Parul is passionate about creating impact through education, technology and policy. Before Springboard, she spent a decade doing cool research and community service in equal measure, and was named by MIT Technology Review India as a Top Innovator under 35.

Fun Fact: Smitten by the Terminator series as a child, she decided to get a graduate degree for Arnold's autograph! (You almost believed it, didn't you?)

Learning Now: Intricacies of Education, and Startups.

Coming from a family of educators, Gautam is passionate about enabling people to realize their full potential through lifelong learning and mentorship. He is an avid traveler, an outdoors enthusiast, and an amateur mixologist.

Fun Fact: Gautam has slept in a tent on all seven continents.

Learning Now: Improv comedy

Personal growth is at the core of Adrian’s identity. Born and raised near Toronto, Canada, he came to the US as a college baseball recruit. In high school, he learned mindfulness meditation as a tool to quiet his mind in the batter’s box, and the self-development bug outlived his athletic career. He’s channeled his competitive spirit towards solving business problems, deepened his meditation practice, and even taught himself to cut hair as a side-hustle. He believes awareness and empathy are the seeds of a meaningful life and loves exploring nature, playing Settlers of Catan, and the first bite of a fresh bagel.

Fun Fact: Adrian has synesthesia, a condition in which one’s senses are blended. For him, this manifests as seeing colors when listening to music and associating every letter and number with a specific color.

Currently Learning: Sourdough breadmaking, sleep optimization, Eastern philosophy.

He loves participating in hackathons and has won a few. In his free time, he read articles and watches videos related to science, more specifically related to mathematics, astrophysics, biology and computer technology. He finds peace in nature, mountains/hills and watching stars in the night sky and he misses having fun chasing fireflies “Jugnoo” and butterflies in his village in U.P, India. He has fond memories of growing up in Ahmedabad, a metro city of Gujarat, India and would love to visit it again, to see how much it has changed.

Fun Fact: Went to a hackathon and played foosball all night, playing it for 4-5 hours straight. Also, he is immune to spoilers.

Currently Learning: Golang, reinforcement learning and how to play Rocket League

Allison is a native Midwesterner (Kansas) and has lived all over the US. She's currently living in one of the oldest towns in the United States (Portsmouth, NH) and can't get enough of the historical sites! She's also an avid runner and loves being on the water. She is a strong advocate of lifelong learning and is constantly looking for new things to learn at work and at home! She has been honing her skills in technical recruiting, career coaching, and talent strategy over the past 8+ years. To this day, she believe’s the best part of her job is getting to meet new people from all over the world and learn more about their lives, experiences and career aspirations. She strives to continually evolve and to be a constructive + empathic colleague and coach.

Fun Fact: She apprenticed a pastry chef from Nice, France all through college. She's also a major Masterpiece Classics fan and can't get enough of British literary dramas.

Learning Now: Wordpress, guitar & experimenting with spice/flavor combinations (You are what you eat!)

Andy, true to leading-edge Millenial patterns (well, ok, late gen X...) is on his fifth discreet career and is thrilled to have joined Springboard in May 2018. A former academic, chef, and tour guide, Andy loves contributing to individuals' education in a setting with food- and travel-crazed co-workers.

Fun Fact: Andy got tired of waiting in line for some of San Francisco's best bread, so taught himself to make a solid facsimile of Tartine's Country Loaf. In that process, he recipe tested for Josy Baker of The Mill for which is very grateful - his bread is that much better now!

Currently Learning: Bread baking is a true Kaizen process that is never mastered, every loaf teaches something new. Currently learning how to make latte art, still at the "lame" phase.

Anshul grew up in New Delhi and honed his chops at 3 e-commerce companies before joining Springboard. If you're interested in distributed/parallel systems, software-design, big data or upcoming storage technologies, you can trust him to find you in a crowded room. Other than this, he spends his free time on TV, Quora and gulping down food he has never tried before.

Fun Fact: Anshul can sleep for more than 24 hours straight

Learning Now: Blogging, Cooking, Table tennis :D

Anuj is a passionate, language-agnostic backend engineer. If there is a new language required to be learnt, he is likely to be among the most enthusiastic people. He also loves discussing about distributing systems and scalability problems.

Fun Fact: Anuj has worked on 7+ programming languages in a career of four and half years. He proclaims to be the best Table Tennis player in the company.

Currently Learning: Flute, Date Science

Ben always struggled to answer the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. After a childhood spent acting and playing the piano and saxophone, he shifted from the arts to STEM by pursuing degrees in mathematics and molecular neurobiology. After university he dabbled in investment research for a few years before pivoting into the world of data science. He finds almost every subject interesting, and believes that lifelong learning is the key to staying happy. At Springboard, Ben is thrilled to have found a community of motivated, intelligent learners and doers who aim for the intersection of curiosity and impact.

Fun Fact: Ben was homeschooled all throughout primary and secondary school, which makes him the poster child of alternative personalized education! He thinks he turned out alright.

Learning Now: Hiphop and salsa dancing, relational database theory, machine learning

A dual citizen of Germany and the U.S., Catherina is passionate about international education and ways in which technology can be used in responsible and meaningful ways within this area. Catherina strongly believes in lifelong learning, and her steadfast hobbies include photography, travel, and anything active outdoors.

Fun Fact: Catherina loves an adrenaline rush. During a four-month stint in Cape Town, South Africa, she went bungee jumping, skydiving, and shark cage diving.

Learning Now: Rock climbing, pottery, and wilderness first aid

Cooper was born and raised in the small town of Prescott, AZ, where he developed a passion for entrepreneurship from his parents at an early age. He's had a hand in founding 3 companies, and still operates his first business, a photography company, in his spare time. Cooper's curiosity and passion for learning have guided him to 16 countries around the world where he's studied everything from Arabic to economics to environmental sustainability. His work as an ESL teacher and youth basketball coach in college and his experience as a Venture for America fellow in Baltimore helped guide him to Springboard, which presented an ideal fusion of his interests in education and entrepreneurship. Cooper also loves basketball (maybe a little too much), sunny days spent outdoors, and the pursuit of the perfect plate of Pad Thai.

Fun Fact: Cooper once spent a month working on a green tea farm in South Korea where he learned the process of cultivating tea from start to finish. Despite this, he still prefers coffee.

Currently Learning: Graphic design, the best budgeting strategies, and guitar.

Whether teaching Psychology and Sociology as an adjunct professor, advising students throughout the college admissions process, or leading a school choice program for the New York City Department of Education, Dave has always loved to help students discover their passion and become the best version of themselves. He deeply believes that life is a constant journey of learning opportunities, and the more we learn and grow, the closer we become to our own unique self-actualization. Dave also loves road trips, late night poker with friends, and pistachio gelato.

Fun Fact: Dave thrives in sunny weather but can't sleep without the air conditioner on full blast.

Currently Learning: Photography, how to drive stick shift on the hills of San Francisco, and stock market investing.

Deep is a self taught programmer. He loves learning about technologies, attending Python meetups and contributing to open source projects such as Django Girls. Lately he's been obsessed with automation and likes to automate every possible mundane part of his day to day life. Besides technology, he loves to read about startup ecosystem.

Fun Fact: Deep is a qualified Chartered Accountant and featured in Oct '13 edition of International Students magazine, ACCA. He was once training towards becoming a Tae-kwon-do professional and had won a few district level fights.

Learning now: Currently spends his free time on learning web development with Python/Django and contributing to DjangoGirls.

Dharma is passionate about building distributed software systems and using technology to solve effective learning and skill development. He enjoys debugging complex issues and bringing structure to chaotic situations. He has spent 11 years in building networking software before switching to consumer web applications.

Fun Fact: Dharma is a big fan of Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, especially Spoc and Data.

Learning Now: Machine Learning 

For as long as she can remember, Eliza has kept detailed notes of her experiences, observations, and adventures. She'll often find scraps of paper covered in silly poems buried deep in her pockets and purses. Her career as a writer has led her to exhibition openings, backstage events, and — most recently — into the world of education. Eliza firmly believes in lifelong learning and that almost anything can be accomplished when approached with compassion and empathy. When she's not writing or editing, Eliza spends her time scuba diving, hiking, and rock climbing. She's backpacked through 27 countries and has purchased collections of folktales from almost every place she's visited.

Fun Fact: Eliza worked underwater 5 days a week for 4 months while monitoring the health of the Mesoamerican Reef. If she could live underwater, she would.

Currently Learning: Ukulele, Spanish, and how to make the perfect empanada

Originally from Asheville, NC, Eric loves enabling people to follow their passions and chase their dreams! Outside of work, Eric is a life-long soccer player and enjoys skiing, music, travel, and basically anything outdoors.

Fun Fact: Eric is a certified scuba Divemaster and has seen 2 whale sharks in open water

Learning Now: Guitar

Eva-Marie is a West of Ireland native with a passion for using tech for good. She is a curious conversationalist who loves to connect with everyone who crosses her path. Her journey to date includes founding an education based nonprofit in India, working for the Irish Government in Silicon Valley and most recently going to grad school in Indiana. She is dedicated to solving complex social problems and helping all people get access to opportunities to improve their lives.

Fun Fact: Eva-Marie loves musical theatre and used to be a piano teacher.

Learning Now: Startups, photography and personality profiling

Indrajit is passionate about programming and technology - and is looking to apply them to solve real world problems! He loves to swim, watch movies & drive on the beautiful highways of India! He's a die-hard Chelsea fan, casual Dota player (rtindru) and seasonal poet!

Fun Fact: Indrajit developed his love for football & beer, while living in Germany!

Learning Now: Machine Learning & Piano.

Jade has always been curious about how the world works and enjoys looking through the perspectives of different disciplines to better understand this broad, perplexing topic. She values education as an important friend to have in all stages of life, whether it be in her own life or in others'. To provide some examples, Jade obtained her MSc in Environmental Psychology and before joining Springboard, was a preschool teacher. In her free time, she enjoys spending her hours adventuring outdoors, mainly through trail running and biking, as well as placing googley eyes in public places.

Fun Fact: Jade biked from Connecticut to California in support of affordable housing throughout the country.

Currently Learning: Capoeira, where to get the best Boba, how to prevent sports injuries

Jayant is a front-end geek with a passion for the arts.

When he isn’t 'inspecting elements' - you will find him rehearsing for street plays and composing hindi poems. He also has a keen interest in marketing and has his helped friends get their startups off the ground while in college.

Learning now: Screenplay writing and AngularJS.

Jess worked as a writer, editor, and college instructor before joining Springboard. She believes in supporting students in their education journeys as much as she believes in fostering human connection. A sun worshipper, her original hometown - Sedona, Arizona - is her favorite place on Earth, with San Francisco as a close second. She finds beauty and meaning everywhere (and then writes poetry about it).

Fun Fact: In college, Jess instituted a day for computer science majors in her dorm to practice communicating with new people on topics outside of tech/gaming/etc. (One student gave a speech, years later, saying how that day changed his life!)

Currently Learning: Arabic, Buddhist wisdom, mutual aid

Jinal is originally from Mumbai and has moved to Bangalore only in 2017. She is passionate about learning new technologies and Automation. Besides technology, she loves music especially Indian classical forms. In her leisure, she enjoys playing board games.

Fun Fact: Jinal has seen all 10 seasons of F.R.I.E.N.D.S almost 4 times now but cannot decide who her favourite character is!

Learning Now: Hindustani Classical music and Yoga

Jonah is originally from England and moved to California 3 years ago. He is passionate about learning, with a focused desire to help people better themselves and their careers through a relevant education. He loves music, photography and cooking and looks forward to teaching his daughter how to cook good food!

Fun Fact: Jonah loves road-tripping America, and so far has driven 26 states with his wife.

Currently Learning: To cook Korean food

Jonathan is an avid believer in the power of education to change lives and propel broad-scale social change and has dedicated his career to proving it. He’s passionate about teaching, learning and creating new things, and over the last 15 years he has taught courses in 3 different continents and launched multiple companies, products and services. Jonathan is also a trained lawyer and a part-time lecturer at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. When not working, he enjoys cooking and reading books to his two kids.

Fun Fact: Jonathan will try to eat almost anything, except bananas.

Learning Now: The intricacies of making food that dults would enjoy eating and kids will agree to try

Originally from Colombia, Juan David is a growth marketer with over 7 years of experience in digital marketing and user growth. His passion for working in disruptive organizations led him to join Springboard and work towards bridging the world's skills gap. His hobbies include options and derivatives investing. He also loves reading about behavioral finance and Machine Learning.

Fun Fact: Juan David's favorite TV show is Silicon Valley.

Currently Learning: Machine Learning

A California native, Julia loves spending time outdoors and finding the best spots for crème br?lée. Driven by a passion for community, she loves bringing people together with food, experimenting new recipes on friends. When she isn’t cooking for friends you can find her wine tasting or out enjoying the sunshine.

Fun Fact: She collects pressed pennies from most of the places she's traveled to, if they are available.

Learning Now: The stock market and investing, how to make the perfect grilled cheese

A Bay Area native, Julio is passionate about helping others find their true calling in life. He enjoys learning about many different subjects, including history, psychology, and philosophy. Some of his favorite activities include pick-up basketball, hiking, cooking, and volunteering. When Julio has some downtime, he spends it catching up with family or having a dance party with his 2-year-old nephew - 90's and early 2000's hip-hop keeps on spinning!

Fun Fact: Julio enjoys seeking out great food, and aims to try one new restaurant per month.

Currently Learning: Cyber Security

Katherine is a recent California transplant originally from New Hampshire. She has advised students in higher education and has a passion for helping students achieve their academic goals. In her free time, she enjoys reading, travel, and exploring the outdoors.

Fun Fact: She is a Harry Potter fanatic and was sorted into Gryffindor

Learning Now: Surfing and cooking

Born and raised in New York City, Katie loves meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures. This has inspired a love of travel and a passion for how technology and education can connect people all over the world and help to make it a better place. Katie is deeply invested in her lifelong pursuit of learning, which inspires many of her hobbies including hiking, reading, listening to podcasts, and cooking.

Fun Fact: One of Katie’s favorite things is exploring bookstores. This means that whenever she is somewhere new, she will make a point of visiting whatever the local bookstores are (her favorite is the Strand in NYC).

Learning Now: Rock climbing, scuba diving, and where to find the best ice cream around San Francisco

Kim is passionate about the power of education to transform lives and believes in using human connections to bring education to life. She has dedicated her career to promoting economic mobility, by helping to build and grow programs in mission-driven organizations in the financial services, workforce development and education industries. Prior to Springboard, Kim was with a Bay Area job training provider, where her team built training programs that provide on-ramps to tech careers for individuals underrepresented in today’s tech workforce.

Fun Fact: During college, Kim spent a semester cruising through the Caribbean on a 125 foot sailboat (and got credit for it!).

Currently Learning: Behavior training for a rambunctious Australian Shepherd puppy

Having spent most of her life in Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru; you’d be surprised to learn that she would rather spend time by the river front in Ahmedabad than the chaat streets of Delhi. That still doesn’t take away from the fact that she will make it a point to tell you about the latest chaat places in Bengaluru every Monday. A person of eclectic tastes, you can usually find Kiran exploring various creative domains such as arts, and dance.

Fun Fact: She was part of the initial print ads of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

Currently Learning: Yoga, Zumba, UX design

Kyle was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but never felt quite at home. Upon visiting his partner's family in the Bay Area one year for the holidays, he fell in love with San Francisco and made it his goal to make the move. 6 months later, he packed up his Volkswagon, cat, and made the long (long) trek across the country. Kyle always thought he wanted to teach (as his family is largely made up of teachers) but fell into the world of People Ops by accident and has never looked back. His hobbies revolve around anything water or literature: swimming, reading and short story writing are big parts of his life.

Fun Fact: Kyle used to be a certified dog trainer, and was pursuing a career in K9 Unit training.

Currently Learning: How to develop a green thumb!

Lina is an edtech enthusiast with a special interest in qualitative research. She is also an advocate for lifelong learning and enjoys diving into history, culture, and language in the context of traveling to a new place. She currently has a very long list of places to see and things to learn before visiting! 

Fun fact: Although Lina is a Bay Area native, she has lived in the UK and maintains a sincere appreciation for afternoon tea, British period dramas, and English novels. 

Currently learning: SQL, calligraphy, and cooking.

Frequent power cuts, cattle and farms around the house was the surrounding Lokesh grew up in. Lokesh basically from a small village in Mandya district struggled hard to get basic education. His passion for learning has got him where he stands today and has a long way to go. He finds it exciting to travel without a destination and likes to explore whatever comes his way. A big fan of ragi mudde(A healthy staple food from Karnataka), cricket, movies and English series(Game of thrones, Breaking Bad, The big bang theory, friends etc).

Fun Fact: A crazy bike rider who rode 1200km in two days. Not just a big fan of ragi mudde, He eats it daily.

Currently Learning: Django framework, Automation, Hindi and shuttle badminton.

Lucie is a self taught UX/UI designer who made a career switch from content marketing to design couple years ago. She is passionate about architecture, interior design and fashion. In her free time, she explores the neighborhoods of San Francisco with her french bulldog, Spike, drinks coffee and chai in hipster coffee shops, and take pictures along the way.

Fun Fact: Once a week, Lucie wears a pink power suit to work.

Learning Now: Photography, Yoga and how to make my dog stop chasing skateboarders

Born in Indonesia but raised in the Bay Area, Michelle has always had an interest in learning about different cultures. Michelle's passion for lifelong learning is fueled by her goals of traveling around the world, reading as many books as possible and watching every documentary available. She is passionate about creating opportunities for every single person to succeed.

Fun Fact: Michelle loves skydiving and hopes to get her license one day.

Currently Learning: Spanish, wine pairings and where to find the best pizza in the city.

Before joining Springboard, Michelle was a teacher and has worked in EdTech for most of her career. Michelle strives to empower individuals to reach their full potential through education and is passionate about helping vulnerable communities gain access to quality education. As a lifelong learner, she enjoys new experiences by traveling the world and learning new forms of creativity such as design and dance. Outside of work, she loves to be in nature (mountains and beaches), read poems (especially by Rumi), volunteer at community centers, and host family parties.

Fun Fact: Michelle has approximately 100 cousins (first and second).

Currently Learning: Entrepreneurship, Arabic, and Muay Thai.

Mohit started as Electronics & Comms engineer, had an exciting stint at a Building Automation firm, where he did Product Research, Procurement, Testing and configuring devices which automate almost everything in home. He worked at an IT giant as QA Engineer in Mysuru, capital of 600 years old Mysore kingdom, where he developed his love towards palaces, Western Ghats, filter coffee and homemade wines. At Springboard, he ensures good quality of software.

Fun Fact: Mohit magically started playing piano without any formal training at the age of 3. He also controlled TV, other home appliances and made phone calls using Brain Computer Interface out of boredom.

Currently Learning: Cooking, Minimalism, Bicycling

Namita drew the blueprint of her first school at 15 (the same year she broke up with her first love - coding). Since then, she's been engaged in education in various forms: researching what helps students learn , training teachers in assessment, getting a Ph.D from Stanford, teaching education and economics, and helping start a university. Now, she's thrilled to be merging technology and education to help people learn online.

Fun Fact: Her favourite words are "I wonder...". Her family threatens to publish a book of these questions.

Learning Now: Breathing deeply, being a Buddhist, and android development

Nick grew up in Michigan, and left for the land of BBQ and Blues to attend college in Memphis, TN. From there, he spent a year traveling full-time for Anheuser-Busch before landing in San Francisco! During his time at Springboard, he's spent a lot of time helping others enter the different industries as both users and creators of cutting edge technology. Outside of his career, he can be found spending time with his dog Hobbes, riding his motorcycle, or hiking/camping.

Fun Fact: Nick has Key Lime Pie instead of cake on his birthday, 15 years in a row and counting.

Currently Learning: SCUBA diving and SEO/Digital Marketing

With a background in the arts and sciences, Nicole believes in the power of audacity and unconventional thinking to intervene in the world in meaningful ways. She is deeply invested in education and views the intersections of technology and design as catalysts for change on a global scale. Aligning with Springboard's mission was a no brainer.

In addition to ushering Springboard students through the admissions process, she's also a photographer, writer, and curator in the Bay Area.

Fun Fact: Nicole traveled internationally for 2.5 years, with just her backpack and plastic radio in tow.

Learning Now: Ceramics, UX Design, baby sign language, and new running paths in the city.

Patty grew up in sunny Lalaland and tries not to debate NorCal versus SoCal because she loves them both (it's possible)! She loved her college years so much that she has dedicated her career to education and helping students discover their passions and find good jobs. When she's not working, Patty enjoys spending time outdoors, planning for her next travel adventure and staying to connected to family and friends.

Fun Fact:Patty has swam from Alcatraz to SF twice and fortunately, there were no shark sightings!

Currently Learning: Re-learning tennis

Phil is an SF Bay Area native and the son of two lifelong teachers. Growing up, he spent many afternoons and summer days with his parents at school — organizing the classroom, learning about lesson plans, helping students — and witnessed first-hand how a good teacher changes lives. He’s passionate about leveraging technology to revolutionize the way people teach and learn! Phil also loves traveling, snowboarding, and philosophical conversations.

Fun Fact: Phil is a radio host and DJ on Bff.fm

Learning now: SQL, boxing and salsa dancing

Rachel is a natural-born self-improvement junkie who loves building genuine relationships with everyone she meets. Originally from Southern California, Rachel got her start at UC Santa Barbara where she worked as a Clinical Researcher and Behavioral Therapist. Her growing fascination with health and human behavior has led her to progressive roles in program management and health education for various educational institutions, nonprofit organizations and healthcare startups. Rachel is eager to help students align their passions with their professional goals so they can supercharge their career development and lead more fulfilling lives.

Fun Fact: Rachel's great sense of adventure and love for all things outdoorsy has taken her on a helicopter ride under the Golden Gate Bridge and to 13 different countries around the world!

Currently Learning: How to build and launch an online course

A life-long learner, Rahil is passionate about helping other realize and reach their true potential. He strongly believes that anything can be learned by anyone - just at different paces. Prior to joining the team at Springboard, Rahil worked across multiple fields, touching the media, legal-tech, and non-profit spaces. He is driven by intellectual challenges and having a positive impact on others.

Fun Fact: Rahil trains Krav Maga.

Currently Learning: All things Data Science and Analytics

Rajit is passionate about technology, data, and design, and is looking for ways to use them to make humanity more efficient. Having grown up in the City of Joy (Kolkata) - he says he finds his own happiness in travelling, cooking and meeting new people.

Fun fact: Rajit spends his free time hunting up useless trivia which he hopes to show off some day at an Open Quiz.

Learning Now: Bouldering, Mixology and Graphic Design.

Born and raised in sunny Tucson, Arizona, Ravi believes deeply that the key to achieving peace and happiness in our world is cultivating gratitude, empathy, and consciousness in every individual. Education is in Ravi’s DNA: his parents are both professors, and ever since middle school, both he and his brother have tutored students in numerous subjects. Ravi has lived on 6 continents for various pursuits in global health, medicine, economics, and consulting, and prior to Springboard, he worked for 3 years at McKinsey. Ravi enjoys practicing yoga and meditation, doing improv comedy, playing tennis, riding his bike, watching superhero movies, and cooking (and eating) veggie food.

Fun Fact: Ravi has been practicing meditation since childhood, and has done a 21-minute practice twice a day, every single day since July 31, 2016.

Learning Now: Guitar, Machine Learning, Acting, How To Go To Bed Earlier

Rebecca is an instructional designer with a background in UX Design. With a nearly decade of experience in education and design, she is passionate about improving learning experiences and imagining what’s possible for the future of education. She loves solving problems and is a lifelong student who enjoys learning by taking classes, reading books, and traveling the world.

Fun Fact: Rebecca is not infrequently mistaken for her twin sister.

Currently Learning: how to make everything vegan (and delicious!), rock climbing, and how to be a morning person

Rimil discovered her love for technology as an undergraduate student and is continuously awed by how simple if statements and looping constructs can be used to build complex algorithms. She is a voracious reader and is constantly on the look-out for fellow Potterheads, Ringers, and Thronies to discuss the characters, writing and fan theories. Rimil spends copious amounts of time browsing Wikipedia for trivia - a habit stemming from her days as a quizzer at school. When a WiFi connection is lacking, she is listening to songs, binge-watching her favourite TV series and waiting for Grand Slams to return to support Federer (irrespective of the players in the match). She is an amateur baker and hopes to have a bakery shop of her own someday!.

Fun Fact: Rimil knows more about European monarchies than she would concede to.

Currently Learning: Angular, iOS Development, Cooking

Rodrigo is from Argentina and the only marketer in his family of educators (he’s also a teacher!) and health professionals. His goal is to help make education more affordable and accessible for people and, as Head of Growth and User Acquisition, he will go to infinity and beyond (with or without Buzz Lightyear!) to test new channels and partnerships to reach new students and introduce them to Springboard so they can advance in their lives.

Fun Fact: He thinks pepper is too spicy, can listen to a playlist with Limp Bizkit, Tupac and Beethoven on it and has performed standup comedy shows in different countries and languages.

Learning Now: Data Science, Stand Up Comedy and Stock Investing

Sachin is a self-taught front end developer. If there is a new framework/library in the front end universe, you can be sure that he has dabbled with it already. He also has a keen interest in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Fun Fact: Sachin is ambidextrous, and switches hands while playing Table Tennis to confuse his opponents.

Learning Now: Python, Artificial Intelligence

An avid reader, Shubham enjoys discussions on most things under the sun with his favourite topics being futurology, psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, computer science, math, the universe, paradoxes, and football. He will either owe you one or be forever indebted to you if you introduce him to either an amazing song or an intriguing subreddit.

Fun Fact: Shubham has lead his college futsal group through seven straight tournaments with exactly zero trophies, and yet not been kicked off the team.

Currently Learning: Workout regimes revolving around HRX, S&C, Boxing, Zumba, and Yoga

Sim has held a variety of roles over her career (marketing, curation, teaching, research, journalism, editing, non-profit operations, now recruiting), but the through-line that connects all of them is a desire to connect people with the knowledge they seek. This passion stems from her own insatiably nerdy appetite for consuming information of all kinds (she's the one you might find intently reading the back of the cereal box over breakfast…)

Fun Fact: Sim was once pulled on-stage from the audience to perform "Baby When You're Gone" with Bryan Adams

Learning Now: Yoga (200-hour teacher training)

Originally from Cambridge, MA, Sophie has been living in the Bay for the last two years. Her passion for education began at the age of 10 when she started her own educational summer camp out of a friend's back yard. Since then, she has held a variety of roles such as student, teacher, advisor, researcher, and more! Sophie has a deep passion for education and its power to unlock infinite possibilities. She thrives off helping students reach their full potential and believes deeply in the power of empathy and human connection.

Fun Fact: Sophie has been dancing for over 10 years and co-developed a dance therapy course in college! She is a firm believer in the "dance it out" method.

Currently Learning: How to stay hydrated.

Umut was born and raised in one of the most unique cities in the world, Istanbul, and speaks five languages. He has worked and lived in Italy, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the United Arab Emirates before ultimately landing in the United States. Throughout his life, Umut aspired to be a chef, but was ultimately drawn into the edtech space. He holds a double major in Public Administration and Political Science and is en route to earning an MBA at HULT Business School in San Francisco.

Fun Fact: Umut was once a member of a punk-rock band called ‘Yoda’ in college ("we were all Star Wars fans") and foreshadowed his future home on the West Coast by playing lots of California punk rock songs.

Currently Learning: Farsi, Business Analytics and how to make perfect martinis!

Vincent is a San Francisco native. He’s deeply fascinated into understanding how people consume information. Vince has had a variety of roles, from developing comic books for executives, running a non profit film festival, career coaching, and building product.

Fun Fact: Loves trying street food… sometimes to varying level of success

Currently Learning: Learning how to be a better parent to his three kids

Born in southern China, Yali has lived in 5 different cities in 2 different countries. Yali is so passionate about education that she got 2 masters degrees related to ed-tech and learning science. Prior to Springboard, Yali worked as a Product Manager and Project Manager for ed-tech companies in both China and the US. She is deeply focused around the success of students who want to achieve career success through lifelong learning.

Fun Fact: 'Yali' in Chinese means 'Asian Jasmine', but is pronounced the same as 'pressure' in Mandarin.

Currently Learning: Zumba (her dream is to become a Zumba teacher!)

Zishan is fresh out of college and passionate about technology and business. He spends a lot of time reading about startups and their founding history. It is no surprise that he is a strategy game buff and is ever-ready to lock horns with you at Age of Empires, Clash of Clans or Counter Strike. He also believes that Augmented Reality is the next big thing and is eager to share his opinions on the matter.

Fun Fact: Zishan has managed to kick more members from his clan than you can imagine!

Learning Now: How to hustle the rest of the team at Foosball, Pool and Table Tennis.