Sage Mentorship Project
UC Berkeley's Largest One-on-One Elementary School Mentoring Program
Executive Board
Leela Venkatesan
President
Major: Chemical Biology
Hometown: Bay Area, CA
Sage Experience: 6 semesters
Plans After College: Med School
Favorite Thing About Sage: Getting involved in the community, learning from and being inspired by the mentees, and connecting with fellow mentors!
Hobbies: I have been dancing ballet for more than 15 years!
Karyme Peña
VP Membership
Major: Nutritional Sciences
Hometown: San Gabriel, CA
Sage Experience: 6 Semesters
Plans After College: I plan on attending medical school.
Favorite Sage Memory: My favorite thing about Sage is being given the opportunity to have an impact on our mentee's lives, no matter if it is big or small!
Fun Fact About You: I have around 65 Spotify playlists!
Asim Wahab
VP/Head Decal Facilitator
Major: Molecular and Cell Biology
Sage Experience: 7 semesters
Plans After College: Medical School
Favorite Sage Memory: I love SAGE because it gives me a reprieve from school and the intensity of being constantly stressed. Interacting with mentees is the highlight of every week and their carefree, joyful nature is infectious!
Fun Fact About You: Celtics fan, 2024 champions
Mandy Huang
Managing Director
Major: Public Health
Sage Experience: 4th semester
Plans After College:
Favorite Sage Memory:
Fun Fact About You: Favorite color is purple, drinking matcha, Love cats, favorite show is normal people, love to travel.
Neha Gottimukkala
VP Finance
Major: Political Economy
Hometown: Dallas, TX
Sage Experience: 3 semesters
Plans After College: Business and policy
Favorite Sage Memory: I love working with my mentee and playing kickball with her during recess.
Fun Fact About You: I have fallen off a banana boat!
Gabriela Perez
VP Communications & Outreach
Major: Integrative Biology
Hometown: East Los Angeles, CA
Sage Experience: 5 semesters
Plans After College: I plan on going to medical school!
Favorite Sage Memory: When I mentored at Ruth Acty and we had a movie day so i got to eat snacks with the kids while watching a movie :)
Fun Fact About You: I work at a coffee shop in Oakland!
School Directors
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Jimin Yoo
Acorn Woodland
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Major: Molecular & Cell Biology
Sage Experience: 4th semester
Plans After College:
Favorite Thing About Sage: I joined Sage my freshman year and it was really nice getting to know my mentee and playing with her during recess as well at P.E time. Kids are so sweet and would greet me all the time, it's really amazing to watch kids grow
Fun Fact About You: I lived in three different countries: Korea, China, and the US!
Kayla Badie
Fairmont & Fruitvale
Major: Psych & education
Hometown: Santa Clarita, CA
Sage Experience: 8 semesters
Plans After College: to teach elementary school
Favorite Sage Memory: butterfly visions with my mentee Akito
Fun Fact About You: I taught myself to juggle last semester
fairmont@sagementorship.org
Priscilla Chin
Sankofa
Major: Molecular and Cell Biology
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Sage Experience: 5 semesters!
Plans after college: I plan on going to medical school!
Favorite Thing About Sage: I look forward to seeing my mentees every week and always getting a big hug from them as soon as they see me :)
Fun fact: I became an auntie at 8 years old!
Finance, Marketing, & Social Team
Adamary Larios
VP Social
Major: Computer Science
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Sage Experience: 4th semester
Favorite Sage Memory: My favorite moments are when mentees realize you truly do care about them. I had mentees not think I remembered their names and were shocked when I did. Afterward they would be so open to me. Even if they got upset and wouldn't talk to anyone else, they managed to open up to me.
Hobbies: Reading, baking, rollerskating.
Rachel Chen
Finance Director
Major: Economics
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Sage Experience: 3rd semester
Favorite Sage Memory: My favorite memory with Sage has to be when I was a mentor at Rosa Parks. Every time I would go to volunteer my mentee would run up to me and give me a big hug. Throughout the semester, I joined their class on a field trip, played garden fairies on the playground, and celebrated my mentee's birthday with him!
Hobbies: Ice skating, coloring my Bobbie Goods book, reading, watching romcoms, making smoothies.
Enya Deng
DeCal Facilitator
Major: Molecular & Cell Biology
Sage Experience:
Plans After College:
Favorite Sage Memory: One of my favorite memories from my time at Sage was near the end of the semester when my mentee asked if they would see me again after the break. It was incredibly fulfilling to hear this because it showed I had made a lasting, positive impact, and they genuinely saw me as a friend and someone they wanted to spend time with.
Hobbies/Favorites: Art, coffee, National Parks, watching nature documentaries, animals
Hilary Wong
VP Social Media
Major: Society & Environment, Business Administration
Hometown: Covina, CA
Sage Experience: 4 Semesters
Plans After College: I plan on working on sustainability and non-profits!
Favorite Sage Memory: I love SAGE because it gives me a reprieve from school and the intensity of being constantly stressed. Interacting with mentees is the highlight of every week and their carefree, joyful nature is infectious!
Fun Fact About You: I'm a black belt in Taekwondo
Kate Seh
DeCal Facilitator
Major: Business & Data Science
Sage Experience: 3rd semester
Plans After College: Favorite Sage Memory: My favorite memory with Sage is seeing the students open up each week and become more confident in themselves!
Hobbies/Favorites: Hot yoga, kayaking, waterfalls, burrito bowls, mangos
Founder
Alejandro Velez
With the realization that there was a great need for a mentorship program that grounded itself in forging powerful, long-lasting relationships with the youth in the greater Berkeley and Oakland community, Alejandro founded Sage in 2008. Alejandro began Sage with a vision of creating a program in which UC Berkeley mentors could be paired up with an elementary student and serve not only as teachers but also as friends and role models. To this day Alejandro is very close to his mentee, Cleveland.
Since his graduation, he has gone on to have a very successful career driven by the same entrepreneurial spirit to find ways to better the world around him. Alejandro now serves as the co-founder of Back to the Roots, an Oakland-based business that sells mushroom kits and AquaFarm fish tanks to retailers nationwide. Since co-founding BTTR, Alejandro has even been named as one of Inc.’s 30 Under 30, Poder's 2010 Influential Hispanics Under 40, Forbes’ 30 Under 30, CNN’s 10 Next Entrepreneur’s to Watch, and been recognized by President Obama!