About Me

I began teaching as an undergraduate student in Boston. The major tutoring companies at the time didn't seem to care that I had no experience as a teacher, but instead were concerned with my personal SAT score, which was in the 99th percentile. With this credential in hand, I was hired, trained, and welcomed into homes and classrooms to prepare students for the SAT and ACT.

I quickly learned, however, that having a good SAT score and teaching others how to achieve a good score are two very different things. My ability as a test taker only helped students if I effectively communicated that knowledge to them, challenged them to go beyond what came easily, and inspired them to be the authors of their own education. I soon realized that I had a lot to learn about teaching if I was going to be the most effective tutor I could be.

Luckily for me, living in Cambridge, MA, I was surrounded by some of the finest educators in the country. I began attending seminars, offering myself as a teaching assistant, and signing up for every professional development opportunity I could find. I worked in high schools and middle schools throughout New England, developing curriculum and honing my skills as a teacher in the classroom. Eventually, I found myself working and training as a teacher at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA, a nationally recognized leader in education whose innovative programs have been studied by Project Zero, a division of Harvard's Graduate School of Education.

The lessons learned in these years reshaped me as a teacher, equipping me with new tools, language, and ethics to use when working with students on any subject. I learned that education is more about inspiration than it is about passing on information: not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. This lesson has served as the touchstone of my work in the classroom, and it is the center of my work with students.

Since this pivotal education period, I have had many opportunities to put my teaching ethic to the test. In the late 2000s I left my first tutoring company to start my own, combining the lessons I had learned about standardized testing with those I had learned in my education training. In 2011 I took this combination of teaching skills to a small tutoring company in Pittsburgh, helping them to redevelop and refine their SAT curriculum. From 2013-2016 I went back to school, getting my masters degree and teaching at Northwestern University while continuing to work with students across the country in the online space.

Now, my teaching has moved beyond the bounds of any single subject, and I work with a broad spectrum of students who need more support than their schools can offer. I help students with college admissions, executive functioning, academic guidance and beyond. Since 2021, I have split my time between my private practice and as the Executive Director of Virtual Hall, an online program that provides academic, executive functioning, and college life coaching for neurodiverse students in college. But no matter the subject, my task remains the same: I am helping students grow into the adults they envision becoming. While I still have those credentials that landed me that first teaching job in Boston twenty years ago, I am now armed with the teaching skills that ensure my expertise will transfer to any student with any learning style. It is a combination of attributes - a balance of rigor and playfulness, inspiration and information - that makes me an effective teacher in any setting. I love inspiring young people to be their best selves, and I look forward to working with you and your family.