CEA Directory

Growing up in Wisconsin, Alyssa was very lucky to have a family that enjoyed road trips around the United States and learning about new cultures. In high school, she traveled to Costa Rica with her Spanish class, and that is all it took to fully cement the idea that international travel was something that would have to become a part of her life.

In college, her love of Lord of the Rings led her to the actual Middle Earth; she studied abroad in New Zealand, despite pursuing a degree in Spanish. After graduation, she worked in hospitality while waiting to be accepted into the Peace Corps. Her time in Senegal, West Africa, led her to the conclusion that she wanted to be in the business of helping others have amazing, transformational experiences abroad.

So, she moved to Monterey, California to pursue her M.A. in International Education Management, giving her a wealth of knowledge about the field of International Education, as well as the opportunity to live and work in Madrid, Spain to complete her degree.

Finished with this degree, she joined CEA as a Site Specialist, working directly with students to help them achieve their dreams of studying abroad. Now, she has moved to the Enrollment Operations team and shifted to a more behind-the-scenes role that focuses on constantly fine-tuning the student experience.

Prior to Joining CEA, Ashlyn studied at Phoenix College, achieving her Associates Degree in Music Business. During and after college, she was involved in a few internships and also volunteered for live events. Given the opportunity to help with logistics, creating documents, and even contacting artists for these events. She continued volunteering after college, which included organizing and leading a teen program. This was a free after school program that helped low income families bring their teens for Ashlyn and the team to help with school work, as well as creating fun activities for them to do daily!

Studying abroad wasn't an opportunity for Ashlyn in college, so she is very interested in helping students achieve that dream- assisting them with finding themselves and learning in another country to come back home inspired. She believes that everyone should have that opportunity to travel, learn and appreciate different cultures!

Ashlyn loves to travel, and her favorite place is back in her family’s hometown, Mexico City! There are so many beautiful historic buildings and places to visit that definitely cannot be done in one day! She definitely recommends to go during Día de los Muertos or Mexican Independence day, to celebrate and have fun! She enjoys concerts, arts and crafts, especially creating scrapbooks to hold all her memories in. Being born and raised in Phoenix, she does love to hike while there are beautiful sunsets and great weather. Other activities she likes to do in her downtime would be, going to bookstores, seeing what new movies are out in theaters, and riding her skateboard!