Our Team
Join Berkeley Coding Academy
Corey Wade
Founder, Director, Lecturer
Corey Wade, MS Mathematics, MFA Writing & Consciousness, developed Berkeley Coding Academy to bring Python, Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI to a larger audience. At BCA, Corey organizes behind the scenes, develops all content, and provides live lectures. During the school year, Corey teaches math and programming at the Independent Study Program of Berkeley High School where has worked since 2004. Corey has published iPhone apps with students, designed classes to build websites, and run after-school coding programs to support girls and underserved students. A Springboard Data Science graduate, Corey has worked in industry developing Data Science curricula for Pathstream and Hello World while contributing articles for Towards Data Science. A multiple grant award winner, lead author of The Python Workshop (2019, 2022), author of Hands-on Gradient Boosting with XGBoost and scikit-learn (2020), and public speaker (ODSC West 2022, 2023), Corey’s passion in education comes from teaching advanced technical concepts to empower students of all ages. When not coding or teaching, Corey reads poetry and studies the stars. corey@berkeleycodingacademy.com
Anna Branning
AI Education Coordinator
As Berkeley Coding Academy’s first AI Education Coordinator, Anna Branning is on a mission to make AI education exciting and accessible. She helps schools, teachers, and students understand how AI works so that they can take charge of how it shapes their world. Anna teaches media arts, computer science, and AI to middle schoolers in San Francisco, where she’s introduced sixth graders to ethical matrices, decision trees, neural networks, GANs, and deepfakes (yes, sixth graders!). Before jumping into education, Anna spent 15 years running a commercial art business focused on print design and textiles. Now, with over a decade of teaching experience, she blends creativity and tech in the classroom to give students the skills they need to thrive in an evolving digital world. Anna holds a master’s in secondary education and a bachelor’s in visual art and communication design. She’s passionate about sparking curiosity, empowering young minds, and making sure the next generation understands AI—not just as users, but as creators and critical thinkers. In her free time, Anna enjoys hiking, country western dancing, and learning to play guitar.
Mary Orozco
Senior Instructor, Lecturer
Mary Orozco has Bachelor’s Degrees from UC Berkeley in Data Science and Cognitive Science. She loves the versatility of Data Science, and how it continually adapts to different fields including Marketing and Healthcare, specifically medical imaging analysis. Proficient in Natural Language Processing, Mary built an original spam email classifier after analyzing multiple precision-recall curves via sklearn and pandas. A competitive soccer coach for Spurs FC and Lil' Spurs, Mary works with students of all levels ages 3-18. When not coding in Python, Java or SQL, Mary plays soccer, watches TV shows like Modern Family, and reads the classics. Mary hopes to encourage BCA students to pursue careers in coding by creating an incredible learning experience based on enthusiasm and shared knowledge.
Mitchell Dennis
Senior Instructor, Lecturer
Mitchell Dennis has Bachelor’s Degrees in Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science and is currently completing a Doctoral degree in Astronomy at the University of Hawaii at the Manoa Institute for Astronomy. Mitchell has experience using Python for data cleaning, analysis, visualizations and using keras and TensorFlow to develop deep neural networks. Mitchell currently works for multiple research teams at the Institute for Astronomy performing rare object detection with machine learning on high redshift galaxies in the COSMOS field and emulating stellar structure codes with machine learning to perform advanced statistical analysis on the theoretical production of dark matter in stellar cores. In his spare time, Mitchell writes research articles on J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary works and goes hiking in the beautiful mountains of Hawaii. Mitchell is excited to share his knowledge and passion for machine learning and data science with the students of Berkeley Coding Academy.
Kurumi Kaneko
Data Science Instructor
Kurumi Kaneko has a Bachelor’s degree in Data Science from UC San Diego where she focused on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Business Economics. Kurumi has tutored for over five years, most recently for data science courses at UCSD. With a passion for problem-solving and efficiency, Kurumi is developing innovative AI solutions that enhance business efficiency and decision-making across various sectors like sports and retail. Specifically, Kurumi is interested in creating private, company-specific versions of tools like ChatGPT that adhere to strict privacy regulations and in developing predictive models that optimize product supply to minimize waste while supporting multiple languages. Past projects include converting 5000+ Oracle Database SQL queries and creating a QA manual for a Japanese professional soccer team, Sanfrecce Hiroshia. Besides data science, Kurumi loves playing soccer and trying new bakeries. Kurumi looks forward to meeting and supporting potential data scientists in a fun, judgment-free environment at BCA!
Satvik Sriram
Data Science Instructor
Satvik Sriram has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science at UC San Diego where he focused on software engineering and machine learning. He loves the real-world applications of machine learning and applies it by competing in Hackathons and undertaking various research projects. Previously, Satvik completed a research project on the likeness of contracting COVID-19 based on varying factors by country and presented it at regional fairs. Outside of coding deep learning models, Satvik enjoys spending his time rock climbing and performing specific body weight exercises in calisthenics. Satvik looks forward to spreading his love and passion for machine learning and its capabilities to BCA students.
Gia Perez Sanchez
Data Science Instructor
Gia Perez Sanchez is studying Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University with a focus in Computational Approaches and Psychology/Neuropsychology. She is interested in the intersection of humanity and robotics, specifically with artificial intelligence and bionics. As a Latina in STEM, Gia strives to make the field of technology more inclusive for minorities and researches the impact of racial bias in machine learning algorithms. Gia has tutored students for over six years in a variety of subjects including Python, Math, Science, and Spanish. She also loves reading science fiction novels and listening to a wide range of music. As a part of the Berkeley Coding Academy instruction team, Gia looks forward to helping students thrive in the Data Science world.
Mariela Chala-Gross
Data Science Instructor
Mariela Chala-Gross studies Biological Anthropology at George Washington University with a focus on primate genomics and life history skeletal biology. Her data science research includes building a tornado predictor and a heart failure risk identifier coupled with lab work analyzing the effect of growth mediums on bacteria alongside its transformation efficiency. Mariela first became interested in coding when she took a data science class at Berkeley Independent Study from BCA program director Corey Wade. She was inspired by his passion for both coding and teaching, and she’s now in her third year of being an instructor at Berkeley Coding Academy, where she enjoys making coding fun and accessible for younger students the same way that Corey did for her. A lacrosse player and coach, Mariela likes to work out at the gym, read mystery novels, and play with her cats.