about Blue Moon

A photograph of Stacey Cunitz — Stacey Cunitz

Stacey Cunitz, Certified Educational Planner, and founder and director of Blue Moon Educational Consulting, earned her BA in Literature and Creative Writing from Barnard College, Columbia University. She went on to earn an MA in Secondary English Education at New York University and a Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA. In 2018, she became a Certified Educational Planner.

After earning her degrees, Stacey taught English at Croton-Harmon High School in NY and at The Crefeld School where she taught MK Asante, author of Buck.

Stacey was the Director of College Counseling at The Crefeld School from 2005-2023. She opened Blue Moon Educational Consulting in 2017. She is an active member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) where she is currently serving on the Nominating Committee; the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC); and the Pennsylvania Association of College Admissions Counselors (PACAC), where she served as President from 2022-2023. Previous to that, Stacey served as PACAC’s Chair of the Admissions Practices Committee from 2017 to 2020 which is charged with educating colleges, counselors, and students regarding the nature of ethical standards embraced by NACAC and PACAC. From 2019-2021, Stacey also served on NACAC’s Admission Practices Committee which was honored in 2021 with the Margaret E. Addis Service to NACAC Award. In 2024, Stacey was appointed to serve as a Special Interest Group (SIG) leader for NACAC where she co-leads the LGBTQ+ SIG. Stacey has also volunteered as an application reader for Point Foundation’s scholarships which empowers promising lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential.

While Stacey has worked with all kinds of students, she has particular experience with students who are:

Members of the LGBTQ community, including trans and nonbinary students
Strong advocates for social justice
Neurodivergent students
Academically strong but emotionally fragile (including students who have struggled with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and others)
Strong students but weak test-takers
Unsure of what they want to study
Worried about their transcript, which may show change of schools or inconsistency
And students who are a combination of many of these traits

Stacey is happily married to Dan, a middle school science teacher, and they are the parents of two kids—one in college and one who graduated from college. Stacey enjoys knitting, reading, and watching their backyard chickens. She also enjoys visiting colleges and getting to know the unique offerings at each. To date, she has visited over 260 colleges and universities and looks forward to continuing to explore new campuses.

Andrea Pien, College Counselor and Academic Success Coach, believes that all people deserve to flourish, and has spent her professional career helping young people to do so. As the oldest daughter of immigrant parents, Andrea is particularly sensitive to those who feel as though they are “in between” cultures and social identities. She worked as an admission officer at Swarthmore College, and has also read applications for Stanford University, Wesleyan University, and the QuestBridge Scholars program. She has also worked in college counseling and advising at the Bay School (in San Francisco) and Friends’ Central (outside of Philadelphia), and has a Masters in Education from Stanford University. She has presented at professional conferences on the intersections of class privilege and justice in the college application process. Andrea is on the Board of Directors for the Bread and Roses Community Fund, the leading funder of grassroots organizing for racial, social, and economic justice in the Philadelphia region. In her free time, Andrea likes birding and playing board games. According to her librarian, she is the local library’s most frequent patron.

Andrea has experience working with student-athletes, students creating talent-based portfolios, and students wishing to study at universities in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Andrea has also worked extensively with neurodivergent students as a college counselor and as an academic success coach.

A photograph of Andrea Pien — Andrea Pien

A photograph of Robin Friedman — Robin Friedman

Robin Friedman, Essay Coach, has been teaching English at Germantown Friends School for the last ten years. Currently, she teaches 11th and 12th graders. She also runs the Peer Writing Advisors program, and co-leads Community Connections, a tutoring and mentoring program for GFS Upper School students and Middle School students enrolled in Breakthrough.

Before coming to GFS she taught in both independent and public schools in New York City, and for 7 years she ran a youth literacy program at Make the Road New York in Brooklyn NY. She has also worked privately with students on the college essay process. Robin has lived in southern Spain, and has worked with a women’s organization in El Salvador. In her free time she enjoys hiking, writing, and dancing.

She is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University and has a masters degree from Columbia University Teachers College.

She lives in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia with her husband and her two sons.