Code the Dream is excited to welcome four new talented teammates: Project Manager Anne Ezzell, Senior Developer Tech Equity Fellow Omer Yariv, Strategic Initiative Lead Ricky Leung, and Class Assistant Intern Janet Zulu.
A native of Oklahoma, Ezzell’s experience includes working as director of public relations for a statewide arts non-profit and as project manager for software development under state and federal contract. She finds meaning working for organizations that increase opportunities for others — hence, Code the Dream!
Yariv has worked in tech since the days of GeoCities, when <blink> was considered an appropriate HTML tag. He has been employed and freelanced at multiple startup companies as a Software Engineer, Team Leader, and Product Manager. Omer is also the father of two amazing girls, an avid traveler, and will go to great lengths — literally and figuratively — to discover new food.
Leung has a background in visual communications, design, and website development. A graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, Leung has worked for a decade with grassroots immigrant and Asian communities in North Carolina to advocate for immigrant and voter rights through socially just policy changes. Leung says he is especially excited about working with the CTD team on tools that empower community-based advocacy.
Zulu is a Junior Computer Science Major at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, and a Dream.US Scholar. She has a passion for learning, coding, and advocating and hopes to be a software engineer after graduating. She says that her time as a CTD intern so far has been eye opening.
“My favorite part of working with CTD is that I’m not a little fish lost in a big pond,” Zulu says. “I’m in an environment where everyone knows my name, wants to talk to me and teach me everything, and I know I’m valued.”