Cushing Academy is delighted to announce that Alita Haytayan Guillen ’88 will be the 2021 Commencement speaker. Alita is an Emmy award-winning journalist and television host, inventor, founder, podcaster, All-American Division I athlete, and mother.

Alita spent her television journalism career covering national and international issues and topics, including the Supreme Court, Super Bowl, the World Series, NASA, and one-on-one interviews with U.S. presidents. Today, as one of the top communications advisors and talent coaches in Los Angeles, Alita works with C-suite executives at Fortune 100 companies, professional athletes, authors, entrepreneurs, and top global talent to maximize their communication performances on any platform. Alita is also an entrepreneur, having founded and launched several successful businesses, and she holds a patent for product design.

Alita grew up in Lincoln, MA, and kindled her journalism and athletic careers at Cushing, where she played soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. Alita went on to earn a B.A. at the University of New Hampshire, where she led the Women’s Lacrosse team to the NCAA Division 1 Final Four championship and achieved All-American honors. She then earned a Master's in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Miami. Alita speaks fluent Spanish and has lived and worked in Boston, Chicago and Miami. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.