Meet Dr. P. (Dominique Padurano, MS, Ed, PhD)

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. P. (Dominique Padurano, MS, Ed, PhD). We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dr. P., we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I’ve loved teaching since I was six years old. My first-grade teacher didn’t know what to do with me when I finished all of my lessons early, so she asked me to teach my classmate to read — which I did!

Other kids started asking for my help with homework on the school bus, and as a high school student, I’d tutor my younger sister and her friends. Although the high school I attended had sent only one other student to Harvard before me, I applied in the fall of 1988 and got in. When I got to Harvard, I started SAT tutoring to pay for books (and mocha coffee with my best friend at the now defunct, forever beloved Café Pamplona).

But, after I graduated from Harvard with high honors, I had no idea what I wanted to do. My extended family didn’t send their kids to college, let alone a college like Harvard, so I didn’t have many role models in the professions. I tried law, banking, and even photojournalism, but it wasn’t until I stepped in front of a classroom that I realized why I was put on this earth! I quickly got certified to teach Social Studies, Spanish, Elementary and Art, and taught on Long Island (Great Neck North HS, Mepham HS) for three years.

In 2000, I went back to school and after earning my doctorate in History from Rutgers, I taught at Horace Mann School and Scarsdale HS in New York. However, I never stopped tutoring students that entire time. So when I wanted to try my hand at owning and operating a small business, there was no question at what I’d do!

Since opening Crimson Coaching in 2014, I’ve been blessed with scores of students hailing from 14 states (including Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington) and a dozen countries (Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Germany, India, Israel, Kuwait, Mozambique, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and the UK). I love helping all these diverse students achieve their dreams!

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Crimson Coaching is different than your neighborhood homework helper or franchise tutor. First, I conduct 98% of the tutoring personally. That means you child will learn from a tutor who graduated with high honors (magna cum laude) from Harvard. A tutor who has over twenty-five years of classroom experience. A tutor who has been tutoring students since she herself was six years old! A tutor who not only has a Master’s degree in Education, but also a PhD AND FOUR permanent New York State teaching certifications. Working with Dr. P. means that your child will receive strategies that work during every minute of every session — not flounder while a novice figures out how to teach on your dime.

I personally tutor all students who need help with college and analytical essays; the SAT, the ACT, the GRE, and other tests; as well as in most academic subjects, including History & Social Studies, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Algebra I and II, and Geometry. Crimson Coaching hires similarly qualified, top teachers to tutor subjects like Calculus and Chemistry that I don’t teach myself.

Having the business owner do the tutoring AND the parent communications means that your family’s experience isn’t just seamless and efficient. You can sit back and worry less when you have a seasoned, consummate professional guiding your child through high school’s milestones.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Empathy, adaptability, and a voracious love of learning.

While I don’t recommend subjecting your child to teasing and bullying like I was, there’s no doubt that those childhood experiences shaped me into someone who roots for the underdog and doesn’t judge her students. Empathy helps me immediately connect with most students who, once they trust that I’m on their side, will often work harder “for” me than for other tutors, their teachers, or their parents.

The first five years of my business were tough. Though I had an excellent mentor, I had to experiment with various marketing and pricing techniques to build Crimson Coaching into the thriving business it is today. My comfort with taking risks and with change definitely helped Crimson Coaching weather the first few years and grow since then.

Finally, my voracious love of learning has enabled me, an art history major at Harvard, to tutor everything from Algebra II to the Science section of the ACT to AP Spanish. Those new to the field of tutoring don’t have to have such a wide repertoire, of course. But my own brain loves diversity and the thrill of learning new things. This “hunt” has kept running this business fresh for 11 years and why, I suspect, I’ll continue doing so into my 70s!

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

There are three great types of collaborators for me: tutors of elementary and middle school students; financial planners or accountants; coaches or therapists of parents or teens.

I provide referral bonuses to tutors of younger children who refer my SAT, ACT, and college essay services to the families “graduating” from them.

Anyone who helps families plan for the financial costs of college is another great partner. I’ve hosted joint webinars with three different CFPs during which we describe the academic and financial steps parents can take to set their child(ren) up for admissions success and paying for college. On March 13, 2025, I’ll be co-hosting “Graduate Debt-Free” with a scholarship coach. (Readers can register for free here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/BGQq-1BYSBSdjpa3eRSX4A#/registration) So anyone in the financial planning, accounting, scholarship or FAFSA space is a great connection for me.

Finally, teens in therapy often need academic assistance. Moreover, parents in therapy or receiving coaching may find their own problems mitigated when their child receives the educational support they need. Therefore, coaches and therapists are a final group of perfect partners.

Any of these potential collaborators can email me at [email protected] or learn more about me at www.crimsoncoaching.com.

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