Perhaps influenced by my Italian American family, navigating social conflicts and finding my place in a multigenerational household offered early training in perspective-taking. Those roots—and over two decades in education—shaped how I came to mindfulness: not as an escape from life, but as a way to meet it more honestly.

I trained in Vipassana mindfulness meditation and am certified through a deep two-year study with the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, with mentorship from Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, and training with Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence.

My work integrates mindfulness, social-emotional learning, and reflective practice to help individuals cultivate presence and agency in their daily lives. Currently, I serve as a mindfulness coach at a public high school, integrating social-emotional learning and contemplative practices into daily routines.

Mindfulness Mentoring — an invitation

Through one-on-one mentoring, I support individuals in exploring how they think, feel, and show up in the world. Sessions create a quiet, practical space to reflect, notice patterns, and develop steadier attention—skills that carry into classrooms, teams, work, and everyday life.

This work meets people where they are—educators, creatives, athletes, professionals, or anyone navigating complexity—and grows from curiosity, care, and presence.

Teaching and Photography

Following in my father and grandfather’s footsteps, I became a teacher, drawn to education as a space for both individual and social transformation. Teaching taught me deep listening, perspective-taking, and intellectual humility—learning how to pay attention to what others need, value, and notice.

Alongside teaching, photography became a practice of mindfulness: the stillness of the image, deep looking , patience, and slow observation while staying curious. I brought this way of seeing into classrooms and communities, inviting students—and now clients—to engage with attention, curiosity, and care. Learning to decenter myself and follow the perspectives of others continues to shape how I mentor and guide mindfulness practice today.

“Andrea is calming and makes everything in my mind feel peaceful.” -Maddox, age 10

If you feel drawn to explore mindfulness for yourself, I’d love to connect.