Sydney Richner joined Marks Education in 2026 after graduating with her Master of Arts in English from Georgetown University. Sydney also serves as an English Adjunct Instructor at Northern Virginia Community College, where she teaches College Composition courses. While at Georgetown, she practiced and taught writing through her roles as a Graduate Writing Center Consultant and Teaching Assistant over the course of two years.

Sydney believes in a non-directive counseling approach: guiding a student through their own thinking and decision-making rather than imposing a unilateral course of action. She embraces writing as a means of communication and privileges authorial voice when working with students, offering her expertise as a sounding board for students to articulate and brainstorm their own ideas. To Sydney, one of the greatest affordances of written language is that there is no singular “correct” formula, which makes room for individuality and authenticity.

When she is not teaching, writing, or reading, Sydney enjoys cycling, rock climbing, and playing Dungeons and Dragons. Some other professional and academic interests of hers include law and emotion, carceral studies, and sociology. Sydney spent years interning for public defender’s offices and other community justice nonprofits and co‑led creative writing workshops at a local women’s prison during her undergraduate studies at Florida State University.

Based in Arlington, Virginia, Sydney is available to work with students virtually and in-person at the McLean, VA office.