Meet the Team
Leigh Monistere, Executive Director, President, M.Ed., Literacy Specialist
Leigh has been a teacher for 5 years, teaching early readers. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and an M.Ed in Education with an emphasis in technology. She completed a Reading and Literacy Credential through USC in June 2019. Early learners and literacy are dear to her heart. Her founding principle is that every learner is different and that to effectively meet their needs we must first strive to understand them.
jonathan ho,
Reading Coach
Jonathan Ho is a former Wharton grad, and financial analyst turned high school physics/math/music teacher who is always looking for ways to reduce gatekeeping and to add efficient access to bureaucratic systems. As an education professional, he has actively participated in many systems that support student learning: industry-oriented curriculum design, program management for high-need students, school accreditation, and even summer school principalship. His experience as a trilingual, low-income, first-generation college student grounds him and gives him the emotional resolve to continue helping students even when circumstances are challenging. He is skilled in forming partnerships across the public/private sector and rallying diverse stakeholders towards a common goal.
Jen soper, M.Ed., Program Manager
Jen is a certified school psychologist with an M.Ed. in educational psychology from the University of Washington. She has worked in public schools in California and Washington. Jen also has a background in research coordination and psychometry, working on projects at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Research Institute. She began as a volunteer literacy assessor and reading coach with Cultivating Literacy and fell in love with its mission. As a parent of young children, she believes that parents are a child's first and most important teachers and that it takes a community to support one another in this endeavor.
Noemma Cárdenas, Facilitator
Noemma Cárdenas holds a Bachelor’s Degree in French and a minor in Spanish from the University of California, Davis. She has over 10 years of experience working with children/youth and families in the education and mental health industries in Santa Clara County. This includes early childhood education and providing assessments and literacy tools to parents of infants and toddlers. She is passionate about using her skills to make an impact in the local community through education.
Joanna Rascon, Reading Coach & Facilitator
Joanna is passionate about supporting families in Santa Clara County and shares that she spent her formative years in San Jose after immigrating from Mexico. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Santa Clara University; she initially embarked on her professional journey in mental health, aiding both adults and children. However, her path eventually led her to the field of education as she recognized the need to support students’ growth. Joanna has worked as a teacher, Parent Liaison, and facilitated Project Cornerstone’s ABC and Los Dichos literacy programs. She is also a dedicated homeschooling mother who places great importance on laying a sturdy foundation in literacy skills.
Maria Mercedes Medure, M.S. Reading Coach
Mercedes is a life-long learner who feels passionate about education and literacy. She has been an elementary teacher for 4 years, and she believes in creating a learning environment in which all types of learners will thrive. Mercedes holds multiple degrees including a Master’s degree in Science of Multidisciplinary Studies. After moving from her hometown in Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Southern California, she fell in love with Cultivating Literacy’s mission, and being a Reading Coach has allowed her to dedicate herself to her first love, her family. As a mother of two bilingual children of school age, and being bilingual herself, she knows firsthand the importance of parent involvement in children’s education.
Our Board Members
Katie Chen, M.Ed, Secretary
Katie is a former elementary public school teacher and literacy lead teacher. These experiences led her to witness first-hand how children that learn to read well are able to learn anything. Katie works with Cultivating Literacy’s programs and comes alongside parents to give them tools to support their children at home. She feels that Cultivating Literacy’s programs are a fantastic way to bridge the gap between classroom instruction and at-home practice. “I have spoken with countless parents who are always asking for ways to help and motivate their child at home. Working with Cultivating Literacy allows me an avenue to share researched strategies to build up lifelong readers and writers.” Katie is passionate about reading and personally feels that it is a retreat. “A free day with a stack of books is the epitome of luxury for me. It is a relaxing and entertaining way to spend my time, fostering my imagination, fueling me with new ideas, and building my empathy.”
Sara Krishnamachari, Treasurer
Sara is the President and CFO of VMK, Inc. and is responsible for all of the company's financial functions. Her career spans more than 15 years of varied experience including financial management, data analysis, business leadership, and corporate strategy, with more than 10 years in senior-level roles. Sara holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Houston, Bauer College of Business. She also holds a certification in Accounting for Controllers from UC Berkeley Extension. Sara is passionate about Cultivating Literacy’s mission to empower families as she holds family near and dear and feels the meaning of the words embodies unconditional love, support, and security.
Simone West
Simone West, Executive Director Black Support Network, Simone is a growth and development strategist, dedicated to social impact work supporting BIPOC equity initiatives. Simone believes that literacy is the foundation of knowledge. As one of the primary ways to expand learning, literacy is at the pinnacle of equity. Everyone deserves the resources to thrive through reading and access the many doors it opens. Simone points to reading and writing as what provided her with opportunities in her career that traditional environments did not. She attributes her ability to grow professionally and ultimately serves others in her community as a direct result of her love for literature.
Karla Campbell, PCC, PMP, EQ Practitioner
Karla helps organizations create the leadership for today and tomorrow. Her approach is rooted in her belief that "the answers are always in the room, and the magic is in a mess." Leadership Coaching is her strength, assisting Executive Leaders (existing or new and emerging) willing to explore the challenges and improve approaches and engagement. Karla expresses having a love-hate relationship with reading as she struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia. However, she has discovered the gift of this struggle and now reads to learn and for pleasure. She notes that it may take me longer than others, but the result is the same.
Advisory Members
Ratna Saripalli, Ph.D., MBA
Ratna is a Bay Area technology leader who has developed world-class AI and software engineering products in various multinational companies over two decades. She is passionate about education and service missions, mentoring, and helping non-profit ventures grow using technology enablement. She considers herself a lifelong student and loves to learn. She is an adjunct faculty member in the Data Science program at the University of Maryland Global Campus. She holds two master’s degrees from Stanford University and the University of Florida and a Ph.D. from Colorado State University. She has an MBA from the University of California, Davis. Ratna enjoys exploring the outdoors as an avid hiker and climber in her spare time.
Carlin Graveline, M.S. CCC-SLP
Carlin is a lifelong learner and Language and Literacy Specialist, trained as a Speech-Language Pathologist at Vanderbilt University and completing her Ph.D. in Literacy Education through St. John’s University. She works extensively with students with dyslexia, as well as provides professional development for educators across the country in literacy instruction, intervention and assessment as a National Professional Learning Facilitator for LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling), and coaching and training opportunities tailored to the needs of local schools and districts. Her research interests include intervention-driven assessments, phonological, phonemic and morphological awareness, and contextualized vocabulary/language development. She enjoys analyzing spelling for phonology, morphology and orthography; discussing the importance of prosody and prosodic awareness in reading and listening comprehension; exploring etymology, derivational morphemes and word connotations; and empowering students and families with the knowledge and skills to help them become successful readers.
Advisory Committee, Dr. Madeleine Mejia, Ed.D.
Dr. Madeleine Mejia is an Assistant Professor at the College of Education at the California State University Fullerton. As an expert in Language and Literacy instruction, Dr. Mejia has more than two decades of professional experience and expertise in the preparation of K-12 educators as literacy experts and high-quality teachers. She teaches online (synchronous and asynchronous) courses that focus on issues of diagnosis and remediation of reading and writing needs; critical literacy; digital literacy; racial equity pedagogy; diversity and critical self-reflective practices to improve the delivery of instruction. Link to full bio