Tesoro Team
Our Team is comprised of teachers with over 50 years of combined experience working with children and families. Our staff are passionate about their profession and are highly qualified and experienced in early childhood education, family systems and developmental standards.
Andrea Valdez
Founder / Visionary
Andrea has many years of experience working with children and families in various roles. Her experience of 19 years in the field of Child Development and working with children and families range from roles in the preschool setting to being a parent coach, consultant, and a behavioral therapist. Andrea loves learning and attending school. She enjoyed her studies from preschool (where is all started) all through college. She earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Child Development and Psychology, with a Minor in Sociology from San Diego State University. In addition, she earned her Master of Arts degree in Human Behavior from National University. Andrea is a Registered Behavioral Technician (RBT) and is currently fulfilling her requirements to become a Board-Certified Behavioral Analyst (BCBA).
Andrea has close to two decades of experience working with children with special needs such as Autism, Down Syndrome, Fragile-X, Angelman Syndrome, and Cerebral Palsy. Through her work, she seeks to enhance their social and emotional skills as well as provide Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy on a 1:1 basis.
Prior to founding Tesoro Preschool, Andrea was the Manager of Alexa’s PLAYC at Rady Children’s Hospital with an enrollment capacity of over 100 students. She was responsible for all aspects of daily operational and administrative needs at Alexa’s PLAYC. Her duties included, but were not limited to talent recruitment; ensure compliance with all applicable local and state regulations for childcare licensing; and, maintain quality control of the program as a one-of-a-kind inclusive preschool. Most importantly, she ensured that each individual student’s needs for social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development were being met. Lastly, she fostered and maintained partnerships with agencies that cater to the mission of helping families and children.
Andrea also experienced being a preschool administrator with the Diocese of San Diego and San Carlos Methodist Preschool. During her time with the Diocese, she oversaw the design and construction of a new school with a licensed capacity of 78 students at St. Mary School in Escondido. During this time, she partnered with architects, project managers, and board of directors on a weekly basis during construction of the new preschool. Moreover, she implemented a specialized, assessment- based curriculum to prepare children for kindergarten testing. Their scores increased from 60% to 100% passing. Prior to commencing her career in preschool administration, she was a teacher at KinderCare and Bright Horizons where she oversaw childcare for infants as young as 6 weeks of age, and taught children 18 months to 5 years of age.
Eriberto J. Valdez, Jr.
Founder / Finance and Facilities
Eriberto is a seasoned public sector professional in the area of financial and administrative services with experience in real estate and land development. He has served the citizens of San Diego for over 18 years. He is currently a City Planner with the Engineering & Capital Projects Department and member of large, multi-disciplinary teams tasked with implementing public facility and infrastructure projects. Eriberto is the lead on securing entitlements and clearances with various regulatory agencies and conducting multi-faceted environmental planning, analysis and due diligence.
Prior to his tenure with Engineering & Capital Projects, Eriberto was an Analyst for 10 years in financial operations promoting to the rank of Senior Analyst. As a Senior Analyst, he worked with the Office of the City Treasurer, Financial Management and the San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments. During his time with the Office of the City Treasurer, he was responsible for coordinating Citywide cash management and was part of a team tasked with investing the City’s monies and managing an investment portfolio of $2.7 billion. During his tenure with the Financial Management Department and San Diego Fire-Rescue, he coordinated the development, administration, maintenance and monitoring of a $220 million Fire-Rescue operating expenditure budget, and developed Citywide projections for major General Fund revenue sources. He collaborated with Senior Department Management on grants management, contract administration, implementation of capital improvement projects for new fire stations and lifeguard towers. During his tenure with the former Redevelopment Agency, he worked with a team of project managers on the negotiations of public-private partnerships and the implementation of various large and complex redevelopment and infrastructure projects in the Barrio Logan and San Ysidro communities. The project portfolio consisted of affordable housing, commercial, mixed-use, and other public projects at different stages of the development process.
Eriberto holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with a Specialization in Quantitative Analysis, and is a candidate for the Master of Arts degree in Economics at San Diego State University. He has also earned dual Professional Certificates in Real Estate Finance, Investment and Development; and Entitlement, Development, and Design from the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego. His background also includes formal training in California building codes and experience in residential construction.