From Fashion to School Leadership, Catarina’s Third Culture Journey

In this episode of Evolution Stories, Christian Talbot sits down with Catarina Song Chen, a true third culture kid whose leadership journey spans South Korea, Paraguay, the United States, and Brazil. Catarina shares how she stumbled into teaching after a career in fashion and ultimately became head of an international school facing severe challenges, including losing accreditation, unstable leadership, low enrollment, and community mistrust.

She discusses what it took to rebuild the school from the ground up. From discovering the school lacked essential licenses to repairing culture, designing new learning models, and engaging parents through intentional listening tours, Catarina details both her failures and breakthroughs. She reflects on missteps like implementing co-teaching too quickly and the humility required to listen, course correct, and rebuild trust.

Now serving the U.S. Department of State as a Regional Education Officer and inaugural leader of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, Catarina offers clear, hard-earned lessons on leading wise and sustainable change.