Dara enjoys using her creativity and empathy skills to help unlock a student’s full potential. She has an uncanny ability to make students feel comfortable so they’re not afraid to take risks and ask the questions that might be hard to ask. 

With more than 15 years of experience in teaching and developing educational programs, she’s honed her ability to connect with and engage all types of learners. She’s a former elementary school teacher and reading specialist and has tutored hundreds of students of all ages. Using her background in fine arts, she's developed a number of arts-based curricula to teach a range of subjects. Dara specializes in teaching math and writing skills to elementary and middle school students. She also enjoys guiding students through the high school application process by brainstorming and editing application essays and polishing skills for test prep (SSAT, HSPT).

Dara has a Master’s from Stanford’s Graduate School of Education where she focused on social/emotional learning, curriculum development, and program design. She received her BA from Georgetown University with a major in Studio Art and a minor in Theology and studied abroad in art schools in Australia and Italy. 

"I think Dara is terrific -- she is a fun and inspiring tutor for [my daughter]. She has worked hard with Dara, but really enjoyed the creative writing she has been doing." - Parent

“Very patient with my child and friendly demeanor; tries to make the learning fun for my child.” - Parent