I established Northwest College Search, my practice as an independent educational consultant, in 2009, soon after moving to Bellingham, Washington. For many years I had been interested in the college admissions field, but I became more focused when my sons, who are twins, were in eighth grade at separate schools. I became a prep school and public arts school parent, so I took what I learned at one school and offered it to parents at the other. By 2000 I was established as a parent volunteer at Cincinnati's School for Creative and Performing Arts, and from 2001 through 2004 I was on staff there as founder and director of a college resource center, supplementing the counseling office. My sons graduated from their high schools in 2004 and went on to graduate in 2008 from Northwestern University and Beloit College. Soon after, my husband was transferred to Chicago, where I worked at Encyclopaedia Britannica as the online music and dance editor--overseeing, developing, and editing all of the articles in those fields and several others--until our move west.

As a first-generation college student myself I went from a Miami-Dade County public high school (Fla.) to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, benefiting from the school's generous financial aid. I continued to New York University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, completing an MA in historical musicology and working as a teaching assistant.

For professional development in the college advising field I regularly visit colleges, and I attend meetings of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), Pacific Northwest Association for College Admissions Counseling (PNACAC), and Seattle Area College Consultants (SACC). I completed IECA's Summer Training Intensive in 2009; I participate frequently in webinars and courses on topics in the field; I read daily about admissions and financial aid; and I subscribe to several professional listserves. I offer my time to my professional organizations and to College Summit, and I am open to further volunteer opportunities.