Professor Zuleika Cuevas
MBA, MA · Career-Readiness Strategist & Communication Advisor · Former VP, Talent & Diversity
I kept watching capable students lose opportunities they had earned, not for lack of ability, but because they couldn't communicate the value they already had. The problem was never a skills gap. It was a positioning gap.Professor Zuleika Cuevas, Founder
Professor Zuleika Cuevas works where the classroom meets the boardroom, and she has led in both. She served as a Vice President in Talent and Diversity at global enterprises including Citibank and Allstate, helping decide who gets hired, advanced, and trusted with high-stakes work. Alongside that, for more than a decade she has taught communication, public speaking, and career readiness across some of New York's most competitive universities: NYU, Pace, Mercy University, and St. John's. A Harvard Business Review Advisory Council member and ATD Master Trainer, she prepares students and emerging professionals to communicate their value the way leaders do.
She founded PITCH on a conviction shaped by that work: most students don't fall short on ability. They fall short on positioning. Her programs change that. She moves capable, under-recognized talent through a real venture process until they can walk into a room, own their story, and defend it under pressure. Direct, exacting, and fully invested in the people she teaches, she builds the kind of confidence that holds when the stakes are highest.
Beyond the classroom, Professor Cuevas is a featured voice on confidence and executive presence, including The Victory Podcast with Travis Cody.
Her experience across higher education includes:
- NYU School of Professional StudiesFaculty & Student Advisorsince 2018
- Pace UniversityAdjunct Associate Professor, Public Speakingsince 2025
- Mercy UniversityAdjunct Instructor, Communication / Marketing / Entrepreneurshipsince 2013
- St. John's UniversityFaculty, Public Speakingsince 2024
- Harvard Business ReviewAdvisory Council Membersince 2024
Institutions reflect Professor Cuevas's own teaching and advisory experience, not an endorsement or sponsorship of Pitch Venture Lab.
- MA, Organizational Communication, Kean University
- MBA, Management, Adelphi University
- BBA, Pace University
- ATD Master Trainer
- ATD Coaching Certificate
- Administrator, Columbia Coaching Certification Program, Columbia University
- IDI License (Intercultural Development Inventory)
- Teaching Online Certification, St. John's University
How she thinks about confidence and career readiness.
On The Victory Show with Travis Cody, Professor Cuevas talks through executive presence, confident communication, and what it takes for a young person to lead their own career, the same thinking that shapes every session students sit in.
The Victory Show with Travis Cody“Zuleika Cuevas on Confidence, Executive Presence, and Becoming the CEO of Your Career”
Listen to the episode