Until third grade, Cindy Chastain knew only suburban Kansas, where people looked and sounded like her. Then her family took a trip to Dublin and Cindy befriended the children who lived in the B&B. “They spoke differently, they played different games. While it was a third grader’s experience of the world,” says Cindy. “My view of what was out there completely shifted.”

After graduating college, she joined fellow filmmakers in Moscow for a digital artistic exchange, creating a music video about bridging cultures. “That experience inspired such deep empathy for how my peers had lived under communist rule, how things were changing. It led me to Russian literature, Russian language,” Cindy says. Thirty years later, the group is still bonded and close.

As SVP of Customer Experience and Design for Mastercard’s Global Products & Innovation, Cindy led the relaunch of the Mastercard brand and helped to drive its more modern and sophisticated brand globally. Recently, she modernized and digitized Mastercard’s credit, debit, and prepaid product experiences, and previously led customer-centered digital transformation initiatives with Nike and Volvo, among others.

Cindy is a creative at heart and works to develop products and services people will love. She says enjoyment is key to building lifelong loyalty. “Global Nomads’ user-centric and agile approach is not only effective from a learning perspective,” Cindy explains, “—it’s what gets students to emotionally meaningful, pleasurable experiences that they’re going to want to talk about.”

She applauds the organization for providing young people “the mental tools, character, and confidence to achieve” and is thrilled to partner in its expansion. “From its business model to the bonds between students, Global Nomads has the power to trigger organic growth,” says Cindy. “I want to see it ignite among teenagers and would love to be a partner in realizing that possibility.”