Who I am
I grew up in the Bay Area and went through the same competitive-public-school college process I now help students navigate. I studied Computer Science and Data Science with a minor in English at UC Berkeley, and I currently work as a software engineer at a top tech firm.
I started counseling on the side because friends and family kept asking. Three years in, the side work had become enough of its own thing that my cofounder Ethan and I built Illuma around it.
I work primarily with students applying to engineering, computer science, and other quantitative majors — the path I walked. I built the technical side of our software because I wanted my counseling work to be grounded in something more than memory. The tool reads more applications than I ever could; my job is to know what to do with what it surfaces.
How I counsel
Five principles I work by:
- The student writes the essays. We coach. Anything else hurts the student long after I'm out of the picture.
- A college list should match the student, not a ranking. The most selective school is not the same as the best fit.
- Anti-cliché is the most underused skill. Most essays fail not because the writer has nothing to say, but because the prose sounds like every other essay. The work is finding the angle only this student could write.
- Data over guesswork wherever possible. Memory is a bad system for tracking what works at scale.
- The counselor's judgment is non-negotiable. The tool is a starting point, not a decision-maker.
- Students are admitted on potential, not in recognition. Every essay we coach is trying to show what the resume implies about the student, not what's on it.
What I don't do
A few commitments worth saying out loud:
- I don't use templates. Templates are how firms with fifty employees scale. I don't have fifty employees, so every essay we coach is shaped to the specific student.
- I don't hand you off to a junior counselor. You work with me the entire cycle. You never wake up wondering who is actually reading your student's drafts this week.
- I don't sell vague packages. We agree on what each engagement includes before it starts. If it isn't working, you can end after any session.
- I don't write essays for students. Anything else hurts the writer long after I'm out of the picture. We coach. The voice stays theirs.
- I don't take students I can't actually help. If your kid is targeting a major or school I don't have real depth in, I'll say so on the first call.
Honestly, your student could write a great application without me. I just make the process faster, help skip the parts that waste time, and teach a skill the student will use long after high school. If you don't want help, that's fine. If you do, the five commitments above are what you should expect from anyone you hire.
Where and how I work
- Based in the Bay Area. I work with families across California and selectively nationwide.
- Sessions are virtual by default (Zoom). In-person works for local families.
- During active application season, I run weekly or bi-weekly sessions per family. Lighter cadence the rest of the year.
- I respond to messages within 24 hours on weekdays; faster during deadline weeks.
- First consultation is always free, 30 minutes, no obligation.