Meet the Team at Mathnasium of Santa Monica

Heather

Heather is excited about math and learning with you! She has spent over a decade as a radio personality at the Kiss FM in Green Bay, Wisconsin and another 2 years as a corporate radio data analyst. As an analyst, she loved solving mysteries about human behavior with numerical data, and loved the sense of community from radio. She joined the Mathnasium team because she is passionate about learning, growth, fun and nerding out over numbers! She also loves pizza, sports, cats, and playing 24.

Sid

Sid is currently a Junior at California State University, Los Angeles majoring in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in automobiles! He previously was a tutor at Santa Monica College, which eventually landed him here. Sid spends his time building cars and motorcycles and spends time snowboarding with friends!

Jonathan

Jonathan (aka Jon Jon) graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with a minor in Mathematics. He has worked as a teaching associate at CSUN where he taught calculus for business majors. He has also worked as a private tutor helping college students with calculus, pre-calculus, and statistics. His intellectual interests include logic, set theory, and philosophy of mathematics and science. In his free time, he enjoys playing with Rubik's cubes and playing puzzle video games. He enjoys working with kids and chose to work at mathnasium to expand his teaching experience to include kids of different ages.

Nikki

Going to be attending college next year, she intends on being involved in sciences and mathematics. She enjoys spending her time as an instructor and helping students better understand topics in math. She enjoys math because of how applicable it is in the real world. The straightforwardness of the subject is what makes her interest in a future career in Stem. Through having other tutoring experiences, Mathnasium seemed like an enjoyable place where she could work with kids in improving their academic abilities and confidence in themselves. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends, playing volleyball, and playing several instruments.

Dylan

Dylan graduated from Santa Monica High School in 2023 and is currently attending Santa Monica College. He plans to transfer and major in Mechanical Engineering, and hopes to one day work in sustainability. He loves how powerful science and math are when it comes to changing society and the environment, and believes that if more kids understand math better, the future will be much brighter than we expect. He has been an instructor at Mathnasium since August of 2023, and finds working with kids rewarding. In his free time, he does cross-country mountain biking, surfs, acts, and plays several instruments.

Dan Saposhnik

Dan graduated from the University of Arizona in 1985 with a B.S. in Microbiology and from Hofstra University's Graduate School of Business in 1990 with an MBA in Accounting. He worked as a CPA with public accounting firm Price Waterhouse and has built successful companies in various fields including real estate and executive recruiting. Dan's passion for teaching and love for working with kids is rooted in family tradition. His mother was a highly regarded principal in Las Vegas for nearly 30 years. Dan has taught and tutored children of all ages and was a mentor for underprivileged children. Dan is committed to significantly increasing Santa Monica children's math skills, their understanding of math concepts and their overall school performance. "We provide lots of warm encouragement in a very positive learning environment so that children build their confidence and develop a winning attitude towards math. Our kids learn math in a way that makes sense to them. They get excited about math and this spirit carries over into everything they do."

Laurie Wasser Saposhnik

Laurie graduated from UCLA in 1986 with a B.A. in Communication Studies. Prior to joining Mathnasium, Laurie worked for various Fortune 500 high tech companies such as IBM, SAP, EMC, TIBCO and MicroStrategy. Laurie's passion for teaching and love for working with kids is rooted in family tradition. Her father taught special education at the high school level for over 30 years in California. Laurie is committed to partnering with the Santa Monica community to increase Santa Monica children's math skills, their understanding of math concepts and their confidence in their ability to be successful.

Zach

Zach is a senior in high school planning on attending UC Berkeley in the fall, double majoring in Applied Math and Data Science. In his free time, he loves running track and field and going rock climbing with friends. He also loves taking long walks with his dog and spending time on the beach. He loves connecting with people, and creating connections through math makes working at Mathnasium even more enjoyable for him.

Marcos

Marcos graduated from a state college. Now a world class institution. He works at Mathnasium helping kids solve their problems and math. He can't bench press 275 lbs.

Claudia

Claudia is currently attending Santa Monica College. She plans to transfer and major in aerospace engineering. She enjoys math for its logical structure. Explaining concepts in different ways and adapting teaching strategies to suit individual students has also deepened her own understanding of mathematics. In her free time, she likes to go on hikes and study with friends in coffee shops.

Josh

Josh graduated from UC San Diego with a B.S in Applied Math. He likes working out, surfing, and jiujitsu. He can bench press 275 lbs. He likes helping people solve problems.