Hannah Cruz says the contest and ensuing fellowship cemented her desire – and ability – to pursue a career in economic development.
Like many college students, Hannah Cruz wasn’t certain what career path to choose until an experience she had at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy made things perfectly clear to her.
She was a few years older than most students when she entered USC Price’s Master of Public Administration (MPA) program in August 2024, having finished her undergraduate studies at Azusa Pacific University in 2018 with a major in criminal justice and double minors in organizational leadership and pre-law.
During those ensuing six years, Cruz worked as a paralegal in San Francisco and as a sourcing associate in New York City for the online jewelry retailer Stella & Dot.
She then served as a caretaker for her grandfather during his time in hospice while working remotely for International Sanctuary, which supports women survivors of human trafficking. She was inspired to pursue her MPA while working at that Los Angeles non-profit.
“I helped with fundraising and planning events, and that’s what led to me applying,” said Cruz. “USC Price had always been a dream school of mine since I was a kid.”
An enlightening experience
Cruz’s career path was cemented after she participated in the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge, a competition supported by Sunstone Management that tasks students with helping local governments create jobs in their communities.
Cruz and her team of first-generation college students entered the 2024-2025 competition with very little knowledge of economic development and few expectations about what the experience would entail.
Their project involved helping the City of Santa Clarita attract and retain small businesses as well as formalizing a system for city leaders to build relationships with the small business community via an online tool.
Cruz’s team placed third out of five teams in the competition.
“By the end of the challenge,” she said, “we had discovered a field that aligned with our interests and values. That competition was a pivotal moment for me.”
Hands-on work
The challenge sparked Cruz’s interest in economic development and ultimately led to her being awarded a Sunstone Fellowship.
For six months this year, she served as a research and management fellow with the Sunstone Cities team, supporting and leading projects in Lakewood and Malibu related to economic development consulting, strategic planning, staff augmentation, and a variety of other initiatives for local government and private-sector clients.
“I can confidently say it has been one of the most impactful professional experiences of my time at Price,” Cruz said. “The hands-on nature of the work allowed me to apply classroom concepts to real-world challenges while gaining exposure to the consulting process from project development to implementation.”
Valerie Savior, director of career services at USC Price, got to know Cruz mostly through career advising sessions.
“Hannah is a smart, focused, and engaging Price alum in all respects,” Savior said.
A student leader
Cruz served as vice president of Graduate Policy and Administration Community (GPAC), USC Price’s largest student association. She also was a graduate resident assistant, a student leadership position in which she worked with residents on campus as a mentor, role model, and resource.
“Not only was it wonderful watching her diversify her skills in public and private experiences while a student and serve the Price community as a student leader, but early in our association, she invited me to join her for lunch as a Norman Topping scholar, a mentor-mentee lunch usually attended by professors,” Savior said. “While a small matter, that speaks to her professionalism and her capacity to seek mentors across the university.”
Cruz said she entered USC Price with the goal to take advantage of every opportunity that came her way – as she puts it, “squeezing any lemon that was placed in front of me.”
While at USC Price, she went to Buenos Aires in Argentina through the International Labs program, which provide experiential learning opportunities in which students integrate classroom knowledge with professional practice by providing policy-related consulting services outside the United States.
She also served on Mentorship for an Accessible Price (MAP), which connects prospective students with current Price mentors to provide guidance, insight, and resources throughout the graduate school application process and student experience.
You’re hired
Cruz is a first-generation college student from Daly City in the Bay Area who grew up in a single-mother household.
“I really wanted to work hard with the intention of wanting to pay back my mom for all the hard work she put in raising me and my brothers,” she said.
Cruz initially planned to go to law school but realized it wasn’t for her.
She’s always had a passion for supporting communities and vulnerable groups – hence her work with International Sanctuary.
And it’s in that same spirit that she now is passionate about a career in economic development.
And that career has just begun.
After her Sunstone fellowship ended in June, the company hired Cruz as a full-time research and management analyst.
