Joan helps students develop the mindsets that allow them to create the life they want–for high school, college and beyond. She founded Educational Advocates College Consulting in 2004, and works with a wide range of high school and transfer students who are considering colleges at all levels of selectivity throughout the USA, Canada and Western Europe. She also provides services for prospective college athletes and visual and performing artists. Joan is committed to her students and her priority is to help them achieve their goals through a supportive and thoughtful approach.
Joan also has expertise in working with adolescents with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning differences and those with therapeutic needs. She has completed an advocacy-training program sponsored by the Federation for Children with Special Needs and is trained in AD/HD coaching through the American Coaching Association. Joan is a certified educational planner, signifying that she has achieved the highest level of professional standards in the field of educational consulting, a distinction held by only 25 percent of consultants. She is a professional member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) where she previously chaired the learning disability committee and the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).
She previously served on the undergraduate economics advisory boards for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Lasell University’s school of humanities, education, justice, and social sciences. Joan, along with a group of colleagues, won the IECA Katz award in recognition of pro bono work for The Possibility Project. She earned a master of education degree in Mind, Brain and Education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and holds a BA in economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Prior to founding Educational Advocates, Joan had a 20-year career as a marketing and public relations consultant, working for a national public relations firm and managing her own consulting practice. She has received several marketing and writing awards, and applies the creative-thinking strategies used in her marketing career in advising students on their essays, overall presentation, and interviewing skills. Joan resides in Brookline, Massachusetts and is the mother of two now grown sons who attended both independent and public schools before college. When not meeting with students and families, you might find her cooking, reading, running or meditating.
