Bright Star Schools
Carmen Garcia-Shushtari, M.Ed., currently serves as the Senior Marketing Manager at Bright Star Schools, overseeing all marketing channels and ensuring brand consistency across various platforms. Previous experience includes roles as Branded Content Editor and Contributing Writer at The Everymom, and as a Contributing Writer at Red Tricycle, focusing on content creation aimed at mothers and family activities. At UCLA, Carmen held several positions including Assistant Director of First Year Experience, where programs were directed for over 44,000 students, and served as an Undergraduate Academic Advisor. Early career experience includes teaching ESL at various institutions, notably as an ESL Adult School Educator, where over 500 adult students were taught, achieving a high pass rate in language proficiency exams. Carmen holds multiple degrees from UCLA and other institutions, showcasing a strong educational foundation in student affairs and language education.
Bright Star Schools
At Bright Star Schools, we prepare our students to become leaders who act with integrity and champion equity to enrich our communities and the world. In nine, tuition-free public schools in three communities in Los Angeles -- South Los Angeles, Koreatown, and the San Fernando Valley -- our 3,500+ students experience rigorous academics, inclusive education, social-emotional support, and rich life opportunities beyond the classroom. We are people-first as an organization, and we are students-first across all of our school sites. Our educators join a family that is passionate and committed to developing all students to become well-rounded citizens. We make it a high priority to create a safe and inclusive environment for our students and staff and to cultivate leaders from within who are invested in Bright Star Schools’ mission. We offer small class sizes, comprehensive teacher support, and numerous collaboration opportunities across the organization and within school sites. We strongly believe in teacher voice, and we work to increase teaching practice and effectiveness through our data-driven and feedback-derived professional development.