The Ivy Scholars Team
Meet our team of expert college admissions consultants, mentors, and tutors. Our team members have extensive experience in all aspects of college admissions and come from top universities. From experience, our team knows what universities are looking for in an application and how you can make yours stand out.
Meet the Team
Sasha Chada
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
“Anyone who holds a true opinion without understanding is like a blind man on the right road” – Plato
College & Major
Johns Hopkins University – BA in Philosophy, 2013, Pre-Medical and Humanities Honors
Specializations
College application coaching, candidacy building, test prep, time management & organizational coaching, special projects… pretty much everything related to college admissions.
Fun Fact
I love teaching my Great Danes new tricks!
To Sum it Up
Patient, driven, motivated
After learning about the admissions process firsthand at the Johns Hopkins University, Sasha founded Ivy Scholars in Houston, Texas in 2015. Having watched hundreds of students and their families get lost in the admissions process and endure the stress of denial, he dreamed of providing a crystal-clear journey of self-reflection and coaching to help students craft great applications. Four years after he’d started, hundreds of his students had been accepted to their top-choice school – and enjoyed themselves in the process.
Sasha guides the vision of Ivy Scholars, oversees the hiring and coaching of mentors, and acts as the first point of contact with every student and parent. With over half a decade of experience in college counseling, Sasha has shepherded a diverse group of students – from genius coders to journalistic refugees – successfully through the admissions process.
Sasha is driven by a desire to change students’ lives through the college admissions process. Higher education is a cornerstone of advancement in today’s society, and Sasha wants nothing more than to see our students in the college that best sets them up for future success.
Sasha’s vision for Ivy Scholars is to educate, enable, and empower student to achieve the best versions of their lives by exploring their intellectual curiosities, proving their talents, and telling their stories to top-tier admissions committees.
To learn more about Sasha, read his interview.
Martin Carlino
Director of College Applications
“Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition … I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.” – Abraham Lincoln
Click here to read Martin’s recent Q&A!
College & Major
Harvard – Government with an emphasis on political philosophy
Specializations
College application coaching, test prep – English
Fun Fact
I have been a devoted Game Master in Dungeons & Dragons since 2015.
To Sum it Up
Polished, professional, alliterative… pun intended
Martin Carlino hails from “Lawn Guyland”, New York, though years in New England–and, more recently, Olde England–have rendered him more presentable to polite company. While completing his BA at Harvard, Martin concentrated in Government with an emphasis in political philosophy and served for three years as a peer tutor, assisting fellow undergraduates with essay writing and comprehension of course materials, receiving praise for his high degree of preparation and “natural aptitude for teaching”. Following his graduation with honors in 2016, Martin worked as an American History teacher at Success Academy Charter School in New York City. In addition to his role as a traditional classroom teacher, Martin also excelled as an individual and small-group writing and test prep coach, overseeing dramatic improvements in his students’ writing ability and mock state exam scores.
Simultaneously, Martin began tutoring private clients for the SAT, ACT, SAT II subject tests, and AP exams. He also found that he was uniquely qualified to offer college admissions consulting to both American and international students, having been accepted to every Ivy League school as well as a host of other top universities. Now with five years of college admissions consulting experience under his belt, Martin has mastered the art of helping students to draw out compelling narratives from their achievements, struggles, and life stories generally.
While teaching and tutoring, Martin never ceased in conducting the political and historical research that animated his undergraduate experience and was named a Scholarly Fellow of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which helped to fund a one-year MSt in History at the University of Oxford. While overseas, Martin became an avid swimmer, met his life partner, and had a grand old time writing about the radical utopian communities of the Illinois prairie.
Now back in the United States, Martin is excited to throw himself full-time into the world of college admissions consulting and essay coaching with Ivy Scholars–when not swimming, cooking, or running his monthly Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
Jennifer Garrison
Director of Candidacy Building
The movements of our hands help build the Unseen. We add to the universe by our efforts. Whatever we do, we should never think it is irrelevant; whatever we do, we should not conclude it is so important either. Between those two poles find your balance; between those two regions your talents will bloom.” Hafiz
College & Major
Columbia University – BA in English, Special Concentration Jazz Studies
Specializations
Candidacy building, time management & organizational coaching
Fun Fact
I climbed a mountain in Yosemite for 18 hours straight!
To Sum it Up
Direct, supportive, connector of ideas
Jennifer began working with middle school students 14 years ago as an acting coach at Oaks Christian and continued working with elementary to early high school students as a tutor, assistant teacher, and behavioral aide at The Help Group and with the New York City public school district. She familiarized herself with Individualized Education Plans (IEP’s), managing the classroom, preparing curricula, and helping students with behavioral change, using the whole-person approach. She helped with the initial launching of the Emily Shane Foundation’s Successful Educational Achievement Program, collaborating with the program founder to identify the needs of the student community to better serve the growth of the nonprofit. She is a writer with a strong background in research and APA style. She has worked as an editor and content proposal writer for film production companies and undertook independent research at Columbia in Ethnomusicology. She uses her creativity and artistic background to help students with public speaking and developing their self-articulation for college applications. Her avid interest and self-study in life coaching and interpersonal skills give her many tools to offer her students for Candidacy Building.
Alex Nelson
Director of Test Prep
“The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.” – Bertrand Russell
College & Major
Rice University – History
Specializations
Test prep, all subjects, time management & organizational coaching
Fun Fact
The first time I played the “Simon” memorization app on my phone, I got the world record.
To Sum it Up
Driven, devoted, diligent
Alex has been a full-time mentor and tutor for twelve years. After scoring a perfect 1600 on his own SAT in high school, he joined The Princeton Review, where he worked as a college admissions mentor and tutor for the SAT, ACT, ISEE, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT. Over nine years, he became their highest-level “Premiere” tutor and teacher trainer for all of Houston.
Alex joined Ivy Scholars in 2018. He specializes in improving organization and study habits, and he is a master of helping high-scoring students raise their SAT and ACT scores to the top 1%.
Alex had an unusual college admission process. Ever since 7th grade, he had his sights set on the best college within 1,000 miles of his hometown, Rice University, in Houston. With a perfect SAT, a funny personal statement, and hundreds of service hours tutoring his peers in math, Alex applied early to Rice and was admitted before needing to apply to other schools. Due to his success finding scholarships, Alex was able to attend Rice for only $900 a semester.
Nick Madincea
Director of Business Development
“Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.” -Sun Tzu
College & Major
Baylor University – Finance
Specializations
Growing Ivy Scholars while ensuring we deliver exceptional results for our families
Fun Fact
I set two world records for flying drones.
To Sum it Up
A strategy-centric leader obsessed with delivering the best customer experience possible.
Nick Madincea is a seasoned entrepreneur with over half a decade of experience leading startups. In 2016, Nick co-founded Drone Parks® Worldwide: a startup dedicated to building indoor drone centers. In 2019, the Houston Chronicle named Nick “one of the most influential people in the emerging drone industry.” Nick contributes strategic and operational insights to Ivy Scholars with a focus on the customer experience, marketing, and business development. Nick believes that any decision made by a startup begins and ends with you, the customer.
“Ivy Scholars exists to empower students through mentorship and academic coaching, to grow intellectually into the kind of candidates that their target universities want to accept.”
-Sasha Chada
Antonio Cruz
Mentor
“All that is gold does not glitter; not all who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkein
College & Major
University of Chicago – BA/MA in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Specializations
Test prep – English, Math
Fun Fact
Thanks to a ritual offering I took part in while in Peru, I am protected from ghosts.
To Sum it Up
Insightful, determined, easily amused.
I have worked in education, academic research, and archaeology before coming to Ivy Scholars. My goal is to share knowledge with the next generation of scholars, and I enjoy connecting with students and seeing their success, which is the most rewarding part of my work.
Nick Popow
Mentor | Rutgers University, BA in Philosophy
“We fill preexisting forms and when we fill them we change them and are changed” – Jorge Luis Borges.
College & Major
Rutgers University – BA in Philosophy
Specilizations
College Application Coaching, Test Prep
Fun Fact
I am addicted to reading books that have no practical relation to my life.
Background
My approach to college essay writing with my students is to find a spark of interest in something unique, outside-of-the-box, or just plain odd.
I have been teaching SAT and ACT reading, writing, and English sections for five years. In the last two years, I have been heavily involved in writing coaching; I help students construct and polish English essays, college personal statements, supplements, WHAP assignments, and more. My approach is two-pronged: 1. I get the student involved in the formation of comprehensible, grammatically correct sentences that “sound right.” 2. I try to liberate and nurture the sense of excitement and freedom that comes when the student begins to see writing as, not merely an arduous task, but as a means of personal expression, as a medium for the display of their own personality.
Matthew Gasda
Mentor
“I feel lucky to have a job that genuinely helps people get where they want to go.”
College & Major
Syracuse University – BA in Philosophy, Lehigh – MA in English
Specializations
Writing, tutoring, and college essays
Fun Fact
In my free time, I enjoy reading, writing, dodgeball.
To Sum it Up
Passionate, expressive, and helpful.
