About Me

I was raised in a small town in Vermont where my family’s two Alaska tundra wolves howled the bucolic nights away, understandably stealing my spotlight as an only child. We wound up in this wintry hamlet when my mom began teaching English literature and film at Dartmouth College, only to settle down on the west coast when my dad started a veterinary practice in Berkeley, California.

My early education included Berkeley Montessori Elementary, and, for six years through high school, Head Royce School in Oakland. I went on to study evolutionary biology, anthropology and zoology at the University of California at Santa Barbara where I earned my Bachelor of Science degree. After graduating, I returned to the east coast to work in reproductive endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Harvard lab in Boston.

Enjoying the real world of science but recognizing that a more interactive career might suit me better, I returned to Berkeley where I signed on as a teacher at a local Sylvan Learning Center, instructing students in math, English, SAT prep and any homework challenge they were facing. After working at Sylvan and as a classroom teacher at a charter school in Oakland, California, I knew that I was passionate about teaching as a career but wanted more autonomy.

So I launched my own private tutoring business. And for the last 13 years, I have worked with students in math, science, writing, grammar, economics, history, Spanish and test preparation (including the SAT, ACT, HSPT, ISEE/SSAT, GRE, CSET), coaching many students from their 7th grade year all the way to high school graduation, and in some cases, into college. I have relished the opportunity to help these students and my shorter-term test prep students improve their skills dramatically, and I appreciate how working closely with hundreds of students has honed my skills as a teacher.

I have taken advantage of the flexible schedule that the work of a private tutor affords and have traveled extensively throughout Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. When I’m not teaching or traveling, you might find me competing in a Scrabble or bowling tournament, reading in one of Berkeley’s earthier cafes, hiking, skiing or swinging one of four types of racquets with questionable form.

While I take pride in my ability to teach a multitude of subjects, I now focus on the SAT. I decided to specialize in this exam because so many of my students (and their parents) have told me that I played a large role in developing their abilities and confidence, reflected ultimately in vastly improved test scores. And with the advent of sophisticated yet simple software technology, I fully recognize the power of online tutoring, and embrace the idea that I can now reach out to students across the continent and around the world, to places where I’ve likely traveled, but never had the opportunity to teach.