Meet the Office

Nancy's history with the Harvard-Westlake Middle School campus starts with her time as a Westlake student in the '80s.  After earning her B.A. in English and French Literatures from Stanford University and her M.Ed. from UCLA, Nancy joined the Harvard-Westlake English Department in 1994.  She has taught 7th, 8th, and 9th grade English and served as a Middle School Dean from 1998-2004.  After taking time off to spend with her three children, Nancy returned to Harvard-Westlake in 2012 and joined the Admission Office in 2013.  

Janine joined the Admission Office in 2015.  In addition to her work in the Admission Office, Janine serves as Harvard-Westlake's first Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.  

Prior to Harvard-Westlake, she worked as a lawyer at several large law firms, served as Senior Advisor/Deputy Legal Counsel to former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, and taught several law school courses at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and Capital University Law School.  For the admission side of her work, Janine works closely with prospective families throughout the application process, conducts applicant interviews frequently, and sits on the school's admission committees.  

Janine's husband, Chris, is an Upper School Dean/Varsity Assistant Basketball Coach and they have two daughters, Taylor, a 2018 graduate of Harvard-Westlake, and Avery, a current student.

Julia joined the Harvard-Westlake Admissions Office in 2018. After growing up in Washington, D.C., Julia attended the University of Michigan where she earned her B.A. in psychology. She then worked for three years at a boutique recruitment firm before returning to school at NYU where she finished her M.S.W. in 2012. Prior to Harvard-Westlake, Julia worked at Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles, where she interviewed children, families, and volunteers for their community-based mentoring program.

Jessica McKay threaded her love of children, education, families, and books into a career as an educator and writer.  After attaining her BA in English from Spelman College and MA in English Education from Columbia University Teachers College and teaching at various schools and grade levels in her hometown of Washington DC as well as New York City, Jessica began her career in Los Angeles as a 5th grade English teacher at the Center for Early Education. After that, Jessica was the Assistant Director of Admissions at Geffen Academy at UCLA within the first year of the school's founding and later became the Director of Outreach and Inclusion there. One year ago, Jessica stepped down from that position in order to help her young children transition back to school as it reopened post-virtual school and to pursue a longtime dream of publishing her first children's book, Always With You, Always With Me.