In her young life, Eden Cruz has shown a connection to her rich cultural heritage and the increasingly multinational face of business. While a sophomore, Cruz co-founded Samahan, (translated as “to join or to come together”), the Filipino organization at the Mount. Having started with only 15 students, Cruz’s tenacity and gift for outreach swelled Samahan’s ranks to nearly 60 members.
 
After she graduated summa cum laude in 2003 with majors in communication and business, Eden was accepted into General Electric’s Communications Leadership Development Program, which allowed her to participate in three distinct GE businesses.
 
From January to June 2004, she worked in the company’s aero-energy division in Houston, managing the division’s website and sending press releases to its 3,500 employees. She was then off to Milwaukee, where she worked in the communications department of GE’s health care division. She helped put together brochures, advertising, and trade shows.
 
Most recently, Eden moved to Cincinnati, where she currently works at GE’s transportation headquarters, promoting the company’s products and writing three to five articles a week for its website.
 
Eden hopes to stay with GE for a long time. Her experiences at the Mount, including her experience with Samahan, she said, has helped her understand the workings of a big company.
 
“My three friends and I who ran Samahan, we looked at it like our own little business,” she says. “That’s what I do every day now, except with jet engines.”