About Joanna

For more than 20 years, I've helped people put the most important version of themselves on paper, from high school seniors and graduate school applicants to career changers stepping into something new. The stakes change. The problem doesn't: most people are far more interesting than what they first write down.

My professional career taught me how the reader thinks. I've spent it in writing, research and communications at companies including Gartner, KnowBe4, and ADP, where my published research was read by executives who had very little time and very high standards. The job was always the same: take something complicated and make it clear, memorable, and worth acting on. An admissions reader with a stack of files and a few minutes per application is that same reader.

I'm also co-writing a children's picture book series with a former CIA colleague, which is its own education in saying something important in very few words. Useful practice for a 650-word essay.

What I bring to your student is simple: I know how to find the story, I know how to cut what doesn't serve it, and I know the difference between an essay that sounds impressive and one that sounds like a real person. Every word stays your student's own. My job is to help them find the right ones.