Learn More About Our Trusted Academic Coaches in Charlotte

Meet Dr. Fine. Raised in New York City and London, England, after six years in the Washington D.C. area, Kathy moved to North Carolina in 2000. She started her career in the corporate world, but after struggling to understand why her young, bright, and happy son went from loving school to struggling and dread, she embarked on a mission to find answers. During her quest to make sense of why some students go from happy kindergarteners to unmotivated adolescents, Kathy became a passionate advocate for students and families and has devoted her career to helping adolescents find academic success. Over the past decade, she has immersed herself in college admissions and offers expert advice based on extensive theory, knowledge, and experience. 

Kathy is married and enjoys her early morning tea with milk and sugar (a throwback to her London days), yoga, walking her 75-pound rescue pup, hiking, and traveling with her husband. When she is not working with other people’s students, she spends as much time as possible in the mountains and with her own phenomenal six children, step-children, and beautiful granddaughters.

Meet Chyna.  Chyna Bates served as a Special Educator for twelve years. She also served as a director of professional development, and college professor specializing in the area of beginning teacher support. 

Chyna is dedicated to unleashing the potential of ALL students. She inspires to help students find their voice and contribute their unique talents and gifts to the world.

Chyna finds great joy in not only coaching students, but also learning and growing with them.

Chyna lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. She enjoys spending time with her family, exploring outdoors, and traveling the world. 

Meet Leighann.  Leighann is originally from Indianapolis, IN and comes to Effective Students with 9 years of education experience. Education and athletics have been an important part of her life from an early age. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ball State University, where she was also a Division 1 swimmer.

Following her bachelor’s degree, Leighann earned her master’s degree in elementary education from Johns Hopkins University. Throughout her teaching career, she has moved to a few different places, due to her passion for travel and new experiences. She has lived and taught in New Orleans, LA, Bangkok, Thailand, and Memphis, TN. While working as an educator, she also founded a swim team at a school she was teaching at, where she took on the role as head coach. Leighann is happy to now be in Charlotte, NC and is excited to be on the Effective Students team. She is passionate about teaching the whole child and wants to set students up with valuable skills that can help them in school and beyond.

In her free time, Leighann enjoys working out, trying new restaurants, and traveling.

Meet Raahna. Raahna is a passionate educator who decided to join the field of education to help reach a demographic of children who grew up similarly to her. She is from a small town outside of Pittsburgh, PA. She attributes her accomplishments to her parents who instilled in her the importance of education and how it could take her from where she was, to where she wanted to be. As a result, she was the first person in her family to graduate from college and has since then considered herself a lifelong learner.

She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with BA in Political Science and Africana Studies. She went on to attain her Masters in Education from the University of Pittsburgh. She moved to Charlotte, NC in 2005 and has over 18 years of experience as an educator in grades K-12. Additionally, she obtained her certification in Academically and Gifted Education in 2014 from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. 

Her approach is to meet students where they are and engage them in the learning environment with a heavy focus on higher level thinking skills, while encouraging them to pull from their own experiences and backgrounds. She practices this regularly with her current students as well as her 3 children, two of which are in college and one in high school.

Meet Ashley.  Ashley comes to us with over a decade of expertise as a high school science teacher. She currently works in higher education as well as with Effective Students as an experienced college academic coach. Ashley also has a Master’s degree in Youth Development from UIC and has been a soccer coach and camp counselor. Ashley is committed to education and supporting students to build skills to be successful. When Ashley is not working, you can find her walking with her dog in a nature preserve.

Ashley is the co-teacher of and contributor to the Effective College Connection. She works with college students around the country as they seek to master their time and use all of the resources available to them at their universities.