Success Story: Cynthia Baldacchini, Curriculum Development
One of the first success stories to come out of the Classroom to Boardroom Course is Cynthia (Cindy) Baldacchini. She graduated from the course in 2021 after teaching various sciences and tech courses to grades K-6. Her dedication to leaving teaching landed her a fulfilling role in curriculum development within the EdTech company CodeHS.
Here is her journey out of the classroom and her unique insights on landing a position outside the classroom.
The Start of Her Career
Cindy began her career at an internal startup with HP doing software internationalization to prepare the product for non-US markets. Her next career step was assisting in starting A Leg Up for Kids, a nonprofit that donated specially designed and manufactured strollers for kids on mechanical ventilators.
After years in the nonprofit space, her next adventure was teaching. In her first year she taught chemistry and physics before teaching K-6. Toward the end of her teaching career, Cindy taught K-6 STEM coding and science.
“For me, teaching was always about the ‘aha’ moment with kids. So, when something's really hard and they're struggling, and then they finally get it. And the pandemic showed me that the world was changing quickly and that the way children are ingesting information, especially information related to math and science and coding, which is my background, was changing,” Cindy said.
That was the moment she decided it was time to leave the classroom.
“I missed being in tech and I missed being kind of where the action is and where something new is being created to fill a need,” Cindy added.
Overcoming the Guilt
“It became a sort of a health and happiness issue.”
Living in a small town, Cindy used to ride her bike to work at her school. Her students were her neighbors.
“I left in April, so I left before the end of the school year. And if I could have stayed till the end of the school year, I don't think I would've felt guilty at all,” Cindy said. “It was time for me to do something different, and I'm thrilled that I still landed in an EdTech company, so I'm still contributing to learning.”
EdTech companies are hungry to hire former teachers. No one understands the needs of teachers like former teachers. A career in EdTech is an exciting way to support education while using your unique expertise in a new way.
Following a new calling later in life
I have had Classroom to Boardroom students of all ages and in all stages of their careers. Students have come to me after only a few years in the classroom, still in their twenties, seeking a new path. I’ve had students in their 60s or later who have served decades in the classroom and want to explore new options.
What helped Cindy stand out amongst other educators leaving the classroom was a history of passion projects, both paid and unpaid, that demonstrated her skills outside of teaching.
“I had very recent, in fact, concurrent experience on my resume, and I was able to use the founders from those startups as my references,” Cindy said.
Something I can’t stress enough to my C to B students is the power of passion projects. Blogs, podcasts, copywriting, internships. These all play a massive role in a successful job search, at any age with any experience level. I’ve even started to build types of opportunities into our new community within Classroom to Boardroom so that our members have an opportunity to build their resumes while getting real-world experience.
Cindy’s Insights
A year has passed since Cindy joined the corporate world, and here are her words of wisdom:
“I would say to people who are transitioning don't underestimate the tools. Be a quick learner. And if you're not quick, do it at night,” Cindy said.
Looking for more?
Listen to the full podcast episode now to catch Cynthia’s full journey from nonprofit startups to teaching to curriculum development at CodeHS.
