
Celeste Diaz Ferraro
My Story
I am the future.
I am a first generation college graduate, a daughter and grand-daughter of immigrants. I am an advocate. I am a changemaker.I am a strategist & community leader.
Prior to entering academia I worked in public policy at the state and federal levels, winning national awards as an advocate and a strategic communications leader in both the private sector and government.I am a strategist. I held management or strategy roles in the hospitality, technology, and consumer goods industries, while working with global marketing firms, state and federal legislative and executive branch agencies, and global multilateral development organizationsI am a community leader. Startups, board memberships, organizational leadership.I am a founder.
I co-founded a social enterprise consulting firm to support nascent mission-driven firms with tools and strategies for early-stage growth. My clients ranged from serial founders in local foods/packaged goods to not-for-profit solar advocates to small sustainable fashion firms focused on building community rather than scale. I am intimately familiar with the challenges startups and scale-ups face, the difficult choices founders grapple with, the joy of creating something of value, and the not-so-occasional anxiously sleepless night.
I am a knowledge builder & educator.
In these varied roles, I have been directly involved in issues related to corporate-level and business-level strategy, stakeholder relations, emerging markets, sustainability, micro-enterprise operations, and social innovation. Through these professional experiences I became interested in social movements, values, power, change, conflict, and processes of institutionalization and paradigm change. I bring multi-faceted management perspectives and professional networks into the classroom, where students benefit from my deep engagement and ability to connect current research and theory with real-world application. Equally important, my professional experience drives my interest in research that supports the field of management in addressing "grand challenges" while generating both theoretical and practical impact.