Karen Grace-Baker

Karen Grace-Baker served as the Lead College Counselor at a charter high school in Los Angeles. As the school’s first college counselor, she was responsible for building the college counseling department from the ground up and creating a college-going culture.  Her experience includes counseling college bound students, developing signature college counseling practices, building relationships with colleges, implementation of Naviance Family Connection and creating themed college/financial aid nights and parent workshops. Presently she is working as an independent college counselor. Karen holds a B.A. degree from Boston College (Lynch College of Education), an MBA from Atlanta University and a College Counseling certificate from UC San Diego Extension. After 15+ years as a business executive in marketing with major companies including General Mills/Pillsbury, Walt Disney and Sony Music, Karen ran her own marketing consulting firm and was contracted to develop marketing programs for her client list which included: Universal Studios Home Video, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM Studios and Jim Henson Studios. She also consulted in event production and was the Youth Day Producer for Tavis Smiley's Road to Health Tour, a multi-city health, wellness and fitness tour targeted to educate multi-cultural audiences on strategies to combat childhood obesity. Combining her passion for education with her marketing experience, Karen parlayed her talents into the creation of her own educational consulting firm, Right College ChoiceTM (www.rightcollegechoice.com). Over the past 10 years, she has successfully helped students maximize their academic and other talents to gain entrance to many colleges, including highly selective and Ivy League universities as well as little known, but highly regarded colleges. Karen’s passion for education stems from her background as a first-generation, low-income student who had to pave her pathway to college.  Her skills and talent were recognized by author and actor Hill Harper where she was a consultant for the college readiness component of his Summer Empowerment Academy (www.mydf.org) helping to guide underserved students on the pathway to college through various workshops that she conducted. Karen serves on the Board of Trustees for a local independent K-6 school in Los Angeles,on the Advisory Board for UCLA Extension and is a member of both NACAC (National Association of College Admission Counseling) and WACAC (Western Association of College Admission Counseling). Karen hopes to instill in students that ‘there is a college for everyone’. She prides herself on being an avid reader of educational journals, blogs and anything ‘college related’. She believes that having a thirst for new information about colleges and outreach programs and visiting colleges on an annual basis are key elements to being successful and effective in college counseling.