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Chip and Joanna Gaines Just Finished a Harvard Business Course...with Another Major Celeb

Move over, Kim Kardashian's LSAT course. 

The latest celebrities to tackle higher ed: Chip and Joanna Gaines. The Fixer Upper stars rang in their 16th wedding anniversary (!) over the weekend by finishing a four-day Harvard Business School course tailored to celebs called the Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports program (BEMS). 

One other mega-celeb name stood out among the crowd: Singer/songwriter Ciara was asked to attend the course to help Harvard Business School students learn about the business of media and entertainment as well. The group also included NBA players Kevin Love, Luc Mbah a Moute and Julius Randle, actor Eric Olsen, Australian soccer player Tim Cahill and German soccer player Oliver Kahn.

Some of the celeb crew wore Harvard sweatshirts with a crimson H to represent their work with the school. The group was enlisted by Professor Anita Elberse who brings in celebrity presenters for the four-day course each year. Last year, Elberse enlisted Michael Strahan and Lindsey Vonn, according to People.

Elberse posted a picture of the group to Instagram, and called out the myriad accomplishments of the presenters in her caption: "Collectively, this group alone has won an NBA Championship, Olympic Gold medal, UEFA Champions League trophy, Golden Ball and Golden Glove award, and scored 5 World Cup Goals in total across three consecutive World Cups; received 2 ESPYs, 10 All League Teams, 2 McDonald’s All-American, and 5 All-Star selections; made 5 NCAA Final Four appearances, played 220 national-team games, won 1 Grammy and 2 MTV Music Video Awards; starred in 300 television episodes, solving countless (fictional) crimes and surprising nearly 80 couples with a beautifully renovated home (involving as many demo days and an estimated 700 tons of shiplap); and even has a royal title (that’s right—we have a real prince in the house!)."

In another post, Elberse showcased a cake with "1" and "6" candles given to Chip and Joanna to honor their 16th wedding anniversary that happened to be the same weekend as their BEMS course. 

"Pretty impossible not to love these two—these are the kind of events I could only dream of when I started at @HarvardHBS—so I figured some cake was in order...," Elberse wrote.

Just one question, professor(s): Is shiplap still "hot" for 2019? Asking for a friend.



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As Director of Branded Content at Gallery Media Group, Roberta helps oversee the ideation and execution of sponsored content and experiential campaigns across PureWow and ONE37pm...