Everything I've built, I built from scratch.
I’m Christine Koh, a strategic advisor and the person colleagues started calling The Diplomat before I had a name for what I was doing.
Since leaving academia in 2006, I have built award-winning multimedia creative properties and advised mission-driven organizations of all sizes on how to tell their story and build impactful campaigns.
Clients usually find me because someone said, “Christine can help solve your problem.”
MY STORY
SELECT CLIENTS
AARP
CDC
Harvard University
American Cancer Society
Planned Parenthood
Obama for America
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
WBUR
AMAZE
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Heart Association
#GivingTuesday
Harvard University
Heifer International
Muscular Dystrophy Association
National Conference on Citizenship
Phillips Foundation
ZOE
AARP CDC Harvard University American Cancer Society Planned Parenthood Obama for America Children's Hospital of Philadelphia WBUR AMAZE American Academy of Pediatrics American Heart Association #GivingTuesday Harvard University Heifer International Muscular Dystrophy Association National Conference on Citizenship Phillips Foundation ZOE
The longer version
I've been on my own since I was 18, by necessity rather than choice.
I grew up in an affluent, mostly white suburb of Boston, in a Korean immigrant family that didn't fit the mold. My parents ran a convenience store in a tough Boston neighborhood, 6am to 11pm, no days off. I was the sixth of seven kids. By age 8 I was taking public transit an hour on my own to get to the store. My grades were terrible, not for lack of intellect but because there was no room at home to think.
Wheaton College changed that. I found my intellectual footing and within two years I was running the campus newspaper and took it from bimonthly to weekly. My freshman year spring my parents told me they were no longer able to support me. When I asked why, they said, "Well, Christine, you always seem to figure things out."
So that's what I did. I graduated with a double major in music and psychology magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and was part of Wheaton's first class of White House interns.
Then every Ph.D. program turned me down. I had no lab experience, so I went and got it, and earned a Master's at night while I worked full-time in a research lab at Brandeis University. I applied again. That time everyone said yes. I funded my Ph.D. (Queen’s University) and postdoc on NIH grants I won, one of them the first in my department's history. I completed my postdoctoral fellowship in auditory neurology at Mass. General, MIT, and Harvard Medical School.
I left academia in 2006 with no plan and fifteen years of practice at finding my own way.
Everything I have built since 2006, I have built from scratch. A media brand started at midnight with a baby on my hip. A book. Two podcasts. Two design businesses. Then creative director on campaigns for the American Cancer Society, Heifer International, and the CDC. Now I run my own practice as a strategic advisor to mission-driven organizations.
Colleagues started calling me The Diplomat. Not because I smooth things over, but because I can walk into the hardest rooms, make space for what's actually happening, and build what comes after.
The creative work
Alongside my strategic advisory work, I have spent 20 years steeped in writing, podcasting, livestreaming, and design. I even have a couple of trophies in my office for this work. My brain is a constant content creation engine, which isn't a side hustle so much as how my thinking compounds over time.
Outside the office
My family — my husband Jonathan, kids Laurel and Violet, and standard poodle James — are my joy. Their care and steadiness keeps me grounded to what matters.
I'm a reader, gardener obsessed with pollinator perennials, and baker who finds meticulous joy in decorating cakes. I learned how to ski, play tennis, and run half marathons after becoming a parent. I no longer perform music, though I once did semi-professionally. And I follow women's figure skating and soccer with pure enthusiasm and zero skill.
“Every time I open one of your emails and read them, I’m glad I did. There’s always something I needed to see, a suggestion that makes sense, an idea that feels inspired and somehow specifically personalized just for me.” — Substack reader
Let's Talk
I work with a select number of mission-driven organizations each year. If you've been living with a communications problem the usual fixes haven't solved, or you want someone who thinks strategically and understands the full operational reality, I'd be glad to talk.
Or email me: christine@christinekoh.com