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 an associate member of the  Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA).  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.

Kristen graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in Business - Decision Sciences. She was also a merit scholar with IU's Jacob School of Music with a focus in clarinet and piano.