Annie Connole, chief consultant at Essay Art, has been working as a college admissions essay tutor for several years, including two admissions cycles at InArt, a private college preparatory institute in Los Angeles.  Students she has worked with have been admitted to their top college choices, including USC, UCLA, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Washington University, Boston University, Tufts and more.

In addition to tutoring, Annie has worked as a strategist at advertising and public affairs firms since 2007, where she advised companies, start-ups, government institutions and non-profits on their communications and brand positioning.  With this expertise and business acumen, Annie brings a unique, strategic lens to essay planning and structure, with an eye toward maximizing audience impact.

Annie’s formal training in the art of the essay culminated in a MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Nonfiction from University of California, Riverside - Palm Desert in 2018.  Her essays have been published in critically acclaimed journals, including The Rumpus, Alta Journal and others.  Her first book, The Spring: A Mythic Memoir was published by Chin Music Press in 2021 and named one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2021-22 by Entropy Magazine.  

Annie’s undergraduate work at The New School University focused on Critical Studies in the Arts.  With this background in aesthetic theory and art history, Annie is highly skilled in helping students applying to art programs at top universities write their artist statements, portfolio descriptions, and supplemental essays in context of art historical movements and philosophy. 

Raised by a family of teachers, Annie enjoys working with students to build their confidence in the art of storytelling and dexterity with language.  She meets kids where they’re at – helping them grow into tenacious writers, all while producing outstanding essays that cut through the noise and open doors to the colleges of her students’ dreams.