Welcome to The Unlearning Studio

Transformational Workshops, Coaching & Retreats for Leaders, Creatives & Seekers

What if personal growth IS cultural growth?

We're living in a time of profound disconnection. From ourselves. From each other. From what makes us feel alive.

Many of the beliefs and patterns we've inherited aren’t just limiting us; they're limiting what's possible for our world.

When you do the work of unlearning, you make room for reclamation — for what is genuinely, recognizably yours to emerge. And you become a model, permission slip and invitation for us all to do the same.

Your growth has never been preparation for the work to come. It’s always been part of the work itself right now.

Decorative purple curlicue graphic element

Hi, I’m Alice Chen…
Leadership coach, facilitator, and creative.

This is a place for people who sense that getting to what's genuinely theirs requires setting something down first.

  • The leader or team ready to question inherited patterns and build something more authentic.

  • The creative who wants a community that takes their joy seriously.

  • The human who knows something needs to change — and is ready to do the real work.

Whatever you're carrying and whatever you're ready to set down — you belong here.

We call what waits on the other side of our unwinding - reclamation.

And it’s not a destination we rush toward; it’s what emerges when each of us does the real work of clearing space inside and around us.

Decorative blue curlicue graphic element

From Unlearning to Reclamation

Every path through our studio moves in the same direction...

Small lilac spiral representing the unlearning journey

Deep Work

For leaders and teams when the inherited playbook stops working and something more honest is calling.

Rigorous, personal, and built around what's actually yours.

→ Individual coaching
→ Organizational work

A hand holding a mirror fragment reflecting an eye, symbolizing self-reflection and inner discovery

Creative Gatherings

For anyone who makes things as a way of knowing themselves, and wants a community that takes that seriously.

Accessible and always surprising.

→ Art & Alchemy
→ Upcoming gatherings

Neon paint, brushes and fingerpainting on paper during an Art and Alchemy creative workshop at The Unlearning Studio

Immersive Experiences

What becomes possible on the other side of the unwinding?

Reclamation: The Retreat.
A multi-day, immersive experience for the leader and creative within us all.

Launching fall 2026
→ Join the waitlist

Blue rolling suitcases representing immersive travel retreats and transformational experiences at The Unlearning Studio

Come Unwind and Explore With Us

Wherever you are on the arc — still in the unlearning, or just beginning to sense what's waiting on the other side — you're welcome here.

Explore All of Our Experiences

Our Ethos:

In a world that constantly asks us to rush, harden, optimize and perform, we’re choosing a different path.

Slowness. Sensitivity. Sparkle.

Not softness instead of substance. Softness as substance.

Creativity as an essential life-force available to all of us.
Courage as the soft, fierce choice to stay present when things are hard.
Connection as the willingness to step into discomfort, to know and be known.
Care as showing up with devotion for what truly matters.

Come as you are.
We'll meet you where you are and walk beside you.

Learn more about our story

"Most of us are living at least partly in someone else's version of our lives. Reclamation is the work of remembering and finding our way back to who we really are. It starts with unlearning the things we’ve been told we have to and are supposed to be."

— Alice Chen
Founder

Meet Alice and theTeam

We’re a small, growing circle of creatives, facilitators, and cultural reweavers - holding space for unlearning with curiosity, care, and the occasional glue stick.

Alice Chen, leadership coach and founder of The Unlearning Studio, leaning forward in a blue denim coat
A handmade woven rug representing craft, creativity and the ancestral making traditions that inspire The Unlearning Studio
A handmade woven rug representing craft, creativity and the ancestral making traditions that inspire The Unlearning Studio
Learn more about the humans behind the magic
Close-up of a hand covered in multicolored paint with a dark blue background.
Person holding a colorful paper puzzle ball covering their face surrounded by floating 3D geometric paper puzzles and origami birds.
A close-up of a clear light bulb lying on a colorful, reflective surface against a black background.
A red billboard with the message 'Community is Strength.' in large light pink letters, and a smaller caption below that reads 'Be strong. Let's look out for one another.' in white. Behind the billboard is a building with large windows and a construct
Pink and purple clouds in a sky at sunset or sunrise.
The words 'DREAM BIG' are written in white chalk on a dark wooden surface.
A messy art workspace with paints and brushes on a white surface, with a child's hand holding a paintbrush. Bright colors like pink, blue, green, and yellow are smeared and splattered around.
A woman with colorful face paint that resembles a pop art style. The makeup features bright colors, bold lines, and whimsical designs, including a red lips and a blue nose.

Upcoming Events

  • Wreathing the Threshold

    Sunday, September 13, 2026 | 3:00–4:30pm EST / 12:00–1:30pm PST

    Weave, twist, and bind materials into a handmade wreath that marks the threshold you're standing at right now — the transitions that don't get a party, a card, or a witness — while exploring what it means to honor the in-between.


    Cost: $20

    Learn more

  • Befriending the Monster

    Sunday, October 11, 2026 | 3:00–4:30pm EST / 12:00–1:30pm PST


    Build a monster from whatever's around your house — cardboard, fabric, buttons, yarn — while exploring what you've been avoiding, what it might be protecting, and what could change if you stopped running from it.


    Cost: $20

    Learn more

  • Capsules & Confessions

    Sunday, November 15, 2026 | 3:00–4:30pm EST / 12:00–1:30pm PST

    Gather, curate, and seal the objects and words that tell the real story of your year — not the highlight reel — while exploring what it means to be an honest witness to your own life.

    Cost: $20

    Learn more