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Tal Rickards

"Every man is a creature of the age in which he lives and few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time."

- Voltaire

Being a strong advocate for global perspectives, I invested a decade overseas working in China's education sector as an art educator and International Admissions Consulting, leading a college consultancy in recruiting and mentoring international scholars to embrace their creative pursuits and gain acceptance into highly recognized universities and art colleges in America, such as The School of Visual Arts, Parsons School of Design, ArtCenter, SCAD, CCA, University of Michigan, and UC Berkeley, to name a few. My formal art background (Go to Art Related page) ensured successful results especially for students applying to art programs abroad. (View Selected Students Work)

Work Experience
Go to my LINKEDIN profile for detailed work descriptions...

Lead Consultant
at
Arts Foreign Consultants
Shenzhen, CN | 2016–2021

International Admissions Consultant (U.S. Dpt.)
at
New Oriental Vision Overseas Consulting
Shenzhen, CN | 2014–2016

Head of Art/Visual Arts
Instructor
at
Shenzhen International Foundation College
Shenzhen, CN | 2012–2014

Arts Instructor
at
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Miami, Florida | 2007–2011

Adjunct Photography Instructor
at
Florida International University
Miami, Florida | 2005–2006

Freelance Associations

Portfolio Mentor
at
UBAT Art Study Abroad
Shenzhen, CN | 2019
Marketing collaboration efforts- speaking engagements, consultative sales and client relationship building. Monitored portfolio progress of students and provided suggestions, feedback, proof-read of materials.

International Admissions Consultant
at
Shinyway Education
Shenzhen, CN | 2017-18
Recruiting and mentoring support as the sole foreign consultant for a VIP package. Performed speaking engagements, consultative sales, personal statement strategies and interview preparation for 20+ international undergrad applicants.

International Admissions Consultant
at
Shenzhen Yaohua Experimental School
Shenzhen, CN | 2016-17
Recruiting and mentoring support for the senior secondary International division. Performed personal statement strategies, portfolio mentoring and interview preparation for 20+ international applicants.

Featured Skills
·  Creative Leadership
· Ability to Teach
· Portfolio Mentor
· Student Recruitment
· College Admissions Advisory
· Effective Communicator
· Work Abroad (Global Perspective)
· Proactivity
· Team Oriented
· Interpersonal Networking
· Self Motivated
· Detail-Oriented
· Ideation/Concept Building
· Adobe Creative Suite
· macOS / MS-Office
· Crypto & NFT Proficient

Languages
· Native English Speaker
· Functional Mandarin Chinese
· Functional Spanish

Photo by Dose Media on Unsplash

Education

Danube University Krems (Transart Institute)
MFA in New Media (Photography & Film)
Master’s Thesis: Techniques of Transcendence in Film
Austria/Berlin | 2009

University of Florida (New World School of the Arts) BFA in Visual Arts (Major: Fine Arts / Minor: Photography)
Miami, Fl. | 1998

Florida Department of Education
Educators Certificate, Art (K-12)
Florida | 2022

UCLA Extension
Extension Course: The College Admissions Process
Los Angeles, CA. | 2018

International Open Academy
120-Hour TEFL Certificate
Online/International | 2022
Bridge TEFL
60-Hour TEFL Certificate
Denver, CO. | 2010