Mel

Mel brings creative vision, academic rigor, and compassionate mentorship to Interface. She holds a Master of Arts in Humanities from the University of Chicago and spent a year at the University of Oxford, specializing in classical literature and poetry. 

With over six years of experience as an English writing and admissions essay coach, Mel has guided students in crafting more than 1,000 essays that have helped secure admissions to top universities such as Cornell, Williams, UVA, Georgetown, Wellesley, UC Berkeley, NYU, UCL, HKU, and more. Beyond admissions, her students have consistently earned high honors in prestigious writing competitions, including first place in The New York Times Teeny Tiny Memoir Contest (1% acceptance rate), recognition in The New York Times Annual Student Reading Contest (7% acceptance rate), National and Regional Scholastic Writing Gold and Silver Keys, and more.  

 As a published non-fiction author, Mel is passionate about helping students find their authentic voice while honing clarity, narrative structure, and storytelling craft. Her coaching style is strategic, fun, and focuses on both growth and results. She loves with students at Interface, encouraging them to tell their stories and unlocking their creative confidence. Writing is thinking, and thinking is how we become better people and scholars. She believes that a powerful essay is more than a ticket to college, but a way to explore who we are and where we are going next.