Born in Venezuela and raised in Los Angeles, Saraí has always had a profound respect for the power of language to determine one's place in the world. In high school, she was a self-proclaimed nerd who went on to be the first in her family to graduate from college. She earned her B.A. in Comparative Literature, with honors, from Brown University, and later her M.A. in Hispanic Languages & Literature from UCLA, where she is currently a Ph.D candidate in the department of Spanish & Portuguese.

‍

Saraí's tutoring journey began in undergrad. As a low-income, first generation college student at an Ivy League school, she quickly realized she was surrounded by peers who had access to educational opportunities she had never even dreamed of. This realization inspired her to share her increasing educational privilege with community members who could most benefit from it. In pursuit of this goal, she participated in Brown's Peer Mentoring Program and pursued a summer internship at Let's Get Ready, an educational nonprofit in New York, where she led SAT classes for low-income, first generation students. Upon her return to Los Angeles, she continued to tutor first generation students in high school and college in a wide variety of subjects, including Spanish, chemistry, and math.

‍

Saraí's pedagogical background includes six years experience of professional tutoring in a variety of subjects and five years of teaching UCLA undergraduates. She specializes in all levels of the Spanish language, high school level math, and high school level chemistry. As a graduate student instructor in the Spanish & Portuguese department at UCLA, she has taught elementary, intermediate, and heritage Spanish classes both in person and online. She strives to make learning as accessible and enjoyable as possible by adapting her lesson plans to fit the specific needs of her students. She deeply believes in cultivating mutually enriching professional relationships with her students to ensure maximum educational and personal growth.

‍

In her free time, Saraí loves to read, bake, and hang out with her cat, Ares. She also enjoys engaging in a variety of rigorous physical and intellectual activities, such as yoga, swimming, hiking, and practicing her increasingly fluent Portuguese skills!

‍