Sarah

Managing Director

Sarah Norris comes from a family of educators and having had a successful career in London, Vienna, Paris and New York as a research analyst and marketing executive for some of the world's leading media companies (Bertelsmann, Hachette Filipacchi Media, Meredith) she started Step Into My Shoes eight years ago because she felt that the lack of knowledge and understanding that young people had in making decisions that effected the rest of their life was galling.

Sarah uses her marketing expertise and her understanding of statistical analysis to advise students on their future pathways and the best approach to reach it.  She is also committed to improving student performance through lateral thinking and skill based training, both of which can be taught and perfected. Her commitment is to all young people.

Education:
London School of Economics (Bsc Economics)
Stern School of Business/London Business School (MBA)

Derrick Wong

Advisor

Derrick Wong is a senior consultant and advisor to a range of investors, social enterprises and non for profit organisations. Education and training are key areas of interest and expertise. Derrick has worked for Human Rights Watch, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Soros Foundation, Ford Foundation and Doctors of the World amongst others. He is currently treasurer for Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative and Fairfood International. Derrick also has experience and an interest in college admissions. He previously worked in the Harvard admissions office.

Education:
Stanford University
MBA (Masters in Business Administration)
MA in Educational Administration & Policy Analysis

Harvard University
AB cum laude in Social Studies

Chris

Lead Instructor

Chris teaches Maths and Physics to A Level and undergraduate students full time. He also has extensive experience and a strong interest in preparing students for relevant admissions tests, a key ingredient of the selective university admissions process.

For his undergraduate degree Chris specialised in his final year on quantum computers and DNA nanotechnology. His subsequent research for his PhD focused on exploring quantum correlations in ultracold atomic systems in highly-excited electronic states. Chris has also taught students during the summer at Debate Chamber.

In his spare time, Chris contributes to a crowdsourcing website about technology where he has won seed funding in one competition. In another, he had an idea selected to be pitched to Samsung.

Education:
Oxford University (Msc Physics)
Open University (PhD Quantum Computing)

Maggie Lee

Advisor

Maggie Lee has extensive knowledge of the private and public US educational system. She completed all of her own education in the US. Prior to her current role as a management consultant, Maggie taught and tutored students extensively around admissions. She was recruited for her high GMAT score and had a 100% success rate amongst her students. She also spent a year in Burkino Faso teaching school children as part of the Peace Corps.

Education:
Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania
MBA (Master of Business Administration)

Lauder Institute at University of Pennsylvania
Master of Arts, International Studies (French focus)

Ripon College
Bachelor of Arts: French and Business Management

Stas

Lead Instructor

Stas has many years of experience tutoring Maths and Sciences and preparing students for admission tests having worked for several top-end tuition agencies for 8 years. He loves teaching and loves the subjects he teaches. He left his role as an engineering consultant at a prestigious firm to teach full time.

Beyond the classroom, Stas runs a podcast called Education Bookcase. He reads a lot. In the last two years it was 50+ books per year, almost all non-fiction and mostly about education. He is also very interested in languages. He speaks seven (English, Polish, Russian, French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Persian). Languages are a big thing for him. In his spare time, he is developing some educational software designed to help people improve their accent in a foreign language. He is currently exploring the following question: why did ancient and medieval societies put resources into abstract maths? At university, he was on the ballroom dancing team. They were champions every year.

Education:
Trinity College Cambridge (MEng/CENS via Natural Sciences)

Additional:  In addition to further maths A-Level, Stas taught himself an extra AS in maths on top of that (teaching himself M4 and M5). Stas has personally benefited from great teaching.  He expresses his gratitude to Robert & Ellen Kaplan of the Maths Circle for teaching him so much about mathematics education. He also thanks Amanda Serenely of River Ben Community Math Centre. 

Leo

Jr Instructor

Leo loves Maths. He is currently an undergraduate at Imperial College studying Mathematics. He achieved A*s in his A-level maths and further maths, as well as Gold in the UK senior maths challenge.

Leo regularly gave maths presentations at various schools across London while still at school. These events allowed him to express maths as a more elegant and exciting subject rather than the cultural misrepresentation of mathematics as a rather difficult and dull task.

Leo is capable of presenting mathematics in such a way that is engaging, enjoyable and easy to understand, and more importantly, help students succeed on the Mathematics Admissions Test (MAT).

Education:
Imperial College (Mathematics, undergraduate)

Jerry Jarvis

Advisor

Jerry Jarvis is an authority on UK education. Since his tenure at the helm of Edexcel, the major examination board, he now consults for enterprises in education and technology. He also delivers motivational seminars to a range of audiences from corporate management teams to schools. Jerry has been instrumental in developing highly effective professional training programmes with a focus on strategic preparation and lateral thinking about how to be successful in the competitive university admissions process and industry recruitment. Jerry has a reputation for strong leadership that drives people’s motivation, purpose and behaviour.

Education:
Kirkcaldy Tech College
Engineering

Open Society Institute:
Msc Management and Technology