This is us.
Meg Siesfeld
In her current work as a college essay coach, Meg has been inspired by the process of uncovering the unique story of each student who comes to her unsure of where to begin. She puts her editorial skills to use, helping teenagers shape the ideas that will enlighten and entertain their audience – college admissions teams – and finds real joy in guiding young writers to access their strongest personal material. Meg is certified as an Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) workshop leader and devotes much of her time writing with students at North Star Academy in Newark, New Jersey.
A words and ideas person, Meg headed into magazine publishing right out of Kenyon College, where she majored in Medieval History. She soon found her niche: collaborating with other editors to brainstorm, elicit, and create stories that entertain, inform, and engage global audiences.
Having fallen in love with Parisian culture during her junior year at the Sorbonne, Meg landed at Harper’s Bazaar France as a magazine editor. At Young Presidents Organization, she worked with business leaders to create audience-specific materials at educational conferences in Nairobi, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Venice, and Mexico City. Returning to magazine publishing, she collaborated with chief editors in England, Australia, Italy, and Japan to create international editions of American magazines. As digital communications emerged, Meg was at the forefront of content transformation at Time Inc. magazines – including Time, Parenting, and InStyle – adapting each publication into digital media for a growing internet audience.
She is the mother of a singer-songwriter and of a filmmaker. Both kids are former Montclair High School students.
Jessica Wolf
Jessica started writing professionally in 2008 when, in a moment of bravery, she responded to an ad seeking a “funny mom writer” to turn out a monthly humor column in a local magazine. Having no real clips, she sent a recent family holiday letter as a writing sample. The publisher gave her the gig and eventually made her editor of the magazine.
Since then, she has been published in the New York Times, Reader’s Digest, Huffington Post, Montclair Patch, as well as a few literary magazines. She has edited two books and is co-author of Deep Listening: A Healing Practice to Calm Your Body, Clear Your Mind, and Open Your Heart (Rodale 2017).
As a certified Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) workshop leader, she currently runs creative writing groups for middle school students, high school students, and adults. As a writing coach, she works with young and adult writers on short stories, book proposals, books, essays and, sometimes, love letters. Her superpower is helping writers find their voice and express themselves in clear, concise ways. Jessica has also managed to shepherd two sons, both of whom detest writing, through the college application process, which, if you’re here reading bios, you probably know is no small feat.