Sep 22, 2021
In this episode, Catherine Cote ‘18 is interviewed by Conor Hatton ’22. They speak about her time on campus, as well as the experience abroad that sparked her idea for Project Empathy, performance-based project in which people are paired up and tasked with telling each other's true, personal stories. Thought-provoking and inspiring, Catherine's story highlights the wonderful impact that we can have on others when we combine our disparate interests and share them with the world.
Interview originally recorded on May 1, 2021. Due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, all interviews in season 2 are recorded remotely.
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Catherine:
The Culture of Holy Cross is one of think about the other people's experience and also think about your own experience and reflect and how would that impact your worldview.
Maura:
Welcome to Mission Driven, where we speak with alumni who are leveraging their Holy Cross education to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. I'm your host Maura Sweeney from the class of 2007, Director of Alumni Career Development at Holy Cross. I'm delighted to welcome you to today's show.
Maura:
This episode features Catherine Cote from the class of 2018. Catherine can be described as the kind of person who makes the most out of every opportunity. She was drawn to Holy Cross because it provided the space for her to pursue her wide-ranging interests. She was a psychology major and Chinese and Education minor, who earned a business certificate through the Ciocca Center. Her interests also led her to participate in theater and study abroad in Australia. It was this fascinating mix of interests that when combined, inspired her to found her own company, Project Empathy, a performance-based project in which people are tasked with telling each other's true, personal stories.
Maura:
She is joined in conversation with Conor Hatton from the class of 2022. They speak about her time on campus, as well as the experience that sparked her idea for Project Empathy. Both having close ties to the Ciocca Center, they talk about the value of the business certificate program and how it's helped to prepare them for life after the hill. Thought-provoking and inspiring, Catherine's story highlights the wonderful impact that we can have on others when we combine our disparate interests and share them with the world.
Conor:
Hi Catherine. I'm so excited to talk to you today. How are you doing?
Catherine:
Good, good, thanks Conor for having me. I'm really excited.
Conor:
So, I wanted to talk about first, obviously you graduated in 2018, so I wanted to start at the beginning and just find out why did you choose to come to Holy Cross. What's the story behind you coming to Holy Cross? Is it family? Was there anything else that might have led you to Holy Cross?
Catherine:
Yeah, wow. So I was a tour guide, so I definitely have this story locked and loaded from when I had to tell it to tour groups. I actually had this long checklist of items I was looking for in a college, which I'm sure a lot of people do. And it was things like can I study Chinese here, can I do theater without majoring in theater here? Do I have to declare a major coming in, or can I explore a little bit first?
Catherine:
I liked the small to medium size. So all my big, long checklist. And there were plenty of schools that checked all the boxes. And it was when I started getting accepted places, Holy Cross was actually my first college acceptance, which was great. But at the time I still wasn't sure if that was the place for me. I had seen a lot of different schools. It was actually when I came to campus for the accepted students day. It was like, "Okay, this checks all my boxes and stuff," but actually talking to the people who go here and being on campus and feeling this sense of almost like family, it sort of felt like. I said to my parents, "Hey, I think we need to swing by the bookstore on our way out, so I can get a sweatshirt." And my parents knew that that was like oh, if she gets a sweatshirt, that means she's committed. So yeah, definitely, that was how I ended up here.
Conor:
That's awesome. That's awesome. I mean, I'm sure it's a similar, not similar, I would say, but I would say for me, I was looking for a small school, as well, and I found that in Holy Cross. And I also found it within the Holy Cross community. I think Holy Cross also is able to open a lot of different opportunities for everyone. And obviously after doing some research about you, I know you went to study abroad in Melbourne, something that unfortunately I wasn't able to do because of the COVID pandemic. But I really would love for you to talk about your experience abroad and what it meant to you.
Catherine:
Yeah, oh wow. So going abroad, so I went abroad to the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia the second semester of my junior year. So that was from January to June 2017. Yeah, it was such an amazing experience.
Catherine:
I will say, so I did study Chinese as my minor. And it was always sort of a consideration maybe I would go to China to study abroad, but I have a lot of food allergies, and I was like maybe I don't want to risk that in a language I'm not fluent in. So I started looking at English speaking options. And Australia, it felt significantly far away enough and a different culture that I would still get that whole really immersive experience.
Catherine:
Yeah, and I also just really enjoyed... I liked that I only knew one other Holy Cross student who was going. That was a plus to me. We had each other if we needed someone, but really it was like I chose the option to live in a single, and I explored the city by myself and made new friends from other countries. It was a really great experience.
Conor:
That's awesome, and I think one thing I also want to go off of that is after reading on the website, so you founded Project Empathy, which I would love for you to explain because I don't want to be the one to explain it. But I wanted you to explain what Project Empathy is for the audience that doesn't know, and how you came about that idea because I think it's so interesting and amazing, especially in today's climate, for sure.
Catherine:
Thank you. Yeah, so Project Empathy, it's a performance-based project in which people are paired up and tasked with telling each other's true, personal stories. So at this point in 2021, it's a business. I founded it as a business in October 2020, but I did create it when I was studying abroad in Melbourne, Australia in 2017.
Catherine:
So that actually, it really came out of, like I said, I was living in a single. I was really trying to meet a lot of new people at the time, and I was, meeting hundreds of people every week, I'd say. But it was a lot of surface conversation. And it was also a lot of talking about cultural differences and like, "Oh, we're so different. Isn't that funny?" And that's fun conversation to have and to figure out what's considered so American, what's considered really Australian. And then also all these other different cultures who were also studying abroad in Australia. But one thing I was really missing was having these deep conversations with people.
Catherine:
And at the same time, I was also really wanted to be part of theater. Theater is a big part of my Holy Cross experience even though I didn't major in it. And I was like, yeah, I would really would like to be involved with some sort of performance, but at the same time I don't want to lock myself into a rehearsal schedule where I wouldn't have any time to travel.
Catherine:
And then simultaneously, as we know, that was when President Trump had just been inaugurated, which was causing a really big stir back in the United States, and I was sort of observing it from afar. It was kind of a weird vantage point. And people were really divided over social issues, political issues, and it sort of came to me one night. I was just sitting in my apartment, and I was like, you know what would be really cool if I combine all three of these things and created a space where people would be dedicated to listening to each other's experiences, views, opinions, and then they performed those views for an audience.
Catherine:
And it was sort of like the wheels got turning. Could I do that here? I don't know anyone here. Could I do that? And I ended up just reaching out to their, they have this office of student generated art. And I reached out and explained my situation. I'm a study abroad student, could I do this here. And they were like, "Yeah, just send an email. See what happens."
Catherine:
So I got to send out an email to their list, and I ended up getting, I think I got 16 responses. I asked for people who had a story to tell. So, I did get, people, when they responded that they had stories, they did. And I ended up meeting with them each over coffee. So it was an informal setting, and I asked them, "Okay, what story did you prepare to talk to me about today?" And the range of stories that people tell when you just give them that general prompt is amazing.
Catherine:
Mostly the stories that people told were something that they had to overcome or a struggle in their life that now they can look back on. Sometimes it was struggles that they were currently going through even. And actually they weren't even all about struggle, but it was all about identify, figuring out who you are, stories like that.
Catherine:
So what happened after those interviews was that I picked six people. I didn't think I could handle more at the time. I picked six people from that group whose stories were very, very different from each other. And I paired them up with people who I thought it would be a challenge for them to try to understand. And yeah, it ended up being better than I could have hoped. It was sort of an experimental idea at the time. And these six people just, they showed up.
Catherine:
We had six rehearsals, and during those rehearsals, we did empathy exercises that I cobbled together from the internet and my own imagination. And then we just did a lot of sharing and conversation, just deep conversations to understand each other. And then finally we ended up performing at this thing called PLOM, potluck open mic night. And it was again, super informal. There were just a lot of couches around. Everybody shows up with food.
Catherine:
So we ended up just saying, "Can we perform our stories at this open mic night?" And the organizer's said, "Yep, of course." And so again, it was really informal, but it was the perfect venue because people were open to hearing what these people had to say.
Catherine:
And yeah, one of the cool things about that venue too was that the organizers had scattered around these pieces of paper for people to just jot down how they were feeling about the performances. And those actually ended up being some of the first testimonials, which I'm sure you might have seen on the website, just anonymous people saying like, "This makes me feel like I want to have a relationship with my Dad again. Thank you." Or someone said, "The story about the pregnancy made me cry." It's like wow, all right, this is affecting the audience members in addition to the cast members.
Catherine:
So that's the origin story. And I could keep going, but maybe I'll pause.
Conor:
No, no that's great. And to be honest, you get a background of that from your website, but going in depth is truly amazing. I had no idea that it grew to that scale so quickly. Obviously I know you founded it as a company in October, so I just wanted to see what do you hope to build that into just in the future?
Catherine:
Yeah, so actually I'll fill in the gaps a little bit too. In between that first performance and founding it into a business, I did bring it back to Holy Cross and we performed it. I directed it, the cast performed it in 2018, again in 2019 after I had graduated. They sadly had to cancel 2020 for obvious reasons. And tomorrow they're actually performing it again. So yeah, it's really, really a nice feeling to have this all come full circle.
Catherine:
So I did actually end up thinking when it was being done again and again at Holy Cross, where the cast members were saying, "I would like to direct this now." I was like wow, I love that this is a tradition at Holy Cross where the cast members can continue the tradition, but this is really an affective way to scale it because then only people who have been in it are expressing interest in directing it.
Catherine:
And at the time that felt appropriate because they had been through it. They knew what it felt like. They knew the whole process in and out. But actually it was during the pandemic I think when I had a lot of time to think. I started thinking about what if I could create a kit, an instructional kit, for how to direct this. And then that way you wouldn't have had to be in it to direct it.
Catherine:
And also, I love directing it, but I can't direct them all. So yeah, I ended up making this instructional kit. I call it the performance package. And it has a hard copy of a director's guide. It just contains everything that I've learned about directing, and I've also brought in words from other directors from Holy Cross and the University of Melbourne too. I also have these back pocket cards that have comments and questions for just moving along deep conversations. And then also this big digital file of every digital item you might need to put this on at your school, your university, your theater.
Catherine:
And yeah, so the thought with that is that if I can sell this package to other schools, theaters, any community group that wants to do it, that I could... Yeah, it just increases it's scale and by extension, increase the impact that it can have.
Conor:
That's amazing. And I guess a follow-up question to that, do you find that the people that are participating in the theater, are they mostly people that are, I guess, actors, or do you find regular people that come in and just want to perform and talk about their own struggles or anything about themselves. Is it mostly one niche group, or do you find a variety of different people coming in?
Catherine:
I'll say it started out being just theater people because that was who I had access to through that student theater group, but it's been growing, which I'm really happy about. It's been growing into people who have no acting experience. I would like to see it continue to grow that way because this isn't really about acting. In fact, for some of the... So when I directed it in 2018, some of the students were like, "I feel really nervous. I've never given a performance before. Can I use index cards?" I'm like, "Yes, of course." That's not going to... I don't expect you to be a professional actor to tell someone else's story like that.
Conor:
Right. That's great, that's great. And I think opening it up is great. I saw in the email this week, that... It was so funny that our interview was today and then tomorrow is Project Empathy, and I got an email about it this week, and I saw it, and it just reminded me of today. Very funny.
Conor:
So I want to say and another question just tying it back to Holy Cross, so do you find that you took any lessons from Holy Cross and applied it to Project Empathy at all? Or is there any experiences at Holy Cross, obviously I know through Melbourne, but at Holy Cross that inspired Project Empathy or for Project Empathy to grow?
Catherine:
Yeah, nothing that I can directly tie, but I definitely feel like being at Holy Cross in general. Everyone's steeped in this culture of what can I do for other people and reaching outwards into communities. That's definitely reflected in Project Empathy. And I'll also say that the cura personalis thing, I've always loved that, the care of the whole person. And even just thinking about some of the classes that I took, I never would have taken if I didn't need to.
Catherine:
So, for instance, there was a comparative religions and worldview class I took, Professor Schmalz.
Conor:
Yeah, he's still at Holy Cross.
Catherine:
It was so great. And I loved it because it was like here are tons of different worldviews. Let's study them all. And I took a class called Cognition Across Cultures with Professor Anggoro in the Psych department. And that was like, wow. I loved thinking about the way other people think. So yeah, it wasn't necessarily a direct tie where someone said something and it inspired it, but it was very much the culture of Holy Cross is one of think about the other people's experience and also think about your own experience and reflect and how would that impact your worldview. Yeah, definitely.
Conor:
Absolutely. So I want to transfer now to more into your major and your professional life in marketing, so I just wanted to talk about how... So obviously you were a psychology major, Mandarin minor, education minor, so you were double minor. You also had the business certificate. So I guess I wanted to say, what class at Holy Cross made the biggest impact on you, and how has it helped you in your professional life today marketing? It's kind of a big question, but just in general. I don't want to put you on the spot too much. Just if you had some classes that had a big impact on you.
Catherine:
Yeah, if I can pick a handful. I don't think I can pick just one.
Conor:
Yeah, no that's completely understandable.
Catherine:
Yeah, so I majored in psychology, minored in education and Chinese, and then I had this business certificate on the side, which is so funny that that was a side thing because it was so impactful for my career. But I really always joke with people that yeah, these are all the things I studied, but they're really not discrete. Really the whole common thread here is I just like people and studying connection.
Catherine:
And so I feel like the classes that had the most impact on me were classes that connected those studies together if that makes sense. Like those two that I just mentioned, Comparative Religions, that wasn't even for a major or minor for me, but it had an impact. And then that Cognition Across Cultures was huge.
Catherine:
And actually, I'll also mention a class I didn't expect to have a lasting impact on me was Research Methods for Psychology. It's a required course for the major, and statistics. Yeah, I'll say statistics and Research Methods because those were both required courses for the Psych major. They definitely weren't my favorite at the time. I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a "math person." But I've used the statistics concepts and the research methods concepts in business, which that was not something that we expected to necessarily use them for.
Catherine:
And then I'll also say with the business certificate, the parts of that that I enjoyed the most were the workshops where we were in person and doing hands on projects. Like getting to hear from alumni in person. I loved that so much. But then the part that I didn't expect to impact me that much was the Excel course. I was like, "Oh yeah, this is required." And I use it all the time. Pivot tables and the kind of thing that I was not necessarily that excited to learn about. It's now I use it all the time.
Conor:
Yeah, I would say the same thing for me honestly. I took that my sophomore year, I believe, but for every job that I've had to work since then, I've had to use Excel, and now I'm like, well, I know how to use it. I did some in high school, but the certificate class that I took was great.
Conor:
So what challenges at all did you find taking your liberal arts education obviously like we talked about, you took a variety of different classes that peaked your interest, and that's the beauty of a liberal arts education. But what challenges did you find if any in regards to having a liberal arts education and entering the professional workforce? Did you find any challenges? And what helped you succeed in the business world with the liberal arts education?
Catherine:
Ooh, yeah, I feel like that's the big Holy Cross question.
Conor:
It is.
Catherine:
I'll just say I've been lucky that both of the places, or I guess all three of the places that became my internships, that I've been employed at, really valued the liberal arts education. There are some places that might want you to have had a business major or something. But I interned at a company called Jebbit when I was a junior, sophomore and junior. And they loved the different perspective I brought. They were a really small staged start up at that point, so they were like, "We want new ideas. We want new perspectives," which I thought was amazing.
Catherine:
And then my first job out of college, which actually shout out to the Center for Career Development that it was from my career... Crusader Connections post. I will say that I had to pitch myself to them. I had to say, "Here's my skill set. This is what I bring to the table," and a lot of that was I've had to do a lot of research of texts and research synthesis of different texts. I'm extremely organized because of this. I'm used to juggling multiple things. I don't have a one-track mind.
Catherine:
And I definitely pitched that I can bring new perspectives to the table thing too. And again, they valued that. And my current employer, I'll even say, I think put an emphasis on actually I would really like it if you brought different perspectives to the table. Actually, I work at Harvard Business School right now, Harvard Business School online. And my current marketing team, the organic team. I majored in psychology. One of my colleagues, I think was a video production major. Another was a visual art major. And my manager was a journalism major.
Catherine:
So I take pride in that in how we all have our different backgrounds, but we've built these skill sets in marketing, and we're able to come together, sort of like in a perfect storm.
Conor:
Yeah, that's amazing. And you speaking about skill sets, that was leading me to my next question. What skill sets do you feel like you take from that liberal arts education? Obviously in the small class setting, you're not really exposed to speaking in front of large groups, but at Holy Cross, one thing that I've spoken about with my friends and my family is one of the best things is public speaking. Holy Cross, a lot of classes make you speak in front of a lot of people. So I guess my next question is how did that skill set that you took from a liberal arts education apply to your job in marketing?
Catherine:
Yeah, definitely the public speaking part. Being able to give presentations, yeah. And I definitely, I don't want to sound pompous and all, but I definitely found that Holy Cross prepares you very well to go into the real world, the "real world" because you just have to practice it all the time. So definitely public speaking, research skills, for sure.
Catherine:
Actually, so in that first job, I specialized in search engine optimization in my first job out of college, which ended up being something that I didn't want to pursue as my career. But while I was there, I learned it a ton. And one of the things that I did while I was there was I had to do a lot of research about what would this specific audience type want to search for on Google. For instance, one of the audience types might have been certified personal accountants. And I'm not a certified personal accountant. I don't know any, and so I definitely feel like at Holy Cross, you had to put yourself in the other person's shoes and just dig into the research to try and figure out as much as possible. And then distill it into something meaningful, which that's just one example of having to search for things that certified personal accountants might be interested in.
Catherine:
But I also used that, actually it's even more applicable in my current job because I am a content marketer now, so I am writing blog posts, eBooks, things like that for Harvard Business School online, and our topics are often things that I don't necessarily know about. For instance, I wrote one a couple quarters ago about how a manager can increase the profitability of their organization, and that's not something I just know off the top of my head. And so I had to do all this research online. I also really dug into our course material. We offer online courses, so I have access to those, so I dig into that material. And then I learn how a manager could increase profitability of their organization and then distill it into this 1000ish word piece that's easy to digest and understand.
Catherine:
And I do feel like at Holy Cross, it was always like how do you distill all of this information that we just talked about or read and researched into the final paper or the final presentation or something like that.
Conor:
Yeah, I think that's the beauty of the Holy Cross education, for sure. I've seen that myself. Obviously I haven't entered the "real world" yet or the business world yet, but I know that it's really helping me pursue a professional career. And I think that goes into my, I'm also pursuing a business fundamentals certificate through the Ciocca Center, so it's something that's obviously we talked about a little bit different from when you experienced it, but would love to know what your favorite aspects of the business certificate program were if you remember. That was awhile ago, obviously. But what did you take from your experience of pursuing the certificate? Yeah, if you could just expand upon that.
Catherine:
Yeah, I'll start with my favorite part and then talk about what I got from it because I got so many things from it. But I think, maybe I'll pick two. I'll pick two. One was the Fullbridge Competitive Edge program. Have you done that?
Conor:
I did do Fullbridge, yeah. It was a great experience. So I did that my sophomore year, yeah, going into sophomore year, so summer before going into sophomore year.
Catherine:
Okay, and I think I did mine the summer after sophomore year? I stayed on campus for it.
Conor:
Okay, you did the May. Yeah.
Catherine:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I loved that. And you know the course of the program and how it goes, but a week-long 9-5 or 8-5 I think it was program every day. And my team, my Fullbridge team, I think that we were a success story in terms of how they wanted to pair up people who were very different from each other to work on the project, and we were. Our strengths and weaknesses were all different, and because of that, we worked very well together, and there was also some clashing that happened.
Catherine:
My biggest strength that stood out among my group was in the presentations. I really enjoy storytelling presenting, so I got to open it up. And I remember we did Tesla, and my opening line I was like, "Imagine the future," and diving into Tesla. And one of my team members, she was a math major and she was like, "I just want to present the graphs. I don't want to talk about anything else." We're like, "Okay, fair." And a history major who talked about the history of Tesla. And our other, who his interest was more in finance, so he really wanted to talk about the financial projections.
Catherine:
Yeah, so I really enjoyed Fullbridge, and even now just on social media, my team, we're just sort of following along with each other's lives and silently or not so silently cheering each other on. So yeah, definitely Fullbridge as well as the marketing boot camp too. I really enjoyed that as well.
Conor:
Yeah, I would say the same with my team members. We obviously saw each other on campus a little bit this semester, but in regards to the actual leaders of the program, the people working for Fullbridge, they still keep in touch with me, Carman, Franco, one of them. They still keep in touch, and I think that aspect of that program really was beneficial because it helped. It was my first experience in actually networking with people and understanding other people's professional careers. I think it inspired me to realize that hey, I don't have to go into a career path that I think I want to go into. You've just got to be open to new opportunities.
Conor:
So you talked about the marketing, it's now the marketing and communications workshop.
Catherine:
Oh.
Conor:
Yeah, so it's a little bit of a name change. But what did you say it was called back then?
Catherine:
Marketing Bootcamp. I don't even know if that was correct.
Conor:
No, no. So did that program itself help to inspire you to go into marketing? What was your inspiration behind going into that industry?
Catherine:
Yeah, so I did know before I took the bootcamp/workshop, I did know before that I was interested in it, but I wasn't quite sure how to get there, I guess. Like I said, I knew that I really enjoyed people and understanding the way people think. And my parents both worked in business, so I definitely had that oh, I know that this is something I can do.
Catherine:
Actually my Dad was a Psych major, and he ended up eventually becoming a Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, so I definitely had that vibe that I can do whatever want with a Psych major. And my Mom had, she had started her own ad agency. So I did have them as role models too.
Catherine:
So knowing that I wanted to work with people and just be thinking about the way people think all the time led me towards marketing. And then when I took the bootcamp or workshop, I got to hear from, I think it was Julie Halpin Anderson. Oh, and Brian Kelley, the CEO of Keurig Green Mountain, and we got to hear both of them speak and give advice to us. And it was like oh, wow, okay. These are Holy Cross alums, who are very successful in the marketing field. And the fact that they came back to give advice to some random Holy Cross students was like, this means a lot to them. You know?
Conor:
Yeah. I think that I see that all the time with the Holy Cross Alumni Network. I'm assuming this is probably one of your... Well, I don't know that was your first time experience at a Holy Cross Alumni Network, but how has the Holy Cross Alumni Network in general post-college, helped you in your professional career?
Catherine:
Oh yeah, in so many ways. I'll have to definitely talk about the Women in Business conference because I started attending that my sophomore year. I didn't know about it freshman year. My sophomore year I went to the first Women in Business conference, and it was this overwhelming feeling of I was supported. Literally sitting in the Hogan ballroom surrounded by all these powerful strong smart successful Holy Cross women, who were doing things in business. It was almost overwhelming.
Catherine:
So yeah, and actually some of my... Again, I talked about that silent or not so silent supporters on social media. So many of those people for me on LinkedIn are from the Women in Business conference, just people that I've met at these tables. Actually one woman that I met when I was a sophomore and I was still like, "I really don't know what I want to do, but these are the things I'm interested in." And she just talked to me about her career but didn't put pressure on me to figure it out then. She's just been saying congratulations on every single one of my job updates. I hope to eventually see her again in person. We obviously were virtual this past year. That network is just unlike any other.
Conor:
Yeah, and kind of going off that, to the Holy Cross student that might be listening on this podcast, when do you believe a Holy Cross student should start networking? What type of things do you like being asked by Holy Cross students if you've been asked by any? I don't know if you've interacted with any of the current student body, but yeah, just put yourself in the shoes, what do you feel like you should ask?
Catherine:
Well in terms of when you should start, just whenever you can. I'm not going to say you should've started already. That's not helpful. Whenever you want to make connections is the right time. I feel like with most Holy Cross alumni, they're just waiting to be reached out to. Especially if anyone who's listening wants to reach out to me, please do. I would love to talk to you.
Catherine:
In terms of things that I would want to be asked, I guess I don't even know. I guess I would just like to have a relationship with these people. Know them as people and then be supportive whenever necessary. Yeah, and I think that if you are a current student who's maybe hesitant to reach out to someone, just say even something as simple as, "Hi, I'm a current Holy Cross student, and I saw your LinkedIn profile or I heard that you're in this industry through the Center for Career Development or something like that. Do you have 15 minutes, I can pick your brain?" And most of them will say yes if they have time.
Conor:
Yeah, and I completely agree. I think every single Holy Cross alumni that has came back to help either the business program or an event on campus or even just seeing people at a football game, alumni they meet at the football game, I've had that happen. It's just every single person that I've come to loves Holy Cross and also understands, everyone's understanding of each other and understands the experiences that they're going through. Because they're all very similar. Everyone that went to Holy Cross back in the day knows the small schools feel that we feel now and the tight-knit community that is still there. We might have lost it for a year because of the pandemic, but I'm excited to come back to it, and I hope that you come back to campus as well.
Catherine:
Absolutely.
Conor:
I want to talk about in regards to the business program in general, how do you believe that... Like for those in the business program now at Holy Cross, what steps should they take to make sure that they get ahead in today's competitive business world? Whether it's the path that you took or maybe something that you wish you did when you were at Holy Cross? Just anything of that nature.
Catherine:
I'll say that just by being in the business program, you're already a step ahead. Because I would say that even students who don't do the business program, a Holy Cross education still really sets you up well for your future career. But being in the business program can give you concrete skills. So already ahead there. But one thing I think that you already mentioned is just to really lean on that network and leverage it. And by being in the business program, you just sort of have more of a natural tie to some people who maybe volunteer to come back and speak, or you just have an opening line with them, like I'm part of the business program at Holy Cross. I would like to talk to you about this.
Catherine:
Actually one thing I wanted to mention too is I'm part of the Holy Cross Startup Slack channel. And I know it's typically pretty quiet, but whenever someone posts, it's like swarm of support jumping down the message. And I didn't even know if it would get me any help, but I did post something awhile back being has anyone here filed a U.S. trademark before? It's a very complicated process, but I had never tried, and I didn't know if I needed a lawyer, so I posted in the group just to see if people said something. And this one alum, who I'd never met, had never heard of, he posted and he was like, "Actually, I'm a lawyer. Here's my advice." Non-legal advice, personal advice. "And if you have any questions, here's my email."
Catherine:
Being able to leverage the network in that way is huge. You just have this one-off question, ask it, someone will come help. And I also really want to be able to do that back flipped. I also want to be that person for other people. Did that answer your question?
Conor:
Oh yeah, absolutely. No, 100%, and that's something that we've had to utilize more than ever is Holy Cross is now have to use these online platforms because you can't engage with alumni in person. And that's something that I know the Ciocca Center has been transferring a lot of other different career development, everyone's switching to the remote format. And I guess going back to your professional life, how has that impacted Project Empathy in regards to obviously I know that Sunday, May 2nd, tomorrow, will be your next performance at Holy Cross, so how has that been adjusted accordingly?
Catherine:
Yeah, the performance that's tomorrow, Sunday, May 2nd, it is on Zoom. And I know that the current production team, there are two directors, a stage manager, and a producer, who are all seniors. And then they have a cast of 10 Holy Cross students. They have not been able to meet in person. I mean, as I'm sure you are aware, so they've been having all their rehearsals over Zoom. And then they actually, I think that they rented equipment from the theater department to be able to film in their own dorms, and then the stage manager edited them all together, so that they'll be presented as though you're watching one straight performance.
Catherine:
So really, just innovative solutions, I feel like. It, of course, it still stinks. You wish that this could all be in person, but I feel like people's spirits are still there, so the spirit of the project is still the same. It's just people had to jump around a little bit, make it work.
Catherine:
I'm hopeful that the next group that does Project Empathy. I haven't actually announced it yet, but they're hoping to do things on an outdoor stage, so it will still be COVID safe, but they might still be able to be in person. But again, it's just bending things, making it work, being innovative.
Conor:
Of course, I'm sure, no doubt that it will go successfully. I think that Holy Cross students are now experts at using Zoom, so I that-
Catherine:
Oh gosh, yeah.
Conor:
I think that will go well. So I have a couple just fun questions about Holy Cross. So what is your favorite memory on Mount St. James from Holy Cross in general? Whether that can be fun or academic or anything, just what is your favorite memory at Holy Cross?
Catherine:
My gosh, there are so many. Let me see, I, gosh. There are so many. I think that one that I'll pull out is I have always done the musicals with Alternate College Theater. And I think that when I was a senior, we did Legally Blonde, and we would always do this really intense warm up. It was a workout, just before every rehearsal to get us in the physical shape to perform. And we actually continued to do that warm up together after the show had ended because of the familial type of bond that we had. Yeah, so that's one. I just feel like any other memories that I have of Holy Cross that are with that familial bond, those are the things that stick.
Conor:
Okay, yeah. And I also wanted to ask, I don't know if you've been to Holy Cross lately, but the new arts center is just about... I don't want to speak for Holy Cross, but it looks like it's just about to be finished. The outside, at least.
Catherine:
Oh my gosh.
Conor:
And it's absolutely huge. I don't know, have you seen any pictures of it?
Catherine:
No, so I actually... It's so funny because we almost we treat it, at least people in my graduating class almost treat it as though it's a mirage because as freshmen, they told us, "Oh yeah, it'll probably be done by the time you're sophomores." And we're like, "We can't wait to perform in it." And then it kept getting pushed back, pushed back, postponed. And now that it's actually almost done, it's like I won't believe it until I see it.
Conor:
That's very... I would be, when we left for campus, the construction was just starting. But now it's this huge building. It's right next to the Hogan Campus Center when you're going up towards Hart. And it's on the left side. They took out the parking lot and put the building in. It's amazing, and they also have a deck on top, which it looks like it's being built in. It's supposed to be a deck that you can overlook the entire campus, which is something that is honestly, you don't really get that nice of a spot, you get it at Fenway, I guess, when you're trying to look over Kimball, but there's not a really great spot with a great view at Holy Cross. And I think that will be the new spot.
Catherine:
Wow.
Conor:
Yeah.
Catherine:
As soon as it's safe, I will be back to see it.
Conor:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And in the future, maybe Project Empathy will be able to perform there, and it will be a great success. Great success.
Catherine:
That would be amazing, yeah.
Conor:
So, I guess with the final-ish question, excuse me, but if you could go back in the shoes of a Holy Cross student now, what would you tell yourself? What advice would you give, especially, I know things have changed obviously. The world's climate has changed since you've graduated and a lot of different things, Holy Cross has changed. There's a new President now, different things, but in general, if you could go back in the shoes of a Holy Cross student, what would you tell yourself?
Catherine:
Gosh, I would tell myself soak it all in, which I know is super predictable of me to say, but really soak it all in. Trust your gut. It's okay to say no to certain things if your heart's not in it. I would say don't be so worried about ending up in the right job right after college. That was one of the things I was very worried about, and it all ended up fine. I would say your Holy Cross community is for life. So the friendships that you're building, but then also the relationships with your professors, and then also this unspoken relationship with all alumni, that's a for life thing. And so I feel like take comfort in that.
Conor:
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, I thank you so much for taking the time to join us. I had a great conversation. This was both our first time doing this, but I think it went well. I had a great conversation, learned a lot. And I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I think it will go great. I'm going to try to attend, and excited to see you hopefully at Holy Cross in the future.
Catherine:
Yeah, definitely. Thank you so much, Conor, this was really, really nice, and yeah, again, I'm just so honored that you even invited me here. And yeah, thank you so much.
Maura :
That's our show. I hope you enjoyed hearing about just one of the many ways that Holy Cross alumni have been inspired by the Mission to be people for and with others.
A special thanks to today's guests and everyone at Holy Cross, who has contributed to making this podcast a reality. If you or someone you know, would like to be featured on this podcast, then please send us an email at alumnicareers@holycross.edu. If you like what you hear, then please leave us a review.
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I'm your host, Maura Sweeney, and this is Mission-Driven. In the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola, now go forth and set the world on fire.
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