Tarika holds a BS in mathematics and an MS in computer science, both from the University of Chicago, and worked as a quantitative strategist at Goldman Sachs here in New York. She is starting her PhD in mathematics in the fall to research representation theory, mathematical physics, and algebraic number theory. She grew up on Long Island where she attended and taught mathematics at SchoolNova. Tarika also volunteers at SigmaCamp where she runs an academic competition for the students and helps teach courses on quantum physics, combinatorics, and knot theory.

Tarika is very passionate about teaching mathematics and expanding computer science education! She fell in love with mathematics at a young age through the programs she attended growing up and hopes to inspire the same love for the subject in her students. She also believes it is important for students to learn how to code in middle and high school as she started programming when she was in college and found it was a very useful skill to have.