Dr. Gena Lester is a college admissions expert, speaker and author of College Admissions Secrets: Your Teen’s Unique Game Plan to Ace Their Application And Get Into Their Dream School. She has been guiding families in education and college admissions for over 25 years. Dr. Gena is not only a thought leader in the college admissions space but is also mom to 3 college graduates. She is a professional member of IECA, HECA, NACAC. NCAG and TACAC. Dr. Gena works with families both virtually and in person.

Dr. Gena Lester's background is both education and psychology based which allows her to approach the college admissions process from a holistic perspective. She is passionate about helping teens not only find the right college but to discover their true passions, interest and aptitudes.   

 Dr. Gena is no stranger to the education system. In the private school sector, her positions included Head School Administrator and Counselor. During this time, she developed and wrote curriculum as well as implemented accommodations and resources for students with learning differences. Dr. Gena advised families from K-12 in education decisions including college admission. Additionally, she was a college advisor for the Performing Arts department at a local high school. This eventually led her to start her own private practice in 2011. 

Dr. Gena is a thought leader in the college admissions space, and a professional speaker where she has shared her wisdom with both parents and industry professionals. But she is a mom first, and it was her experience as a mom that spurred her passion to provide resources, tools and advice to other parents and their teens who struggle to figure out the college admission process. 

She has been where you are, This is not an easy process. As a mom in education she had a well laid out college plan in place for each of her kids. They took college prep courses, had great resumes and started implementing early.  What she could not have predicted was that their dad would be diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease during their oldest daughter’s sophomore year of high school and passed away shortly after the youngest started her college journey. It suddenly became uber important for her kids to not only get into the college of their dreams, but to also obtain the best scholarships available to provide them with that education. Even though this was a very tragic event in their lives, it was from this tragedy that Dr. Gena developed the “U-Niquely-U” formula which she uses to help other teens get into the college of their dreams.