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Dr. Brenda D. Olivares is an education champion with over 18 plus years of experience working with students, families, and school leaders. Her passion lies in connecting families to resources and empowering them as the first teachers of their child's education, and fully embracing the community school model. Dr. Olivares believes in creating sustainable systems and structures that promote a culture of respect, trust, and accountability among families and schools. She co-created a leadership workshop for female students in the southeast Los Angeles area, Girls Leadership and Mentoring (GLAM), which exposes female students in elementary to high school grade levels to female leaders in the community who share their own personal journeys about leadership and resilience. Dr. Olivares also created a workshop for male students, Guiding Young Male Minds (GYMM), that aims to provide the same experience.

Dr. Olivares has successfully served the roles of teacher, after-school coordinator, Dean of Academics, Dean of Students, and Dean of Culture at the secondary level. She joined the Magnolia home office team in 2018 as the Director of Student Services and currently serves as the Chief External Officer (CXO). She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California and holds a Master’s degree in Teaching of Social Studies from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her Bachelor's degree in history with a secondary teaching credential from Mount Saint Mary’s University. Most recently, she completed a Family Engagement in Education: Creating Effective Home and School Partnerships Summer Program with the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her leadership has been instrumental to bringing funding and programs to formalize the community school framework to the Magnolia schools network. 

Dr. Olivares is the eldest of six children and daughter to Luis and Amparo Lopez, both immigrants from Mexico, specifically Oaxaca and Jalisco. She was born and raised in Pico Rivera and currently lives in Pico Rivera, California, with her son, daughter, and husband.