Profile: Norma De La Cruz
Norma De La Cruz is a senior administrative associate in the HR Department. She supports the department in a number of ways, including scheduling meetings, processing invoices and P-card reconciliations, filing, and handling mail. When the College transitioned to Workday, she began supporting the HR Service Center team as well. She monitors HR’s Zendesk tickets and either resolves them herself or works with the appropriate colleagues to find solutions.
She also serves as the interim leave administrator, providing information about the leave process to employees. She acts as a liaison with the College’s leave vendor, Lincoln Financial, and manages the process in Workday, which entails placing employees on leave and adding their accrued paid time off to supplement their pay. Other duties include administering the Sick Bank Program and assisting employees with any issues they might have with accrued time off (sick, vacation, and personal time).
Another important part of her job is overseeing the Ergonomics Program and helping to fulfill ADA requests. When an employee needs special equipment for their office, such as a stand-up desk or ergonomic chair, De La Cruz works with Risk Management to complete the request. After receiving a doctor’s recommendation from the employee, she purchases items and submits work requests for the items to be installed in the employee’s office. For ADA requests, she works with HR business partners to answer any questions, send employees the required documentation, and determine a reasonable accommodation.
Later this summer, De La Cruz will be celebrating her three-year anniversary at Emerson. Her favorite thing about working here is the people. She said that she has met incredible people all over campus and really enjoys working with her immediate colleagues. “Everyone on the team is willing to help out and troubleshoot issues, even if the issues are outside of their usual work area. It is a great team to be part of,” she said.
Prior to Emerson, she worked at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she was an administrative assistant at a lab in the Anesthesiology Department. She was the store manager of a children’s retail store for 10 years before transitioning to administrative work.
A native of Boston, De La Cruz and her family moved to the Dominican Republic when she was young. She returned to Massachusetts to attend college and obtained a degree in international relations from Mount Holyoke College. She currently lives in West Roxbury with her husband and “very active” five-year-old son, who is referred to as a co-worker by her HR colleagues, since he has made many appearances in Zoom meetings during the pandemic.
Volunteering is one of De La Cruz’s favorite hobbies. She has volunteered with Boston Cares, Cradles to Crayons, and Prison Book Program, and she has VITA/TCE certification to prepare taxes for low-income families with the Boston Tax Help Coalition.
An avid reader, she has recently started listening to podcasts and audiobooks. And a new hobby that she’d like to find time for is sewing and repurposing secondhand clothing.
Her love of crafting comes in handy when she assists her husband with his photography business. At any given shoot, she may be setting up a background, decorating a flower swing, or making balloon garlands. She also takes pictures and helps with filming at weddings, quinceañeras, and Sweet Sixteen events.
Nancy Howell (Communications and Marketing)