When applying to an elite MBA program, you should have elite experience on your side. Each member of our team is a published author who will help you convey your distinctiveness as a candidate. As you write your MBA application, having a true communicator helping you craft your personal message is key.
Jeremy Shinewald, Founder/President
Prior to founding mbaMission, Jeremy was the sole speechwriter for the Ambassador of Israel to the United States, for whom he wrote more than 70 policy addresses. As his speeches were being published in the Washington Post, Washington Times and other major international media outlets, Jeremy was also laying the foundation for mbaMission, helping a small number of applicants gain acceptance to top-tier MBA programs each year. Jeremy was admitted to several top domestic and international MBA programs himself and ultimately became one of the youngest members of his class at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, where he was an admissions interviewer, wrote a Business Ethics case and a Small Business Acquisitions case and was chosen by his peers to be Class Graduation Speaker.
After graduation, Jeremy formally established mbaMission and has subsequently provided admissions consulting services to applicants from the United States and more than 30 other countries on six continents. Jeremy is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), an organization committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical practices in MBA advisory services, and was the Co-Chair of the 2009 AIGAC Conference at Columbia Business School.
Monica Carpenter-Okrah, Senior Consultant
While at Harvard Business School (HBS), Monica was a Board Member of Harbus News Corporation and a member of the team that wrote 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays (published by St. Martin's Press in 2004), a collection of essays and critiques that provide an inside view into the broad range of writing styles and creative content in successful HBS application essays. Before joining mbaMission, Monica was a member of a start-up team at Red Ventures, an Internet marketing firm that launched an e-commerce business as the direct-to-consumer marketing partner of Sirius Satellite Radio. Prior to business school, Monica was an associate at Rice Financial Products Company, an innovative derivatives boutique in New York City, and an investment banking analyst at JPMorgan Securities, where she assisted nonprofit hospitals with their capital market needs. Monica volunteers with the HBS Alumni Club of Charlotte, North Carolina, and serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of the 700+ member alumni club.
Sally Wolf, Senior Consultant
While at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), Sally concurrently earned an MBA and a Masters in Education. Upon graduating, she returned to Booz Allen Hamilton (now Booz & Co.), where she spent five years developing growth strategies for many of the world’s leading media companies. She also led recruiting efforts for Harvard College and other target campuses while at Booz. After leaving the company, she spent two years in corporate strategy at Time Inc. and another two years in strategy, sales and marketing at a start-up in the high-tech advertising space. Sally then established her own consulting business, working primarily with media companies on strategies to enhance their revenue as well as their commitment to corporate social responsibility. Sally earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Harvard College, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. During both college and business school, Sally wrote for her campus newspapers. Currently, she is actively involved with the Junior Board and/or young professionals groups of 3 nonprofits: New York Restoration Project, I Have A Dream National Foundation and Hope For Vision.
Angela Guido, Senior Consultant
While studying philosophy at Yale, Angela managed the Yale Record, the nation’s oldest college humor magazine. Upon graduating, she moved to South Korea, where, in addition to writing for multiple local publications, she taught English as a second language and coordinated writing and communications training programs at KPMG Korea. Angela joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) after completing her MBA at the University of Chicago, where she was named a Siebel Scholar and served on the Dean’s Student Admissions Committee. During her two years as a consultant at BCG, Angela participated in writing Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the New Consumer, a bestselling book by Michael Silverstein. Following her years as a consultant, Angela served as Women’s Initiative Captain and Recruiting Manager for BCG. In that role, she reviewed resumes, conducted case interview preparation sessions and led workshops for hundreds of candidates to help them better tell their personal stories in interviews.
Akiba Smith-Francis, Senior Consultant
After graduating from Harvard College, Akiba worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. Although she worked with a variety of clients across many sectors, her work focused on the firm's Nonprofit Practice. She then returned to Harvard, where she received a joint MBA/MPA from HBS and the Kennedy School of Government. She has contributed articles on finance for Moxy, a magazine for young professional women. Akiba is one of the founding members of the Board of Directors of Cool Kids Learn, Inc., which provides academic enrichment programs that help children build the love of learning they need to succeed in school and in life. She was also a founding member of the Smith Leadership Academy (no relation), a charter school in Boston.
Laura Nelson, Senior Consultant
Laura graduated with University Honors from Carnegie Mellon University and moved to Los Angeles soon after to pursue a career in entertainment, where she worked in film development with MGM Studios and talent management with Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Laura won a Ross Distinguished Scholar Award to pursue an MBA at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, where she concentrated in marketing and corporate strategy. While at Ross, she collaborated on projects with Coors Brewing Company and Ford Motor Company, served as President of the Entertainment & Media Club, and was the only graduate student member of the University of Michigan Club Varsity Synchronized Figure Skating Team, which placed 4th nationally in 2008. She also served as a Ross Student Ambassador and as a member of the Admissions Committee, responsible for reviewing applications and interviewing prospective MBA students. Nelson currently serves as a business development manager and editor of a Chicago-based monthly publication and tutors GMAT students.
Lynn Moloney, Senior Consultant
Lynn has spent more than 15 years in the New York media industry, working for both magazines and Internet publications. She spent five years as a managing editor for the business magazines Fast Company and Inc. and for the luxury-lifestyle Lexus magazine. She started her magazine career with several years in the editorial department of Vanity Fair, then served as editor of the Gourmet section of Epicurious.com. Side projects during this time included penning a column for the New York Post and serving as co-publisher/co-editor of the start-up magazine Tart. Lynn also worked in brand marketing for Internet start-ups, serving as corporate marking director of publicly traded Mail.com and then running her own marketing consultancy. She has a BA magna cum laude from Bowdoin College and an MBA from HBS and resides in New York City.
Helena Plater-Zyberk, Senior Consultant
A management consultant turned business journalist turned MBA and marketing pro, Helena is the published author of 100+ newspaper, magazine, and journal articles on consumer trends, global trade and investment, international security cooperation, technology policy, and social entrepreneurship. She holds a BA in International Relations and Economics from American University and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she was Managing Editor of the Chazen Web Journal of International Business. After b-school, she joined the startup team that launched the business magazine Condé Nast Portfolio. Her other favorite accomplishments? She’s trekked to Mt. Everest base camp, interviewed four prime ministers and, once upon a time, snapped a photograph of Fidel Castro standing just 10 feet from her.
Jessica Shklar, Senior Consultant
Jessica Shklar completed her MBA with distinction from HBS. Since then, she has worked at several Fortune 100 companies, including American Express and JPMorgan Chase, where she was the quality leader and a senior vice president for Chase Home Finance. Jessica is also a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, with specific expertise in Six Sigma deployment and initialization. She graduated from Harvard College with a degree in anthropology. Between college and business school, she was the admissions advisor at a small university in Los Angeles, where she worked closely with undergraduate, business school and other graduate school applicants throughout the admissions process. She also developed and delivered workshops for students across the country on how to write effective application essays and has written admissions materials, marketing brochures and articles.
Carrie Shuchart, Senior Consultant
Carrie graduated from Harvard College with a degree in social studies and embarked on a career at The Atlantic, the oldest magazine in the United States. Perhaps anticipating the downfall of the printed press, she soon jumped ship and began working in television production while moonlighting for a small marketing company. Looking to combine her media experience and business interests, Carrie enrolled at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, where she split her time between creating spreadsheets and running Follies, the school's comedy show. Since graduation, Carrie has done stints with two start-ups, including her own ecofriendly clothing company. In addition to working with mbaMission, she teaches GMAT prep for ManhattanGMAT and is running business development for yet another start-up (third time's a charm, right?). She frequently writes about GMAT for ManhattanGMAT's blog and for other major websites.
Erin Foley Schuhmacher, Senior Consultant
Having been admitted to several top MBA programs, Erin ultimately chose to attend HBS. While at HBS, Erin completed an independent study for a national retail franchise and served as an ambassador for the Admissions Committee, hosting prospectives, leading campus-wide information sessions and participating in Q&A conference calls for newly admitted students. Before business school, Erin was a research associate for Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette and Banc of America Securities, where she authored and edited white papers on the retail industry. Most recently, Erin worked at Financial Risk Management, a London-based fund of hedge funds company, where she performed due diligence on hedge fund investments and produced qualitative research reports used by the firm's investment committee and institutional clients. Erin was a founding member of the NYC Young Professionals Council of Upwardly Global, a nonprofit organization devoted to serving the needs of legal, professionally trained immigrants, and currently volunteers at Covenant House.
Yael Melamed, Senior Consultant
After being admitted to Harvard for both law and business school, Yael decided to pursue her MBA. At HBS, she was president of the Luxury Goods and Design Business Club and helped edit "Gretta Enterprises," a LEAD case. Prior to HBS, Yael was a management consultant in Accenture’s media & entertainment practice. After graduating from HBS, she went to work as director of marketing at Estée Lauder’s Bumble & Bumble, a luxury hair care company, where she created a turnaround strategy for Bb.Treatment, a failing sub-brand. At Bumble, Yael was responsible for packaging and collateral copy, and she edited the Business Review, an internal publication with distribution of 20,000. Most recently, she launched a consultancy that advised domestic and international beauty clients on marketing strategies. Yael is a founding board member of Roseann’s Gift, a national charity established in honor of her best friend’s mother, with the mission of increasing funding to detect lung cancer at its earliest and most treatable stages.
Sara Cherlin, Senior Consultant
Sara holds an MBA from HBS and a BS in global management from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Since completing her MBA in 2005, Sara has worked in brand management at Procter & Gamble. Before business school, she was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and a marketing manager at Mercer HR Consulting. Sara’s international career has found her living in China, Mexico, Costa Rica and Spain; she is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan and Mandarin Chinese. A passionate nonfiction writer, Sara was a key contributor and editor of the book 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays. Currently, she resides in Los Angeles, volunteers with the high school exchange program AFS and studies French.
Gregg Lachow, Consultant
Since graduating from Harvard College, where he was editor of the Harvard Lampoon, Gregg has been immersed in the world of test prep and admissions consulting, for many years helping hundreds of people gain admission to the top business schools in the United States and Europe. He has written freelance for National Lampoon, Harper's, Time and The Stranger, among others. Gregg is also an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker and producer; most recently, he created The Film Company, producing a number of features, including Brand Upon the Brain, which was named one of the Top Ten Films of 2006 by the New York Times.