An Interview with Jessica (Barraco) Croudo
I interviewed Jessica (Barraco) Croudo of Essays With Ease + College Planning where she helps rising high school seniors get into college.
Good morning everyone!
This week, I have a new interview with author / editor / writing-coach Jessica (Barraco) Croudo. She is the mind behind the website Essays with Ease + College Planning, which coaches students in their academic writing, particularly submissions for college applications. Jessica has also published a memoir called The Butterfly Groove: A Mother’s Mystery, A Daughter’s Journey where she investigates her late mother’s life.
Join me as I dive into Jessica’s motivations to help students apply for college as well as peek into her mindset while she recorded the details of her mother’s life on paper.
Hello Jessica! Thank you for doing this interview. Let’s start with a little bit about you. Where did you grow up? How did you get into coaching and mentoring students?
I am from Orange County and am admittedly a Disneyland enthusiast, having grown up with an annual pass. I graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder's journalism school. Graduating in one of the worst times for newspaper and magazine full-time jobs (2009) required an interesting about-face for me to pick up professional, flexible skills that loosely pertained to writing and journalism. Luckily, I received a PR certificate in college, so I went on to pursue PR and marketing at various corporate agencies and then later at HarperCollins and Princess Cruises.
Being a marketer by day, author by moonlight became increasingly challenging and I knew I couldn't sustain it forever, but it was necessary to get by living in NYC. After I got married and was burnt out from commuting long distances, I wanted to pursue working remotely and, little by little, helped my husband's coworkers or friends of friends with their college applications, ultimately realizing that there was a hole in the industry for true writing professionals.
I feel confident in my expertise because I am not (like many college counselors) farming out most, if not all, of the writing work to "essay experts," but rather I am the essay expert. My passion for college and helping future generations achieve entrance to obtain their Bachelor's degree isn't actually tied to a school or general idea of the degree. Rather, college changed my life, giving me a strong sense of independence to cultivate my own happiness.
Getting to the perfect place for each student, or the most likely place where a student can achieve these important life experiences, begins with vulnerable and stellar writing in their applications. That is the exact goal I am committed to helping our society with.
That’s a great goal to have. Over time, I’m sure you’ve picked up some great methods to help students improve their writing. What unique writing exercises do you use when coaching aspiring writers, and how have these methods evolved over time as your experience grew?
I am big on brainstorming because most of the students I work with are high school students or young people in their 20s applying to graduate school. They are constantly questioning themselves - is their story “big” enough? I like to map out the different categories of their own compelling-ness so that they can see that the magic is in their specifics, not how many traumas they have endured.
For the personal statement, I typically ask them to journal about their own Rocky moments: special people who have served as mentors in their life, hobbies and volunteer experiences. Over time, my method has become more direct and clear. I have gone from being a lover of the news, pop culture, and media coverage in general, to straight-up loving the truth.
How does your outlining or organizational style for writing a book compare to the brainstorming exercises you use when coaching? Are they similar or is one more complex than the other?
I tend to like rules just as much as I like breaking them. I like the rules of grammar for example, but I dislike when someone says “in order to write a book, you have to write every day.” I tell my students to handwrite their personal statement brainstorms because you don’t tend to handwrite things that don’t truly matter.
It’s also an interesting take on social media — what are all these keyboard warriors really feeling? The typing separates you from reality as much as the screen does. Authenticity is the commonality between the professional writing I’ve done and how I counsel my students. Nothing too big or too small. If it’s affected you, the colleges want to know. I can help find a compelling way or two to tell it.
I like the tip of handwriting the important stuff! It sounds like what’s missing from a lot of student writing is a personal touch.
How did your experience as an editor influence your writing in The Butterfly Groove?
My experience as an editor made me more amenable to constructive criticism and changes, although I had several editors and proofreaders along the way. As a writer, you come to learn that if you don’t get edited, your story stays stagnant. There has to be some deletion or addition - some change or hope - for your work to be elevated. This builds the very important skill of growth. If you do not change, you do not grow.
Have you ever worked with any notable editors? How did their ideas shape your style of editing?
I had the great fortune of working with an editor in his off-hours at my former place of work: HarperCollins Publishers. He was working on a famous actor’s memoir at the time. Over coffee and lunches in crowded NYC restaurants and cafes, I picked his creative brain and he helped shape my second to last chapter - the ending of my story. The true ending.
In our world, we have the liberty of “freedom of expression” while many others in the world do not. I don’t take this freedom lightly and I also have respect for it. Whatever I do, it has a meaning behind it and is well-intentioned, even if I am a pain in the butt while doing it. If you shape your outlook on editing in this manner, change is deemed positive instead of negative.
That’s the part that I wish I realized when I was in school, that change is an opportunity to grow rather than simply a criticism.
While writing the memoir, I’m sure you uncovered some details of your mom’s life that you didn’t know. Did that change the way you viewed your life or family?
When I set out to research the book, I knew I might find unflattering information about my mom. I made a vow to myself that it would not change how I saw her in a negative way. The real catharsis of writing this story was actually for my mom.
Many of her own family members spread rumors or gossiped about her upbringing and choices. I feel she lived with a large mental load and stressors that affected her health negatively. She was guilty for not having a typical life, filled with a straight line path. Here, I got the chance to publish both her story and my story by telling her truths in the hopes to spiritually unburden her while educating myself on how my mom became the strong force I know her to be.
I use the present tense because I still experience her as a strong force in my life.
Could you discuss a moment during the writing process when you realized that some of the things you had been told might not be true?
Coming from a highly dysfunctional family of origin, I had a lot of a-ha moments where I realized I had been lied to about many different things, especially related to my mom. One stands out in particular.
I was told my mom had not passed away from cancer (her death certificate said otherwise). I was instead told that she lived a reckless life and it tore her body down.
Specifically related to the book, I believe the whole process taught me how much of a truth-seeker I really am, and how the only thing scarier to me than a complicated truth, is a lie.
That’s a big revelation to come upon in the middle of writing. How did that influence your career as a writer, editor, and college writing coach?
My bridge to writing has always been truth-telling. This is the main reason I went to journalism school instead of pursuing an English degree in college. Writing was continually the way I coped with life’s struggles and processing emotions — my mom bought me my first of many diaries. I soon realized that so many people are not able to cope with their personal challenges in healthy ways.
Writing, editing and now coaching others who are writing about their own lives is my assurance that I can speak my voice, tell true stories and process feelings in a healthy way.
Beyond your published work, are there other creative outlets you used to help organize your thoughts and emotions?
Originally, The Butterfly Groove was meant to be a screenplay. I took a screenwriting class taught by a well-known rom-com writer at UCLA just after college. Because I was so new to my journey and research, the professor recommended I first get all the details down and that the narrative may lend itself to a book format.
It’s my ultimate goal to have a TV show or movie written based on The Butterfly Groove. I am also very drawn to music and performing arts, which is a common interest I share with my mom.
Would you mind sharing what interests, in particular, you shared with your mom? What bands and artists do you both enjoy?
Both my mom and I danced throughout our childhoods and into young adulthood.
She was a ballroom dancer — one of the love interests I searched for in the book was her ballroom dance partner, once upon a time. She loved tap dancing, the Cha cha and the Hustle, a true 70’s dancer. She went to high school with the band The Turtles (Westchester High School in LA) and they used to play at some of her dances. She loved The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, and Tom Jones.
I did jazz and tap until age twelve and sadly stopped when my mom passed away. I transitioned to cheerleading and, later, contemporary. I have a very eclectic taste in music, undoubtedly due to her taste. I love the oldies just as much as throwbacks to my childhood from the early 2000s. I really love Elvis, Justin Timberlake and Maren Morris.
The groove in the title of the book is for John Mellencamp’s Cherry Bomb: “when groovin was groovin.” It came to me at a particularly interesting part of writing the book and to me, it represents mine and my mom’s shared love of dance. She loved that song, reminiscing of times when life was simpler, I imagine.
That’s a really sweet connection. I feel like it would be really hard to write about such a personal loss. What advice would you give to writers who are struggling to translate their own emotions to the page without it becoming overwhelming or clichéd?
I dislike the word “cliche” as far as writing goes. It is a word that has the power to sway a person from telling their authentic story for fear of it, “being done before.” It’s all been done before, right? That doesn’t mean we don’t want to hear what that person has to say.
There are some people whose stories are meant to be told to the public and some where they are best to be kept quiet and private. Both can be processed through writing. It’s important to keep in mind that the story of the loss or tragedy isn’t the most interesting part — it’s the how did you get there that is.
I challenge writers who want to share their “deepest and darkest” to examine the story around it, in every direction. That’s the story; that’s the journey. The bad or sad thing that happened is the control - it can’t change. But how did we get here? Now that’s unique.
That famous Ralph Waldo Emerson quote says: “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”. Without giving away too much of your book, what was the journey you found yourself on?
I love that quote.
The journey I thought would occur: me “finding” myself through my mom’s truths.
The journey that actually happened: me learning who and what actually served me, and that includes elements of my own personality.
When I read the book, I am taken back to times where I either wasn’t my “best self”, or times that I was so incredibly “myself” that I am reacquainted with the strong personality I was born with. The personality that is sometimes subdued by everyday life.
To summarize, the journey I sought out was my mom’s and the life-changing part was my own. Writing the book was the first time I felt my mom’s spiritual presence in a long time, and that was a large part of my journey as well. Anyone who doubted me or thought I was doing something wrong by telling my mom’s story without her being alive to fact check it, simply didn’t know my mom very well. I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am had she not been on board — that’s a Dianne Barraco fact.
Truth-seeking and finding your own personality is such a strong theme. Is this the main theme you hope readers will take away from your book? Or are there other, broader, messages you wish to convey through your work?
The full answer constantly changes. Right now, with the state of the world as it is, I hope that my book serves as a vessel to inspire others on how to critically think again. One of the answers that doesn’t change is to believe in yourself, no matter what.
When I wrote the book, I had exactly one person in my life who believed in me, and that was my grandmother. Everyone else thought I was living in a fantasy world where I was making a mountain out of a molehill and selling my mom’s story for profit. Don’t be afraid to say “to hell with that!”
I say to-hell with anyone who tries to inflict self-doubt on you. Reject self-doubt in any and all forms. You’re meant to love who you are and part of that is loving what you do and how you do it.
That’s a great message. How important was your grandmother to your morale while conducting research and investigations for your book?
My grandma wasn’t in the best health when I was researching and writing my book, but I held onto the strong morale she had ingrained in me from a young age. She was of the camp that whoever wasn’t on your side should be ignored and avoided, so here and there I would get glimmers of her support.
Even when her memory was lesser, she would say, “How’s your book?” In her sweet New Yorker Italian accent.
There were never times I thought I would quit the research and writing part, however, there were many moments of self-doubt during the years-long process of trying to get published. That is a brutal world, and I was trying to publish a memoir in a time where only celebrity memoirs (albeit ghostwritten) were being picked up.
I would go to work at HarperCollins and work with celebrities who didn’t write a word of their own book, and then come home to edit mine, querying agents and wondering if it would ever happen for me. It was equally humbling and devastating and exciting.
Having been around so many big-name personalities, are there any specific authors or books that have influenced your writing style? How about your approach to coaching?
John Krakauer is my nonfiction writing idol. I especially love Under the Banner of Heaven and Missoula although that is a very tough read. I like how he is unapologetic to do research and tackle topics that no one wants to fess up to being an expert on.
Nora Ephron is another writer I look up to because watching her movies uplifts me and transports me to a different time in my past.
In your opinion, what aspect of your book do you believe might have been overlooked or underappreciated?
The amount of research and writing I did on the Vietnam War and its effects on American teens. Specifically, about one of my characters named Bill and his service to our country. I unveiled an amazing, heroic and patriotic story of a soldier who won a Navy Cross and it’s very much downplayed whenever I get feedback from my readers or people in the industry
I also think the sheer amount of journalistic investigation I had to do was mind-blowing considering it was done before Instagram. I found a lot of women who had since been married and had different last names - that kind of thing.
That kind of dedicated research is what makes me want to read it!
Let’s go back to your life as a college writing coach. How fulfilling is it to see these students succeed and know that you had a hand in making that happen?
Working with the minds of the future is certainly rewarding. I am able to see the students’ sincere authenticity before they are heavily influenced by the world around us. I also like to focus on building the students up in whatever area they seem to be insecure in. Oftentimes it is in their writing or reading abilities. Sometimes, it is worrying about being away from home or what they could potentially do with a certain major. What if they change their mind?
Test scores (ACT / SAT) are now optional in over 90% of colleges - or not required at all in the case of CSU and UC’s - and the writing sections have come to represent 55% of the ticket to college acceptances.
College acceptances are important, and students who partner with Essays With Ease + College Planning have had a 100% success rate of getting in. Many people don’t realize that a good GPA plus strong writing can grant access to merit-based scholarships especially at state schools.
This year, one of my students received nearly a full ride to Louisiana State in a combination undergrad and law school degree program. In this instance, the tuition becomes the same as it costs at a CSU!
My greatest success is earning the students’ trust. I see it time and again — I keep in touch with my students and many reach out during their undergrad for help with cover letters, resumes, extra essays for specialty schools or later on when applying to graduate schools.
What a fulfilling profession! Have there been times where a student’s work or a particular project unexpectedly brought about insights into your own journey?
Many of my students reflect on their cultural differences or times they have experienced hardship due to their race or religion. Sometimes these stories are etched out in the media or in news headlines, historical anniversaries and so on. In those stories, I have realized my own dualities where I reexamine the hierarchies of different aspects of my own story.
It is quite refreshing for me to help younger people tell their stories for two reasons: it helps shape their own self-confidence, which is personally rewarding, and the oftentimes simplistic experience we are touching on grounds me to pay attention to daily life lessons.
Thank you again for taking the time to share your wisdom and insight. Before we finish up, where can my readers find more information about your coaching services? Can we buy your book there as well?
My business is called Essays With Ease + College Planning. The URL is: www.essayswithease.com and I can be reached at Jessica@essayswithease.com.
I took time to develop a lot of content for my website, so I recommend reading the Q&A and About Me sections. I think it is unfair that many college counselors tend to have a one-size-fits-all approach to their coaching. I go out of my way to present different options with a standard pricing model that is transparent and keeps a focus on lowering stress and finding ease in the process.
A lot of the time, I am coaching the parents as well! That’s why part of working with me grants a biweekly parent check-in phone call. A parent myself, it is hard to imagine your child leaving the nest. I empathize with them, so I am there for them as well.
I give free 20-minute consults and would like to offer your readers a 10% discount on packages by mentioning “PENINSULA” when they reach out to me. Ideally, I meet rising seniors by the summer, after their junior year so that we can get a head start when school is out of session.
The Butterfly Groove: A Mother’s Mystery, A Daughter’s Journey is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and locally at River House books in Carmel. You can view my book trailer and more of my writing at www.jessicabarraco.com.
That promo will be available to all Peninsula Report readers through the end of September of this year.
Thanks for reading!
Your interview with Jessica was great. You touched on everything the reader would want to know. I especially appreciated Jessica's answers. You could tell she was completely honest with how she felt. On top of that it got me curious. So now I'm going to read the teailor and possibly purchase the book. None of this would have happen if I hadn't read this great interview. Keep it up