Cynt Marshall

Marshall moved from Birmingham, Alabama to California when she was three months old. Marshall was raised in Richmond, California with three siblings.[3] She describes her childhood as being painful growing up in public housing projects with a family struggling to pay the bills. When she was 11 years old, Cynt witnessed her father shoot a man in the head in self-defense. In 1975, when Marshall was 15, her father broke her nose as she set out to save her mother from his domestic abuse. Her mother, Carolyn Gardener, was a high school executive administrator and resource librarian.[4]

Marshall received a full scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkeley to study business administration and human resources management.[5][6] While studying at Berkeley, Marshall became the university's first black cheerleader. After graduating from university at 21, she took on a job as a supervisor at AT&T.[2]

Marshall worked in executive roles at AT&T for 36 years, where she focused on improving diversity and workplace behavior. She retired in 2017, and founded the consulting firm Managing Resources.[7] While at AT&T she became the first African American head of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce.[8]

Mark Cuban hired Marshall following allegations claiming 20 years of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct within the Mavericks organization.[9] Worth named Marshall as one of the 21 Most Powerful Women in the Business of Sports.[10]

Marshall prefers to be called "Cynt" as she acquired the nickname with her high school track team — "Cynt the Sprint." Marshall is a cancer survivor. She married her husband Kenneth, and for 10 years they struggled to have kids. Cynt and Kenneth have four children together.[11]

In 2022, Random House published Cynt's memoir You’ve Been Chosen: Thriving Through the Unexpected, which covers her personal and professional life as well as her battle with cancer.[12]