Live into Who You Are

Imagine yourself ready to see, seize, and start academic and leadership opportunities on campus and beyond instead of being stressed out in high school; thriving, not surviving this period of your life.

Our mission is to help you discover your voice by pursuing personal growth to fuel your passion, build your skills,

and tell your authentic story in the college application. In other words, to help you

Live into Who You Are

Providing personalized guidance to prepare for the college admissions process 
and beyond

Meet the Team

Founder, CEO, & Consultant

  • I am an educational consultant who works with US and international students to discover who they are, build their candidacy, and navigate the college application process. Having visited over 150 colleges and universities, I am committed to finding the best-fit schools for each student and helping them tell their authentic stories.

    My holistic expertise stems from marketing brands like Procter & Gamble, AT&T and Citibank. Powerful storytelling begins with a compelling creative strategy and understanding of what makes brands sticky. Later, as the Director of College Counseling and 11th/12th grade Academic Dean at an international boarding school, I learned caring for, modeling, and inspiring students mattered.

    As a parent who guided two children to Harvard and is supporting my third, I deeply understand the challenges and joys of the college admissions journey. 

    Living in diverse communities gives me a unique and empathetic perspective, allowing me to connect with families from various backgrounds. I cherish witnessing my students' personal transformations and fostering a winning attitude regardless.

    I actively collaborate with industry experts and co-host a monthly roundtable for the Independent Educational Consulting Association (IECA), co-lead the AAHNPI Affinity group, and member of the NACAC, WACAC, and Int’l ACAC. These connections keep me at the forefront of education.

    Let's work together to spark your potential and journey on your next destination--college.

Gina Lee

Counseling

Christina Acker

  • Christina boasts over 20 years of enriching experience in education, notably in Admissions at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. For the past 9 years, she has been an invaluable asset to private high schools in the Los Angeles area, aiding students and families in navigating the intricate college admissions journey.

    With a profound dedication to serving students and families, Christina brings to the table a wealth of experience, coupled with a background in mental health, which proves instrumental in supporting students through the often stressful college admissions process. Her passion for this profession is evident in her unwavering commitment to helping students discover their ideal college fit.

    As a counselor, Christina is unwaveringly devoted to guiding your child toward their aspirations of attending a college that aligns with their unique strengths and abilities.

    She empowers students to recognize their individual potential, leveraging these qualities in the pursuit of their dream college.

    Education & Affiliations:

    Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California State University, Northridge

    Master of Education in Educational and Clinical Counseling from Azusa Pacific University, accompanied by a Pupil Personnel Services Credential

    American School Counseling Association (ASCA)

    National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)

Duhee Lee

  • I am a college and career counselor working with US and International students aspiring admissions to best-fit colleges, including the highly selectives. I especially enjoy working with students interested in Business, STEM, Environmental Science, Design, and Architecture. On the career side, I work with both individuals on their career goals, and with companies providing staffing review, executive coaching, portfolio assessments, and process improvements.

    My previous work with students includes roles as an alumni MIT Career Advisor for the Institute of Career Assistance Network (ICAN) and as an Educational Counselor for MIT responsible for conducting applicant interviews and providing individual candidate reports to the Admissions Office. I am an Associate Member of IECA and have completed the Independent Educational Consultants Association Summer Training Institute. As an MIT undergraduate, I studied Architecture with a Humanities Concentration in Poetry, all while playing Varsity Hockey. My Harvard Graduate School of Design Master of Architecture thesis was “Of House and Institution” - a proposal for an elderly care and childcare facility .

Joanna Chin

  • Joanna currently serves as Assistant Director of Advising and Retention at New York University Liberal Studies where she also completed her graduate studies in Social Work. Joanna’s Bachelor of Arts was completed at Wheaton College, majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies, English, Psychology, and Anthropology. Her six years of experience in higher education ranges from mentoring students to find their passion and purpose through the transition to college, career coaching, and developing resources for students to thrive in and outside of school.

    A New York native, she is equally invested in making time to write poetry with her cat Darcy beside her computer, exploring nature on trips outside of the city, and critically analyzing period dramas for her own personal delight.

Arts

Aaron Ashby Romero

  • Aaron offers guidance and portfolio reviews for students through the film portfolio application process. Whether assessing required materials or evaluating works for filmmaker events and exhibitions, he brings professional insights bridge the gap between creative aspirations and successful outcomes.

    Aaron Ashby Romero is a Black-Thai American writer, director, and producer. His mission is to connect people from diverse—even clashing— cultural backgrounds and life experiences through thought-provoking, emotionally-compelling, and context expanding stories.

    At the tender (read: totally normal) age of 18, he left the comforts of his bunk bed and went to Los Angeles on a full-ride scholarship to the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

    After producing a series of multimedia art shows in South LA, Aaron turned to virtual reality production to develop an artistic practice that combines his experiences in filmmaking, art installation, and community building. Aaron has created commercial and narrative content in North Carolina, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

    Aaron has produced and directed virtual reality short films with Sony Pictures, Jaunt Studios, Strivr Labs, and Baltu Technologies. His work has been featured at Sundance Film Festival, ArtShare LA, and all major virtual reality platforms. In addition to writing and directing, Aaron leads creative writing and filmmaking workshops for K-12 students.

Marian Chen

  • Marian Chen holds a Master of Architecture degree from UCLA School of Art and Architecture and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design and Analysis from University of California, Irvine. Her academic studies awarded her the honor of Cum Laude upon graduation and induction into the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society in liberal arts and sciences.

    In architectural practice, she has worked on large scale projects such as hospitals, cancer centers and  school master plans. Her time with the renowned firm Hodgetts and Fung specializing in museum designs allowed her the unique experience of shaping exhibitions at the Temporary Contemporary (now The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA) for a curated show featuring prominent artists such as Cindy Sherman, Ed Ruscha, and Dennis Hopper. 

    In recent years, Marian has taught a variety of subjects to high school students including: Architecture Studio, Visual Arts Studio, Mural Art, Makers’ Lab, and Global Studies. In addition to teaching, she has advised and supported students in developing their portfolios for submission to college. She is a hands-on educator who is passionate about engaging, ideating and creating with her students.

Kieran Collen

  • As part of Kieran’s ongoing commitment to student development, he offers guidance and portfolio reviews for students through the visual art application process. Whether assessing required art materials or evaluating works for artist events and exhibitions, his professional insights bridge the gap between creative aspirations and successful outcomes.

    Kieran Collen was born and raised in Zimbabwe and attended boarding school in South Africa before moving to the United States as a political asylee. He graduated with Honors from Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL, where he majored in Illustration. His creative proficiencies encompass a wide range of disciplines and media, including digital illustration, drawing, painting, photography, and a focus on sculpture. Following his graduation, he worked at multiple high-end art galleries.

    He returned to Ringling College of Art and Design as an Admissions Counselor for three years, reviewing hundreds of portfolios, recruiting students around the United States, and participating annually in the National Portfolio Day. His pursuit of merging the creative fields with business led him to Northwestern University, where he earned his master’s degree in Leadership for Creative Enterprises. His thesis focused on disruptive start-ups in the creative industries and the strategic alignment between for-profit and non-profit organizations. He continued his work in the creative field at a fine art gallery in Chicago while concurrently developing an online augmented reality marketplace for the sale of high-end products, primarily fine art.

    After leaving Chicago, Kieran now serves as the Vice President of Operations and Business Development for a Washington DC-based data analytics company. While working in the business world, Kieran’s ambition to help students achieve their creative goals has never stopped.

Austen van der Byl

  • Austen is a third-culture kid who grew up in South Africa and attended international boarding schools in Los Angeles and in Hong Kong. He places a strong emphasis on bringing your personal background and experiences to inform your creative work, and values bringing the third-culture perspective to his students. Austen holds a bachelors in Interactive Entertainment from the University of Southern California’s game design program and has released several games on Steam, ranging from cozy, to action packed, to experimental and art driven and also worked for and helped develop Millennium-LA’s interactive entertainment division.

    Now, Austen works on games that have a focus on artistic integrity, while balancing entertainment and player experience. His work has been exhibited at USC’s Games Expo, and he continues to push the boundaries on what interactive entertainment and art can be.

Cindy Montoya

  • Ms. Cindy Montoya is a native of Southern California and a proud first-generation Mexican-American college graduate who earned a B.A. in dance and captained UCLA’s elite dance team. Her extensive career in the field of dance includes working as a performer, choreographer, educator, and health and wellness practitioner.  She is also a body mechanics specialist certified through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the Stott Pilates education, otherwise known as the “Ivy League” of Pilates education.  Her artistic work includes performing and choreographing for international concert tours, film productions, as well as television shows and national commercials, and collaborating with such talents as Paula Abdul, George Michael, director David Fincher, and comedian Dave Chappelle. One of the highlights of her successful career was having co-created a dance sequence with Paula Abdul for The Tracey Ullman Show, which won an Emmy Award for best choreography. Other highlights include being a featured dancer on the televised Songwriters Hall of Fame, choreographing the 62nd Academy Awards and choreographing the films, Coming to America and Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

    As an educator, Cindy has similarly devoted much energy to working with dance students of all ages and caliber. During her 25-plus year teaching career, she served on the faculty at Orange County High School of the Arts, Glendale City College, Pasadena Polytechnic School (Poly), and the dance director at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy (FSHA). Additionally, she serves on the selection panel for the UCLA dance team and has been invited to teach at studios and dance conferences around the world. Montoya is a sought-after private dance and movement coach/choreographer working with many well-known celebrities including coaching the actors and choreographing for the Academy Award Best Picture winner American Beauty.

    Moreover, promoting social justice and cultural awareness through dance has also long been a passion for Cindy. During her years at Poly, she launched a student-mentor program known as the Pasadena Dance Outreach Company, a volunteer endeavor that was specifically offered to at-risk youths and children with special needs, and was dedicated to fostering joy and personal growth through the empowerment of positive power of dance. Most recently, Cindy’s dance concerts at FSHA have become well-known in the independent school circles as hair-raising and heart-piercing creative expressions of social justice, and ethnic and cultural diversity issues. In fact, the National Association of Independent Schools featured one of Cindy’s original works--”In Search of a Home,” an expression of immigrant identity in the United States--when it was performed by her students at its annual national conference in San Francisco in 2016.

American University, Arizona State University, Azusa Pacific, Barnard College, Baylor University, Biola University, Boston College, Boston University, Bowdoin College, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly SLO, Cal State Northridge, California College of Arts, Carleton College, Chapman University, Claremont McKenna College, Columbia University, Cornell University, CU Boulder, Dartmouth College, Dickinson College, Duke, Emory, Fordham, Georgetown, George Washington, Grinnell College, Harvard, Haverford College, Indiana University, Lehigh University, Loyola Marymount University, Northeastern, NYU, Occidental College, Otis College of Art, Parsons, Penn State, Pepperdine, Pitzer College, Pratt, Princeton, Purdue, Ringling College of Art & Design, RISD, Rose-Hulman, San Diego State University, Santa Clara University, Scripps College, Smith College, Soka University, Stanford, Syracuse, Texas Christian University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, University of Arizona, University of Chicago, University of Delaware, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Illinois Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Mass Amherst, University of Michigan, University of Oregon, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, University of San Diego, University of Southern California, UT Austin, University of Vermont, University of Virginia, University of Washington-Seattle, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt, Washington University St. Louis, Westmont, Whittier College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Yale.

Our students have been accepted to …

in the last 3 years

  • “I found my intial brainstorming sessions with Gina very helpful in planning a cohesive application and getting a wide-angle view of the whole application from an early stage. It helped me get admitted early.”

    — Maddy, Yale Class of 2025

  • “MS. LEE NEVER WAVERED IN HER DEDICATION TO DO WHAT IS BEST FOR THE STUDENTS. SHE IS MASTERFUL AT COMMUNICATING WITH STUDENTS EXACTLY WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR THEM TO PURSUE THE COLLEGE OF THEIR DREAMS.” “I HAVE PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED GINA’S WORK ETHIC AND HER INCREDIBLY HIGH LEVEL OF DEDICATION TO HER PROFESSION. HER ENERGY LEVEL IS UNPARALLELED. MS. LEE QUICKLY BECAME ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ACADEMIC LEADERS WITHIN [AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PREPARATORY SCHOOL’S] NEW SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT…”

    — Dr. David Unruh, Founding Head of School, American University Preparatory School

  • Mrs. Lee has not only been an amazing college counselor, but an admirable mentor throughout my high school career. She is the most down to earth person I know and I genuinely respect her honesty and judgments. She pointed my passions and strengths before I even realized what I was interested in which made navigating through the college majors smooth and efficient. When researching colleges to apply to, she didn’t just look at acceptance rates and prestige, she also considered how I would thrive in each college and what my future would look like there. Although the harsh truths were often hard to face, she knew what was best for me, and I always took her advice to heart, and I have never been happier with the results of her guidance.

    Lauren, Class of 2028, Emory University

  • Mrs. Lee greatly eased the stress of the college admissions process by guiding me every step of the way. Whether it be helping me find extracurricular activities, figuring out which colleges to apply to or editing my essays, I knew I always had support from Mrs. Lee. I am immensely grateful to her not only for helping me get into a great school, but also for constantly challenging me and giving me a chance to realize my own potential.

    Audrey, Class of 2028, Georgetown University

Our Services

  • Student Profile Planning

    Map academic coursework and extracurricular activities annually. Research and plan summer programs & projects. Educate and plan standardized test preparations. Explore potential college majors and future careers through personality and interest assessments. Encourage periodic academic, extracurricular, and well-being check-ins. The perfect time to envision and start a personal development project.

  • Personal Development Coaching

    Help evaluate personal growth through self-reflection. Coach life skills like time-management, decision-making, self-advocacy, relationship building & networking, curating projects, and more. Brainstorm and design personal development projects (PDPs). Help prepare for college interviews or pitch presentations. Provide expertise in creating student resumes.

  • College Application Guidance

    Strategically review student profile. Guide students through college visits and identifying potential college majors. Customize a balanced, best-fit college list. Navigate early admissions options. Brainstorm essay ideas, help develop and edit personal statement and supplemental essays. Review entire college application. Advise on visual art or film portfolio submissions. Help prepare you for college interviews.

Let’s work together.

Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly! We can't wait to hear from you!