Meet the Team

Sumaira Mian is a highly accomplished professional with a Bachelor's degree in Biology and Religious Studies from Stony Brook University and a Master's degree in Social Work from Columbia School of Social Work. With over seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector and fundraising and philanthropy, she employs an anti-oppression framework and community-centric fundraising principles. Sumaira's expertise includes serving as a Development Manager at Womankind and a Grant Writer at Funding for Social Change. As Learning Equality's Donor Relations Manager, she now coleads operations for philanthropic giving, combining her fundraising acumen with a deep alignment to Learning Equality's mission of supporting quality education for under-resourced communities around the world. Outside of work, she finds joy in hiking, traveling the world, contemplative walks, zen writing, and gardening. Based in New York, Sumaira's unwavering commitment to social justice resonates through her work, empowering marginalized communities and nurturing a shared vision of collective liberation for all

Laura is energized by the dual goals of creating equitable access to educational resources and utilizing technology to help meet the needs of all learners. At Learning Equality she drives strategy for engaging with our grassroots community and supports development of our teacher training model. She received her B.S.Ed. in Human Development and Psychological Services from Northwestern University, her Ed.M in Language and Literacy from Harvard University, and has previously taught elementary school in Chicago. She spends her free time reading, long distance running, and trying not to burn her oatmeal in the oven.

Working from the Czech Republic, Michaela considers education to be one of the best tools for solving many social and environmental problems. She deeply believes in cooperation, volunteering, and open-source. Before she finally arrived at Learning Equality, she had been trying to find a meaningful job, so after her first job in a corporate, she moved through various development positions in Czech startups focusing on energy monitoring or medical education. She also worked as a developer for Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She is grateful for having the opportunity to cooperate with such a wonderful team of hard-working people, for friendships and all support she is receiving, as well as for having innumerable opportunities to learn new skills in technology, communication, planning, education, and much more.

Blaine is a San Diego native who loves JavaScript, Physics, and all things web. Blaine graduated with a degree in Applied Physics from CSU San Marcos, where he also spent time as a Learning Assistant (LA). His love for education and self-improvement was established through the LA opportunity as well as during his time at a local web company, TakeLessons.com. In his free time, Blaine likes to play board/video games with friends, go to movies, and look at "doggo" pics on Instagram. He's also a Corgi fanatic.

Richard has a PhD in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego, and is the Product Lead and a co-founder of Learning Equality. Richard’s dissertation research focused on the impact of forgetting on the time course of effective Mathematics learning. Prior to co-founding Learning Equality, Richard spent 3 years as a Secondary Science Teacher in the United Kingdom and 2 years as an educational consultant, working in K-12 schools in New Jersey and New York, training teachers in Problem-Based Learning, Educational Technology, and Student-Centered Teaching.

Liddy is a research, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) specialist with a background in education, health and humanitarian innovation. She works at the intersection of analytics, qualitative data and information design to capture learning and support evidence-informed decision making. She is particularly interested in applying creative, participatory tools and data visualization to improve evaluation insights and the uptake of findings. Liddy holds a Masters in International Development from the University of Cambridge. She currently lives in the UK and when she's not talking about M&E she can be found rock climbing, taking photos and/or on a hiking trail with her dog.

Allan is a tech enthusiast-turned-teacher, who believes that everyone in the world should have access to free, high-quality education regardless of their socio-economic status. As someone who is passionate about edtech and open source software as a tool to expand access to quality education around the world, he worked as a teacher in a rural primary school in Mayuge district, eastern Uganda, where he and a colleague mobilized resources to acquire tablets to support self-paced, practical scientific learning, and the continuity of learning during school closures due to the pandemic. Since then, he has never looked back. Allan holds a bachelor's degree in Information Technology from the International University of East Africa (IUEA). He is delighted to be a part of the Learning Equality team working to close the digital divide and fast-track educational equity. Learning Equality's commitment to equity in education resonates strongly with him. Allan is a natural water systems lover and spends his free time watching birds, learning how to sing children’s songs, listening to the BBC’s "Click" podcast, and showing off his newly learned baking skills.

Rana is an educator, life long learner, and teacher advocate. Coming to Learning Equality with over 10 years of experience in education, Rana worked primarily in Jordan and the Middle East, where she supported teachers and students’ access to learning in classrooms, refugee camps, and underserved urban areas. A former teacher herself, she is aware of the challenges teachers and students face inside and outside the classroom. Rana holds two Masters degrees; English Language and Literature from UJ and Education and International Development from UCL. When not working, you can find Rana snuggled up to a good book, sweating it out in the gym, or hiking and exploring the North Carolina nature where she currently resides.

Jamie graduated with a PhD in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego in 2014, and is co-founder of several educational technology platforms, including thisCourse, ESL Genie, and KA Lite. He loves taking things apart and putting them back together again, eating delicious vegan food, and thinking about what an awesome world he lives in and how to make it even better. He has crawled through the tunnels of Knossos, but didn’t find the Minotaur.

Based in Barcelona (Spain) at the moment, in the middle of her graduate degree in Digital Content Management, Radina is a technology enthusiast and a Jill-of-all-trades permanently searching for new challenges. She has lived and worked in four different countries, but keeps carrying with herself a love for science museums, photography, walking, cacti & succulent plants... Having a passion for knowledge sharing made her feel at home since the first day she started contributing to making KA Lite more accessible for everybody. When not checking various a11y tips & tricks, she is working on her next visit to The Big Island to see the latest Kilauea flow.

An is a Site Reliability Engineer and dog mommy. As a first generation immigrant, An has a strong belief in the value of universal education and desire to help improve global learning through the use of technology. She spends her free time reading, staring at her dog and doing diy projects around the house. When she can get away from her responsibilities, An loves to travel and explore the world.

Jacob is a senior full-stack developer, father of two, and all-around nerd. He believes that education and open access to it is one of the best paths toward creating a better world.

Rosanna supports the Learning Equality team while they stay laser-focused on Kolibri and its users. Rosanna has a background in nonprofit people management and operations. She comes to Learning Equality from 7 years at DonorsChoose.org supporting public school teachers throughout the US as they dreamed up the best possible classroom experience for their students. She’s thrilled to join Learning Equality to expand her focus to the global community’s access to the basic human right of education. New to San Diego, on her weekends you might find her exploring coffee shops with a book in hand or yelling at the TV - that is, joyfully cheering - for her hometown soccer team.

Lauren brings her passion to Learning Equality of working together to support innovations to break down barriers to education so all children and youth have their right to quality education realized. Her work aims to uphold human rights, ranging from supporting the work of corporates engaging in education to fighting crime by investigating international financial movements. Lauren holds a M.A. in International Educational Development with a focus on Peace Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and a B.A. in Comparative Politics and a Certificate in African Students from Princeton University. She reps the Learning Equality team on the East Coast in New York.

David is a software engineer, currently focused on managing the team's cloud infrastructure. His recent projects aim to improve the developer experience and online stability of Kolibri, and many of LE's other products. He has contributed to LE's work in various capacities, having progressed from a design intern to a UI-focused software engineer, he settled into his current role after recognizing the interesting design problems inherent to the distributed architectures he works on today. David earned his degrees in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer Science at UC San Diego. After developing his skills in problem-solving and User-Centered Design, he tries to carry these methodologies into all of his work -- no matter how much technical gibberish is involved. Learning Equality's commitment to equity in education aligns with David's belief in lifelong learning and fosters the desire for justice he developed as a child of immigrant parents. He's honored to work with the brilliant friends he's made here, and looks forward to furthering the mission in any way he can. Outside the office, David is usually neck-deep in some kind of story: he thirsts for the immersion offered by books, games, movies, and podcasts. He's loves exploring -- whether it's the libraries' stacks or the city's latest offerings. David has also been known to obsessively research bizarrely mundane subjects, making him an unreliable resource for fun facts.

Marcella is a software developer based in Brooklyn who is less than 4 years away from achieving the coveted status of “being a New Yorker”. She studied Political Science and Sociology at Middlebury College and then transitioned to engineering. She’s built software and websites at UNICEF Innovation, Census Open Innovation Labs, and a college counseling consultancy. She joined Learning Equality to bring together her interests in education technology and open source software. Marcella spends her free time cooking, knitting poorly, reading magical realism, and wandering around her neighborhood seeking out dogs to pet.

Francis is a Master Teacher Program Fellow under the ALforEducation Network of the African Leadership Academy. He graduated from Makerere University with a degree in Education, and is an alumnus and pioneer fellow of Teach for Uganda, where he served a two-year fellowship in a rural public primary school --an experience that gave him a deep appreciation for the extreme challenges that teachers and students face on a daily basis. He joins our team as a project-based curriculum designer, focused on foundational literacy and numeracy, SEL, and playful approaches to learning.

Carine is a Brazilian-Australian whose life has been defined by the belief that education is the way not only to a purposeful and fulfilled life, but more importantly, to a more equitable, dignified, and just society. Curious by nature, her path has been particularly winding. She has worked in Print and Digital Media, TV, Film, Fashion, and Education. She survived cancer, lived on four continents, and learned how to speak four languages fluently. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Media & Communications with a major in French Studies from UNSW, and is both a Certified Translator and an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. At Learning Equality, Carine leads our Communications and PR efforts, liaising with the community, specialized media, and with our team in order to help raise awareness of our work across all facets of the organization. She also manages our internationalization (i18n) community which she's helped grow over the years. Her passions include but are hardly limited to film buffery, pilates, experimentation with plant-based diets, and optimistic-but-so-far-failed attempts at mastering the crow asana. She also loves dancing and knows the words to more cheesy 80's tunes than she'd like to admit.

Tomiwa earned a degree in Computer Science with Economics from Obafemi Awolowo University. He was introduced to Graphic Design as a student during an internship and has since spent his career working with design, marketing, and product teams across several sectors. He is passionate about using design thinking to solve socio-economic problems, and after working as a teacher at a State Polytechnic in Lafia, Nasarawa state in Nigeria's northeastern region during his mandatory youth service year, he became even more interested in using quality education to empower the underprivileged in society. Tomiwa enjoys excellent storytelling in all forms, from comic books to television, movies, fiction and non-fiction; he enjoys cooking Nigerian food and occasionally writes, takes photographs, and speaks on a variety of topics.

Hiba dreams that all children are empowered with high quality, individualized education to fulfill their dreams and those of future generations to come. She comes to Learning Equality with more than 15 years in monitoring and evaluation in education and hopes to bring a rigorous lens to both prove and improve Learning Equality’s work. Hiba holds an M.Ed. in International Educational Policy from Harvard University and a double major in B.Sc.Ed. in Social Policy and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies from Northwestern University. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree (Ed.D.) in PreK-12 Educational Leadership from SMU. You can find her recharging by chasing her energetic son, traveling with her husband, binging Netflix, or buried in a good book.

I am Prathamesh Desai, recently graduated as a computer science engineer. I've always loved computers and hardware! I consider myself an engineer guy who has his heart in architecture and designs. I joined LE through the GSoC program and was immediately fascinated and excited about the ideas and work they were doing. I've previously worked on small non-profit projects that dealt with helping and providing electronic appliances to school children in rural areas. I feel immensely grateful and lucky to be part of an amazing team. The amount of guidance I have received here, not just technically but also as a person, is something that can't be expressed in words. Besides the geeky stuff, I love to play video games, travel, witness breathtaking sunsets, play chess, and walk in the streets, especially at night.

José is an Engineer and proud teacher. Previously, he was in charge of the development of LinEx (Linux educative distro) that was installed in thousands of computers in the schools in Extremadura (Spain) when few people knew free software exists. Passionate about technology, he has continued teaching and working with all kind of technologies, from robotics to web development, hoping to help build a better world. The only things able to move him away from the computer are his family and a nice sunny trip

Alex is a software developer cat-parent based in Guayaquil, Ecuador where he's also a Google Developer Groups (GDG) Organizer. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from ESPOL and enjoys participating in competitive programming contests and hackathons. In 2021, he was part of a team ranked among the ten global winners of NASA's Space Apps Challenge, the world's largest hackathon. Their winning project was a video game prototype geared at teaching children about the dangers an astronaut may face on a long journey through space. Alex first worked with LE as a Google Summer of Code contributor in 2022, enhancing the accessibility of Kolibri's PDF renderer. He loved the experience especially because he has always been interested in how technology can help make learning more accessible, interactive, and fun. We're certainly happy to have him back!

Navya brings her experience of working with schools, social organizations, and the government in India to her present role at Learning Equality. She is a Teach for India alumna and is deeply passionate about bridging the gap in education. She spends her free time planning for travel to different corners of the world and lives to eat.

Liana Harris is a recent college graduate with an avid interest in supporting communities and volunteering globally. She received her B.S. in Computer Science from Prairie View A&M University and aspires to use her problem-solving and technical abilities to promote equity within the nonprofit sector. This is what led her to Learning Equality. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to support and advocate for equitable access to quality education for all students. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, swimming, and vegan desserts.

Anna is a multi-media digital storyteller with international work experience in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Peru, Australia, and the U.S. She strives to promote human rights, social justice and sustainability through honest storytelling. She spent 10+ years working with women, children, and people with learning disabilities in underserved communities through global health and education initiatives, and on a rural grassroots legislative campaign. Anna earned her M.A. in International Development from the University of Sydney and a B.A. in Sustainability with a focus on Society and a Minor in Global Health from Arizona State University. She lives and works remotely from her off-grid home in Colorado where she is learning how to raise chickens and grow food in hydroponic vertical gardens.

Revanth Voothaluru is deeply committed to promoting equity in education. He previously worked with Khan Academy India, where he partnered with state governments to drive large-scale implementation efforts. Prior to that, he spent six years at Teach For India in various roles. Although he studied engineering, his time as a Teach For India Fellow inspired him to pursue a career in education. He holds a Master's Degree in International Education Policy from Harvard University. Additionally, Revanth has a deep passion for Carnatic music and has received over a decade of training in this field.

Samson is a software developer based in Wakiso, Uganda. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Makerere University, in Kampala. He was part of the team that built awamo360, a banking software tailored for micro-finance institutions, and savings and credit co-operative societies. He is passionate about using technology to foster change and make the world a better place. He also believes in access to free education and information sharing, so joining Learning Equality presents him with the opportunity to advance this cause. Away from work, he loves to spend time with family and is a passionate soccer fan.

Jess is a recent college grad whose interest in social media started when she observed its power for social justice, while blogging against Islamophobia. In her free time, Jess enjoys studying South Asian genealogy and is currently in Phase 2 of an independent research project studying Punjabi Sikh identity in the US. Jess lives in Chicago with her two cats. She's excited to work in Comms with LE as a self-taught graphic designer.

Jessica is an L.A. native and has a background in Cognitive Science (B.S.) and Sociology (B.A.) from UCSD. While a student, she was introduced to UX and Product Design. She became interested in ethical and equitable approaches to building technology and is driven by the positive impact that can have on our world. She joined Learning Equality as an intern in 2014 and transitioned to full time in 2015. Since then, she’s striven to improve craft, process, and ways to collaborate to design products that empower learners and educators around the world. In her spare time, she likes trying new recipes, road trips with friends, dance, and expanding her musical tastes.