About Us — Sagely College Advising

Meet the Team

For years, our advisors have helped hundreds of students get into their dream schools. We also recognize the stress and expense placed on families during the college application process. That’s why we created Sagely College Advising, a comprehensive program that assists underserved, high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds as they navigate the complexities of applying to college.

Through personalized guidance on everything from strategizing school choice to helping students craft the perfect essay, our aim is to remove barriers for families and empower deserving students to apply for and gain admission to their dream schools.

Kerri has worked in the college applications industry for over 12 years, advising students and serving as Chief Operating Officer for an international college advising company. Her years of experience have helped students from diverse backgrounds receive admission to top programs in the country. She is hopelessly in love with Star Trek, white tea, and small dogs.

As a college English instructor, Julie is passionate about making the “cultures” of both college campuses and writing communities more transparent for students, especially multilingual writers and first-generation college students. This passion extends into helping college applicants understand what admissions officers “really want.” Her students have been accepted into colleges such as Notre Dame, UCLA, and University of Michigan. She loves board games, audio books, and using Pokémon Go as a travel guide.

As an advisor and writing instructor, Keefer helps students develop their voice in their writing and put meaningful ideas into words on the page. With his education in cultural and linguistic anthropology, he guides college applicants in how to communicate across sociocultural barriers as well as how to discuss society and identity ethically and critically. In his free time, he loves taking long hikes, playing D&D, reading as much fantasy as possible, and learning languages.

Jessica is an academic mentor and writing coach deeply committed to motivating the next generation of college students. She believes in equipping them with the right tools for academic success and inspiring them to push their boundaries. Part of this mission includes helping students craft compelling college application essays that resonate with admissions officers. As a Ph.D. candidate in Sport Psychology with a master’s degree in Medical Anthropology, her writing skills are particularly suited to students focused on social science majors. Before venturing into the world of academia, Jessica was a professional paraglider pilot. Her passion for adventure continues; when she's not engrossed in research or student mentoring, you’ll find her flying or hiking in the mountains.

Maureen feels honored to be part of Sagely's game-changing mission in her role of advisor and writing mentor. As a college-level writing instructor, she sees the importance of a great college 'fit' and supportive campus environment for her classroom students every day. Nothing is as thrilling as helping her Sagely mentees find and fall in love with their own dream schools! She's worked with students accepted to all kinds of universities, from Harvard to USC to Notre Dame to Barnard to Reed, and she loves helping students learn about the amazing variety of college experiences open to them! Off-campus, she can be found drinking iced coffee, curling up with a book, playing DnD, or listening to her young kids teach her crafts. (Did you know Barbie clothes can be made out of balloons and Kleenex?! What will they think of next!)

As a writing specialist with post graduate work in areas like composition pedagogy and cognitive apprenticeship models of teaching and learning, Jaime draws out the very best in her students, guiding them to discover their unique voice through essay writing. With the help of her mentorship, her students have gained acceptances to incredible schools like Caltech, Dartmouth, Brown, University of Pennsylvania and so many others. When Jaime is taking a break from advising, she’s geeking out to Lord of the Rings or watching the latest Marvel release!

As a writer, teacher, and mentor with a focus on creative language, Stephanie specializes in helping students tell their story with detail and emotion. Over the past seven years, her attention has been on college admissions applications and essays, helping students get into programs such as Cornell, Notre Dame, Tufts, Washington University in St. Louis, and many others. She enjoys karaoke, reading, and may or may not have coffee running through her veins.

Having taught college-level writing at both large research universities and small private liberal arts colleges, Erin is passionate about helping students land in an institution where they will thrive. As an active researcher at the intersection of language and historical medical writing, Erin cares deeply about individual writer's authentic voices and experiences. She guides students in identifying and developing research and essay topics that reflect students’ genuine interests and personalities while also teaching strategies in critically reading their own experiences with the world to produce a deeper and more productive engagement with and reflection of it. Erin also aims to provide students with portable thinking and writing skills that will serve them well wherever they find themselves throughout their higher education journey. As a collector of hobbies, Erin enjoys reading, gardening, cooking, sewing, knitting, playing Dungeons & Dragons, translating dead languages, home remodeling, and hanging out with her cats and whatever wildlife wander through her backyard.

Rebecca comes to Sagely with more than a decade of experience as a high school counselor, where she has assisted more than 300 students developing college-readiness skills and applying to college. As the Early Advising Program Manager, she believes in helping students gather the knowledge they need about themselves and the world to make amazing and impactful choices about their future paths. When she's not meeting with mentors and students or developing systems and tools for Sagely's Early Advising work, she loves to hike in the mountains of her home state of Vermont, find and consume the very best desserts, and visit weird museums.

For nearly a decade, Rebecca has helped students gain admittance into the best undergraduate and graduate programs in the U.S. – schools like Harvard, Wellesley, Brown, and Cornell. Her years as a writing professor give her unique insights into what colleges truly value, helping her students get to the heart of what Admissions Officers are looking looking for in applicants. Rebecca is also an avid knitter, an animal activist, and loves getting to work closely with students.

Hannah has been a professional writer and marketing specialist for nearly a decade, writing content for companies from Silicon Valley startups to nationally recognized magazine publications like Forbes. Specializing in technology, marketing, and sciences, she loves helping students find their niche in STEM, but uses her skills to help students express their passions in many subjects. She’s worked with students across majors who have gained acceptances into colleges like Wellesley, Oxford, and Vanderbilt. When taking time off work, Hannah loves playing video games or board games with friends!

Danny Tejada grew up in public housing in East New York, Brooklyn. He is a first-generation high school and college graduate. He attended Skidmore College. He also holds a certificate in College Advising from Teachers College, Columbia University. He co-authored a book with his mentee called Different Families, Still Brothers. He has been in college counseling for over ten years, working in public, private, charter schools, non-profits, and consulting. In his consulting outside of Sagely, he works with non-profits and high schools on their college counseling programming, colleges on their recruitment of historically disadvantaged students, and individual families on the college application process. He has been featured in NPR, Forbes, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Education Week, and Money.com, discussing college access issues. His mission is to expand college access for low-income, Black, and Brown students so they can achieve upward mobility and break their generational curse. In his spare time, he loves to play Destiny 2 on PS5 and watch wrestling. text goes here

Kelly has over twenty years of secondary and postgraduate experience as an English teacher, writing mentor, adjunct faculty member and program coordinator in job readiness/career planning. As a wife of a retired military servicemember, she has had the opportunity to work with both domestic and international students. She loves guiding learners in each step of their individual journey: from career exploration, college preparation and finally, choosing which program to accept. Her favorite part is watching writing skills flourish throughout the application process.

When not behind her laptop, you’ll find her enjoying time with her family, drinking copious amounts of coffee, planning future road trips or spoiling her many animals.

Sara has been a university English instructor for over a decade and is passionate about helping her students succeed in multicultural environments. She is committed to making the university admissions process more accessible to students and helping them to tell their authentic stories in a way that connects with admissions officers. In her free time, she likes baking, hiking and traveling to new places.