I have known Heidi since this April. I am truly grateful to meet her and have her accompany me on this journey!
The MBA application is filled with ups and downs–moments when I doubt whether I can make it or whether these efforts are worthwhile. Heidi is a true listener when I felt lost and a mentor who will give me the most useful advice when I got hesitated.
I have a very nontraditional background, which makes the application very difficult. Heidi and I have had a weekly call during the entire process: we discussed the details of my essays, the resume, the rec letter, and she always gives me the most honest feedback. Calls with Heidi are these memorable bits during this period.
What I value the most is that she makes me realize how AWESOME I am. She always encourages me to believe in myself and be more confident. In the process, I reap meaningful personal growth.
Each MBA applicant has his or her story and challenges. But working with Heidi will be one of the most right choices you ever make!

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Heidi was a true pleasure to work with! She helped me diligently through every part of the application process, from brainstorming how I wanted to pitch my Career Vision through providing very detailed and thoughtful feedback to my essay drafts. Heidi is an incredible writer / editor, which really helped me transform my essays into convincing and interesting pieces of writing. I also particularly appreciated how her feedback was very candid - enabling me to focus my rewrites / edits in the places where they were most crucial. Heidi also provided really useful perspectives on how to approach recommenders, and how I may want my strategy to differ by different schools. I was admitted to one of my two top schools, and am really thrilled with the outcome. I can't recommend Heidi highly enough!

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I’m incredibly grateful to have worked with Heidi from start to finish during my MBA application process, and I’m excited to attend Kellogg thanks to her guidance! It was clear from my introductory call through calls even after submitting my applications that she cared so much about me. She consistently pushed me to dive deep into my experiences to make my story as unique and strong as possible in such a thoughtful way. I was amazed how she’d share feedback within 24 hours consistently that was always so detailed and mindful of the other parts of my application.

When deciding on a consultant, I thought about individual consultants versus larger groups like Fortuna. I’m so happy I chose Fortuna as a group because I got 100% individual and dedicated attention from Heidi (she was always available to provide advice via messaging or zoom) AND guidance from a director at Fortuna, in addition to leveraging the learnings and experiences from Fortuna’s entire network of clients.

Without hesitation, I’d recommend Heidi. Almost a year after my first call with her, I can say that I have a far better grasp on my goals and values thanks to her guidance and even if I hadn’t gotten into business school, my time with her and Fortuna’s support were incredibly worthwhile.

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Incredibly helpful working with Heidi Hillis of Fortuna. Very empathetic and encouraging with her advice. Extremely responsive, sometimes within the matter of just a few hours. Very rigorous with her edits.

Fortuna met my expectations. I would highly recommend them.
The application process can feel like engaging a black box, and Heidi and Judith offered insights on how to engage that box, how to understand it. I felt at the end of the journey I was better able to understand, most of all, my own self, my trajectory, and how I can contribute the most to an MBA class, and how I can most succeed in my industry and function(s) of interest.

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Heidi really understands the how the Stanford GSB application process works and can offer exceptional insight into the interview and admissions process. She is approachable, candid and insightful. Had it not been for her help I would have never aced the Stanford GSB Interview. She needs to be your go to person to for the interview process. She is friendly, responsive and is highly personable. She is a pleasure to work with and has an incredibly kind way of providing feedback and insight to make you standout, calm nerves to the point of getting to fluency. I highly recommend Heidi and anyone will enjoy working with her.

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I am grateful to have known Heidi, who has helped me gain acceptance into my dream school (M7). She is a spectacular coach who deeply cares about you, your application, and your persona. When I started my journey with Heidi, I was lost. My background felt normal and bland. Although I had made numerous accomplishments in my career, none of them felt like they stood out. Heidi thought otherwise. She pointed me in the right direction, making me realise my full potential by challenging me on my stories, values, character, career goals, and overall narrative.

What I liked about Heidi is that she did not hesitate to provide honest feedback. This is usually overlooked when selecting a coach. Having your assumptions challenged is an extremely important part of coaching to steer your application in the right direction. Even though at times this feedback contradicted my internal logic, I took it as an indicator of growth and trusted her instincts completely.

What made the experience even more remarkable was her speed of turning around comments (typically less than a day), leaving me with an impression today that Heidi is an immensely reliable person running on a bottomless well of energy. Heidi played an important part not only in shaping my application, but also in making me realise what was important in my life through reflections of my value system. No matter how challenging your situation is, I am most certain working with Heidi will leave you with wonderful memories.

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I did a comprehensive package with Fortuna and worked with Heidi over the last 7-8 months. She did an amazing job - she was incredibly helpful and supportive throughout the process. Even though I only started my applications in July for a Round 1 submission in September, Heidi helped structure the 2 months so that they were productive and everything got done in time and at a high quality. She also helped me differentiate myself, given my common background in finance / PE. Heidi is a full-time consultant and made herself available at all times, as much as I needed and answered as many questions as I had, which really helped put my mind at ease throughout the process. Thanks to her help, I'll be joining HBS in Fall 2021!

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I had the pleasure and privilege to work with Heidi for my applications to 6 top MBA programs in the US, and ultimately got accepted by 4 schools. As an applicant of South Asian origin working in finance, my two biggest concerns were presenting a differentiated enough story amongst what tends to be one of the most competitive pools in the application process + being able to put my best foot forward given the demanding nature of each application and the limited time I had with my job to focus on the application process.

Heidi made the process incredibly seamless. I found her to be a great listener, where she gave me the freedom to craft my own story, while constantly challenging me on bits that needed more work / clarification. Once we developed the general narrative, Heidi had specific, pointed feedback on how to modify the story for each school, thereby allowing me to put my best foot forward and obviously typifying her differentiated understanding on what different schools are looking for. The application process is ultimately a game of margins, and I felt that Heidi's knowledge and expertise brought an additional element of specificity to my applications which I could have never achieved on my own.

Heidi was also extremely methodical in her approach and we did a lot of legwork around putting different aspects of my personality, interests, past experiences etc. into tangible narratives, prior to starting the essay writing process. The impact of all of this work was that by the time I had finished writing my applications, not only had I internalized my "business school story" fully, but also fully internalized the dozens of other things that then came handy when the interviews started rolling in a few months. I cannot stress enough how easy it made the interview process, where I did not feel the need to do dozens of mocks or anything, because the fundamentals of my story were so clearly laid out owing to the work I did with Heidi. This is a testament to Heidi's experience and vision as a coach, where the path from application inception to interview is fully clear in her mind, and the work she makes you put in the beginning goes a long way in the application cycle.

The other standout quality for me was Heidi's incredible work ethic and how available she made herself to make the process easier for me. Turnaround time for every single draft was almost always less than 24 hours, and if for some reason there was a conflict on her side, the communication around it was super clear and significantly well in advance. Furthermore, Heidi's calendar was always open to schedule a call to discuss literally anything, brainstorm ideas etc. There were never any limitations on phone/video calls - she was always there. Going into the application process this was the type of unbarred access and support I had hoped to receive, and Heidi simply over-delivered on this aspect.

Five stars all the way for Heidi. The business school application process is an incredible commitment on so many fronts, and Heidi could not have been a better mentor and coach to not only make the process seamless but incredibly rewarding in itself.

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When I started my MBA process, I had already worked in admissions consulting myself for 4+ years, albeit at the undergrad level. Even though I was very familiar with personal essay-writing, interview prep, etc., Heidi *still* added tremendous value to my MBA applications.

First, I was applying from a “non-traditional” business background, and Heidi was instrumental in helping me capture and articulate my experiences in a clear, concise way that would make sense to an admissions reader. Also, with thought-provoking questions and comments, Heidi guided me to develop a coherent and compelling application “narrative” that connected my past experiences with concrete post-MBA goals. At first, I signed on with Fortuna to do a one-school package. But I quickly realized how helpful Heidi was and began adding on more hours, more interview prep, etc. Ultimately, I was very proud of the applications I submitted, and I can’t imagine having achieved such high-quality without Heidi’s advice and expertise.

In terms of working style, Heidi is reliable and attentive. She checked in on my progress regularly, responded to my questions in a timely manner, and always turned around essay edits within a day or two (even faster, as we got close to deadlines). On several occasions, she sent me articles/online events that she thought I might be interested in given my career goals. In such a fundamentally stressful process, working with someone as reliable and thoughtful as Heidi went a long way in helping me (mostly) preserve my sanity!

So, my best advice to you: work with Heidi, and get a multi-school package from the get-go. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself wanting Heidi’s sage input on as many application materials as possible.

(Lastly, including this info because I know some people look for it as they read reviews: I was admitted to several top 10 programs, including Wharton and Kellogg.)

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Heidi helped guide me through the admissions process and gave me a good understanding of what admissions departments look for in MBA applicants. I was applying to selective programs (M7/T10), and wanted to make sure I was putting my best foot forward with applications, so opted to go for the premium package. Heidi's help with essays and interview prep was invaluable, and she was instrumental in my success. I received acceptances to two of my top choice schools, in no small part due to her feedback while crafting my story for the programs I was applying to. Highly recommend her!

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