“IT WAS IN SPAIN THAT I REALIZED GOD PUTS YOU IN THE PLACE YOU NEED TO BE.”
Succeeding and Giving Back
“I never identified myself with just my business major at Saint Mary's,” says Kathleen Tucker Tamayo, a 2001 graduate. “My experience there was just too rich.”
As a senior consultant at Chicago Partners, where she provides economic analyses for clients involved in litigation, Kathleen feels like she has an edge in her field because of her liberal arts education at a women's college. “It can be hard to understand until you're actually living it, but Saint Mary's takes young, 18-year-old women and transforms them into these incredible, confident leaders over the course of four years. I am one of many Saint Mary's alumnae in this part of the business world—which is extremely competitive and male-dominated.”
Kathleen also feels that Saint Mary's was the ideal place for her to prepare for a career in economics while not losing sight of the principles of Catholic social teaching. She took both business and justice education classes at the College. “Public service is not an add-on at Saint Mary's,” she explains. “It seems to be a concept that is integrated into the educational experience. That's the example I was shown on campus: to succeed professionally and to give back. My professors and other mentors in college prepared me to do both.”
Kathleen walks the talk where service and integrity are concerned. She tutors at Mercy Home, a long-term residential home for troubled children, and represented the Archdiocese of Chicago at the national Catholic Campaign for Human Development meeting.
So what does the future hold for this leader? Kathleen hopes to attend graduate school in the near future and, ultimately, parlay her business and service acumen into something entrepreneurial. Along the way, she'll draw on the lessons of her college years: “The key is to remember that it's not just what you learn or earn that makes a difference in the long term. It's learning to do it with integrity.”