Lake Forest Resident Featured on CBS's 'Undercover Boss'

Lake Forest resident Shelly Sun, CEO and co-founder of BrightStar Care in Gurnee, will appear on CBS’s successful reality series, Undercover Boss, at 8 tonight (April 17).

Living in the Lake Forest Academy area since 2002, Sun said that she and her husband work “what seems 24 by 7.”

The pair used its ambitious force to start a healthcare providing business in that same year after Sun and her husband, JD, were unable to receive the care they needed for JD’s ill grandmother.

“We had a difficult time finding a high quality of care and service,” Sun said.

Sun and her husband fittingly named the company BrightStar, which provides services to private clients requiring in-home medical care, and to corporate clients seeking medical staff for hospitals and nursing homes.

Since its inception, BrightStar Care has observed a great deal of growth. Founded in 2006, Sun’s company has ultimately expanded from a single privately-owned store to a network of over 200 sites in 37 states. By 2012, BrightStar is projected to reach Canada, transforming Sun’s humble pursuit into an international franchise.

“It’s important for us to provide this care [with a higher level of service] everywhere around the country and around the world,” said Sun.

Tonight, a great deal of CBS viewers will potentially glean hope from Sun’s mission.

Undercover Boss’ premise examines business executives as they dive, throughout the country, “under cover” to surreptitiously work in tandem with their employees. The simple goal: a featured executive determines whether or not her staff is working up to par.  

As healthcare is perched among the highest on dockets of discussed topics in America, BrightStar Care proved a salient company to feature.

“I didn’t know where I was going,” Sun said of the locations CBS would choose for her investigation.

The focused entrepreneur and mother of young twins would learn she would work as caregiver, certified nursing assistant and licensed practical nurse in locations spanning California, Arizona and Ohio over roughly a week’s time.

“I wanted to go undercover to validate that what I believed had occurred [was occurring], and it was,” said Sun, after learning that her employees were working hard to realize BrightStar Care’s standards.

“It really was comforting, that what we set out to build was being replicated across multiple care givers throughout the country,” Sun said. “[Our staff] was providing a quality level of service that I would want for my twin boys, or for my own father [who I lost 18 months ago].”

Despite any backlash that might result from attitudes about reality television, for Shelly Sun, programs like Undercover Boss can offer a portal to establish personal connections.

“I’m grateful [for this opportunity],” Sun said. “I’ve felt so good to be an active part of these people’s lives.”