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CardinalCommerce: Meet Kamilla Gray '21

If you didn’t know any better, you would swear you were somewhere in the Silicon Valley on the West Coast when walking into the offices of CardinalCommerce in Mentor. A leader in digital commerce technology and payment authentication has a wide open, employee friendly feel throughout the entire complex. As you walk around you see conference rooms and offices named after well known Cleveland streets like E. 4th, W. 25th, Superior, and more. They also have special themed meeting rooms, like the Q and the Dawg Pound, where all of the furniture is orange, a fitness room, and game room to keep employees active. It’s definitely an environment that promotes creativity, and encourages fun and forward thinking.

Cardinal was founded in 1999, and over the course of just about two decades, become a global leader in authenticating payments, and providing safe and secure e-commerce transactions. Their success is due in large part to the wonderful culture they have created, and is why Kamilla Gray ‘21 looks forward to seeing her co-workers each week, “I really like it. My supervisors have been very helpful and they are a very supportive team. I can ask them anything and they will help me.” Those same supervisors keep Kamilla very busy, from answering the phones, to making sure the conference rooms are organized, available and ready to be used, to supply management and so much more. “There is not much we don’t ask Kamilla to do because she is so interested, reliable and involved,” says Crystal Leidy, office manager. “She is eager to learn, asks very good questions, catches me on things, and keeps me on my toes.”

Kamilla has really enjoyed her first year as a Lion, joining the debate club, volunteering for service opportunities and already is looking ahead to her sophomore year where she would like to get involved in athletics. “Saint Martin has been great. The academics are really good, and I can ask my teachers about work in any class, even personal things and they are always very supportive.” Kamilla already has her sights set on writing a book someday about her own life and empowering other girls to believe they can achieve whatever they put their mind to. None of what she does or wants to accomplish surprises Leidy, “Kamilla is hard working, very kind, social and just so helpful. We are just so happy every time she is here.”

CardinalCommerce is a wholly owned subsidiary of Visa and one of over 130 Cleveland area businesses and partners that we are so proud to collaborate with and provide meaningful opportunities for our students like Kamilla. We are always looking to grow our Corporate Work Study Program partners to help continue putting education to work in Cleveland. You can learn more about how to get engaged with our unique CWSP here.