Cynthia Salim '09
Position: Founder & CEO, Citizen’s Mark
Industry: Apparel
Lesson Learned: You can create change from wherever you’re standing – regardless of whether or not you work directly in social change.
Cynthia Salim was one of the talented few that landed a job in policy advocacy at the UN in Geneva at the young age of 23 and later worked as an associate for McKinsey & Company. Working in such prestigious roles meant Salim had to dress the part. There was just one problem: Salim struggled to find anything suitable to wear and points out that even when price wasn’t an issue, she couldn’t find a blazer that was high quality, sharp but not sexy, professional but still modern, much less anything responsibly made.
Salim, therefore, decided to make them herself!
“The Social Entrepreneurship class at LMU really opened my eyes to how I can make an impact and inspired me to make a difference.”
Her background gave her the push she needed to make the leap and start Citizen’s Mark. Salim has created chic workwear with a supply chain reflecting the values of a socially conscious woman on the rise: responsibility, sustainability and transparency. Salim has successfully redefined the perceived identity of the modern woman. Because of her work, she has been named in Forbes 30 Under and 30 and honored by the World Policy Institute.
Now based in Singapore, Cynthia’s mission is to build communities that ignite change and support emerging women leaders and social enterprises. She is currently building the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Singapore as the director of content and community at Straits Clan, a member’s club made up of those with a creative, entrepreneurial and social change mindset, united by their desire to create positive change.