Cynthia Preston ’26 Tailored Her Way to a Marketing Degree

Cynthia Preston ’26 established herself as a tailor in the fashion industry. Throughout her career, she said she often heard people say there was “no such thing as female tailors,” but she didn’t let that discourage her from pursuing her passion.

After retiring, Preston started thinking about what her next step could be. She decided to return to college to pursue a degree.

“It came to a place where it literally was just me and what I wanted to do, and what would make me happy and fulfilled," she said.

Determining Her Next Chapter

When choosing what to study, Preston considered both advertising and marketing.

She said that when she researched potential schools, she came across Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) website. She noted that SNHU's academic catalog appealed to her.

Still weighing her options, Preston reached out to the admission team to learn more about the university and the programs it had to offer.

"Their conversation made me feel that SNHU was right for me," she said.

After considering her options, Preston ultimately chose the Bachelor of Science (BS) in Marketing program.

Once enrolled, she was assigned an academic advisor, Chris Legee. Throughout each term, Legee and other advisors check in with their students to see how classes are going and offer support along the way.

“(He) has been awesome through the whole journey,” Preston said.

Beyond the Major

Within all programs at SNHU, students complete required general education courses, such as English, history and science, alongside more focused courses in their area of study — in Preston’s case, marketing.

"I was thinking, why should I take a science class? I'm an artist, you know, but these are world/life things,” she said. “And you don't graduate as an ignorant graduate.”

Overall, Preston noted that she enjoyed her classes.

“It’s amazing how all these things came together,” she said. “And the way SNHU set this up from your first courses to the end, you could see how they correlated from your sophomore year to your senior year.”

Following Her Passion

After completing the marketing program earlier this year, Preston traveled from Georgia to New Hampshire to attend the SNHU Commencement.

“It’s been a long journey, and although I was a student online, I felt it was important to physically participate in the commencement ceremony," she said. "It meant a lot to me."

As she reflected on her time at SNHU, Preston shared what she hopes new students will take away from their college experience.

"My advice would be (that) a college degree is awesome, but please study something that you're passionate about," she said.

She suggested choosing a degree that will offer happiness — that way you can avoid feeling unfulfilled at a later point in life.

“I think passion, the word passion, is real big for me because I’m passionate about what I do and what I like,” Preston said.

MaKaia Brown '25 is a content marketing assistant and writer at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). Her first bachelor’s degree was in media communication from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. She completed her second bachelor’s degree in graphic design with SNHU through the Disney Aspire program. She is now continuing her education by pursuing a master’s degree in communication with a concentration in public relations with SNHU. Connect with her on LinkedIn.