The Coach-in-Chief

SUZANNE GANNON—The Essay Conqueror—is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and aspiring humorist who has brought her insatiable curiosity, reportorial talent, and congenial demeanor to a fresh endeavor as a writing coach to students grappling with the daunting task of the college-admissions essay(s). 

To date, she has coached nearly 200 students in all four time zones of the continental U.S.—Alaska, Hawaii! What are you waiting for?—as well as applicants in London, Hong Kong, Stockholm, Beijing, Lisbon, and Amsterdam, as they negotiate the written requirements of undergrad, transfer, and graduate applications to colleges and universities at every spot on the academic spectrum—Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT, UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia, UNC-Chapel Hill, Amherst, Dartmouth, WashU, Tufts, Pomona, Pitzer, Michigan, Villanova, Wisconsin, Georgia, Ohio State, Penn State, Tulane, Elon, and many, many others. Her clients’ interests, talents, expertise, obsessions, backgrounds, and writing skill—as well as their dream schools—bring the texture and variety that make for original essays that are not only entertaining but also introspective and revelatory for their narrators and readers alike. She has hosted webinars for the University of Virginia and led essay-writing workshops for Good Success Academies.

BONA FIDES:  Suzanne’s work has appeared in a variety of media including Town & Country, The New York Times, the Financial Times, Art & Antiques, The Wall Street Journal, Manhattan, Interior Design, Art + Auction, Cottages & Gardens, Virginia Living, Coastal Living, Delta Sky, Sonoma, Executive Traveler, Town & Country Travel, Greenwich, AtHome, Beach, Wines & Vines, Preservation, Luxe Interiors + Design, The Intelligent Collector, Wine Business Monthly, and lots of other places. She has been a guest on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” and has worked as a wire-service stringer at Fashion Week.

DEEP BACKGROUND:  Suzanne is a graduate of the University of Virginia,  a born traveler, and a completer of three consecutive New York City Marathons. She has studied with the Writer’s Voice and Second City Improv, and enjoys speaking Italian (badly). Her book, In the Garden, with photographer Stacy Bass, was published by Perseus Books. Prior to getting a byline, Suzanne racked up many miles (and sound bites) as a marketer and corporate communicator in the food, wine, and travel sectors.