Bespoke’s tutors are people of extraordinary intelligence and experience.
TIM LEVIN
FounderWhile growing up in New York City, Tim attended The Horace Mann School for fifteen years. After graduating from Yale College in 1993, he taught at a boarding school in Massachusetts and then at The Fieldston School in the Bronx. Prior to starting his tutoring business, he worked in the corporate offices of Kaplan Test Prep helping to train teachers and write course curricula. He is an adjunct professor in the Science Department of SUNY’s Fashion Institute of Technology. Tim holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Teachers College. After spending years building and strengthening his management team, since 2016 Tim has chosen to step back from the day-to-day running of the company.
ZACHARY FOX
Director, Bespoke EuropeZachary grew up in New York City, where he attended The Fieldston School. After graduating with honors in Political Science from Lehigh University, he worked for a production company in Manhattan which created programming for the ESPN network. Later, he produced documentaries for a series that received two Emmy awards. Simultaneously, he worked at the New York offices of Bespoke Education for several years. After receiving a degree in Documentary Studies from the New School in NYC, he moved to Paris, where he has continued making documentaries and teaching courses about this medium at Sciences Po and the Sorbonne. Zachary has worked for Bespoke Education for more than 15 years and is currently Director of Bespoke Education Europe.
Catherine de Clerck
Swiss DirectorCatherine grew up in the Bay Area, California, and graduated with a BA in French Studies from Emory University. She started her career in marketing and communications at Leo Burnett. Her extensive global travel has provided her with numerous opportunities to reinvent herself while remaining the pillar for her family. At Bespoke, Catherine looks after our students and families based in Switzerland, providing them with solutions and support for their education and their university admissions journey.
Jivahn Moradian
Director Bespoke LondonJivahn grew up in Paris, France, where he obtained the science-focused baccalaureate at École Jeannine Manuel. He completed his undergraduate education at Princeton University, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in Economics. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Management at Imperial College in London and using his skills to help Bespoke expand into the UK.
Jonathan Schiffman
Director Bespoke SpainJonathan grew up in New York City, attended the Dalton School, and received a BA with Honors from Yale University. After pursuing graduate music studies at the Juilliard School, he came to France as a Fulbright Scholar to study music composition. An accomplished conductor, Jonathan has worked with over fifty orchestras and opera houses throughout Europe. Jonathan is also a published author and a former host of “Spoken Word,” Paris’s preeminent Anglophone open-mic. In his free time, he enjoys chess, skiing, windsurfing and playing piano. Jonathan has over a decade of experience tutoring SAT, ACT, ISEE, SSAT, creative writing, college application essays, music theory, and various school subjects.
Jess Pearce
Director, Tutoring ServicesA California native, Jess has a PhD in biology from the University of Utah. They worked as a research associate at the CNRS in Montpellier, France and the CSIC in Seville, Spain before leaving academia to start their own scientific editing and translation business. Throughout their scientific career, they worked extensively with high school and undergraduate students, teaching lecture, laboratory, and field courses. At Bespoke, Jess is the Director of Tutoring Services. As time allows, they also tutor the SAT, ACT, IB Biology, AP Biology, and AP Statistics.
Albert Alla
Albert was born in Saint Tropez, France and moved to Australia with his family when he was young. Since then, he’s lived in the United Kingdom, United States, and French Pacific. He has an MPhil in Economics from Balliol College, Oxford; an MFA in Fiction from New York University, where he was a GSAS Fellow; and a PhD, focused on the theory of comedy, from the University of New South Wales. A published novelist, Albert has over a decade of teaching experience: he has taught test preparation, creative writing, application essay writing, mathematics, physics, and various other school subjects. At Bespoke, Albert tutors the SAT.
Lalita Clozel
Lalita obtained a baccalauréat scientifique with honors at Paris’s prestigious high school Henri IV. She went on to study in the US and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013, having earned a dual degree in philosophy and economics. After internships at the New York Times Paris office and the Los Angeles Times DC office, she pursued a career in journalism, specializing in financial politics. She wrote for The Wall Street Journal, among other newspapers. Lalita is also a documentary filmmaker. She co-directed Homelessly in Love—a movie portraying the romantic lives of five people in the throes of housing instability in the US—and is currently working on various documentary projects in Paris. At Bespoke, Lalita tutors the SAT and other subjects in which she has expertise.
Taylor Coffman
Taylor grew up in San Diego and attended the University of Nevada, Reno for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. While working towards his BS in mathematics, Taylor played on the university’s NCAA Division I golf team. Taylor remained at UNR to pursue his master’s degree in applied mathematics; his work was focused on discrete mathematics with an emphasis in game theory and operations research. During that time, he also taught algebra and provided one-on-one math tutoring to university athletes; his summers were spent teaching geometry at Saint Augustine High School in San Diego. At Bespoke, Taylor tutors the SAT, math, and a wide range of math-related subjects.
Adam Eckmier
Adam graduated with honors from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, where he earned a BS in medical science and a BA in French. He holds a master’s degree in medical molecular imaging from the University of Paris XI and the Curie Institute and a PhD in Nuclear Medicine from Sorbonne University. Throughout his educational career, Adam has used math, physics, biology, and chemistry extensively. Since high school, he has been tutoring students in science and math. At Bespoke, Adam helps students with math, physics, chemistry, and biology as well as with SAT and ACT preparation.
Molly Griffiths
Molly grew up in Paris. After spending a number of years in the French public school system, she enrolled in the international section for English speakers at Lycée Jean-Pierre Vernant in Sèvres. There, she completed an Optional International Baccalaureate with mention and earned an IGCSE in English Literature. After graduating with a degree in English Literature from the University of Exeter, Molly pursued a master’s degree in comparative literature at the Paris-Sorbonne (Paris V) and then trained as an English teacher at Canterbury Christ Church University. Over the years, she has acquired extensive experience tutoring English and French, tailoring her lessons to pupil learning style. At Bespoke, she is continuing this work, helping students aged 14–18 improve their skills in these two languages.
Kyra Hauck
Kyra is originally from Michigan, where she attended the first IB high school in the state. She received her BA in Romance Languages and Arts & Ideas, along with minors in Translation and International Studies, from the University of Michigan. Her next stop was Paris VII, where she obtained a master’s degree in Specialized Translation. Kyra now works as a freelance translator specializing in finance and is also the Paris Artistic Director of Danse Theatre Surreality, a binational dance and theater collective. She has tutored French and Spanish for the University of Michigan Athletic Department and has given private English lessons to students in Paris. At Bespoke, Kyra tutors the ACT, SAT, and IB.
John Herrick
John has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from University of Chicago and a PhD in molecular genetics from University of Paris XI, Faculté de Médecine. He is an adjunct professor of environmental science and economics, and he conducts research in evolutionary biology. John has been tutoring the GMAT, GRE, and SAT for over 12 years.
Will Hobden
Will grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, where he attended the International School of Geneva. After completing the IB diploma program in 2005, he went on to study corporate hotel strategy at the École hôtelière de Lausanne. Shortly after graduating, he was hired by the school as an academic assistant, a role that included planning coursework, writing exam questions, and tutoring students. By the end of the academic year, he had fallen in love with teaching. Over the next 10 years, Will specialized in coaching college entrance exams and has helped thousands of students prepare for SAT/ACT. He is continuing this work at Bespoke.
Silva Kantareva
Silva grew up in Bulgaria and graduated class valedictorian from Union College in Schenectady, New York. After obtaining a masters degree in International Relations from Yale University and an LL.M. from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, Silva began a career in international diplomacy at the United Nations and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels. Subsequently, she transitioned into the private sector and is now working in the Madrid offices of Palacio and Partners. Silva is passionate about teaching – she has experience as a Teaching Assistant while at Yale as well as tutoring students for the SAT.
Chris Knapp
Chris Knapp has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Virginia, where he was a Poe/Faulkner Fellow in Fiction. He has taught creative writing at the university level and has worked with high school students on the essay portions of their college applications in France and the US. He teaches the IELTS as well as the Reading and Writing portions of the SAT. He also provides academic support in literature, history, and English classes. His writing has appeared in the Paris Review, the New England Review, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other places.
Sam Moore
Sam grew up in the UK, earned an undergraduate degree in Astrophysics from Princeton University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Astrophysics at Durham University. As a tutor, Sam has extensive experience teaching middle-school to university-level math and science and has successfully guided students through UK and US admissions processes, including test prep for the SAT and ACT.
Josh Rivas
Josh comes from New Jersey by way of Los Angeles and holds a BA in French (with a minor in chemistry) from New York University. He also has an MA and PhD in French and a graduate certificate in gender and sexuality studies from Princeton University. Joshua completed his doctoral dissertation while serving as a visiting researcher at the École Normale Supérieure and Sciences Po Paris. His research has been published in Nottingham French Studies and Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal. At Bespoke, he tutors the SAT, ACT, and IELTS.
Madeleine Schwartz
Madeleine Schwartz has spent her life between New York and Paris. She studied History and Classics at Harvard, where she was elected Phi Beta Kappa. She then earned a master’s degree in Classical Languages at Oxford as a Henry Fellowship recipient. Since college, Madeleine has tutored English, History, Latin, and standardized test preparation to a wide variety of students. She has also worked as a high-school equivalency tutor and librarian in the penal system in both Boston and New York. In addition to being a tutor, she is a journalist and literary critic. She has won a European Press Prize for her work.
Matt Serra
Matt holds a Master of the Arts in Teaching from the University of Pittsburgh (summa cum laude) and is currently pursuing a Master of the Arts in Ethnomusicology at Durham University in Durham, England. He received his Bachelor of the Arts in Music and Spanish from Allegheny College (summa cum laude) and a Bachelor of Science in Audio Engineering from City College (summa cum laude). He studied in Seville performing research for his undergraduate thesis on the history and lyricism of flamenco. Matt has held a wide variety of roles in education, including behavioral support therapist for autistic students, high school and elementary school teacher, online school instructor, and test prep and academic support tutor. He tutors all sections of the ACT, SAT, ISEE, SSAT, SHSAT, and all levels of Spanish.
Rebecca Oudin Shannon
Rebecca grew up in Paris, France. She has a BA in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in literary theory from the Sorbonne and École Normale Supérieure. She tutored at San Quentin State Prison as an undergraduate and then taught first grade in Mississippi as a member of the Teach For America Corps. Having passed the highly competitive exam (agrégation) to work in the French public education system, she now teaches English literature and language to French high school and university students. At Bespoke, Rebecca tutors the SAT, ACT, ISEE, SSAT, and French. She also helps students prepare for the baccalauréat and develop their writing skills.
Mia Tucker
Originally from New York, Mia graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Tulane University in New Orleans with a BA in Political Science and International Relations. She then spent several years working at a human rights organization in New York whose focus is labor abuses in apparel supply chains. In 2021, Mia moved to Paris to pursue a master’s degree in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action at Sciences Po. At Bespoke, she helps students prepare for the SAT, drawing on tutoring experiences acquired in New Orleans and Paris.
Liv Veazey
Liv grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in English from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. After two years working for the UC Berkeley Art History Department, Liv moved to Paris in 2020 to work as an English teacher. They currently work with undergraduate students at Université Paris Cité, and they are part of the inaugural cohort at the London-based New School of the Anthropocene. At Bespoke, Liv draws on years of experience teaching and tutoring to help students approach the SAT and IELTS skillfully and confidently.
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