Work with Donna
About
The graduate business admissions process can feel like navigating rough seas, with big waves appearing when you least expect them. My role is to be your steady anchor and strategic guide. Now in my 11th year coaching applicants directly, with 15 prior years working on the MBA admissions side, and coaching clients to over 200 M7 admits and $10 million in scholarships, I bring both insider perspective and deeply personalized coaching to every client relationship. What often makes the difference in a successful MBA application is not just what you have done, but how you tell the story of why it matters. I bring a business storytelling facilitation certification from Leadership Story Lab to help clients uncover and communicate the stories only they can tell. Along the way, I also help clients overcome imposter syndrome, stay on track, clarify their goals, providing great empathy and care at every step along the way. Outside of admissions, I’m an avid tennis fan and a super fan of the UNC Chapel Hill Women’s Tennis Team, where grit, strategy, resilience, and problem-solving are always on display. I bring that same mindset to my coaching as I help clients do everything possible to submit their strongest applications.
Donna’s MBA Qualifications
Coaches professionally
100+ MBA clients
AI Certified
Completed Level 1 of Leland’s AI Builder Program
Donna has helped clients get into these schools:
The MBA admissions process is stressful; people juggle work, testing requirements, career goal mapping and so many other parts of the puzzle. For the past ten years, I've been a steady, encouraging and organized partner to help hundreds of people unearth the authentic story that lives inside them. My clients have receive over $10 million in scholarship offers and have been admitted to every M7 program as well as leading MBA programs across the United States, Europe, and Canada. I have coached candidates from investment banking, private equity, venture capital, consulting, healthcare, real estate, sustainability, marketing, technology, hospitality, education, sales, and other fields, helping applicants from India, Europe, Canada, China, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Vietnam, and across the United States present their strongest and most distinctive candidacies. Throughout this process, I’ve’ been an active member of The Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), a global organization dedicated to enhancing transparency, ethics, and best practices in graduate admissions consulting. I have also been certified as a Leadership Story Lab Story Facilitator, which gives me additional tools to ask the questions that help people reflect upon what is most important to them and connect with the "why" that drives their career goals. I’m a proud graduate of Kellogg’s MBA program and UNC Chapel Hill’s Undergraduate Business Program. If you’re ready to build an MBA application that feels authentic, strategic, and truly differentiated, I’d be excited to work with you. Book a session with me on Leland, and let’s start shaping your story together.
Donna can help with:
Application Strategy
Cover Letters
Ding Analysis
Editing
Essays
Financial Aid & Scholarships
General Exploration
Interviews
Networking Strategy
Recommendations
Resume
School Selection
Secondary Review
Supplementary Materials
Testing & Assessments
Waitlist Strategy
Why do I coach?
My dad was first-generation college and I’ve had so many more doors opened to me because of the educational path my father forged. I believe in the transformative power of education, and find great joy in providing support to people as they apply for MBA, EMBA, deferred-enrollment MBA, and even specialty master’s programs. Helping people reach their career goals and full potential through the admissions process has been immensely rewarding. I’ve seen my clients cry with joy when they’ve been accepted to their dream MBA programs and that includes all the M7 programs; these moments have been deeply rewarding to me to witness generational progress. I’ve also held space for clients who have been disappointed and I’ve helped them to successfully reapply to MBA programs in subsequent cycles. I’m curious by nature, and love to be a facilitator in helping people learn more about themselves and make sense of their past experiences to connect the dots to their future. The longer I do this work, the more questions I ask to my clients to help them connect all the dots in their story. The insights that my clients have unearthed have been helpful not only in the admissions process but also in their career searches and in their communications skills and lives overall.
Work Experience
Senior MBA Admissions Counselor
Stratus Admissions Counseling
May 2016 - Present
• Delivering excellent client satisfaction, coaching clients to acceptance at all M7 MBA programs as well as top US, European and Canadian MBA programs as well as specialty Masters Programs • Developing scholarship strategies; $10 million+ of scholarships offered to clients since 2016 • Advancing best practices in MBA admissions consulting through active membership in Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) since 2016; Conference committee 2026 • Partnering with Forte’ MBA Launch and GMAT Club, creating and delivering customized webinars; generating articles for blog and video content for social media including company's YouTube and Instagram • Certified through Level 3 (highest level) by Leadership Story Lab as Story Facilitator in 2021, quoted in Forbes about business storytelling • Promoted to Senior MBA Admissions Counselor from MBA Admissions Counselor in July 2017
Assistant Director, MBA Admissions
Kenan-Flagler
January 2001 - April 2016
Admissions Committee
• Gained expertise evaluating international and domestic applicants, served as region manager for China, Korea and Japan during various admissions cycles • Conducted over 230 interviews in 2015/2016 season (second highest on team) via Skype, phone and on-campus • Delivered exceptional customer service to applicants; recognized in applicant survey about their interview experience with a 4.81/5.0 rating • Represented UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA program at various admissions events and planned portions of Admitted Students Weekend
Associate Director for Student Development, Undergraduate Business Program
Kenan-Flagler
November 1994 - December 1999
• Created first career development program (including delivery of career advising and customized career workshops) provided directly by UNC Kenan-Flagler to approximately 700 undergraduate business students; facilitated partnership with University Career Services staff • Ideated and delivered several innovative programs to help students become more successful in their job searches including creating first-ever Investment Banking Day program attended by over 200 students annually, facilitating case-interview coaching for consulting-bound students, embedding mock interviews for students in business communication class and writing first UBP Career Search manual • Promoted to Associate Director in 1997; won school-wide quarterly award for outstanding customer service • Created first-ever undergraduate business program career development library housed within undergraduate business program; selected best resources to support students in their career journey as consultant from Jan. - Dec. 2020 • Provided career coaching to undergraduate business students
Account Executive
Publicis Groupe
August 1990 - May 1992
• Managed national advertising relationship for Maxwell House Coffee ($40M) and Corning Consumer Housewares Products ($7M) accounts • D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles was acquired by Publicis Groupe in 2002
Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Honors, Business
Phi Beta Kappa, University Honors Court, Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority
Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern)
MBA, Business
Majors in Marketing and Organizational Behavior, Sports Business Club, Served as an alumni admissions interviewer for the Full Time Program in late 1990's. Certified through Level 3 as a Leadership Story Lab facilitator through Kellogg-alum owned Leadership Story Lab.
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Donna has helped clients get into these schools:
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