Meet the Team
Learning Coach
Joyce
Learning Counselor
Dr. Jenny
Dr. Tsai is an experienced language educator, curriculum designer, guidance counselor and career coach. She has been a Mandarin language instructor and consultant for several well-known private schools in the Bay Area and New York City. Driven by her passion in education and doctoral research on the hope-action theory, she takes pride in providing the best teaching, curriculum and coaching possible. As a cofounder of eBrilliant, her goal includes bridging gaps between learners, instructors and curriculum by integrating education needs, psychology, pedagogy and technology. She believes all learners can build upon their unique and brilliant learning portfolio with creative and supportive ways.
Sophie Tseng was born in Taiwan, where she obtained a certificate in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language in 2009. Sophie received a Graduate Certificate in College and University Teaching and an M.A. at Oregon State University. Since returning to the Bay Area, she started teaching Mandarin to both heritage and CFL students at high schools. Sophie is passionate about teaching and enjoys to interact with students. As Chief Curriculum Officer, her goal is to help learners interested in learning Mandarin and get them excited about their learning at eBrilliant.
As part of eBrilliant instructional team, Joy believes teaching is not a one-way process, and specializes in teaching language through creative means. Coming from a background in education with diverse working experiences in publisher marketing, architectural education, she has taught Mandarin in both the UK and the US, as well as volunteered in education-related international non-profit organizations. Her life experiences in art, crafting, drama, and music enrich her teaching materials and inspire her new approaches in Mandarin learning. As creative director, she will focus on establishing a novel synchronous teaching process. Her goal is to design materials that help learners to assess their progress and stimulate their passion in Mandarin.
Bumble joins eBrilliant with a diverse background, including working at startups, government agencies, for an educational non-profit and social enterprises in various IT capacities. The variety of her experiences lends itself to her curiosity about people and their histories. A certified mental health first aider and lifelong learner, Bumble is passionate about telling the incredible stories of the eBrilliant community and the many possibilities they inspire.
Emily began her formal musical training at age seven with piano and violin. She obtained a Master of Music degree in violin performance from Michigan State University and Bachelor of Arts in Music degree in violin performance from Soochow University. Throughout grade school, she performed and competed in a variety of music festivals and participated in Midland and Adrian symphony orchestra. During the summer, she has had the opportunity to perform at music festivals included Blackburn Music Academy of Festival in Napa Valley, Walnut Hill music festival in Boston, Hawaii Performance Arts Festival and Pacific Region International Summer Music academy in Canada.
As a music instructor, she taught violin sections in Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan and her goal is to inspire in students the beauty of music. She creates different teaching material for each student individually in order to assist students approach the goal. The teaching methods are based on students’ level and their performances. Emily is passionate about teaching music and enjoys teaching students of different ages and different levels.
Joyce brings to ebrilliant a background intersecting education, and the humanities. After earning a graduate degree in English literature and TESOL, she returned to Taiwan to assume teaching at colleges. Over the years, she has led many cross-cultural study exchange programs for elementary and high schoolers between Taiwan and the US. Joyce currently resides in California and enjoys volunteering at educational non-profits. She also holds a PhD in Education Evaluation and Research.
Hello, my name is James, and I am very excited to work with you and your family at eBrilliant. I graduated with degrees in bioengineering, nanoengineering and chemical engineering from UW and UCSD and I am working on my postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford studying cancer therapy mechanisms and ultrasound integration. I come from a family of educators, and we’ve always believed in the holistic view of learning, which aligns with eBrilliant’s learning approach and hope learning model. In college, I’ve worked with students on calculus, physics and chemistry as an instructional tutor. During graduate school, I’ve mentored many students from undergraduate to graduate levels on chemical synthesis, material analysis, and research methods. I’ve always been passionate about working with students and overcoming challenges and obstacles together, while empowering students’ own capability and promoting growth. Unlocking students' potential has been equally motivating and inspiring. During my graduate career, I’ve learned as much as I’ve taught my students throughout our mentoring relationship. Together, we’ve forged relationships and established solid foundations through our learning experience. In my free time, I enjoy sports such as tennis and rock climbing, and I play music. I am excited to be part of the eBrilliant team and I look forward to working with you and your family!
Dr. Jenny holds a doctoral degree in Genome and Systems Biology. Besides her current research, she enjoys backing, hiking, biking and exploring culture in various settings. She spent two years teaching at the college level and almost two years tutoring elementary students, both online and in-person. Her students love her because of her consistent quality support as they challenge themselves in learning Chinese as a foreign language. Her flexibility to accommodate learners’ special schedules and needs are also highly acknowledged. It’s our pleasure to have her as a learning counselor in eBrilliant.
During her time working for prestigious schools both internationally and based in the United States, Han laoshi has worked with numerous students in her capacity as a US-Certified teacher, teaching both ESL and Chinese to students all over the world. She is passionate about language education and seeks to combine her knowledge of ESL strategy and her experience as a qualified Chinese teacher to create a curriculum that sparks linguistic curiosity and academic progress.