College Counseling

Debbie Goldstein is a native of Los Angeles with a degree in Economics from UCLA and eighteen years of experience in the financial industry. Debbie applies her financial expertise to finding and implementing cost-effective and creative solutions to ensure that students and their parents minimize their out of pocket costs to pay for college.

Debbie’s first eye-opening experience with the complex admissions and financial aid process began with her first daughter going off to college in 2008. After navigating the process as a parent, Debbie founded a college counseling and funding solutions company with the goal of applying her business savvy and passion for education to empower other families. Since then, she has saved parents tens of thousands of dollars in college tuition.

Debbie holds a strong conviction in the power and importance of education for all students. In addition to her work in the field of college counseling and financial aid, Debbie volunteers with Raising Hope, a nonprofit for children in foster care. Each year, Debbie volunteers her services to four exceptional students, many of whom have been accepted with full scholarships to universities including Duke, Vanderbilt, and USC. She is also the published college admission and financial columnist for The Acorn newspaper. Debbie is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Advisors (NASFAA). She has guided students and families through the college admission and financial aid process for the past decade. In that time she has saved families over $1 million in the cost of college.

Debbie is the proud mother of two successful young women (whom she raised as a single parent after the sudden death of her husband in 1993). Her oldest daughter is now a graduate student at Stanford, and her younger daughter graduated USC and now works for Google in San Francisco. Debbie’s passion for empowering tomorrow’s leaders and innovators forms the cornerstone of her mission in college counseling and financial aid assistance. 

Paula Friedman is an experienced student mentor and facilitator who founded her own college counseling company. We are happy to have her on the College Counseling team at Synergy Academics. Paula was inspired to become a college counselor in 2009 after being asked to assist the high school children of her friends and relatives with their college selection process, applications, and essays. She enjoys working with young adults on their college essays to assist them in articulating their personal journeys and achievements. Paula received her UCLA College Counseling Certificate with Distinction in June 2011 and has worked in the College & Career Center at Newbury Park High School, Thousand Oaks High School, and Oak Park High School. 

Paula was a Duke Alumni Admissions Interviewer from 1989-2012 and interviewed local high school seniors with a strong interest in attending Duke. Paula provided Duke’s Undergraduate Admissions Office with candid feedback on each applicant she interviewed and has enjoyed the strong tie to her alma mater.

Paula is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, where she received her BA degree in Psychology & French, and worked in the Duke Undergraduate Admissions Office during all four years. Paula received her MBA degree from The University of Michigan Ross Graduate School of Business, where she concentrated in Marketing and worked in the Career Placement Office for two years. Paula is a Synectics-trained facilitator and seasoned career advisor, including MBTI, Naviance, and YouScience assessments.

Paula has been married to her husband Howard for 32 years and they have lived in California for the past 11 years, after relocating from Connecticut in 2005. Their 30-year old son Dan attended Santa Barbara City College prior to his entrepreneurial venture and is completing his business degree at San Francisco State. Their 27-year old son Jeremy is a 2016 graduate of Indiana University (Kelley School of Business) with High Honors, and employed by JP Morgan Chase Private Wealth Management in NYC.

At CSU-Bakersfield in July 2016, UC-Berkeley in June 2011, and University of Redlands in July 2010, Paula volunteered as a Pro Bono Writing/College Coach at College Summit (Peer Forward) Workshops designed to strengthen the college-going culture among low income students. Paula guided 4-6 students through the college selection and writing processes and helped the students with their personal statements for college. Paula works with a couple of lower income or first generation students every season.

Paula is an active member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), Western Association for College Admission Counseling (WACAC), Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), Consortium of Women in College Counseling (CWICC), and Independent Educational Consultants of the Conejo Valley. 

Jodi Sears received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She also studied abroad at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel and the University of Salamanca, Spain. She received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California, where she graduated Beta Gamma Sigma. Her graduate fellowship was in the Career Planning & Placement office at the Marshall School of Business, where she coordinated speaker panels, industry recruitment events, as well as internship and job search workshops. She spent many years working in retail, marketing and advertising. Jodi was actively involved in the Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD), serving as the Donation Drive Chair, GATE Math Olympiad instructional assistant, and Western Association of Schools and Colleges Parents’ Committee Representative. She was elected to the Agoura High School Site Council and was selected by the district to serve on the Curriculum Council, Rigor Task Force and the College and Career advisory committee. She volunteered for many years in the Agoura High School College and Career Center and currently guides students at college essay writing workshops at Agoura and Calabasas High Schools. She consults and updates local school districts on the latest changes in colleges admissions and has also been a speaker at College Nights at Synergy Academics and the Conejo Valley School District high schools.

Jodi has been married for over 31 years to Howard, a CPA and mortgage broker in Westlake Village. Their oldest son graduated cum laude from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with both a Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Accounting and is working as a CPA. Their younger son graduated from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California as a Presidential Scholarship recipient and from Boston College Law School. Their daughter is studying Speech and Hearing Sciences at Indiana University.

Jodi has successfully helped many students navigate the college application process and knows it can be less overwhelming and more exciting with the enthusiasm and guidance of an experienced college counselor. She regularly attends regional and national conferences and webinars to keep updated on the latest in college admissions, completed her certificate at UCLA in College Counseling, Earned with Distinction and is a member of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), Western Association for College Admission Counseling (WACAC) and the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA).

After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Education from the University of California at Davis, Beverly began her career in retail management, primarily working in staff development. Her corporate positions required attention to detail and strong written and verbal communication skills, which proved useful to her ultimate interest and career in college counseling.

Over several years as a volunteer at a high school College and Career Center, Beverly witnessed the struggles that many students and their families experienced during the college planning process. The challenges of “average” students and those with learning differences were especially salient. After completing a curriculum of college consulting courses and an internship at a large public high school, Beverly graduated with distinction from UCLA’s College Counseling Certificate Program and began her private practice before joining Synergy Academics.

Beverly experienced the mystifying and unpredictable college application process firsthand when she and her husband Mark sent their three kids off to college. Their first two children (twins) had different needs, attended two high schools and had different career interests yet ended up at the same university! Three years later, their third child found his perfect fit at the same campus as his siblings. One of her twins is now a CPA in Los Angeles, the other is an Applied Geoscience graduate school student at the University of Washington, and her youngest child is a new college graduate currently studying for his real estate exam.

​Beverly is vigilant about staying current on the constantly changing trends in the college admissions process. In the past few years, she has visited dozens of colleges and universities and met with admissions officers. Additionally, by attending professional conferences, seminars, webinars and college fairs, she is able to maintain her professional competency and establish contacts with other college consulting professionals. Beverly is a professional member of the Admission Counseling (WACAC) and the Higher Education Consultants Association Western Association for College (HECA).

In addition to working with her Synergy Academic students, Beverly volunteers as a virtual counselor for ​ScholarMatch,​ a non-profit organization that helps first generation students applying to college. She also reads essays and scores applications for the UC Davis Cal Aggie Alumni Association, UCLA Alumni Association’s Freshman and Transfer Scholarships, as well as the “Stop the Hate®: Youth Speak Out” essay contest.

Jessica Fishbein has had the pleasure of working with college applicants for more than two decades. After graduating cum laude from Stern College, Yeshiva University in New York City, Jessica earned a Master’s Degree with honors in Secondary English Education at CUNY’S Hunter College in Manhattan. She began her career as an English teacher in New York and later moved to Florida where her students earned the highest AP English Language and Composition scores for several years in the Miami-Dade County Public School System.

In addition to helping students achieve their academic goals in the classroom, for many years, Jessica also assisted students in composing compelling college admissions essays. With her proven success, she was eventually recruited to become a college counselor. For the past seven years, Jessica has given presentations at various schools to educate parents and students about college admissions, and has assisted them through every step of the admissions process by providing expert strategies, enabling students to gain acceptances to the colleges of their dreams.

Jessica is a member of HECA (Higher Education Consultants Association) and WACAC (Western Association for College Admission Counseling). She currently lives in West Los Angeles with her husband, Chad, her dog, Cookie, and her three cats, Manny, Carli, and Pipsqueak.