about me

I emigrated from Soviet Russia with my parents when I was nine, and after landing in San Francisco and tearfully vowing that I would never learn English, I went on to major in English and receive a PhD in Comparative Literature—only to discover that a dissertation examining semantic and geographic displacement in the novels of Henry James and Vladimir Nabokov was not the ticket to fame and riches that I thought it would be. The logical next move, of course, was to become an admissions officer at Stanford and then to spend almost two decades working as a private college admissions counselor in Palo Alto, home of high real estate prices and even higher expectations. In 2023, I published a memoir, The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays, which won the 2024 IPPY Silver Award in Essay and the 2023 Sarton Award Gilda Prize and emboldened me to turn to writing full time. I currently write two Substacks, The Curmudgeon’s Guide to College Admissions and Personal Statements, and my second memoir, Troika: Three Generations, Three Days, and a Very American Road Trip, was published in spring 2026.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I enjoy eavesdropping on conversations in public places, reading several books at the same time, and annoying my family members by pointing out the difference between “less” and “fewer” at every opportunity.

FAQs

Do you have a favorite book?

I couldn’t possibly pick a single one, but these are among my all-time favorites:

Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, Vladimir Nabokov’s Pnin, Patricia Lockwood’s Priestdaddy, and the Mr. Putter and Tabby series, which I loved reading out loud when my children were little and which I still return to periodically because everyone needs an occasional dose of kindness, gentle humor, and sweet watercolor illustrations.

Favorite punctuation mark?

Parentheses. I regularly got in trouble for sotto voce running commentary and side conversations in middle school and high school. Now I just do it in written form.

Any irrational fears?

Bovinophobia. When I was three or four, a bull charged me (read more about it in Troika!), and I have not been able to look at any member of the bovine family without suspicion ever since.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I read (usually several books at any given time), do improv theater, and fantasize about alternate lives in which I live in a New York City apartment with an exposed brick wall and clickety-clack around in chic high-heeled boots that are also very comfortable. (Sometimes it’s a Spanish bungalow in Los Angeles and I float around in a gauzy white dress and sandals.) Oh, and I’ve rewatched Moonstruck enough times to know most of the dialogue by heart.

If you could be an animal, which one would you be?

A magpie (loud, raucous, sociable, acquisitive).

How tall are you?

5 feet, but I’ve been told I have tall person energy.

Got any jokes?

Did you hear about the antennas that got married? The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was amazing.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Don’t wear legwarmers with a skirt.

Favorite line from a movie?

“Love don’t make things nice. It ruins everything, it breaks your heart, it makes things a mess. We’re not here to make things perfect. Snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. We are here to ruin ourselves and break our hearts and love the wrong people and die.” –Moonstruck

When will you know you’ve “arrived” as a writer?

When I’m on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, right after she asks me her first incisive question and I pause for a brief moment before saying, “Well, Terry…”

(If anyone knows Terry Gross, please put in a good word!)

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