Meet Lisa and Michael

We are a family of educators, and we approach the college admissions process as a family endeavor, balancing the needs of students and parents.

Lisa Abraham (Founder, President) is an educator with over twenty-five years of experience teaching English and History at both the high school and middle school levels. She holds a BA in English and an MA in Education from the University of Puget Sound. She has taught in a wide variety of environments, from public to private and from urban to suburban. She founded College Portfolios in 2011 to respond to the need for reasonably priced, personally invested, and holistic college admissions advising. As College Portfolios has grown, it has become her full-time career. Her pedagogical approach in both teaching and college admissions advising is always student-centered. She believes strongly that each student’s educational journey is unique and individual, and she strives to help students identify what makes them special and to capitalize upon that in order to fulfill their college goals.

Michael Abraham-Fiallos (Director) is a full-time graduate student, part-time professor, and researcher in twentieth century literature. He holds a BA from New York University in the Humanities, an MA and MPhil from Yale University in English, and he is currently completing a PhD also in English from Yale. He teaches composition and literature at Yale, and he regularly publishes both poetry and research into American literary history. He sees the college admissions process as an opportunity, not only for students to impress a university admissions committee, but also for them to learn some of the key skills that will make them successful at the university level: cogent and concise writing, self-advocacy, and strategic long-term planning for educational success. Based in New York City, Michael has extensive experience advising competitive students through the college admissions process, preparing students for the SAT and ACT exams, and preparing high school students for the demands and rigors of college life. He joined the College Portfolios team in an official capacity in 2020.