Celeste Diaz Ferraro
Celeste Diaz Ferraro
PhD Candidate, Management & Organization
University of Texas at San Antonio
My scholarly endeavors - research, teaching and public engagement - are motivated by my interest in entrepreneurship and social innovation as a means of fostering more equitable, resilient and sustainable communities of well-being.
In my research, I explore dynamic processes of emergence and evolution, with a particular interest in the roles of power and agency in shaping fields, ecosystems, and the entrepreneurial opportunities within them. As a first-gen college graduate and a daughter and grand-daughter of immigrants, I'm proud to do this work that draws attention to the invisible underpinnings of governing systems that create social and economic inequities for marginalized groups and communities. Raising awareness of these infrastructures - and understanding how they come to be in the first place - can help remove barriers, surface opportunities for scaling social impact, and provide models for building healthier and more effective systems.
Prior to entering academia, I was a national award-winning advocate and a strategic communications leader in both the private sector and government. 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 organizations. I also co-founded a social enterprise consulting firm to support nascent mission-driven firms during early-stage growth. In these varied roles, I've been directly involved in issues related to corporate-level and business-level strategy, stakeholder relations, emerging markets, sustainability, micro-enterprise operations, and social innovation - expertise I bring into the classroom to enrich my students' learning. I earned a BA in Communication from Trinity University and an MBA in International Business from Georgetown University.