PROJECT: CLIENT CHALLENGE
Solve a real problem.
Understand a challenge facing a business or community organization, weigh possible solutions, and present a useful recommendation.
A personalized 12-week experience where your teen develops an idea, follows it through, and shares the result—taking greater ownership along the way.
A real project. Real decisions. Something to show for it.
Instead of practicing skills in the abstract, your teen applies them to a project shaped around their interests and matched to what they are ready to own.
Understand a challenge facing a business or community organization, weigh possible solutions, and present a useful recommendation.
Turn an idea into a product or service, test it with real people, and learn from what happens.
Plan and lead a community effort, coordinate people and resources, and follow through on a result others can use.
Each week, your teen reviews progress, gets useful feedback, works through obstacles, and commits to a clear next step.
Choose a project worth owning and define an ambitious, achievable finish line.
Break the work down, set priorities, manage time and attention, and build momentum.
Use feedback, adapt when plans change, manage frustration, and keep moving.
Complete and share the work, then reflect on what can carry into the next challenge.
The Signature Experience is designed and led by Vana Lab founder Robert Chen—an executive coach, Wharton lecturer, and author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Selling Your Expertise. His firsthand experience across business leadership, professional skills training, and higher education shapes how Vana Lab helps teens build capability through real work.
Choose. Start. Take responsibility.
Break it down. Prioritize. Follow through.
Weigh options. Decide. Adjust.
Explain. Listen. Apply feedback.
Notice patterns. Manage frustration. Change course.
We help them explore their interests and shape a meaningful, achievable project.
That means showing up, making choices, giving the work an honest effort, and staying open to feedback.
Vana Lab helped me plan out my day-to-day life and feel more confident in tackling my problems and managing my time.
Vana Lab has helped me understand what professional means in different settings. I’ve become more confident in being reliable and following through.
Vana Lab has helped me see where I need to improve my communication skills. Even though the exercises were nerve-wracking, it helped me notice where I need to practice.
For the complete 12-week experience
Book a ConsultationPayment plans are available.
Because every project receives individualized guidance, enrollment is intentionally limited.
What families usually want to know before getting started.
Have another question?Tutoring typically focuses on academic content or grades. The Signature Experience uses a teen-owned project to practice planning, decision-making, communication, judgment, and follow-through.
Each week, your teen receives a focused check-in, feedback, or working session based on where the project stands. The format may vary, but every touchpoint helps address obstacles and establish a clear next step.
It can give your teen an authentic experience to draw from—a completed project, real decisions, and evidence of initiative and follow-through. They may choose to discuss that experience in applications or interviews. Vana Lab does not focus on test-prep or admissions-consulting; the larger goal is to build capabilities that matter in college and beyond.
The project creates something concrete to see. Parents are oriented to the project at the beginning and invited to see the completed work and reflection at the end. We keep the day-to-day work teen-owned and reach out when additional coordination would help.
We want participation to remain voluntary. If your teen decides not to continue after the first two weeks, tuition for unused full weeks will be refunded based on the amount actually paid. Complete terms are provided before enrollment.