Gabriella Zlaket grew up as the daughter of a farmworker and immigrant family. She graduated from Arlington High School in the Riverside Unified School District before attending the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University. Since 2003, she has served as a school counselor at her alma mater, where she is an advocate for the counseling position and provides personalized support to prepare students for success in school and life. She employs a data-driven approach to identify gaps in student services and works to create programs and systems to ensure graduation and college/career readiness for all students—including in her role as the lead counselor for English Learners. Gabriella is described as someone with “a heart and soul about students and empowering them to achieve their goals and dreams.”