CO-FOUNDER / DIRECTOR OF THE SAN RAFAEL BRANCH

Katherine Lim co-founded Kids STEP UP, and now directs the San Rafael branch. She is President of Redwood High School’s KSU service club, leading peer tutors in math education in an underserved elementary school, committed to reducing health inequities. She creates health curricula, like mindfulness videos to decrease anxiety. She is trained in pediatric CPR and acupressure, and looks forward to studying public health in college. She is an All-League Varsity golfer and enjoys playing challenging golf courses with her sister.

DIRECTOR OF SANTA BARBARA BRANCH

Raphaella Guerrand-Hermes is a tutor of Kids STEP UP and the leader of the Math Games program. This summer, Fafi led a group of tutors and implemented math tutoring through a fun “Math Games” framework for 65+ children at the Boys and Girls Club of Carpinteria. Fafi has loved math from a young age and worked with a math consultant to find the best games for the students, that would both build their math skills and also bolster their confidence and self-esteem. In her free time, Fafi loves horses, is a competitive show jumper, and enjoys baking, hiking and her dogs Bowie and Charlie.

CO-FOUNDER / LEADER OF COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION

Madeline Lim helped start Kids STEP UP and continues to lead the computer science education program. As a software engineer, she developed the website and Kids STEP UP coding elective, where she uses Scratch, a simple block program, to teach young kids to code. She codes games with C# in Unity and is certified in HarvardX’s Artificial Intelligence with Python course. In her free time, she enjoys playing golf with her sister, drawing portraits, animating pixel art, and sailing in her little boat, Puddle.

CO-FOUNDER

Cynthia Kim, M.D., M.Ed. is a Co-founder of Kids STEP UP. Dr. Kim attended Harvard College and Cornell Medical School. She received her Master’s in Health Education at Stanford University. She started a sustainable school-based health clinic in Harlem, New York, to provide comprehensive health services to underserved African American children. She is fluent in Spanish, having taught in Mexico and Spain. For 20 years, she was a pediatrician at University of California San Francisco, licensed in acupunture, specializing in pain management and integrative medicine. She enjoys sailing with her family and sewing dresses.

COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATOR

To enrich the Kids STEP UP coding curriculum, Danny brings his knowledge of High School AP Computer Science and his experience with computational analysis of large data sets for research at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In his free time, Danny enjoys working with power tools to build wooden boats in the family garage (he built “Puddle” for his sister, Madeline), playing baseball, and grilling Korean barbecue for family and friends. He is majoring in Aerospace Engineering at the United States Naval Academy.

TUTOR

Sofia Iris Chianese is a tutor at Kids STEP UP. Sofia is a high school student who is passionate about the importance of education and making a healthy lifestyle accessible to all. Sofia has implemented volunteer initiatives to support healthy and educational play for patients at Bambin Gesù children’s hospital in Rome. An avid student of languages as well as STEM subjects, she has also translated a documentary about pastoralists in Italy. Sofia is excited this summer to spend time with other Kids STEP UP tutors organizing activities for children to playfully enrich their minds. In her free time, Sofia enjoys playing tennis, drawing and reading, both English and Italian novels.

DIRECTOR OF THE OJAI BRANCH

Deacon James Johnson is the Director of the Ojai Kids STEP UP Program and one of the original Tutors at the KSU Summer Program. He also works in the coding and programming education sector in helping to develop curricula. Deacon attended Thacher School and was President of the Riviera Mentorship Project of Santa Barbara. He values one-on-one dynamics and small group environments to best support kids' academic progress and integrates social activities and athletic exercises into the learning day. His hobbies and passions include music, football, basketball, and technology.

CO-FOUNDER

Elise Guerrand-Hermes co-founded Kids STEP UP, collaborating with Dr. Kim to create a program that would address the “whole child” -- academic enrichment combined with the promotion of physical and mental health. Elise co-directed and led the summer program, overseeing a group of tutors to provide specialized tutoring in the comprehensive program. Elise loves spending time with children, and supporting them in their love of learning while building a healthy body and mind. She is a competitive volleyball player and enjoys painting, writing, and playing her guitar.

HONORARY BOARD MEMBER

Ms. Guerrand-Hermes is an Honorary Board Member of Kids STEP UP. Eva is passionate about bringing medical and academic support to underserved children. She is co-founder of Millennium Kids Foundation which created a sustainable school-based health clinic in Harlem. Eva sits on numerous charitable foundation boards, including UCLA Health International Advisory Board, Caltech’s Space Innovation Council, and Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Foundation (which runs an integrated therapist program in hospitals around the nation). She attended Harvard College where she achieved her B.A. in Economics in 1991. Eva worked at Morgan Stanley in New York and Credit Suisse First Boston in London, England, before starting her own private equity fund focusing on investments in Central and Eastern Europe.

MATH GAMES CO-LEADER

Alexandra Parker, also known as Lexi, is a co-leader of the Kids STEP UP Math Games program. Lexi worked to implement math tutoring through a fun “Math Games” framework for 65+ children at the Boys and Girls Club of Carpinteria.Lexi has always had a strong desire to work with children and teach them that math can be fun by creating and executing an engaging curriculum which tangibly increases the level of math comprehension for participants. Lexi graduated with a degree in Finance from the business school at Loyola Marymount University. She enjoys playing beach volleyball with her dad at East Beach and going on runs with her Australian Shepard Louie.