Alex Bryson »
Online Operations Director
Alex Bryson (he/him) is the Online Operations Director for College Essay Guy. He holds a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences and a MSW in Social Work from the University of Central Florida. At CEG, Alex oversees website design, content creation and SEO, conversion funnels, and the online course platforms. Outside, Alex has facilitated workshops and therapeutic group sessions for improving anxiety, well-being, relationships, racial awareness, and masculinity. He has worked as a nightlife event director, multi-subject tutor, mental health counselor, and empanada food truck driver. Alex believes that telling your unique story is a spiritually nourishing and life-affirming experience. Alex has lived in eleven cities in the last five years, exploring the American landscape with his partner Kate and Labrador-husky Leon.
Andy Simpson »
Editorial Director
Andy Simpson (he/him) is CEG’s Editorial Director. He attended Stanford and Oxford, earning degrees in Political Science and Drama. He has taught college classes in Los Angeles in Critical Thinking, Sociology, Anthropology of Media, English Composition, and Public Speaking, has helped students gain entrance to Stanford, the Ivies, U Chicago, Northwestern, and other top 25 schools every year for the past decade, and is particularly interested in working to address issues of equity and access in higher education. In his current role, he focuses on access to and the creation of high quality resources that (hopefully) make students’, counselors’, and families’ lives a little easier. Over his life/career, he’s developed a passion for intentional wandering, both in life and in the wilderness. Some of his most valued experiences in that regard include trekking 100km with his brothers to Machu Picchu during a 100-year storm, joining a Maori tribe in New Zealand, and wandering through Patagonia with his wife, Sage. He has spent time living in California, England, Montana, and briefly New Zealand, and currently lives on Maui.
Ashley Payou »
Senior Operations Specialist
Ashley Payou (she/her) is a Senior Operations Specialist and resident pink-haired hype-woman for College Essay Guy. An Indigenous woman originally from Vancouver Canada, her career has taken her on a tour of opportunities ranging from being a fierce barista, specialist support for a game company, to building and managing various teams of diverse people. Taking an alternative path after high school, she has worked towards developing a work ethic and management approach based on genuine human connection. She moved to USA in 2016, navigating the confusing American Immigration System on her own, to pursue new adventures where she could develop her voice and affinity for helping others even further. Focused on long-term growth and supporting her peers, she works behind the scenes for CEG to ensure things run smoothly (course creation, community advocate, user and team support), while finding new ways to connect with the team by sharing memes, kdrama recommendations, and new recipes. Outside of CEG, she likes to eat delicious food, dream of the Pacific Northwest, and plead with her three cats to let her sleep past 5am. Having driven across North America over 10 times, she recommends ‘Take My Breath’ by The Weekend or ‘Down By The River’ by Milky Chance as vibe road trip songs.
Calvin Pickett »
Director of Coaching
Calvin Pickett (he/him) is CEG’s Director of Coaching. He studied English Literature at Vassar College and went on to graduate from the prestigious Columbia Teacher’s College at Columbia University. He is a passionate advocate of college access and has guided hundreds of students through the college admissions process and helped students craft essays that have helped them gain admission to some of the most selective colleges in the U.S. He is a passionate reader, writer, and all-around communicator with a deep love of narrative. Having worked in both a classroom setting as an English instructor and through one-on-one college counseling and mentoring, Calvin seeks to leverage structure in writing to elevate students’ stories and help them access their highest college aspirations.
Christine Rose»
Head of Graduate School Department
Christine (she/her) is a former professor (Mills College, Macalester College, and UC-Davis) and high school English teacher (Ransom Everglades School) who has also been an independent college & graduate school coach for 20+ years. She is passionate about helping high school students find and narrate what makes them tick, no matter how bizarre or how traditional, and helping graduate school hopefuls take it to the next level to make their applications more competitive. Born in Miami to parents from Tennessee and Mississippi, Christine was the first in the family to cross the Mason Dixon line for college. After studying abroad in England and Italy, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College with a BA in English Literature. She completed her MA at the University of Toronto, and taught British and American Lit in a prep school in Coconut Grove, where she also served as a college counselor. After several years, she loved teaching literature and writing but loathed the bell that rang every 43 minutes--and another 4 minutes after that--to shuffle the herd of teachers and students to their next class. Realizing that a university setting might be a better match, she began doctoral studies and completed her PhD in the History of Consciousness Board at the University of California/Santa Cruz, specializing in the History of Science & Medicine, Poststructural Philosophy, Historiography, Queer Theory, and Critical Race, Postcolonial, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her extracurricular activities include cats, 1920s culture, turning simple dinner plans into ridiculously complicated 8-course gourmet feasts that require buying entirely unnecessary kitchen gadgets, and more cats. She splits her time between Miami Beach and Berlin.
Devon Sawyer »
Chief Operating Officer
Devon Sawyer (he/him) is the President of College Essay Guy and oversees growth, strategy, operations, marketing, and lots more at CEG. He brings over a decade of experience in the college admissions field, having worked as a college counselor, teacher, curriculum developer, trainer, and writer. He spent four years in Shanghai, China opening and running an education company providing college counseling and discussion-based humanities courses before joining CEG full time in 2016. Devon is a history buff, avid game-player of all types, has a PhD in noodles and is always thinking about his next meal.
Erika Coplon »
Matchlighters Scholars Program Director
Erika Coplon (she/her) is CEG’s Matchlighters Scholars Program Director. She is a first-generation college graduate and fierce advocate for access and equity in higher education. After earning a BA in English from UC Santa Barbara and spending some time in the world of advertising, Erika earned a Certificate in College Admissions and Career Planning from UC Berkeley and built deep experience in the world of college counseling. Her educator roles included working as a college counselor in the Bay Area, running her own independent educational consulting business for 15 years, and serving as a member of the admissions team at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. With a strong commitment to social justice, Erika seeks out ways to make an impact in her community, including through roles as Board Member of the San Francisco Education Fund and Congregation Emanu-El. When she’s not obsessively thinking about her work with Matchlighters, Erika is hiking new trails, kayaking blue waters and raising two feminist teenage daughters.
Ethan Sawyer »
Founder
Ethan Sawyer (he/him) is the founder of College Essay Guy which means he has been eating/sleeping/breathing college essays for most of his waking hours since 2003. He is an internationally recognized college essay and admissions expert and the author of the Amazon bestsellers College Essay Essentials and College Admission Essentials. Each year he and his team reach more than one million students and counselors through the College Essay Guy blog, online pay-what-you-can courses, workshops, books, and one-on-one work. Receiving his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in Performance Studies, an MFA in Acting from UC Irvine, and two counseling certificates, Ethan’s educational experiences, reading, and training have informed his deep interest in storytelling as a vehicle for personal development and growth, which in turn inspired Ethan to start College Essay Guy. Raised in Spain, Ecuador, and Colombia, Ethan is dedicated to serving diverse communities. With a passion for access and equity, Ethan has provided quality resources for students, families and professional communities alike. Through his work he has supported, advised and counseled thousands of students through the complicated college search and application process, all while staying true to his core values of providing ease, purpose and joy in the process.
Hanah Lim »
Director of Workshops and Curriculum
Hanah Lim (she/her) is the Director of Workshops and Curriculum at College Essay Guy. She is a former high school English teacher and essay specialist who is passionate about helping demystify the college admission process for young people and their families. Before teaching English at the high school she attended growing up, she worked as a college consultant for students in Bangkok, Thailand, and directed SAT prep centers in Irvine, California. She was an EL coordinator and an AVID teacher/coordinator at a public high school in California and made it her goal to help close the achievement gap. In addition to coaching seniors write their college essays, Hanah has also trained teachers and counselors internationally on how to take students through the college essay process. She graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Education and is a credentialed single subject teacher. As part of her work, Hanah oversees CEG's workshop and curriculum programs and organizes college application and essay workshops for students at schools and organizations in the US and around the world. Hanah finds joy in watching musicals, visiting Disney parks with her husband, and playing with her two cats.
Jasmine Artis »
Operation and Live Events Manager
Jasmine Artis (she/her/hers) is the Operation and Live Events Manager at CEG. She is a Chicago-based first generation college graduate who has a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Business and Management. While completing her undergraduate degree at Knox College (Galesburg, IL), she worked at her school's career center department for 3+ years where she provided resume, cover letter, and grant application writing assistance for her peers. Since finishing her degree, Jasmine has held roles in operations, event coordination, and leadership in the fields of homecare, manufacturing, business process outsourcing, and education. After years of being out of the field, Jasmine is excited to pivot back into the education industry and is looking forward to uplifting the next generation by providing support for all parts of the college application process.
Marc Santos »
Customer Support and Operations Specialist
Marc Santos (he/him)
Sandy Longworth »
Chief People Officer
Sandy Longworth (she/her) is Chief People Officer at CEG. She has had numerous work lives, all of them centered around teenagers and families. She began as a Narrative Family Therapist, helping people consciously story their lives to reach their highest potential. She then dove into the world of data and research to understand mental health issues within at-risk teens who come in contact with the juvenile justice system. After having twins, she decided to work as a school counselor with teens at a large suburban high school. Then she opened her own college counseling business to better work individually with students and families on their college search and application journey. Her love for story and the power of narrative brought her to College Essay Guy where she has worked as an essay coach, workshop facilitator, Director of Student Services, Chief Experience Officer, and now as Chief People Officer. Her most recent challenge was navigating the college application process with her twin daughters, who successfully found the colleges of their dreams. Outside work, she’s often found throwing frisbees for her two dogs, discovering beaches and forests with her daughters, traveling to Australia to visit family, or dancing at music festivals.
Tom Campbell »
Community Manager
Tom Campbell (he/him) is College Essay Guy's Community Manager. He is an eternally extra Gemini who has spent the past seven years helping students and families navigate the college admissions process – one alliterative/assonant aphorism at a time. The son of an inner city schoolteacher and the director of a nonprofit that runs tuition-free schools in Haiti, Tom has long recognized the transformative power of education. Prior to his admissions career, Tom completed a year of postgraduate service through Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest (an AmeriCorps affiliate). He was placed at a family services program called Childbirth and Parenting Assistance, which bolstered his passions for equity, mentorship and confidence-boosting (and taught him a lot about the parallels between toddler and teenage angst)! Upon his return to Holy Cross (his alma mater) as an admissions officer, Tom continued to find ways he could live out his values, playing an active role in leading the school’s diversity fly-in programs and LGBTQ+ Staff Mentor Program. As an Assistant Dean of Admissions at Pomona College, Tom ran social media accounts, co-managed the tour guide program, and helped implement their test-optional admissions policy. He has spent four summers working as a faculty member at College Horizons, an organization that supports Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students through the college process. He stans em dashes and semicolons, Kacey Musgraves (all eras, not just star crossed and Golden Hour), superior breakfast burritos, and complaining about space tourism.
John Tsai »
Chief Strategy Officer
John Tsai (he/him) is our Chief Strategy Officer and holds a M.S. in Social Entrepreneurship from USC and a B.S. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley. At CEG, John supports the needs of students and families by helping them find the right tools and services as they navigate the college application journey. He spent the first decade of his career as a serial entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley. As a first-generation college graduate and a fierce advocate for access to higher education, he volunteered as a tutor and college counselor for high school and community college students in the Bay Area. After moving to Los Angeles, John transitioned away from technology to become a full-time educator. He was a college counselor, essay specialist, and the Director of Academic Services at an independent educational consultancy. He then taught high school math and entrepreneurship at a South Central charter school, while working with UnidosUS to support dozens of first generation college applicants. Recently, he was the Director of College Counseling at an independent school in Hollywood. Outside of work, John is constantly hunting for the next great bite of food.
Morgan Phillips »
Director of College Counseling
Morgan Phillips (she/her) has spent her entire career in the college admissions/college counseling field. Recognized as a ‘Counselor That Changes Lives’ (2021) by the Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) organization, Morgan embraces the CTCL approach of dedication to college counseling practices that promote “a college search that focuses on the individual student and finding a college that will cultivate the student's lifelong love of learning.” In the past 20+ years, Morgan was an application reader (8 years), oversaw admission to an AACSB accredited Business School, and supported domestic and international students through the admissions process at two independent day and boarding schools. She has helped students reach a full range of goals: applying to highly selective colleges, finding and following niche academic interests, and figuring out how to broaden (or balance) a college list! One of Morgan’s favorite elements of college counseling is dispelling myths and misconceptions about pursuing higher education. Morgan’s college counseling approach combines deep care for her students with a competitive athletic mindset (which she now mostly channels through family game nights…though she sometimes lets her spunky 8-year-old daughter win. Sometimes.) She is a self-proclaimed Caamper (if you know, you know), a northern transplant in Chapel Hill, and is usually dreaming about her next visit to the ocean.
Stephanie Metruk »
Program Advisor
After deeply loathing her own college search, Stephanie Metruk (she/her) has dedicated her entire career to the support of families entering the college process with the goal of making it better for absolutely everyone she can. Her first seven years were dedicated to highly selective admissions offices where she did everything from coordinating full tuition scholarship selection and overseeing international admissions to mentoring the next generation of enrollment management professionals by supervising intensive internships. She then spent another seven years supporting students as a college counselor at an independent school where she realized that, while it was easy with her admissions background to identify a strong essay, it was far more difficult to help her student’s craft one. While digging for resources she found the College Essay Guy and immediately recognized the power in this approach, revamping her office's entire essay curriculum with College Essay Guy’s help. When she made the move to Vermont to raise her two little girls closer to family she jumped at the opportunity to become a Program Advisor and help guide families through the resources that made such an impact on her own students. Her happy place is doing anything outside with her husband and daughters…or eating french fries alone.
Jon Spurling »
Head of Digital Marketing at CEG
Jon Spurling is the Head of Digital Marketing at CEG, bringing to the team over 15 years experience at the highest level of marketing, brand building, and business strategy. Jon is a keen entrepreneur, who has launched and grown four separate businesses in the last decade. His knowledge of the ever-evolving marketing sphere and his passion for advertising products and services that genuinely do good in the world, made CEG a perfect fit when Jon found himself looking for a new adventure in 2022. In his spare time, Jon enjoys working out, eating ridiculously healthy food, and studying the human condition in the form of psychology and neuroscience. You will also occasionally find him at an all-night rave.
Renee Ferrerio »
Senior College Counselor
Renee Ferrerio (she/her) lives in North Carolina but still considers Atlanta, Georgia her home. As a first-generation college graduate, Renee knows what it’s like to feel overwhelmed by our complex college admission landscape. She loves sharing the expertise she’s learned over decades of exploration, college visit programs, and professional development opportunities with students from diverse backgrounds— guiding them to maximize their potential and avoid misinformation when it comes to “the best” college route. Over her three-decade career, she’s helped students land at colleges that best fit their goals and aspirations: from every Ivy League to tech powerhouses like MIT and Caltech, to nearly every public flagship university, to hidden gems like UNC Asheville (right in her own backyard). She first worked as a public school counselor and department chair for the Fulton County School System in Atlanta, followed by an eight-year tenure as Director of College Counseling at The O’Neal School, an independent school in Southern Pines, NC. She has chaired and participated in numerous college advisory boards and committees, including the Common Application Outreach Advisory Board, NACAC’s Capitol Hill for Advocacy group, NACAC’s Atlanta College Fair Committee, and her current role as SACAC’s North Carolina Area and Initiatives Committee Co-Chair. She is a graduate of Florida State University and Florida Atlantic University, with a Master’s degree in School Counseling from Georgia State University and an Ed Specialist in Educational Leadership from Lincoln Memorial University. When Renee isn't tending to her garden or doting on her favorite dog, Pretzel, she is traveling the world (most recently to Antarctica and her new favorite city, Prague)!
Stevie Ramirez »
Social Media Director & Operations Specialist
Stevie Ramirez (they/them) is the Social Media Director & Operations Specialist for College Essay Guy. Since high school, they have taken an “uncommon” path towards continuing education and career development—homeschool, virtual school, online certifications, and unpaid internships have paved the way. At CEG, Stevie oversees and guides the big picture social media strategy, publishes blog posts, helps with SEO and conversion optimization projects, moderates live courses, and organizes student essay examples used in the content creation process. Outside of work, they enjoy reading tarot, going to improv classes, creating YouTube videos for their channel, and playing video/board games. Before CEG they were known for co-managing nightlife events, interning with local startups, running their own consulting business, and selling giant slices of pizza. Stevie is a proponent for following and trusting your intuition as a way to heal and love yourself. Recently having moved to Asheville, NC, Stevie and their partner Steven are looking forward to connecting with nature and deepening their relationship with each other and as individuals.
The CEG community also includes brilliant essay coaches, college counselors, and life-long educators committed to helping students discover and develop into their best selves.
Our Core Values
Deep Care
We believe in unconditional positive regard.
Practicality
We value getting from Point A to Point B with focused efficiency.
Insight
We embrace deep questions.
Vulnerability
We find that deep listening and presence can be a path to greater creativity and connection.
Expertise
We’ve spent many (many!) years in the college admissions field, and we’re still actively involved with our college admissions colleagues via professional organizations and by presenting at national conferences.
Equity
We commit to pushing back barriers to access in higher education.
Community
We value interdependence.
Craft
We believe a good story, well-told, can
be life-changing.
