Master of Education in Higher Education 2008 Harvard Graduate School of Education
Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts 1994 Texas A&M University
Professional Background:
Since 2002, I have had the opportunity to work one-on-one with individuals wishing to further their careers by pursuing new educational and professional opportunities. As both an admissions consultant and an executive recruiter, I have loved being able to discuss individuals' past educational and professional experiences and to help them to realize their potential in the next phase of their professional lives.
From 2002-2007, I worked at Japan's leading application and test preparation company as an admissions consultant. During that time, I guided hundreds of professionals from many of Japan's leading companies and governmental agencies through their application and test-taking strategy, document preparation and interview practice. My past clients have been accepted into MBA, PhD, LLM and Master's degree programs at Harvard, MIT, UPenn, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Columbia, Chicago, Northwestern, LBS, Oxbridge, INSEAD, LSE and many other top U.S. and international universities.
In 2007, while attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Master of Education in Higher Education program, I took an internship at one of Boston's top executive search firms and, after graduation, was hired as a Senior Associate in the firm's higher education practice. During my two years with the firm, I worked with search committees at some of the United States' top colleges and universities, helping to identify, interview and screen candidates for Dean, Provost, and President positions.
In 2010, I made the decision to return to full-time application consulting and began working independently. Leaving the safety of a full-time salaried job was daunting, but over the past years I've been rewarded with the truly great opportunity of being able to contribute to the professional and academic future of driven, talented young professionals and scholars.
Personal Background
My first trip to Japan was in 2000 as a participant in the Japanese Government's JET program. I spent two very exciting years as an Assistant Language Teacher in Kawamata-machi, Fukushima-ken, which were made much more exciting by the fact that I spoke no Japanese at the time! I moved to the Tokyo Metropolitan Area in 2002 and in addition to my work as an admissions consultant, was fortunate enough to find steady work as a voice actor and narration artist, and to teach a presentation practicum at the University of Tokyo. In 2005, I took a 3.5 month leave of absence from work to volunteer as web content author on board Peace Boat's 48th Voyage, where I had the opportunity to write about the organization's international peace and human rights activities.
I am based in Tokyo, but do spend part of the summer in my hometown of 75,000 in Central Texas. When I'm not working, you can generally find me in the water, as I have a great passion for swimming and SCUBA diving!