Daria Esteen Beckom was the first college graduate in her vast family - an opportunity that led her to success in the corporate world. 

She attended an all-black, all-girls Catholic high school in New Orleans where she was taught by the Sisters of the Holy Family - a group who had a long-standing affiliation with the Sisters of Charity. After taking a class from Sister Mary Justin Carr from Seton Hill, she decided to attend college in Greensburg. 

While at Seton Hill, Daria worked with Project Headway, a program where Pittsburgh teens were invited to experience a college campus. She has stayed in contact with five of the young men in the program, who are now grandparents, for the past 50 years. 

Daria started her retail career working part-time at Sears Roebuck & Co. and entered Sears’ full-time executive training program after graduation. She spent the next 51 years working in retail, rising to the rank of Vice President and Corporate Officer at two of the largest retailers in the United States: Sears and then Walmart. She retired from corporate America in 2021 and served on the Board of Directors for Massmart Corporation in South Africa for two years. She received many performance and leadership awards throughout her career and has been an actively-involved volunteer in her community and various national non-profit organizations.

At Seton Hill, Daria made lifelong connections. It is where she met her husband as well as classmate Linda Fiorelli ‘74, who would be her mentor in navigating college and her early Sears career. She also found the women she considers her family - her African American classmates from the Class of 1974 who are joining her this weekend for their 50th reunion.

“My journey from inner-city, segregated New Orleans to the small Western PA town of Greensburg was a little bit frightening,” Daria said. “Seton Hill and the Sisters of Charity were a huge support system. Little did I know that the first bus ride to Seton Hill in 1970 would open so many doors.”