Name: Cynthia White
Class Year: 1995
Title: President
Organization Name: Ceatro Group
1. In one sentence, what does your job entail?
Founding, managing, and growing a consulting and research firm that helps organizations design better experiences and deliver more and different value to the humans that matter to them – customers, employees, suppliers, etc.
2. What planned and unplanned events connected you to your industry and your first employer after Holy Cross? How did you learn/decide it was a good fit for you?
Immediately after Holy Cross, I was a Fulbright Scholar in Ghana, West Africa – which was amazing. When I hit the job market a year later, it was a recruiting firm who introduced me to the idea of going into business at an intellectual technology company that was looking for unique candidates.
Add in a very helpful Holy Cross alum in that company’s HR department, and I felt right at home. The culture and purpose at that company helped me see that I could find a fit for many of my interests and talents in the business world. I hadn’t thought of business as an avenue I would consider until then.
3. What was your major and how did it affect your career decisions?
Studio Art and Sociology/Anthropology with a focus on African Studies. My work at Holy Cross – academically, socially, and in partnership with professors – helped me created a solid platform from which I can choose my own adventure. The combination of my undergrade studies and experiences, a master’s in foreign policy and conflict resolution, the job, career, and life choices I’ve made, and opportunities earned and given have created a very exciting path. So far. I’m not done and I’m excited to see what comes next.
4. What were you involved with on campus?
Going to class. Studying. Creating art in the art studio. Work study in Kimball and the photo studio. Time with friends. Getting to know professors. Sleeping. Exercising. Eating. Studying abroad. The unground pro-choice group. Student government. Curating art shows. Advocacy groups. Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
5. What are one or two skills that you developed at Holy Cross that you use in your work?
Curiosity and an interest in working with people.
Holy Cross allowed me to ask all and any question in as many topics as I could handle, and learn how to find answers or pathways to answers. This is the foundation of my career pursuits. Next, my job is about people – interacting, listening, hearing, communicating, influencing, coaching, partnering, teaching, understanding, researching, analyzing. All the opportunities I had at Holy Cross – in the classroom, in my work study jobs, running clubs, speaking in public, negotiating with roommates, dealing with challenges with friends, navigating course scheduling, studying abroad, etc. helped build these interests and abilities
6. What advice do you have for students on campus today?
Focus on building you, not your resume
Be open to what may come, now and in the future
Be honest with yourself about what you need and want, and also about what you don’t yet know that you need or want.
