It takes a village.

Suzi Nam

Over the past 20+ years, Suzi has counseled and mentored hundreds of students through their day-to-day and major life decisions, usually in intense and high-pressured environments. What she’s learned throughout her journey as an educator is that when a student has a mentor in their lives who loves them and truly sees them, their potential is limitless. Rooting her practice in equity, inclusion, and belonging, she has deep expertise in honoring each person’s varied life experiences and backgrounds. Suzi’s academic training is in the social sciences, which informs her multifaceted worldview. She is the former Director of Admissions at Swarthmore College and has, most recently, been a college counselor at college prep and boarding schools in Philadelphia and suburban Pennsylvania.

Meredith Herrera

While Meredith’s Master's in Human Development and School Counseling and two decades of experience as a prep school administrator, college counselor, and admission officer make her an “expert” on paper, it’s her day-to-day interaction with adolescents and young adults that mean the most to her and her clients. She sees her own struggle in the young people she works with. and has dedicated her life to helping them align who they are, what they believe, and what they do. Meredith is action-oriented, and playful - you’ll work hard, but there’ll be plenty of joy and humor along the way! Her particular areas of interest and expertise are developmental transitions, stress and anxiety management, organization and executive functioning, positive parenting communication strategies, and mentoring students and young professionals of color.

Alexandra Simmons

With a decade spent as a teacher, mentor, and administrator, Alexandra has worked with hundreds of teenagers on what it takes to be grounded, successful, and introspective young adults. As a Dean of Student Life at University High School and former 9th Grade Dean and teacher at the Branson School, Alexandra has worked closely with students, parents, and faculty/staff to ensure the rollercoaster years of high school are guided by partnership, process, care, and a lot of laughter. Often called the "teenage whisperer," Alexandra finds immense joy in helping kids (and their families) through it all: mental/emotional challenges, parent coaching, social challenges, navigating change, and executive functioning and organizational skills.

ANDREA PIEN

Andrea believes that all people deserve to flourish, and has spent her professional career helping young people to do so. She has worked in highly selective college admissions, as well as college counseling and advising in independent schools in California and Pennsylvania. In her free time, she organizes young people with class privilege to become transformative leaders in progressive movements. As the oldest daughter of immigrant parents, Andrea is particularly sensitive to those who feel as though they are “in between” cultures and social identities. Andrea has a Masters in Education from Stanford University. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Bread and Roses Community Fund, the leading funder of grassroots organizing for racial, social, and economic justice in the Philadelphia region.

Louise Grotenhuis

Louise spent too many years being asked - and feeling anxious that she couldn’t answer:  “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Teens’ lives are happening now. If together we focus deeply on and explore the now, rather than the when, we will evolve into our grown-up selves in the right time, in the right space, with the right answers. Louise has been a teacher and administrator in traditional public, charter public and independent schools for 28 years. She earned an EdD in Educational Leadership from Mills College, a Masters in Curriculum Development from Harvard and a BA in Religion and Philosophy from Stanford. Louise believes strongly in what the Quaker tradition teaches us about deep listening and in what the Jewish tradition of Chavrusa teaches us about the fellowship of study.