Crystal Cooper

Crystal was the third person I met when I walked in the door of Chicago Public Schools as a data fellow six years ago. Since then, she has been a colleague, a mentor, and a friend. Working with her has been a formative experience of what is my second career (after a first one in India), and life beyond that. We get chatting about her first job, and she tells me that she got a job because that is what everyone around her did: her parents, grandparents, and other family, they were a working class family. 

She started as a bagger at a local grocery store: she enjoyed working, the responsibility and making money. By the time she left, she was an intern in the management program. This is a pattern that emerges across her career, her curiosity and drive lead her to rise in the organization, no matter where or which field. 

While it was always understood that she would go to college, there wasn’t any specific expectation after that. For a while she thought of studying to be a pharmacist, but she didn’t enjoy that or college much. She transferred to another local grocery store and was more focused on work, where she thrived, and graduated with a degree in English. 

Her first job out of college was an entry level one at a marketing firm; by the time she left, she was in Corporate Finance. In her next role, she found herself training someone to take over her job -- part of an outsourcing experience which would defeat most of us. But she saw it as an opportunity to meet and learn more about people from other countries, and stayed on in the organization as a Resource Development Analyst. By the time she left, she knew a lot about Bangalore and acquired quite a collection of wooden boats and wooden carved elephants (a symbol of wisdom and strength).

She realized that her work experience and Bachelor’s degree could only take her so far, and she enrolled in an MBA program six years after her undergraduate degree. With six months to go, she joined the Budget department at CPS. I ask her why a school district, especially after being in Corporate, and she tells me that she had thought about applying for a teacher residency program, being a CPS student herself but eventually she realized the best way for her to support education for Chicago’s kids was through such a role. The school district was also more diverse than corporate organizations, something the private sector still has a lot of work to do on. 

She is motivated by impact, and decisions which drive impact are often business decisions, often financial in nature. In her Budget Analyst role, she learned how to navigate CPS and made several connections across various departments in the district including talent, networks, arts, science, and early childhood education to name a few. She then came to the Nutrition team (which is where I met her) as a Budget Manager, overseeing a $220 million budget. As in times before, she learned, she built relationships, and she accomplished - she now leads the department as the Executive Director. For context, all meals are free for all students, given the high rates of hunger and poverty in the city. Over 5 million meals are served each month, and even when school is out (or schooling was remote), students were being served. It’s not an easy job, sometimes it can be a thankless job, but she has done it with an unwavering focus on making sure every child who wants a meal, gets one.

I ask her what she would have done differently if she was starting all over again, and she tells me she would have reached for the stars way earlier - I think this is something we need to tell young people more and more. She would have thought about her career more (versus just jobs), applied for more roles, asked for more money, and been more confident in interviews. At the same time she acknowledges that as you start to become who you will be, you start to learn what you like.

Throughout her career she has always been focused on fixing root causes of the problems, improving processes - she is quick to understand operations and see areas for improvement. In the next step of her career, she sees herself in a position where she can help others achieve their maximum potential - helping an organization outline their strategy, finding the right talent and nurturing people to do their best. Whenever she enters a space, she wants to get to know the whole person - not just who you are at work, or in a job, but your whole self. 

I can tell you this from first-hand experience, she is invested in everyone around her. Part of the reason why I am a Project Manager and in my role today is because she helped find a way to make the course happen for me, and when the opportunity opened up, gave me an endorsement that meant she would lose me on her team but that I would move up and ahead in my career. She is the boss who enables her employees to grow, even if that growth means a loss for her at work. That is generosity that not everyone at the workplace, especially bosses, have. 

I ask her what drives her and she tells me she does what she does for her ancestors and all girls of color. She comes from a line of workers, and she wants girls to see women of color be present in all sorts of spaces, and be successful and thriving. She wants them to see what is possible, and the effort and work that goes into it. Developing people to become leaders (not just in title, but in action) is what recharges her professionally. Personally, being around people where she can be her authentic self, with all her quirks and flaws, is how she relaxes. 

Both of her grandmothers have had heavy influences on her life - strong black women from the South who took on raising her into who she is today. Their dedication to their families has shaped her commitment as well. While Verne (her maternal grandmother) is not here with us anymore, Crystal will always have her hugs, kisses and words to keep with her. With Crystal, the glass is always half-full, and I truly cannot imagine my life in the last five years without her.