Sylvie Curci, MPA/MPH '15 first became aware of emergency preparedness as an undergraduate. She had volunteered at a hospital in Haiti, working largely offsite with community organizers, and was preparing to travel there for her final thesis when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and displacing more than a million people. From colleagues' firsthand accounts and news reports, Sylvie said, "It was clear that medical needs were not being met, not only due to a lack of resources, but because response policies and procedures were unavailable, or unrealistic."
Considering graduate school, Sylvie was unsure of committing to a programmatic standpoint or a more policy-related approach. She enrolled in the dual degree that GPH offers with NYU Wagner and pursued a combined MPA/MPH, so she could explore both. Even so, completing two master's degrees in three years was hectic.
Sylvie did, however, find time to work at the UN, at the International Aid Transparency Initiative, and to volunteer at the American Red Cross—just as Hurricane Sandy walloped the Caribbean and coastal mid-Atlantic states in 2012. She camped out at headquarters to support emergency service efforts, making valuable connections to people and gaining insight into the field. "I worked a lot with training teams and managing volunteers," she explained, "and my career trajectory has since focused on educating and managing people, on engaging the public during emergencies. That began with my work at the Red Cross; it proved to be a formative experience."
After graduating from NYU in 2015, Sylvie spent a few years as an independent consultant, explaining, "Two degrees and several internships in three years was a lot of work! I was lucky that I had friends and family in New York, a lot of social support. Even so, I was quite burned out, and needed to find my edge." Craving a creative outlet and exploring an interest in public messaging that was sparked during her time in Haiti, where she saw how it was crafted and disseminated for vaccination campaigns, she focused on building educational brand messaging for health and wellness companies. "That experience served me well," Sylvie noted. "My current supervisor said it was why I was her top candidate for the role at the time; she recognized and appreciated the creative skills I had gained."
Sylvie was working full-time for a health food company when Covid-19 struck; she responded to a post from her former NYU advisor, John Gershman, that NYC Health + Hospitals needed contact tracers. She filled various roles there for two years, ultimately moving to the situation room for the Department of Education, helping to coordinate communication. Sylvie explained, "If there was a cluster of cases in a neighborhood, my team spoke to representatives from the school district, contact tracers and others. In emergencies, messages from City Hall can change every day, and typically do, so procedures were changing rapidly, and it was intense. Everyone was virtual, and that just added a level of complication." But the virtual aspect of her work also taught her a valuable lesson: "I didn’t need to be in a clinic with my boots on the ground; a focus on effective procedures and policies can really help with higher-level communication."
Emerging from the pandemic with strengths in messaging and marketing, Sylvie took a position with NYC’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as a training manager in the Bureau of Emergency Field Operations, creating educational materials for folks on the frontlines. "Historically they used external vendors," she said, "and were looking to bring it in-house. I had experience framing and delivering messages in an official way, using my public health and governmental experience. Those creative strengths were a strong fit for the role, which I did for a little under a year."
Sylvie has since risen to Senior Planning Manager within the same unit, working on high-level emergency planning. "My favorite part is learning how much our work connects with every city agency and NGO and community-based organization. Every week I'm introduced via a talk or an email to a new aspect of the organization; it just blows my mind how broad and far-reaching these programs are."
From earthquakes to hurricanes to pandemics, Sylvie's expertise in emergency management may lead to other career possibilities, at a different agency or governmental level, a private firm or an NGO. "There are so many elements to explore," she admits. "But as long as I stay in the emergency management arena, that’s where I'd like to live; I'm really happy with it."
In fact, exploring options is exactly the advice that Sylvie gives to GPH students. "As an undergraduate, my public health courses were fairly uniform in their experiences, but with my master's degrees at NYU, I started to engage with a broader range of people, individuals who worked at the medical school, or on their own independent project, or for firms and private entities. Their aspirations inspired me to explore my own; so ask your classmates about their plans, talk to your faculty about their scholarship, discover how they established their career. Consider things from all angles, because it may surprise you where you land."