Tina Cundari, English Major

After talking to a friend in an English class about her part job to earn some side money while attending the College of Charleston, Tina Cundari applied for a paralegal position while also earning her English degree. Richard N. Bolles in What Color is Your Parachute? (2022) states that you should choose a degree “because you feel passion, enthusiasm, and energy with this choice” (76). As a first-generation college student, Tina did just that, switching from a pre-med track to one that interested her far more: the English major. Feeling pressured by her mother to “get a job that has health insurance,” it made sense for Tina to remain in the paralegal position following graduation. So, Tina did just that. With her freshly inked bachelor’s degree in tow, Tina continued to work for the law firm in her paralegal position, eventually having the opportunity to move to Puerto Rico when the tobacco industry was being sued. After the case was closed, she moved in with a friend in New Mexico, where she decided to apply to law schools all around the country. 

Tina knew she needed to find a new direction four years after graduating undergrad. She also knew that working in a law office had given her that “spark” that had previously made her switch from biology classes to literature ones. Reflecting on her decision to become a lawyer, she states, “It was like a dream for me… that’s why I ultimately went to law school––I knew no matter what happened, I would enjoy the core skills [of an English major] that it takes to be a lawyer––which is the research, the reading, and the writing” So, when she was accepted to UNC Chapel Hill Law, she packed up her life and moved back across the country.

Tina grew up in Chicago, but moved to South Carolina at a young age following her parent’s divorce. She attended public schools in the Ladson area, eventually only applying to the College of Charleston, where she was admitted and invited to the Honors College. A life-long yogi and basketball lover, Tina now finds balance with her impressive law career through exercise, including walks with her husband and dog. Even more, she maintains her love of literature by escaping into captivating memoirs or Southern lit at the end of the workday (with Their Eyes Were Watching God being her all-time favorite.)

When talking with Tina about the advice she wishes could give herself as a senior English major, she stated, “I wish I had known that everything was going to work out. That everything would be okay…I wish I knew earlier, too, that your background, your family connections––or lack thereof––or anything about your past…none of it has to define you.” Tina’s advice is quite clear: don’t mentally confine yourself. Don’t have a wealthy family with an extensive network? As Tina says, “You can make those connections, build those relationships. You can build your own community.” Don’t like the book you’re reading for pleasure? Start a different one. Don’t like where you live? Move somewhere new to be with a friend. Establish a community for yourself, create a sense of belonging. 

Now, as an attorney at Smith Robinson Attorneys at Law and an advanced legal writing course instructor at the University of South Carolina Law School, Tina is on a path she could’ve never foreseen when she was a young, first-generation student. She tells her students now to read for pleasure at the start of the academic term, outside of the extensive required readings of the law. To read outside the law is a process of bettering one’s own writing, while simultaneously opening one’s eyes to a new empathetic perspective. Zena Hitz writes in Lost in Thought that “the unleisurely life of the lawcourts…is evidently the product of education and choice” (39). Tina’s method of being, something that Hitz seems to find difficult to obtain, allows her to enjoy life and a busy career. She knows not to work herself to burnout by setting boundaries that will foster a healthy relationship between her work and personal life. For Tina, reading is a kind of therapy. But this “therapy” or, as Hitz calls it, “leisure” can be “savored in a moment” or after a period of intrinsic contemplation (36-37). In summary, Tina can have her English cake and eat it, too.