# @ucberkeleyofficial on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DVt2DnXksyR
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/64635225-ucberkeleyofficial-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/cc399a06b9.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-10T19:52:09.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** UC Berkeley (@ucberkeleyofficial) — https://gondola.cc/ucberkeleyofficial

## Caption

“I’m a cheerleader wherever I go.”

UC Berkeley alum Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall (BS ’81, Business Administration & Human Resources Management) has always been an optimist, long before she became SVP of human resources at AT&T and the first Black female CEO in the NBA.

Growing up between Birmingham, Ala., and Richmond, Calif., she was shaped by faith, family, and belief “in lifting up the spirit,” she says. “That is just in my bones.” Known for transforming culture through values-driven leadership, Marshall has built her career on confronting hard truths without losing hope.

At Berkeley, she found a stage big enough for her ambition. As the first Black cheerleader in the university’s history, she remembers arriving on campus and thinking, “I gotta be big now.” She chose Berkeley because it was “the number one institution in the world and still close to home.”

The experience proved formative. Friends remember her focus, generosity, and unmistakable smile: “Everything that Cynt set off to do, she accomplished,” says Cynt’s best friend, Yvonne Vallier.

After graduation, Marshall joined Pacific Bell in 1981, ultimately becoming AT&T’s SVP of human resources and chief diversity officer. When diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer, she refused to retreat. “The question wasn’t why,” she writes in her memoir. “It was, ‘What will I do with what I’ve been given?’” Even chemo became community, complete with themed celebrations and what she called the Chemo Clubhouse.

In 2018, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tapped Marshall to help rebuild a fractured organization. She arrived with a 100-day plan and a values framework she termed CRAFTS: character, respect, authenticity, fairness, teamwork, and safety. “These values will not just hang on the walls,” she said. “They will operate in the halls.” Six years later, the organization’s culture was transformed.

Now advising the Mavericks and leading her firm, Marshalling Resources, she remains forward-looking. 

“I have faith in things I can’t even see,” she says. “I have faith in humanity.” Still the cheerleader and optimist. 

🔗 Read Cynt’s full story at the link in our bio: https://bit.ly/4loTroX 

#UCBerkeley #CalAlumStory

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 2,156
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 22

## Tags

ucberkeley, calalumstory

---
Copyright (c) Gondola