Meet The Team

College Planning Experts – Meet The Team

• Brian Safdari – CEO and Founder

  

  Brian Safdari - Founder and CEO

Raised in the San Fernando Valley, Brian was a four-year varsity soccer player. As Chatsworth High School’s soccer captain and center midfielder, he was one of the highest ranked soccer players in the West.

He was a player for Valley League, an Olympic Development Program, for the California State Team, and for the US Junior Tournament Team at the France ‘98 World Cup.
Brian had many NCAA Division I colleges recruiting him in his senior year to play soccer. He was banking on a full athletic scholarship and made no other college plans. When a career ending injury took college soccer off the radar for Brian, he was lost. Brian was the first in his family to attend college and did not have anyone to turn to for advice. He decided to attend CSUN and live at home since he thought it was the least expensive plan because he did not understand the financial aid process. After procrastinating and making multiple mistakes on his financial aid forms, Brian took on over $50,000 in student loans.

In 2003, Brian met his mentor, Ron Caruthers, the nation’s leading expert on college planning. Brian decided to devote his career to teaching and guiding families through college planning process to save them from making the same mistakes he made.

Brian has worked with over 1,000 families helping them attain their college dreams. His clients come from as far as Palm Springs and attend educationally diverse schools from junior colleges to Harvard University.

He is the co-host of the monthly smash hit radio show “College Planning Secrets EXPOSED!” on KHTS 1220 AM, Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 to 2:00 PM. Brian has also published his own book College Planning Made Easy.

• Phillip Lew

  

  Phillip Lew

Growing up in the Los Angeles area, Phillip Lew has always had a passion for two things: entrepreneurship and motivational speaking. At the age of 15 while attending Birmingham High School, Phillip co-founded his own retail apparel company (Sheik Attire) that in less than 1 year sold more than $5,000 dollars per month worth of men’s clothing through online stores such as eBay and Amazon. Phillip Lew became the youngest student ever at Birmingham High to publically ask the administration for venture capital.

After having the opportunity to meet Senator Barbara Boxer from California while attending a high school summer program at Stanford University, Phillip became committed to the art of public speaking and was accepted as an economics student at Georgetown University. Yet, in the midst of his excitement, Phillip soon realized his family could not afford to pay his “unmet” financial need and could not qualify for any student or parent loans.

Devastated by the event, Phillip soon met his future mentor, nationally renowned college planner Brian Safdari who taught him everything he knew about the financial aid process. Soon after, Phillip  began creating financial aid plans that allowed him to attend Boston University for four full years while helping countless friends and families do exactly the same.

While attending Boston University, Phillip co-founded Anthony & Anthony Academic Consultants which specialized in helping New England high school and college students meet and find tutoring resources in over 23 subjects. Phillip soon also became one of the most successful real estate agents in Boston, breaking the city record by renting over a hundred apartments in less than 3 months.

After graduating Boston University Cum Laude in 2009, Phillip Lew joined his mentor Brian Safdari full time as an acting partner in College Planning Experts™ which has quickly risen as a national leader in providing high end college planning solutions to families across the nation.

Phillip is the co-host of the monthly smash hit radio show, “College Planning Secrets EXPOSED!” on KHTS 1220 AM, Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 to 2:00 PM. He is also the published author of his national best seller Phillip Lew’s College Planning System for Success and currently working on his second publication Phillip Lew’s College Networking System for Success.

• Trevor Mizrahi

  

  Trevor Mizrahi

Trevor Mizrahi was a three-year varsity soccer player at Chatsworth high school with a focus on martial arts. He has always had a passion for scholastic achievement as well as optimal success in everything he pursues. Growing up in a spiritual household, he shares with young adults the value of becoming a leader and making a difference. In his senior year of high school, a knee injury and prolonged rehabilitation inhibited him from obtaining an athletic scholarship. Trevor made the choice to focus on raising his GPA to a 3.7 by dedicating more time to his studies. He still watched his teammates from the sidelines to cheer them toward victory. He also became more active in the community and in his church groups.

When faced with the harsh reality of the expense college, Trevor began his college career the same way many others: ignorant of the financial aid process. Although he came from a lower-middle class family, colleges failed to provide him with the massive amounts of government, state, and institutional money they had stocked away. Because  he did not understand the financial aid process at the time, Trevor felt that his only option for college was to attend Moorpark Community College for 2 years and then transfer to the University of California Irvine. Thinking he was making the wise choice of cutting out two years of a large college expense, he still fell victim to the financial aid process and was awarded no money for his education. His family was definitely low income and should have received some money. But, because of the common errors most families make, he was awarded nothing. After graduating with a finance degree and a little over $55,000 dollars of debt, he made it his mission to discover the secrets behind the Higher Education Act and provide other families with the tools to make higher education a reality without going broke.

Since 2005, he has coached numerous families in the financial aid process and has helped students discover their talents.  He has created a system that takes out the guesswork for families on how to get into the right colleges and shows them how they will be able to pay for the cost without disrupting any future financial goals. Trevor has a sound background in helping individuals reach their highest potential, motivating students, and preparing them for their career after college. “Having a plan on how to use your education is step one to getting a job. Self-education and the commitment to never stop learning is what sets any individual apart from the rest,” Trevor shares with his students.