Cynthia "Cynt" Marshall was the first black cheerleader at the University of #California, Berkeley in the late 1970s. She spent nearly four decades climbing the corporate ladder at AT&T. And today she is the first black, female #CEO in the #NBA, having taken the helm at the #Dallas Mavericks in 2018 But being “first” is nothing new for her. Cynthia’s family left #Birmingham, #Alabama, and traveled to California when she was 3 months old. It was an effort to escape the #JimCrow South, but life in the projects on the West Coast wasn’t easy. “When I was 11, some chaos broke out in our family, and I saw my father actually shoot a man in the head,” said Marshall, who said it was self-defense on her father’s part. While her father survived the incident, Marshal did not forget it. She sought a “way out” by setting her sights on leadership. At her sisters’ graduation, she noticed the only speakers were white boys. “I was in the ninth grade, and I looked at my mom and I said, ‘Can a Black girl be senior class president? Can a #Blackgirl be student body president?’ She said, ‘Of course. You can do whatever you want to do.’ I said, ‘OK I gotta get one of my buddies because when we graduate, we’re going to do that.’ I found out that had never happened before.” Marshall became the first African American president at her school. “It was historic and the faculty was more emotional than I was. We’ve been blazing trails ever since then,” Marshall said. Marshall later became the first #AfricanAmerican cheerleader at #Berkley and the first Black woman in #DeltaGamma at the school. Yet, even at almost 40 years old, she found herself not being accepted for who she was. “When you fundamentally try to change who I am, when you tell me I can’t say blessed, when you tell me I’m too loud, you’re actually telling me you don’t want me to be a #Blackwoman,” she said. Now, as CEO of the #Mavericks, tasked with transforming the culture, she’s making sure nobody else experiences that. “If nothing else, I am proud of the speak-up culture we have. Our people have a voice,” she added. Sources: MAVS, CNBC, #CynthiaMarshall Kindly FOLLOW @wonderwombman @wonderwombman2 #wonderwombman https://www.instagram.com/p/CYswLxzA_Ny/?utm_medium=tumblr
