Rebecca Wilson Potter, M.A.

Mrs. Potter is the Founder of the Essayist.

A skilled writer and editor, Mrs. Potter has a professional background in fundraising, consulting, and market research. She has worked in private equity, advertising and digital marketing, brand strategy, and global high-tech and telecommunications strategy. She also had a “second career” as a teacher at a private, Episcopal day school, where she was a religion teacher and Dean of Students.

She is a passionate community volunteer in the areas of the positive development of women and girls, health care, work readiness, and the arts. She is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Grand Rapids, a founder of the Grand Rapids Chapter of National Charity League, Inc., and serves on several non-profit boards. She is a two-term member of the Alumni Board of the University of Chicago, the highest volunteer position at the University. She is involved with the University in a number of other capacities, including serving on the Advisory Board of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (the world's foremost research center on the Ancient Near East), interviewing prospective students with the Alumni Schools Committee, fundraising for her class Reunion Committees, and working directly with the office of Career and Placement Services to hire Metcalf Scholars. Finally, she also serves as a member of the Alumni Schools Committee (interviewing prospective students) for Harvard College. She was elected in 2020 to a three-year term on the Alumni Advisory Council of Harvard Divinity School.

She has read, literally, thousands of college application essays and resumes in the last 25 years.

She holds an A.B. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School.