Hi, I’m Alice…

Creative seeker.
Intuitive listener.
Joyful unlearner.

Moved - easily, often - by beauty, grief, wonder and the way light makes the ordinary sacred.

And — for 18+ years — a coach, facilitator, and founder who has worked with everyone from Fortune 500 executives to people rebuilding from scratch.

I make spaces for what’s been buried to rise. For what no longer fits to fall away. For what’s next to speak.

Welcome to The Studio.
I’m so glad you found us.

Orange spiral design on a black background

An Experience That Shaped Me

In my early thirties, my father passed away. A man who had worked his whole life - focused, disciplined, saving joy like he saved his pennies - always for “someday.”

He was forced into retirement at 62,
and came alive in a way I’d never seen:
he spent time with friends, picked up hobbies, learned to play -
maybe for the first time.
There was a rightness to it all, like watching color bloom
in something that had too long existed in grayscale.

And then, just like that, cancer came.
At 64, he was gone.

I held my father’s hand as he exhaled for the last time
and watched as a gold light shimmered above him.

Blue curly line on a black background.
Alice Chen's father, a Chinese man wearing a red striped shirt, whose story shaped the philosophy behind The Unlearning Studio

He had always struggled in his body - weighed down by racism, by obesity,
by the quiet grief of a life where joy and belonging often felt out of reach.

Our relationship was complicated and full of missed moments, but in that moment, I saw him unbound: a soul pure and luminous.

And the tears came  —
for his leaving, and for the beauty of seeing him,
at last, fully expressed and free in his truest form.

An abstract orange spiral design on a black background.

Watching my father pass cracked something open in me.
I saw how fragile “someday” really is.

We never truly know how long we have to become ourselves, how much of our lives we’ll spend being someone else, or how many people we’ll miss along the way.

Alice Chen's father playing golf in chinos and a red shirt, capturing a moment of joy and personality from the family story behind The Unlearning Studio

For a brief span of time at the end of his existence
my father leaned towards alignment - and came alive.
I wonder who he might have been, who we might have been -
if he’d felt like he could live from that place sooner.

And I also wonder how many of us wait until we’re walking on the edge of life to finally come home to ourselves?

A pinkish-purple curly line on a black background.
Alice Chen's father dressed in a suit and newsies cap, a portrait reflecting heritage, identity and the inherited stories that inspire The Unlearning Studio
A pink squiggly line on a black background.
Alice Chen's father wearing a red vest and directing plane traffic at an air show, a vivid image from the personal history that grounds The Unlearning Studio's story

This inquiry is at the heart of everything I do.

I built The Unlearning Studio around a conviction: that
reclamation — the return to who we are beneath all the conditioning, the shoulds, and the have-tos — doesn't have to wait until the edge of everything.

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This is the way I’m choosing to live -

Slower, messier, more alive.
Less security, more possibility.
Less achievement, more meaning.

A way where laughter, wonder, and presence are foundations, not afterthoughts.

Where my personal practice IS part of my contribution - where how I show up shapes and reshapes what’s possible beyond me.

Alice Chen in an orange and teal Hawaiian shirt with eyes closed, face turned toward the sunrise — a moment of stillness, presence and reclamation

I founded The Unlearning Studio as a home for this kind of becoming -

A place for those ready to unlearn what dims and disconnects them and to reclaim what's always been theirs.

Personal transformation and cultural transformation are one and the same: When we change how we live, we change what's possible for others.

Joy, connection, and creativity aren't luxuries; they're how we return to ourselves and reshape the world.

A sunburst of light breaking through lush foliage, representing emergence, clarity and the light that becomes possible through the unlearning journey

This is the world I’m walking towards.
Come walk beside me.

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Paths I’ve Traced in the World

I’ve led teams and organizations.
Worked in leadership, social impact, education, philanthropy and business.
Studied Polynesian and Native American history, geology, theatre, design, healing, and emergence.
Coached people through transitions and across thresholds.

Each path has left me with questions and lessons —
about power, about care,
about the shape life takes when we forget ourselves,
and what unfolds as we remember and reconnect.

Alice Chen smiling in a handknit sweater with a waterfall cascading behind her, embodying the creative joy and natural aliveness at the heart of her work

My Own Unlearning

That sensitivity is weakness.
That beauty is frivolous.
That worth is measured in speed and productivity.
That rest and joy must be earned.
That I must carry the weight of things alone.

Alice Chen in a summer dress walking away from the camera toward the woods, an image of quiet courage, forward movement and following what calls you
A breathtaking sunrise over Victoria Falls, representing the transformative power of travel, immersion and the awe that opens us to new ways of being

Where My Joy Lives

Making with my hands. Moving my body.
Singing harmonies. Playing with color.
Snuggling my dachshunds.
Cooking meals that nourish and gather.
Creating beautiful things for the people I love.
Honoring what’s common among us, while tending what’s uniquely mine.
Letting joy interrupt me.

Alice Chen holding up a large, vibrantly colorful scarf she hand-knitted herself, expressing the creative spirit and joyful making that runs through everything at The Unlearning Studio
Alice Chen laughing as a dapple dachshund licks her face, capturing the playfulness, warmth and delight that she brings to The Unlearning Studio

What I See in Others

In the many people I’ve coached, the most powerful gifts are often hidden - sensitivity, intuition, creativity, care. The world doesn’t always celebrate them. But we do.

A side profile portrait of Alice Chen looking weathered and pensive, reflecting the depth, honesty and hard-won wisdom behind The Unlearning Studio's work

The Truths I Carry

There are aches I live with:
belonging everywhere and nowhere,
the loss of children I could not have,
a family that could never quite connect,
the helplessness of witnessing pain I cannot mend.

They walk with me - reminders of why fierce stewardship of gentleness, beauty, and community are necessary.

Alice Chen smiling in sunglasses and a purple anorak jacket, radiating the warmth, color and bold self-expression she brings to her coaching and facilitation work

Everyday Uprisings

Rest.
Play.
Laughter.
Art.
Dressing in color.

As nourishment for the hard realities of life.
As sparks that ignite futures we can’t yet imagine.

Background & Training

Alice Chen wearing a handknit periwinkle and salmon colored sweater featuring a salmon motif she knitted herself, a wearable expression of creativity and personal style

Education: B.A. Wellesley College (History, Geology, Theatre, Summa Cum Laude) | M.Ed. University of Hawaii

Coaching: Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coaching Federation | Trained at Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching | Mentor Coach

Additional Certifications: Yoga Teacher (Southtown Yoga Loft) | Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner | StrengthsFinder | Akashic Records

Continuous Learning: Growth Edge Coaching, Adult Development & Maturity Coaching, Coaching for Equity, Polarity Wisdom, Immunity to Change, Adaptive Leadership, Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, Neuroscience of Change

I've spent my life learning in formal and informal contexts how humans grow, change, and become. Every framework I’ve studied has been in the service of a core question that animates me:

How might we live more honestly and fully - together?