Alice Chen (Stanford BA, Northwestern MSJ) is an award-winning journalist and “coach of admission coaches”.

She grew up thinking those who studied and worked the hardest would “succeed”.

But after attending Stanford and working in TV journalism, Alice quickly learned that IQ was not the most important factor for rising in the work place (and enjoying life).

Life skills, like EQ, communication and self advocacy, have a greater impact on success.

Alice created BrightStory to be the mentor she wishes she had as a teen. Yes, Alice loves teaching students how to tap their creativity, write and communicate their value. More importantly, she enjoys helping students realize their “superpowers” and create opportunities for themselves.

Alice is a top 1% coach who brings 23+ years of experience to her coaching.

Background:

• Stanford University Class of 1998, BA History, Minor Economics.

  • Declined four-year full-tuition scholarship to Wellesley College in order to attend Stanford.

  • Received Undergraduate Scholarship from Stanford, roughly 25% of tuition.

  • Selected to participate in SLE, the most competitive humanities program for freshmen at Stanford.

  • Selected to study abroad at Stanford in Oxford University and Stanford in Chile.

  • Received major grant to attend Stanford’s Amazon Rainforest Travel/Study program. Grant covered 95% of program expenses.

  • Selected for Stanford Undergraduate Research Opportunity grant to conduct oral history research in London. Grant covered travel, room and board.

  • Selected to participate in Stanford Honors College.

  • Selected as anchor/reporter for Stanford TV News (SCBN-TV).

  • Interned for Congresswoman Carol Mosely Braun on Capitol Hill

• Northwestern University Class of 2004, MS in Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.

  • Selected to intern at Cox News Service on Capitol Hill as a general assignment reporter

  • Selected as an Ear to the Ground Mentee at Chicago Public Radio

  • Accepted a full-time staff reporting job at one of the largest newspapers (top 2% of newspapers in the country) — the Pulitzer-Prize winning Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — immediately after graduate school. (Most journalists have to pay dues at small new outlets before landing at large ones.)

• Coach of admission coaches:

  • Hired by private school to train guidance counselor on college admission essay editing. In the school’s 22-year history, they had never gotten a student into an Ivy League-level school. The student Alice coached got into MIT; she played an integral part in helping him choose a memorable essay topic.

  • Hired by elite level, professional admission consultant / English tutor to coach her on her personal college transfer applications.

  • Edited adult memoirists (including Chicago Sun-Times editor) through StoryStudio Chicago

• Former center director of Achieva College Prep Service's Palo Alto office. The majority of Achieva was later purchased by  Kaplan.

• Professional multimedia journalist whose work has appeared in national, major market media:

  • Print / Online - San Francisco Chronicle (One story helped a non-profit win $3 million Google grant), Newsweek.com, New York Times News Service, Atlanta Journal - Constitution.

  • TV - Morning Cut-In Anchor / Reporter, WNNE-TV (Vermont); Hearst Argyle Producing Fellow, WCVB - TV (Boston); Cityline News Magazine Show Freelancer, WCVB-TV (Boston)

  • Radio - WBEZ Chicago Public Radio Mentee.

• Communications consultant for clients including Apple (Legal, HR and HR Executive Communications), PG&E (CEO and SVP Speechwriting), Kraft (Year-End Report), University of Chicago Medical Center (Patient Case Studies).

In addition to coaching, Alice loves family, friends, food, traveling and Jesus.