Ms. Rachel is a traveler! Born in San Francisco, she’s lived in Germany, Alaska, Arizona, and North Carolina thanks to her father’s military career. After earning her B.A. in Sociology from the University of the Pacific, she moved to the Bay Area and discovered her passion for early childhood education while working as a preschool substitute. She quickly grew in the field—becoming a teacher, assistant director, center director, and now serves as Regional Director at L’Academy, primarily based at our Kensington campus.

Ms. Rachel is passionate about creating a welcoming environment for children and families. She believes every child, given the right tools, can and will succeed—and she encourages kindness, curiosity, and leadership in all her students.

In her free time, Ms. Rachel enjoys relaxing with her family, watching movies, visiting local farmers markets, reading Stephen King novels, and exploring arts and crafts.

Ms. Tatiana was born in El Salvador. Her very first job after arriving in the US was working at a family childcare 12 years ago.  She has been working with children ranging from 6 weeks to 4 years ever since.  Ms. Tatiana completed her child development studies at City College of San Francisco. Ms. Tatiana seizes every opportunities to teach children to help each other and be kind and respectful, through playing and exploring.

Yasmina was born and raised in Algeria. She moved to the United States as an adult with her husband. They have a young daughter, Leana, who also attends L’Academy. Yasmina has been working with young children since 2012, mostly while living in Algeria. She has a strong passion for working with all ages, but has really found her niche in working with infant age groups (under 2). She feels grateful to have the opportunity to help support each child’s growth and development while also being able to watch each child become more confident in their own abilities each day. Yasmina is also a polyglot- she is able to speak several different languages- specifically: English, French, Berber, Arabic, and is learning Spanish. She has been working with us at L’Academy since 2023.

In her spare time she enjoys shopping, spending time with her family, traveling and eating at new restaurants.

Ms Ava Luo was born and raised in Guang Zhou, China. She studied accounting and became a trained accountant in China. After immigrating to the United States and raising her two children, she decided to utilize her experience and passion for early childhood education and began working at a Montessori preschool from 2016-2018, followed by an international school from 2018-2022. Ms. Ava has studied and acquired her ECE units to work within this field and is also First Aid and CPR certified.

In Ms. Ava’s free time, she enjoys playing the GuZheng, cooking and volunteering at her local temple!

Ms. Lizeth is a wife and a Mother to three beautiful daughters. She has a passion for working with young children and truly thrives from scaffolding their learning and watching them grow! She feels so fulfilled being able to actively participate in being a positive influence in the lives of each of the children in her care. Some of her favorite activities to do with young children include: reading books/ storytelling, exploring music and creating art! Lizeth found her passion for professionally working with young children in 2021 and is working on achieving her early childhood education units, while utilizing her own personal experience in working with children that she has attained as a Mother.

In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family-one of their favorite places to go as a family is Six Flags! She also enjoys dancing, fishing and going to the gym.

Ms. Cynthia is excited to work on our education team and brings to us a wealth of knowledge around working with young children! She is a fun and flexible early childhood educator, and loves that the kiddos keep her on her feet., keep her active and keep her youthful. She likes knowing that each day provides ample opportunity to make a positive impact on each child’s life. She also loves being able to teach the children Spanish through singing and playing! Ms. Cynthia has been working with young children for over 10 years.

In her free time, Ms.Cynthia enjoys cooking while listening to Christian music and going on walks or hikes with her husband, daughter and her two dogs. She also loves to go shopping!

Ms. Emi was born in Celaya, Mexico. She started working with children in 2017 as a nanny for a 1 year old girl. She quickly realized how passionate she was about being able to work with young children, while also being able to support the family unit. After experiencing the joy of working with young children, she continued her nanny role working with other families of children ages 9months-8 years. Ms. Emi has been working with L’Academy in nearly every classroom since 2022.

Ms. Emi truly loves being able to work with children everyday and especially loves doing art or cooking projects with them! She likes to see the children happy and engaged in play- because that is how they learn! She feels proud to be able to work in a language immersion preschool and to help teach children her own native language: Español!

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and her four daughters and cats.

Ms. Karla was born in El Salvador, and her first language was Spanish. She arrived in the United States in 2014. While living in El Salvador, she dreamed of one day becoming a teacher and being able to teach little children. In 2020, she began taking care of children professionally, working in a home based daycare and then for a school that sent her to support different Montessori, HeadStart and Mandarin immersion preschools as needed. While working at the home based daycare and the other other schools, she was able to learn so much about early childhood from the educators and the children! She is passionate about continuing in this field and continuing to learn from others while honing her skills as a professional early childhood educator.

In her spare time she enjoys spending it with her beautiful 5 year old daughter, drawing and reading books!

Ms. Elizabeth, born in San Francisco, is a dedicated early childhood educator and mom to an active son named Nathan. She began working with children right after high school in the San Pablo Recreation Department and later supported children with developmental disabilities. Her passion grows from seeing the joy and kindness in children during play and learning. In her free time, she enjoys soccer and walks with her son, browsing Target, hunting for freebies online, and working on Lego projects.