Komfort Akyempon is a student at California State University, Northridge and a professional lover of life. As a tutor she enjoys passing on her enthusiasm for reading to the students of 826LA. In her spare time she delights in reading classic books, driving up Pacific Coast Highway, walking on beaches, eating mangoes, sleeping when it's raining, studying the Enneagram, gathering useless information, and singing along to Hall & Oates at the top of her lungs.

Kelly Araujo's aspiration to become a teacher guided her to 826LA. She is grateful to have the opportunity to work (and have fun!) with students as an after-school tutor and hopes to be able to contribute to in-school projects very soon. She has a Bachelor's degree in English from UCLA and is looking forward to starting a teacher credential program in the fall. Currently, she works at Knock Knock in Venice, helping to deliver wit and whimsy to people all over the world. Her favorite time of day is spent hanging out with her husband, Mike, and playing "Cops and Robbers" with her three-year-old son, Jake—even though he tends to make her the "bad guy."

Donica Patel got a BS in Cognitive Science from UCLA and a JD from USC, and is trying to figure out what she would like to be when she grows up. She's an attorney by training and is between jobs right now. Donica enjoys traveling to different places, and when she can't physically do so, she travels via books and lives out different lives in her imagination. Books were her first love, and she hopes she can help the students at 826LA fall in love with them too.

Hajera Rizvi recently graduated with a Masters in Creative Arts for the Classroom from King's College London, and thought that since she had some free time this year, she could put to use the teaching credentials she earned from her undergrad at LMU. Though she started off with the after-school drop-in tutoring, she's segued into doing more of the in-school projects and is currently working on her first book project with students from John Marshall High School. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, being artistic, and hanging out with friends and family. Hajera is looking forward to using her experience with 826LA to integrate it into her future English and History classrooms, hopefully next year.