Cynthia Rayner

Biography

Cynthia Rayner is a researcher, writer, and lecturer affiliated with the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. Her research focuses on how organizations and communities work to shape social systems in collective ways.

Cynthia's passion is finding "stories from the edge" that reveal the power of people in collectives. She recently co-authored a book, The Systems Work of Social Change, with Dr. Francois Bonnici. The book was published by Oxford University Press in September 2021 (https://www.thesystemswork.org/). She is also the Systems Storytelling Initiative Lead at the Collective Change Lab and a member of Catalyst 2030.

Cynthia’s work in social change began when, as a recovering management consultant, she joined the LGT Impact Fellowship which brought her to South Africa for more than a decade. She has served in several organizations, including Generation Ubuntu, an afterschool program educating children in Cape Town; mothers2mothers, an African social enterprise employing women to guide other women to good health; and the Starfish Greathearts Foundation, a nonprofit supporting children and families in South Africa.

Cynthia also enjoys investing in small businesses that act as communities for people to achieve their personal potential. She and her sister, Erica Whalen, are the co-owners of Mang’Oh Yoga, a yoga studio in New York City which is home to a vibrant community of teachers, students and staff.

Cynthia holds a BA from Georgetown University and an MBA from INSEAD. She lives in Austin, Texas.