Andrea joined Braven as a founding member in 2013 to launch the organization’s first pilot program with college students. This pilot grew into the organization’s core program, and as a senior leader on the team since then, Andrea has helped build the organization’s vision, theory of action, strategy, and operations. Now as Bay Area Executive Director, Andrea oversees local programming, partnership building, and development. Her career started as a high school teacher–a catalytic experience that inspired her lifelong commitment to serving students and families in under-resourced communities. Later, as Managing Director of Recruitment at Teach For America, Andrea led a team to recruit and select teachers from the close to 50,000 applicant pool annually. Every day at Braven she can draw on both her deep belief in the potential of young people, her teaching and learning expertise, and her well-versed understanding of the hiring bar for college graduates. Andrea received a B.A. in Communications & Business from the University of Southern California. She loves being back home in the Bay Area, where she enjoys hiking in the humidity-free sunshine and spending quality time with her parents and lifelong friends.