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Barbara Coward
MBA Admissions Consultant & Career Strategist | Top Ten LinkedIn Voice: Education | Top Strategic Communications Voice | 30k followers
Professional Background
Barbara Coward is a distinguished graduate school admissions consultant and career coach, recognized internationally for her expertise in strategic and influential storytelling. With a deep commitment to supporting her clients, she engages with individuals around the globe, offering invaluable services such as resume reviews, essay and cover letter editing, interview preparation, and various other consulting services designed to elevate her clients' chances of success in competitive academic and career environments.
Barbara's extensive career has positioned her as a thought leader in the realms of education and career development. Her contributions to esteemed publications, including Business Insider, Fortune, Financial Times, Poets & Quants, Money, and U.S. News & World Report, underscore her depth of knowledge and influence in the field. Her insights are sought after by aspiring students and professionals who navigate the complexities of admissions processes and career transitions, making her a vital resource in this competitive landscape.
In addition to her consulting ventures, Barbara is a U.S. agent for a French jewelry brand inspired by the sea and nature, combining her appreciation for artistry with her entrepreneurial spirit. This unique venture showcases her diverse interests and willingness to embrace creativity alongside her professional endeavors.
Education and Achievements
Barbara Coward's educational journey is marked by her commitment to excellence and a diverse array of academic pursuits. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in French from Vassar College, where she honed her linguistic skills and developed a passion for cultural nuances. Her academic accomplishments extended to participation in the Seven Sisters College Exchange Program, enriching her experience at Wellesley College.
Furthering her studies, Barbara engaged in cross-registration courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through Wellesley College, gaining exposure to interdisciplinary approaches. Her commitment to communication was further strengthened through her studies in Expository Writing at Harvard University, equipping her with the proficiency required to craft compelling narratives.
Holding an MBA in General Management from the University of Bath, Barbara has a solid foundation in business principles, which she seamlessly integrates into her consulting work. Additionally, as a part-time MBA candidate at Boston College, she continues to pursue knowledge and reflect her dedication to lifelong learning, further enhancing her qualifications as a coach and consultant.
Barbara’s accomplishments trace back to her high school days, where she graduated as the valedictorian at St. Mary's Academy, a testament to her academic diligence and leadership skills.
Organizations
Barbara Coward has a rich history of involvement in various esteemed institutions, showcasing her versatility and capability in multiple roles. As the founder of MBA 360 Admissions, she provided personalized consulting services that helped countless students gain admission to their desired graduate programs. Her former position as an Admissions Reader at The Johns Hopkins University - Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) allowed her to gain intricate insights into the admissions process, further enhancing her consulting strategies.
Furthermore, Barbara played a pivotal role as the Vice President of Innovation and Development at Converge Consulting, where her expertise in multi-channel marketing was integral to driving the company’s initiatives forward. She has also significantly contributed to the education sector by serving as the Assistant Director of Executive MBA Programs at Loyola University Maryland and as the MBA Admissions and Marketing Manager at the University of Bath.
Before committing herself fully to consultancy, Barbara amassed experience in the financial industry as a Financial Analyst at Laura Ashley and as Division Controller at Smith Barney (Shearson Lehman Brothers) Account at American Express. Each of these roles has provided her with a comprehensive understanding of various business sectors, enriching her coaching techniques with pragmatic and strategic insights.
Achievements
Barbara Coward’s illustrious career is characterized by numerous achievements that signify her impact in educational consulting, a field that continually evolves. Her prominence as an internationally-acclaimed consultant speaks volumes about her ability to connect with clients and help them articulate their narratives effectively. Her articles in leading media outlets reflect her acknowledgment as a voice of authority in graduate admissions and career progression.
In addition to her consulting success, her role as a U.S. agent for a creative jewelry brand demonstrates her ability to straddle different industries with finesse. This unique position not only showcases her entrepreneurial spirit but also highlights her connection to beautiful, nature-inspired craftsmanship.
Overall, Barbara Coward embodies the principle of lifelong learning and personal investment. Whether through her educational pursuits, her diverse career roles, or her creative endeavors, she consistently strives to make a difference in the lives of her clients and those she engages with. Her story is a brilliant reflection of dedication, passion, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.