MEET THE TEAM
Each of the people who work at Vive La Experiencia give their best to help you learn a new and fascinating language.
Owner & Founder
Director of Adult Programs
Prof. Rosario L. Puga, M.A
Professor Puga-Dempsey has over 25 years of experience teaching Spanish and English. She enjoys working with people of all ages and ethnic groups. Prof. Rosario is a native Spanish speaker and has a Masters in applied linguistics from Universidad de Las Américas, Puebla, Mexico (UDLAP), and is currently completing her Ph.D at USF in Organizational & Leadership Studies.
She received the award for “Outstanding Foreign Language Teacher” of the year by San Jose State University, as well as the award of “Who’s who among Americas teachers”. In her early years she was a guest student at Yale University and since has taught in multiple universities and schools around the country.
Professor Puga-Dempsey finds great joy in teaching and her main goal is to not only teach the Spanish language but also to share the culture and traditions of her native country Mexico.
Co-founder
Director of Youth Programs
Anette Puga, M.A
Anette has over 10 years of experience teaching Spanish to young students. As a native bilingual speaker she understands the beauty and value of growing up bilingually and bi-culturally.
Anette has an educational background in child and adolescent development, as well as, in Spanish studies from San Jose State University. Recently, she completed her masters degree at Santa Clara University.
Anette finds great meaning in seeing her young students grow and become fluent Spanish speakers. Many of her students have continued their language skills well into college. She loves to share about her Mexican heritage with others through student engagement events.
Teacher
Mistica Espinoza
Is a native speaker from Mexico and has completed her undergraduate studies in Spanish from San Francisco State University. Mistica has been teaching Spanish over the past year and enjoys her work with kids, teens and adults learning English as a second language.
She loves to share about her Mexican heritage and inspire others to connect with their roots.
Administration Associate &
Marketing Support
Cindy Moreno
Cindy, born and raised in Colombia, has a degree in advertising and Copywriting. She also has a diploma in Pedagogy teaching Spanish as a foreign language, in addition to speaking Spanish as a native language.
She loves to communicate and share the Mexican essence of the institute, as well as inspire others to learn Spanish and English.