Building Strategies for Success from Application to Application

For more than two decades, Collette Bowers Zinn has connected children and families to high-quality education with care and intention. A fifth-generation educator, school leader, and parent, she trained first as a litigator, then turned her advocacy and analysis toward the classroom—where those skills serve students directly. That blend of legal rigor and educational leadership shapes everything she does: thoughtful, solutions-oriented, and grounded in the belief that every child deserves to thrive. She is the founder of Zinn Education Management, The Onyx Movement, and the nonprofit Private School Axis, where she builds trusted pathways for schools and families to navigate education with clarity, confidence, and belonging.

Mary O'Malley founded Green Door Learning in 2007, an educational therapy and executive functioning coaching practice. She has taught in LAUSD special day classes and at Wildwood School, and served as Learning Specialist at Oakwood Secondary and interim Support Services Coordinator at Oakwood Elementary. Her credentials include a UCLA College Counseling Certificate and a Landmark College certificate in Neurodiversity and Learning Disabilities with a specialization in Executive Functioning. She works with clients from school age through adulthood, teaches in Landmark College's LCIRT program, and is an active member of the Association of Educational Therapists. When she isn't building skills and systems with clients, she's raising two kids in Los Angeles—keeping her own strategies well-tested at home.

Julian Michael brings more than twenty years in education, a gift for storytelling, and a global path that runs through performing, copywriting, and life coaching. A former admissions officer at his alma mater, Amherst College, and a college counselor at several U.S. high schools, he now serves as senior education consultant at Wise World Prep. He helps students sharpen their writing, find their passions, and tell their stories in the most captivating way—bringing calm, and often real fun, to a stressful process. A Los Angeles native, Julian counts writing and stand-up comedy among the pursuits that keep him sharp.