Kristen is the founder of College Alchemist. Kristen is an educational consultant specialized in working with international families in the college admissions for the US and other regions in the world. She has been passionate for many years on supporting families in the college admissions process, helping students find their voice and be authentic, and finding the right fit socially, academically and financially. As a dual national with the United States and Italy and living in Singapore for over a third of her career, Kristen's expertise is firmly based in the cultural understanding, motivation and needs of multi-national families in this educational journey.
In her 30 years of experience in management consulting, with the initial start in technology, Kristen's focus quickly evolved into diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and engagement strategies for the corporate and education sectors. Kristen has consulted with preschool, primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions in admissions, engagement and DEI efforts in the United States and Singapore. She is also a certified trainer in Cultural Intelligence solutions. Kristen has also worked with non-profits for over 20 years supporting educational access and scholarship programs in the US and Southeast Asia.
Kristen earned her Certificate in College Counseling with Distinction from UCLA. She is a member of the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) and of the International School Counselor Association (ISCA). Kristen is certified essay coach with the Wow Writing Workshop, LLC . She also volunteers her time with College Essay Guy's Matchlighters Scholars, QuestBridge, and SMART programs, assisting students through their college admissions journey.
College Alchemist is a bespoke college admissions consulting firm tailored to each student's unique interests, needs and goals. Based in Singapore and San Francisco, we are internationally focused working with families across multiple high school curriculums - including IBDP, A-levels, GCSE, AP, national/custom curriculums - and placements across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Our priority is to ensure that student's authentic self - their unique voice, their passion and their vision - is captured during their high school years and they are supported in the best academic, social, and financial fit for university.