J3 Welcomes its Inaugural Executive Director

Dear J3 Family and Friends,

We are thrilled to announce that Sarina Sande has joined the J3 Foundation team as our inaugural Executive Director, a position made possible in large part by a generous grant from the Picerne Family Foundation’s Social Entrepreneur Fund!

Sarina comes to us from Educators for Excellence, a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure “that teachers have a leading voice in the policies that impact their students and profession.” Sarina served as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles office for the past three years, while also holding the positions of Senior Managing Director for Program, Senior Outreach Director, and Outreach Director during her ten-year tenure there. As their Executive Director, she developed strategic initiatives, led fundraising efforts, and built collaborative teams that delivered meaningful impact.

Sarina started her professional career as an elementary school classroom teacher in both Los Angeles and New Orleans while also working as a third grade math intervention specialist in New Orleans. She holds a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz; an MA in Teaching from the University of Southern California; a California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential; and certifications in Education Finance and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace.

Not only did Sarina’s experience make her an exceptional candidate for this position, but her philosophy of education and belief in children also resonated deeply with us. As she stated,

“At the core of my work is the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to succeed. By embracing each student’s unique background and providing targeted, accessible literacy support, we can unlock their full potential and foster a lifelong love of reading.”

“What drew me to J3 Foundation was its holistic approach to literacy – one that combines proven reading intervention with building confidence and community. As we look to J3’s future, I’m energized by the opportunity to scale this impactful model while maintaining the personalized attention and cultural responsiveness that makes J3’s programs so effective.”

I hope you will join us in warmly welcoming Sarina to the J3 Foundation family. She joined us on January 21, and in the weeks following there will be opportunities for you to hear directly from her about our shared vision for J3, and the critical role she will be playing in helping to bring it to fruition.

We are deeply grateful to the Picerne Family Foundation for helping to make this position possible through their generous support, and to the team at Koya Partners/Diversified Search Group for bringing us such an outstanding pool of candidates. Most importantly, we are grateful to each of you for your generosity in so many ways in the six years since we started the Building Bold Readers initiative. We are proud of the impact we have made in such a short period of time, and excited to see how J3 will continue to expand its reach throughout Los Angeles and beyond in the coming years with Sarina at the helm!

With gratitude and excitement,

Joe Blackstone Jamie Mohn
Joe Blackstone Jamie Mohn
Co-Founder Co-Founder
Board Chair Board Secretary