Kate Givens has extensive experience working with teenagers in academic and extracurricular settings to discover their unique interests and achieve their goals. Kate has a B.A. in English from The George Washington University and a Masters in English Education from The University of Virginia and spent over a decade working with high school students teaching professional skills such as correspondence, resume development, and public speaking. She has worked with hundreds of students to develop college plans and work on their application materials.

Shanley Jacobs is a dedicated educator and writer. She is inspired by students and devoted to their growth and success. She joined Fahey Associates after six years as the Administrative Manager for the Hume Center for Writing and Speaking at Stanford University. Before joining the Hume Center, she served as a Program Assistant at the University of San Francisco in the department of Art + Architecture, as well as the department of Modern and Classical Languages. She supported a range of students as a writing center mentor and tutor for three years at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Danny received his BA in English from Loyola University New Orleans and an MA in the same field from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He first started his career as a journalist. His work is published at the National Association of Black Journalists where he has also interviewed and worked closely with White House Correspondents and journalists from CBS, NPR, and the Boston Globe. Danny left journalism to become an academic. Currently, he is an English instructor at Louisiana State University, where he teaches composition and literature.

Kenneth earned a B.S. in Commerce (Finance & Marketing) from the University of Virginia, as well as an M.B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles where he worked with both admissions committees as either a student representative or alumni reader. He spent almost a decade working in the entertainment industry around film and TV Development for Walt Disney Company and a number of Oscar-winning producers. Kenneth now integrates the same storytelling and writing principles into his college counseling, writing instruction, and high school teaching over the past three years.

Maddie Orenstein (she/they) graduated with a B.S. in Social Policy from Northwestern University and an M.A. from Stanford University in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership Studies. Maddie is a passionate advocate for youth voice. She has over 12 years college counseling experience in several types of high schools and in summer leadership programs. She was also an Honors Thesis English Instructor for seniors for three years. Additionally, she supported high school student leaders and wrote research on the importance of youth leadership as a Fulbright Scholar living in Santiago, Chile. She brings her vast experience and love for the beauty of writing as a tool to help students to share what’s important to them.

Megan Levad is the author of Why We Live in the Dark Ages and What Have I to Say to You. A MacDowell Fellow, her poems have appeared in Tin House, San Francisco Chronicle, Poem-a-Day, Granta, Fence, and the Everyman’s Library anthology Killer Verse. Megan also writes lyrics and libretti; When There Are Nine, a song cycle about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg composed by Kristin Kuster, recently debuted at the Cabrillo Festival in Summer 2019, where Megan was the Writer-in-Residence.

Michele earned one MFA in Creative Writing (fiction) at Virginia Commonwealth University and another MFA in Creative Writing (poetry) at Arizona State University. Her BFA is from New York University where she studied film and television. She’s the author of Prismatics: Larry Levis & Contemporary American Poetry (Diode Editions, 2020) and Black Laurel (Iris Press, 2016). Her award-winning chapbook, A Disturbance in the Air, was published by Slapering Hol Press. Her poetry and fiction have been published in Best New Poets, The Southern Review, Copper Nickel, Smartish Pace, Crab Orchard Review, and many other journals. She has won fellowships from the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing and the David Baldacci Foundation.

Susanna earned her BA in English and Anthropology from Columbia University. Her MFA in creative writing comes from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the author of two widely published, award-winning novels, Stiltsville and Sea Creatures with HarperCollins. She has placed numerous essays and stories in literary magazines such as Slate and Newsweek. She is the co-owner of the Madison Writers' Workshop where she coaches writers toward greater meaning, sense, and clarity.

Vivienne has been a professional writer and actress for twenty years. She has worked in television, film and the theatre, touring through Asia, Europe and the U.S. A graduate of the highly regarded acting school, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, she now lives in Los Angeles. Her latest play, This is Where We Live, won The Griffin Theatre Award and had a full season at the Griffin Theatre, Hothouse Theatre, South Australian Theatre Company and has since been performed in Toronto, New York and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As a television writer, she has worked with Hulu, Stan (Australia) and Disney+. She is represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA).