Who Are We?
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
Kathryn Bloom, Conscious Business Consultant | Life Coach
Kat brings a strong passion for simplicity and creating an authentic work environment to CounselingWise. With over 20 years of high-tech experience, including positions in software development, project management, process development, and architecture, she excels at seeing the “forest and the trees.” This, combined with her lifelong study of psychology and mindfulness, as well as her background in marketing and Business/Life Coaching, makes CW a great fit! Lover of lemurs, college basketball, hiking and the symphony… her next adventure might be trekking in Madagascar, cheering with the Cameron Crazies at Duke University, or exploring Iceland.
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.
SEO Consultant
Sean Sullivan has been creating online content in all its forms since dial-up. When he’s not finding new ways to sit on Page 1 of Google he’s busy buying more books than he can read—after all, what’s the point of having a library if you’ve read every book in it?
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.
Samantha Harms, Project Manager
Samantha graduated from University of Colorado – Boulder in 2007, and is currently a continuing education student in web development. She has worked at multiple startups, including a social music network, a dynamic geospatial wiki, and a suite of survey software. She loves spending time with her boyfriend and family, learning new technology, bird watching, taking long walks, and hanging out with her three cats, Tricky, Izzy, and Monkey. As an east-coast interloper originally from Pennsylvania, she has always wanted to live next to the mountains, and has appreciated all 300 days of sun a year since coming to Colorado.
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 Predell, 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.
Developers
Mohammad Bayezid, Developer
Mohammad Bayezid is a professional web developer, who upholds a strong inclination towards technological advancements and enjoys internet surfing to discover cool stuff around the web.
Writers
Tyler Elson, Director of Content Development
Tyler graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2008, where he had a brief stint as the Leprechaun and captained the cheerleading team during the worst football season in school history. He worked as a Senior Business Analyst in a Fortune 500 company, managing inventory and supply chain for a $100 million program.
Realizing he didn’t want his life’s work to be whether or not cheap microwaves were in stock, Tyler left the corporate world and went on to help form a new high school for students with language learning differences.
At school, he taught high school math, science and technology, coached the basketball team and obtained a state grant to begin a robotics club. In 2014, Tyler moved to Boulder to start his writing and marketing company, specializing in personalized creative content, satire and online presence.
He recently published his first children’s book and co-wrote a screenplay. On the rare occasions Tyler isn’t writing, you can usually find him in a suit and recliner, glass of scotch in hand, reading comic books.
Flash Clark, Lead 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.
Rachel Chesbrough, Writer
As the daughter of a counselor and a higher education administrator, it’s perhaps no surprise that Rachel’s path led to CounselingWise in 2018. That path formally began with a BA in English from Regis University in Denver, CO, which set the stage for a diverse and enduring writing career. She cut her teeth on music journalism, followed quickly by sociopolitical reporting, and copywriting for everything from non-profits to ad agencies. Rachel is perpetually eager to listen to and amplify the voices of others through her writing. In her free time she can be found in a park by her home in Denver, taking far too many pictures of her dog.
Angela Poulson, Writer
Angela Poulson has written content and managed marketing initiatives for a variety of public, private and nonprofit organizations. Specializing in interviewing and blog writing, Angela has created both online and print content for a wide variety of industries, including business consulting, natural resources, geographic information systems, software-as-a-service, space exploration, and wholesale distribution. She has been honored with several writing awards, including the John Hurst Prize for Populist Poetry and – as part of a three-person editorial team – a “Best Newsletter” award from the Specialized Information Publishers Association. She graduated with a “summa cum laude” distinction from the University of Arizona with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism (double major), and since then has completed the graphic design certificate program at Boulder Digital Arts.
Beth Stoneburner, Writer
Beth Stoneburner has a bachelor’s degree in English from Kent State University, and a Master’s degree in creative nonfiction from Colorado State University. Her memoir, Confessions of a Prodigal Daughter (published under Sarahbeth Caplin) was an Amazon bestseller in the “personal growth” category. Her work has appeared in xoJane, Huffington Post, and Christians for Biblical Equality, among other places. Beth lives in northern Colorado with her husband and fur kids, and blogs at www.sbethcaplin.com.
Bloggers
Carola Garvin, Blogging 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.
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.
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…