout his 10+ years of experience he has been on the lead team of a Venture Capital fund, led programming at a civic education nonprofit, started a youth urban agriculture program, and has grown a user base by 300k. Dan gets excited by students feeling able to change the world.

Dani wrote her first BASIC program at age five. Since then she has had experience as a Senior Systems Engineer, CTO with clients like IMAX and the NFL, CTO with patented software used by products like Twitch, and an instructor for UC Berkeley Extension. Her mission is to inspire others to build the innovations of the future.

Elizabeth started her career working at a project-based entrepreneurship non-profit serving K-8 students before moving on to lead student programming at UC Berkeley. She then transitioned to edtech as a Product Manager for higher ed tools at Cengage. Elizabeth is empowered to provide opportunity to the modern learner and values putting students at the center of the system.

Ian’s experience includes curriculum building at UC Berkeley, product building for companies like HBO and Disney, and launching products in the tech industry. Throughout college, Ian struggled to find mentorship opportunities for his practical product goals. This is the core Make School is built on, and he is driven to continue executing on this vision.

Jeff has experience as a tech recruiter at Microsoft, specializing in recruiting talent from colleges other than Ivy League schools. He also led the tech and startups career coaching at Stanford's Career Center, developing partnerships with employers and coaching students on their careers. Jeff is passionate about helping students land jobs that help them change their lives.

Jen holds a BA in English and an MA in Theater & Community. Their career began as a Gallerist and Executive Director, which included developing arts programs in juvenile detention centers in Flint, MI. In 2012, their career moved to education - as program manager at CCA and SFAI. Jen loves ensuring students have the administrative support they need to matriculate.

Jessamyn’s experience has been in teaching computer science fundamentals to people new to CS through outreach events. She has a strong interest in broadening participation in computing of underrepresented groups - focusing on healthcare, machine learning, and interface development applications. Jessamyn is passionate about making computer science more accessible.

Lauren's background in counseling and social work includes over 10 years of working in high schools, clinics, college access, and experiential education programs. She's worked primarily with students, and has received training in a range of therapeutic modalities, from CBT to somatics to psychodrama (it's as fun as it sounds). She's worked in settings where students are pushed to perform beyond what they think is possible, and it's been her job to be a polished mirror, to partner with and help them remember who they are. She has her B.A. in Psychology from Skidmore College, M.S.W from Hunter College, is a registered yoga teacher, and an avid meditator and dancer.

Lisa earned an M.A. in Counseling Psychology/Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of San Francisco and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Irvine. She has over 10 years of experience working with adolescents and transitional aged youth in diverse nonprofit, community, and school settings. Her favorite part about working at Make School is being part of a team that's changing the way students receive an education. She loves being able to work directly with students and supporting them in realizing their full potential for success.

Megan holds a BA in Psychology & Business Admin and an MA in Educational Admin & Leadership with an emphasis in Student Affairs. She has been published in Huffington Post & Inc on job-search best practices. She has worked in university admissions, residential life, career counseling, HR, and recruiting. Megan loves helping students to be successful.

Meredith earned her BS in Computer Science from Harvey Mudd before joining Google as a frontend software engineer. While at Google, she worked on the AdWords and Google Analytics platforms. After leaving, Meredith worked as a private tutor, and as an instructor for Girls Who Code. She enjoys helping students bring their interests and passions to the classroom.

Michelle holds a PhD in Law and Public Policy and an MA in Higher Education Admin. She has worked in higher education for 10+ years, specializing in student affairs and education policy at Abilene Christian University, Pepperdine University, and recently at MIT. She is inspired that Make School is dedicated to developing highly-skilled software engineers who can change tech.

Milad holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and has worked for four years in the tech industry as a Data Scientist and mentor at Data Science Career Track on Springboard. He loves to convey his expertise in Data Science to students with very practical applications and real-world problems.

Mitchell is self-taught and has worked freelance for various large and small companies in the Bay Area and around the world. His teaching experience has been as an adjunct and staff faculty in higher education. Mitchell believes that changing education is a great way to create positive change in the world.