Caroline Sheu,
Co-Founder of NextGen Advising
Caroline Sheu is Co-Founder of NextGen Advising, a career coaching firm for college students and early-career professionals. With more than 25 years of senior marketing and board director experience at public, private, and non-profit companies such as Google, Disney, Gap and Adobe, Caroline has hired, mentored, and directly managed hundreds of young professionals. She leverages her deep expertise in brand storytelling to teach clients the high-stakes communication skills required to influence decision-makers and achieve their career goals, from identifying their ideal career path to landing their dream job.
How Caroline Helps NextGen Advising Clients
Caroline helps college students and early-career professionals explore career interests, identify realistic career paths, build comprehensive career plans and strengthen the professional skills needed for networking, applications and interviews.
To help her clients reach their goals, she coaches them on the following:
- Exploring career interests and recommending potential career paths
- Connecting academic background, interests and skills to specific job functions and industries
- Developing detailed career plans and recruiting strategies
- Strengthening resumes, LinkedIn profiles and application materials
- Guiding networking strategy, relationship building and professional outreach
- Building personal branding and professional storytelling skills
- Preparing for behavioral, technical and case interviews
- Supporting job searches, promotion and career advancement
- Advising on careers in marketing, product management, analytics, strategy and business development
- Helping students understand how employers evaluate early-career candidates
Caroline provides strategic direction with practical support. One of Caroline’s core coaching strengths is helping clients turn real experiences, including coursework, projects, internships and leadership, into clear, credible professional stories that communicate their value to employers. As Caroline describes it: “My superpower is connecting what you know and love about yourself with the specific next step that helps launch your career.”
Caroline’s Role at NextGen Advising
Having spent more than two decades hiring and managing professionals across high-tech, entertainment and retail industries, Caroline brings a hiring manager’s perspective to her coaching. Her experience recruiting, developing and evaluating professionals helps clients better understand what employers look for throughout the hiring process.
She helps clients understand what different career paths require – especially in the age of AI – which skills and experiences matter most, how assessment processes vary across functions and what employers evaluate beyond GPA and academic credentials. NextGen’s career coaching services are structured around each client’s timeline, industry targets and individual preparation needs.
Caroline also helps students strengthen professional communication before and throughout recruiting through networking, coffee chats, outreach, LinkedIn, email and in-person interactions.
NextGen’s professional skills support focuses on foundational competencies such as networking, outreach and professional storytelling, helping clients communicate more intentionally throughout the recruiting process.
For clients already in the workforce and seeking career growth and advancement or an early-career transition, Caroline also draws on her experience managing professionals through growth and change within large organizations.
Her extensive marketing background can also provide useful context for clients exploring marketing and public relations careers.
NextGen Advising provides career coaching and preparation rather than placement services. The firm does not supply internships or jobs, provide access to specific employers or guarantee interviews, offers, promotions or placements.
Executive Leadership and Hiring Experience
For more than 25 years, Caroline has built and led go-to-market and direct-to-consumer organizations across consumer internet, high-tech, retail, gaming and entertainment. Her leadership experience includes senior executive roles at large companies such as Google, Disney, Electronic Arts, Sony, Gap and Adobe and smaller companies such as Care.com, Ancestry.com and Rocketlawyer.com.
Across these senior marketing roles, Caroline led organizational transformation to adapt to evolving consumer and technology trends – from web, social, mobile, and now AI. She led multiple, high performing teams of more than 100 employees – recruiting, mentoring and advising professionals at different stages of their careers.
Caroline’s Career-Discovery Story
Caroline’s own career path was not linear. After completing a joint J.D./M.B.A. at the University of Chicago, she explored corporate law, investment banking, business development and product management before finding that marketing best combined her analytical thinking, commercial acumen, and creative storytelling.
That non-linear beginning continues to shape how Caroline coaches. She understands what it can feel like to have strong credentials and still be uncertain about which direction to pursue. Her coaching helps clients explore and evaluate multiple career options with structure and honesty.
Over the course of her digital marketing career, Caroline has had to stay on the cutting edge of technology, which is a hallmark of how she helps her clients build their profiles in this new age of AI. She is proudly a “vibe coder” herself.
Board and Advisory Leadership
Caroline’s governance experience adds another dimension to the leadership perspective she brings to coaching. She has served in board and advisory roles across public company, start-up, and non-profit organizations.
Current board positions include:
- PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PRG)Board Director since 2021; Member of Compensation & Human Capital and Nominating, Governance & Corporate Responsibility Committees.
- USTA Northern CaliforniaBoard Director since 2022; Chair of the Marketing Committee; member of Junior Competition Committee & Employee Relations Committee.
Former advisory positions:
- Lulu's Fashion Holdings (NASDAQ: LVLU)Board Director; Chair of Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee and Member of Technology & Innovation Committee
- Evoto.AIAdvisory Board
- Advisory Board
Education
- Joint J.D./M.B.A., University of Chicago
- M.A. in Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
- B.A. in Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
- B.A. in East Asian Studies, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Media, Speaking and Thought Leadership
Caroline contributes perspectives on career development, hiring, leadership and the changing professional landscape for college students and early-career professionals. For media coverage, firm news and speaking updates, visit the NextGen Advising press page.
Work With Caroline and the NextGen Team
Students come to career coaching at different stages. Some already have a clear industry target and need structured recruiting preparation, while others are still exploring which roles and career paths align with their interests and strengths.
Caroline’s coaching adapts to both situations with personalized guidance and planning. If you are exploring whether career coaching makes sense for your timeline and goals, schedule a consultation with the NextGen Advising team.
To learn more about the firm’s founding team and coaching approach, visit About NextGen Advising.
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