Mission

Mia Learning uses technology linked to expert knowledge about literacy to motivate children to read, build their personal libraries, and develop their ability to make good choices about reading.

Vision

As our technology helps people chart their own paths, together we will draw a more equitable map of the learning landscape.

Mia believes:

Education should cultivate intrinsic motivation to help students become passionate, lifelong readers and self-directed learners.
Reading helps students imagine new possibilities for their futures and develop the skills and habits of mind they need to make them realities.
Students should have the opportunity to own their own books.
Technology should increase the agency of teachers and students.
Teachers should be able to use artificial intelligence to solve problems they care about.

Team

Darren Cambridge

CEO

Darren provides intellectual and managerial leadership. Darren led the Washington office of the National Council of Teachers of English, directed educational technology initiatives for the U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation, and conducted research at George Mason University recognized as groundbreaking by the MacArthur Foundation. He serves on the board of the Maya Angelou Schools and the steering committee of the National Adolescent Literacy Coalition.

Kathleen Perez-Lopez

CTO

Kathleen leads engineering and data science work, integrating results of pioneering deep learning and natural language understanding research and cultivating an inclusive, learning-focused company culture. From a career spanning government, defense, and education over four decades, Kathleen brings deep expertise in machine learning, pattern recognition, network analysis, and information visualization.

Puneet Puri

Chief Bot Maker

Puneet leads engineering in the development and deployment of the user interface and conversational engine for natural language understanding. Puneet brings a proven track record of over 20 years in engineering management, system architecture and software development of cutting-edge products for service providers, enterprises and consumers. He also co-leads a network of Washington, D.C. area deep learning practitioners.

Diana Black

Head Writer

Diana co-leads the team of playwrights, librarians, and teachers who develop Mia’s literacy content, write her story, and measure the impact of both. A writer, teacher, librarian, and author of award-winning children’s plays, Diana founded her local chapter of 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten and has performed as a featured storyteller at numerous festivals and events for children.

Raaziq Brown

Social Marketing Associate

Raaziq is an artist, designer, writer, and Human Development major in his senior year at Howard University. He founded POPXTWO and has served in marketing and editorial roles at The Century Foundation and Rolling Stone Magazine.

Advisors

Peter Afflerbach

Professor of Education

University of Maryland

John Gossart

COO

Goodworld

Art House

Attorney

Paley Rothman

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

CEO

Powerful Learning Practice

Partners and Supporters

Location

Mia Learning is based in Washington, D.C. Our office is in the historic Uline Arena, where the first African American played in an NBA game in 1950 and the Beatles played their first concert in the U.S. in 1964. We are a three-minute walk from the NoMa/Gallaudet stop on the Red Line.