About

I’m what some might call a nerd, having earned a PhD from Duke University as well as multiple career certifications for interview coaching, resume writing, and empowerment coaching. But I consider myself addicted to learning, and I apply my background to help individuals and businesses reach their goals.

My writing and critical thinking skills have been honed through work as a writing consultant, freelance writer, academic and professional editor, and Duke University Admissions reader. Testimonials highlight my track record of helping clients market their businesses, publish their books, land interviews, receive job offers, and get accepted into their programs or schools of choice. In addition to helping countless others follow their career path dreams, I’ve successfully applied for and received more than $300K in fellowships, scholarships, and grants from institutions including Duke University and Harvard University.

One of my specialties is helping job seekers and academics in career transition, and I also do a fair amount of institutional training in the form of workshops. I work with professionals in wide-ranging areas including tech, pharma, banking, government, research, sales, engineering, and academia. My favorite and most invigorating coaching moments occur when a client and I discover how to turn a possible red flag into a selling point the client actually wants to highlight and discuss. I’ve helped people transition into large companies including Google, IBM, and NBC and helped people advance within higher education.

I’m a book editor and also work on a variety of projects including websites and curricula. I help entrepreneurs and businesses create powerful marketing messages that accurately reflect the true value of their services or products. I deliver this result by combining my critical thinking, writing, and analytical skills with a genuine interest in getting to know my clients and their passions.

I enjoy consulting and teaching at the university level. For two years, I’ve been a graduate-level instructor of professional development at North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management. One of my students called me her “resume fairy godmother,” a compliment that simply made my day.

Beyond semester-long classroom teaching, I provide career consulting and workshops in the form of singular group workshops, individual consulting, and program-level consulting. For two years, I served as the professional writing consultant for a master’s program at Duke University, for which I taught professional writing workshops. Sometimes I collaborate with directors of programs to determine their students’ needs and then design custom offerings. I currently work with multiyear doctoral fellowship programs in the US and EU. I’m also a consultant to leading career services organizations, providing content and editorial services.

When assisting program applicants, I work with clients returning to or continuing on to graduate and professional schools (Ph.D. programs, law, and med) by providing writing coaching on their personal statements and statements of purpose. Applicants I have worked with have gained admission to a range of universities including Harvard, Oxford, Vanderbilt, UC Berkeley, Cornell, UVA, Duke, UNC – Chapel Hill, and UC San Diego School of Medicine.

My writing is regularly featured in the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches’ (PARW/CC) flagship monthly publication, as well as in magazine publications through FBI-LEEDA. I sit on the Certified Professional Resume Writers certifying committee of the PARW/CC and am a member of PARW/CC, National Resume Writers Association, Career Thought Leaders, and National Career Development Association. In short, I live and breathe this stuff!

Outside of work, I hang out with my husband and kids, spending as much time on the beach or in the mountains as possible. I’m still working on my next career milestone of becoming a professional beach bum.