Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Elena received her Bachelor of Arts in Cello Performance from Virginia Tech in 2019. There, she served as principal of the New River Valley Symphony and studied with Alan Weinstein. She began her teaching career as a student teacher for the Virginia Tech String Project and served as its director upon graduation.

Elena taught middle and high school orchestra at Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts in California from 2021 to 2023. Her students won awards and achieved high standards and scores at local and state adjudications. Alongside her teaching at MCAA, Elena was also the graduate student teacher for the Sacramento State String Project. As a part of this position, she conducted research and wrote a proposal for the organization with her colleague, Kathleen Gallagher-McLellan. This research, “Fostering Self-Evaluation and Program Assessment”, was presented at the American String Teachers Association National Conference in 2023. Additional research on teaching students body awareness, “Gravity: Tools for Tone Development”, was presented at the ASTA Conference in 2024.

Now in Las Vegas, Elena is a Music Education Consultant for a private school. Her focus is to build foundations and plans for them to grow and develop a high-quality music and arts program. Alongside this project, she is the newly appointed Orchestra Director at Founders Classical Academy of Las Vegas.

Although much of her work is in teaching and pedagogy, Elena is passionate about performing, as well. Throughout her studies, she performed across the country in workshops, festivals, and masterclasses with world-renowned artists, including the Turtle Island String Quartet, Zuill Bailey, and Yo-Yo Ma. Her performance has recently been lauded with the Sacramento Saturday Club Scholarship, Renaissance Society Scholarship, and prizes in the Watson Chamber Music Competition and the Sacramento State Concerto Competition. Elena is a Resident Artist for The Culture House in Lincoln, CA, where she performs recitals frequently.

Elena’s service includes previous board membership for the National String Project Consortium, CalASTA-Sacramento, and continued work as the Board Secretary of The Culture House. She holds membership with ASTA and the National Association for Music Educators.

Elena received her Masters of Music at California State University - Sacramento studying with Andy Luchansky. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband, Nathan, and their rescue dog, Juniper.