The David Eccles School of Business recently hosted the 33^rd Annual Spencer Fox Eccles Convocation, with keynote speaker and tech trailblazer, Cydni Tetro. Tetro is CEO of Brandless, a consumer products platform with “better-for-you” consumer products and brands that help people and the planet live healthier. Previously, Tetro was the CEO of ForgeDX, a customer acceleration platform used by companies like Verizon, Adobe, Microsoft , and Dell, which she sold in 2020. She was also founder and CEO of 3DplusMe, a venture-backed, 3D printing personalization platform, which she sold in 2017. She spent six years at Disney in imagineering, leading technology commercialization and building technology businesses inside Disney, including theme parks, ESPN, and ABC.

Tetro is nationally renowned as a technology leader, record-breaking fundraiser, consumer visionary, and trailblazer for women in tech. During her time at the Eccles School, she shared five ways students can be “Blue Sky Explorers” and approach their careers and lives with a sense of limitless possibilities.

1. Have a limitless imagination. Instead of focusing on roadblocks, Tetro said, focus on where your imagination can take you. When you have a new idea, don’t think about all the problems you might encounter if you tried to pursue it – just jump in and do it. With limitless imagination, you can uncover experiences you didn’t think were possible, Tetro said.
2. Be an architect of possibilities. Ask yourself the question, “What would be possible if…?” Open all the doors that are in front of you, Tetro said, and be open to all the possibilities in front of you. Tetro shared that as she was preparing to graduate and enter the workforce, she applied for 100 jobs. Some of them were not in the industry she thought she was interested in, but she believed they could offer opportunities or experiences she hadn’t thought of yet. Tetro challenged students to believe that anything is possible. She also reminded them that saying no to an opportunity might mean that the next opportunity doesn’t come.
3. Be an opportunity hunter. Don’t wait for someone to open the door and push you through, Tetro said. Instead open your own doors and jump in and run with what’s in front of you without getting stuck in what you don’t know. And if an opportunity feels out of reach or inaccessible, draw on your network and don’t be afraid to ask for help, Tetro said. Don’t miss out because you didn’t try.
4. Be a relationship transformer. People are the key to everything you want to do, Tetro said, and every person you meet and interact with now could be a person you will cross paths with again so how you treat them matters. Tetro challenged students to “bolster not break,” and to put their energy into building strong relationships and figuring out how to use them to make things better for everyone.
5. Be a goodness builder. You are not just building a job or a career, Tetro said, you are building a better community and a better world. She encouraged students to lean in where they can make a difference, to give back, and to create change. Don’t build a career in isolation, she said. Make sure you are also building up other people as you go.

Finally, Tetro encouraged students to “just do one more.” Whether it’s one more networking event, one more sales phone call, one more fundraising pitch, or one more job application, doing “one more” is how we grow and get stronger in our skills and our confidence, Tetro said.

The annual Spencer Fox Eccles Convocation brings the Eccles community together each fall to celebrate start of a new school year, and to recognize the pivotal role of Spence Eccles and his aunt, Emma Eccles Jones, in establishing a $15 million endowment that has benefitted the Eccles School since 1991. To close this year’s event, Tetro recognized Spencer Fox Eccles and the Eccles family for their own efforts to “just do one more” and to give 110% to the U and the Eccles School, and she encouraged everyone in attendance to follow their example.

“Imagine what’s possible, through it out, and make it happen,” she said.