Meet The Team

Rocky Tarantello, Director of Operations and Co-Owner

Rocky Tarantello, lives and raises his family in Orlando, Florida. He is a successful businessman that has dedicated his life to serving others. Growing up in the restaurant industry, Rocky has served the Orlando community for over twenty years and has sat on and co-chaired numerous charities including Share Our Strength, Taste of the Nation, Second Harvest Food Bank, and many more.  What drives Rocky Tarantello? “I have a passion to give back to the community and create companies that have that goal in mind”.  So, when he was approached by Board Certified Behavioral Analyst and Co- Founder Hina Efzil to create a company that works with children with Autism he jumped at the chance. “Taking a family first approach is a must for ABA Alliance” Tarantello says. This is about providing support and help to the families with special needs children. If we do that our company will succeed. We look forward to ABA Alliance supporting your family.

Rocky’s favorite thing to do in the clinic is do cooking classes with the kids

Rocky Tarantello
Director of Operations
Co-Founder
Call Rocky Tarantello

Hina Efzil, Director of Clinical Services and Co-owner

Hina Efzil has always had a passion for children going back to her babysitting days in school. Working with kids has always come very easily to Hina because she comes from a big family. She has always known if she were to succeed in life, she would have to be passionate about what she was doing, and it would have to be meaningful to her.

With that as the driving force behind all her academic and career choices, she has been able to make an impact on the special needs community. Hina has always known that somehow, someway she would eventually start something that would fill the needs that weren’t being met for the special needs community. ABA Alliance Therapy is that company to fill that need.

During her undergraduate degree, Hina did multiple internships trying to figure out which field would fit her best. One of her internships was at Autism Speaks where she helped to set up the annual Autism Speaks Walk. This is where Hina got to see how it helps families of special needs children.

The next internship she did was at a special needs school. During her first day, she played with kids, engaged in social skills activities, and ran around the playground. She had such a great time giggling the day away with the kids that this was the first time ever she did not question what she was doing at work. For the first time in her life, she had figured out something she could do that was meaningful and would make her happy. “This is when my purpose in life really became clear to me” says Hina.

Hina Efzil received her bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Central Florida and pursued her Master’s in Applied Behavioral Analysis to become a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). While interning at the special needs school, she was hired on as an instructor. During her time as an instructor, Hina started to do one on one therapy after school with clients and found that she could get more accomplished and have a bigger impact with her client’s families through 1:1 therapy. “This has become the foundation for ABA Alliance Therapy, we believe in one-to-one interaction with our families and children”, says Ms. Efzil.

You can find Hina at either Clinic still working with clients, providing parent training and supervision for our therapists, or working with the administrative team in the front. Hina’s favorite things to do around the clinics are social skills group, parent training and planning special events for our kiddos and families.

We look forward to ABA Alliance supporting your family.

Hina Efzil
Director of Clinical Services and Co-owner

Lyla Berlant, Co-Clinical Director

Lyla was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. Lyla always loved working with children especially with a passion for helping people. She always knew she wanted to go into a meaningful career that would encompass her compassion and patience. She was a leader in her youth groups in high school and worked as a counselor in summer camps which then broadened her interest in working with children.

Lyla attended University of Central Florida with an undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders to originally become a speech pathologist. She did speech internships throughout her bachelors, but a friend directed her into an internship at an ABA clinic that Lyla was interested in exploring. The first day interning in 2013, Lyla switched gears and decided to pursue ABA and was hired to start working as a behavior assistant.

After graduation, Lyla then attended Florida Institute of Technology where she obtained her Board-Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA) certificate and took her exam to become board certified. Upon receiving her BCaBA, Lyla continued to fall more in love with the field, supervising RBT’s and working directly with families.

Lyla then attended University of Central Florida for her master’s in early childhood development and Education. This led her to wanting to pursue her BCBA where she could take her knowledge and passion to the next level along with increasing her leadership skills. Once obtaining her BCBA certification, Lyla started working with ABA Alliance Therapy in 2018 and became Co-Clinical Director in 2020. She continues to thrive on client progress, working with families and training staff.

Diana Cortes,  Director of Administration

Diana is the Director of Administration at ABA Alliance Therapy; she has been working in ABA for the past 5 years. Diana grew up in South Florida where she spent many years managing spas and small businesses. She always knew she wanted to work around kids since a young age. She has a passion for helping people and working in the ABA industry has fulfilled her purpose.

As the Director of Administration, she helps the director of clinical services and director of operations manage aspects of client engagement and employee engagement. She manages our waitlist, ensures families have the proper documents to begin services, and assists in the hiring process. She is a valuable asset to ABA Alliance Therapy!

She loves to catch up with parents, therapists and play with the kids anytime she gets a chance. Her favorite activities with kids are arts and crafts and playing games.