Cynthia Giles

CYNTHIA GILES has an M.A. from the Institute of Philosophic Studies at the University of Dallas, and a Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas, with a major concentration in aesthetic studies. Her interdisciplinary coursework encompassed cultural anthropology, phenomenological and archetypal psychology, aesthetics, and history of religions. During her graduate education, she had the good fortune to be in classes or programs with Jacques Barzun, Hannah Arendt, Marshall McLuhan, James Hillman, Robert Plant Armstrong, and Robert Sardello.

She began a career in publishing as managing editor of the prestigious Jungian publishing company Spring Publications, and ended as editor-in-chief of Saybrook Publishers, an independent trade house specializing in books that illuminate the intersection of politics and psychology. There she edited works by Rollo May, Norman Cousins, and others.

After leaving publishing in 1986, Cynthia taught at several colleges, and wrote A Collector’s Guide to Vintage Clothing (Ballantine, 1989), Turning East: New Lives in India (with Malcolm Tillis, Paragon House, 1991), The Tarot: History, Mystery, and Lore (Paragon House, 1992, Simon & Schuster, 1994), The Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg (U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 1996), and The Tarot: Methods, Mastery, and More (Simon & Schuster, 1996).

Beginning in 1995, Cynthia Giles built a successful consulting practice that included information technology specializations, as well as corporate and marketing communications. She has been Communications Director for the Year 2000 program at Southwest Airlines; product designer for a cutting-edge information access tool developed by Parago, Inc.; strategy consultant for data warehousing projects at La Quinta Inns, PepsiCo, and Baylor Scott & White; and instructional design consultant for Greyhound Lines. In addition, Giles has provided a variety of freelance services for small businesses and professional practices, as well as content development for business blogs such as Corporate Eye and Trends and Outliers.

In addition to her consulting practice, Cynthia Giles has been working for more than a decade as an independent scholar, producing academic essays for prestigious reference works such as the Literature Criticism Online series, Gale's Literature of War and Literature of Protest, the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, and Worldmark Global Business and Economic Issues,

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In everyday life, she’s a painter, hiker, dreamer, semi-retired party girl, and information glutton. Two adult sons and a few fine friends complete the picture.