About Us
Who Are We?
Becky DeGrossa
CounselingWise is the work of Becky DeGrossa, who has been contributing to the world of online marketing for therapists since 2007. After earning a degree in Computer Science from Cal Poly and spending 20 years at IBM, Becky pursued a master’s in psychology and became a successful therapist. Now she combines her technical, marketing, and psychology backgrounds to serve the therapy community, and has helped hundreds of therapists in the fine art of website communication. Becky is a “process nerd” meaning that she LOVES Learning something new…Testing it out to see if it works…Tweaking it so it works better…and then Systematizing it so it can be done over and over. This predilection has resulted in efficiencies that range from…yes, the loading/unloading of the silverware basket in her dishwasher…to…rapid increases in marketing effectiveness for her clients. In her spare time, Becky loves hanging out with two-year-olds, reading good novels, and listening to thought leaders while on the beach in Maui.
Our Team of Amazing Folks
Sarah Grosboll
Billing Manager
Sarah was born and raised in Fort Collins, CO, and is a true Colorado native. Sarah graduated from Colorado State University. Sarah has been in the office management and billing world for over 14 years. From Fort Collins, CO to Johnstown, CO, Sarah did not venture very far but enjoys the slower pace out East. If Sarah is not working, you can find her spending time with her husband Chris and two boys, Connor and Hunter and running from sport to sport with them. Sarah also had two dogs that run the household, a yorkie poo named Botwin and a Golden Doodle named Winston.
Angela Evers
Administrative and Marketing Assistant
Angela is a Cleveland, Ohio native, currently residing in Cincinnati. Angela is a graduate of John Carroll University, with a degree in Business Administration and Marketing. Before joining CounselingWise Angela worked in the non-profit world marketing and fundraising for private day schools. If Angela is not working, she is spending time traveling or outdoors with her husband Chris, daughter Avery, and dog Odie.
Rocco Baldassarre
AdWords Specialist
Rocco consults companies with online advertising strategies like Google AdWords, Facebook and cross-channel advertising among other things. Rocco has been shortlisted as Young Search Professional of the Year in 2013 and 2014 by the European and the US Search Awards. He holds two Master of Science and two Bachelor of Science degrees and is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian.
Project Managers
Bill Bradley
Project Manager
Bill is from Georgia originally. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in Business Education and a Master’s degree from the University of Colorado, Denver in Instructional Technology. After college, Bill traveled the world as a flight attendant and a supervisor of flight services. He taught classes in Web Design, Animation, and Graphic Design in high school for many years. Bill has coached high school basketball for the last 25 years in Georgia, Tennessee, and Colorado. When he isn’t working, he and his wife, Kim, love traveling and are both avid disc golfers.
Willie Milam
Project Manager | Strategy Consultant
Born and raised in Lake Oswego, Oregon, Willie is a native Northwester at heart who loves the greenery, colorful seasons, and amazing running trails that Oregon and Washington have to offer. Graduating from Gonzaga University with an undergraduate degree in Finance and Economics, and continuing on to get his Master’s in Business Administration, Willie moved back to Portland in the summer of 2015 to work as a Financial Analyst for an Investment Firm. Through his education and time in Portland, he gained valuable experience and analytical, project management, and communicational skills that he excited to apply to CounselingWise and its’ clients. His passion for running takes up most of his free time and is what led him to Colorado, as he joined an Olympic Development Group named Roots Runnings Project where he is hoping to continue running competitively.
Halley Pradell
Project Manager
Halley grew up in Delaware, the home of tax free shopping and I-95. They attended the University of Delaware, graduating with a Bachelor of Science. in Math & Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Women & Gender Studies. Throughout college, they designed websites and provided IT Support to various departments throughout the university. After graduation, Halley worked as a backpacking instructor in New Hampshire. They’ve since settled in Colorado, focusing on higher-education pursuits, weightlifting, and getting into the mountains.
Marian Baldonado
Project Manager
Marian graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (focusing in Cognitive Science) at the University of Santa Cruz, California. There she focused on designing robots to be useful, accessible, and to enhance human-robot collaboration. After graduation, she worked as a Paraeducator that helps students with special needs from Elementary to High school transition to general education. Because of the specialised school demographic, Marian worked with both teachers and on-staff social workers and therapists to provide a safe and encouraging school environment. Marian is excited to work at CounselingWise because she wants to be a part of a company that makes digital tools work for anyone.
Alyssa Bishop
Project Manager
Alyssa is from Hermitage, Pennsylvania, a small town nestled between Erie and Pittsburgh. Alyssa received her Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design with a minor in English from Robert Morris University in 2014. In 2017, she enrolled at Point Park University, where she received her Master of Art in Communication Technology, which was completed in 2019. If she is not working, you can typically find her reading a book, making and selling crafts, and focusing on her freelance business. She enjoys being in the sun and in the water when the weather cooperates, and she also enjoys writing and hopes to someday publish her own books. She also enjoys spending time with her three cats. Alyssa loves helping clients achieve their goals and looks forward to helping as many people as she can.
Developers
Mohammad Bayezid
Developer
Mohammad is a professional web developer, who upholds a strong inclination towards technological advancements and enjoys internet surfing to discover cool stuff around the web.
Website Copywriting Team
Carola Garvin
Writing Department Coordinator | Editor
Carola received her formal education in her native, Germany, where she also learned English. Her love affair with creativity – particularly drawing and writing – began early in her life. Many years later, after coming to the United States, Carola began working as a substitute teacher. During those years, she enjoyed helping children of various backgrounds and ages, including those with special needs. Eventually, she put all her time and energy in homeschooling her two teen-aged sons. It was them that sparked her renewed interest in creative writing. The knowledge Carola acquired throughout the years and through her ongoing volunteer work has proven to be invaluable to her writing endeavors. In 2015, she joined CounselingWise’s blogging team, which has provided her with a new opportunity to expand her experience and skill as a writer. A geek at heart, Carola loves watching, reading, and writing sci-fi stories in her private time. When she’s not space-bound, she enjoys knitting, baking, and painting…here on earth.
Flash Clark
Writer | Editor
Born and raised in the fertile Shenandoah Valley of the Virginian Blue Ridge Mountains, Flash Clark, or Michael Wayne, as his parents named him, is a professional fashion designer, musician, and writer with thirteen years experience in journalism. He has published everything from food recipes and cartoons to textbook rewrites and high-profile interviews. He is a proud, lifetime VA Tech Hokie with a degree in apparel design that led to an MFA degree in prose writing from the Jack Kerouac School at Naropa University. He also once built a Charlie Brown-style lemonade stand and offered advice, resumes, and laughs to passersby. Co-founder of 16 Blocks Magazine and Innovative Thought Consultants, LLC., Flash now writes freelance while working on several personal literary projects, pursues running, Aikido, and the Colorado sunshine.
Parker Desautell
Writer
Parker Desautell lives in Massachusetts and has a bachelor’s degree in English from Eastern University, Pennsylvania. He likes to read, write, play guitar and spend time in nature. Before working at CounselingWise, he worked in childcare for four years, helping run a summer camp and after-school program. In college, he worked as a peer writing tutor, where he gained his first real editing experience. In addition to writing for CounselingWise, he’s also a staff writer at PopMatters, where he writes music reviews here and there. He is an avid record collector and his favorite genre is techno.
When he’s not writing for work, he’s usually writing short fiction. He’s had short stories published in The Wrong Quarterly, Cadaverine Magazine, and Everyday Fiction. He’s a huge baseball fan, a lover of cats, and a total bookworm.
Mamie Stevenson
Writer
Mamie was born and raised in Denver, Colorado before moving to Portland, Oregon in 2008 to attend Reed College. There, she studied Russian, linguistics, and completed a thesis that focused on representation of suburbia in post-war American fiction. After graduating with a degree in English, Mamie began her life as a starving artist, serving tables and starting her first novel. While that book remains unfinished, she has published cover stories, essays, and profiles for a variety of outlets, including Portland’s alternative weekly newspaper, The Mercury. Alongside her work for CounselingWise, she reviews and edits college admissions essays on a seasonal basis. When she is not reading or writing, her time is spent with her beloved husband, sister, and two chihuahua mixes.
Obinna Morton
Writer
Obinna grew up in Atlanta and is starting to find her way in Roanoke, VA. She knows (and a few others) most what this means. This is where she started at CounselingWise, after a couple of remote copywriting internships during the pandemic. Opportunities. She is a dancer and is a Trainee with Roanoke Ballet Theatre, too. Writing is something she discovered as she was working different temp jobs on her journey as a dancer. She went to Howard University, where she liked studying French and taking classes in translation and interpretation, which she’d like to blend with writing at some point. This is the start to her never-ending story.
Blog Writing Team
Aisha Geaither Simmons
Blogging Coordinator | Editor
Aisha is a freelance writer, short story author, and poet. She is still learning the ways of the Internet and enjoys unlocking its doors of writing opportunity. She graduated from DePauw University where was awarded the Roy and Anna Kennedy Prize in Creative Writing and fell in love with the dream of quiet hours and a good idea. With the dream still alive, she spends half the day driving hither and yon to football games and gymnastic practice with her adolescent brood and the other easing the pain of writer’s block by systematizing pantries, office files, and closet piles for fun or profit.
Dyanne Harvey
Blogging Coordinator | Editor
Hailing from the Midwest, Dyanne grew up in the cornfields of central Illinois. She earned a B.S. from Greenville College and joined the workforce as a corporate educator. Realizing she didn’t want to spend days working away from her young daughter, she exited the corporate world to pursue freelance writing. When she’s not writing, you can find her spending time with her family and three rescue dogs. Doubling as an Americana singer/songwriter, she loves the independent music scene. Dyanne also enjoys the outdoors, baking, and practicing yoga.
Brittani Rable
Blogging Coordinator | Editor
Brittani is a freelance writer with a background in digital marketing and a published poet. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in English and Creative Writing minor. She’s currently a freelance copywriter and also runs her own jewelry and needlework business. She lives with her two four-legged feline roommates, Lenore and Stevie, and dreams of traveling the world to experience the beauty of other cultures.
Stacey Blaske
Blogger
Growing up in an (extremely) small town in Southwest Michigan, Stacey Blaske has always enjoyed the simple things in life. After trying out the corporate world for a few years in her post-grad days, she quickly found out she missed her little town and all the charms that went with it. She’s been a full-time freelance writer for over three years, and loves being able to work at home with her little boy and two dogs. In her free time, Stacey enjoys baking, walks with her child and four-legged children, and unapologetically binging on her favorite Netflix shows!
Bill Sassani
Blogger
Bill grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania but fell in love with the Rocky Mountains as a teenager backpacking in New Mexico. He graduated from Penn State University with a degree in History and earned a master’s degree in Outdoor Education from the University of Northern Colorado. Before working with Counselingwise Bill was a wilderness therapy backpacking guide for teens in Utah. He began working as a freelance writer in 2007, and has been published both online and in print. When not at his computer Bill enjoys spending time with his wife and getting outside to enjoy the beauty of Colorado.
Mickey Z
Blogger
Born and raised in NYC, Mickey is a self-taught, self-employed writer. He’s worked in a wide range of mediums (from blog posts to screenplays to poetry and beyond) and covers an even wider range of topics. When he’s not writing, he’s reading or exercising or taking photos or…
Kristina Roth
Blogger
Kristina holds a B.A. in English and psychology and an M.A. in English. She is delighted to be at Counseling Wise. Kristina worked for publishing companies after university and has experience as a freelance editor and writer, a research assistant, and in the non-profit field. Visual art is also a large part of her life. Her essays, creative nonfiction, articles, poetry, photography, and art have appeared in a wide range of print and digital publications, from literary journals to anthologies, national magazines, blogs, and more. Along with her spirited young son and two crazy dogs, she calls the Black Hills of South Dakota home, after many years away in California and Texas.
Jane Harkess
Blogger
Jane is a freelance writer and New Jersey native currently based in Norfolk, Virginia. She earned her BA in English at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and she decided to go abroad to study for her MA at University College Dublin, where she started freelancing part-time. Upon returning home, she chose to pursue full-time freelancing, and today, she creates content for small businesses, startups, and nonprofits. She loves reading, cooking, and traveling at every opportunity.
Julia Duda
Blogger
Julia is a freelance writer based in Chicago, IL. Upon obtaining her BA in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she decided to pursue writing as a career. She enjoys all sorts of writing — from blogging to academic to copywriting to creative. Julia is also a shameless pop-culture enthusiast and is excited about expanding in the field of pop-culture writing. Aside from writing, she also loves to bake, paint, play with her cat, and spend some quality time with Netflix and Hulu.
