Question for the Culture
Cathy Rong
Founder, Cat Darling Agency
Why I Chose Cathy
I chose Cathy because I think it is very important to understand the perspective of those who have been invited into the room. Those who have had access to power, influence, celebrity, and especially high-net-worth individuals, where it takes a different kind of strength, a different kind of confidence, and a different kind of finesse to navigate rooms that a lot of people simply do not have access to.
What struck me about Cathy is that she was willing to look around the room, build the room, and notice what was missing within it.
There is an importance in that by itself. Being able to curate the room and be a catalyst for change. To create an opportunity for someone else to build, to grow, and to have access to something you have already had access to. Because with a certain amount of dollars, a certain amount of influence, and a certain amount of access, you become responsible for culture in some way.
Through Cat Darling Agency, Cathy is able to do just that. As she says, being able to look at people and ideas and say, "This person should know this person. This idea deserves to exist. These people should be in the room."
Cathy has also spoken about being a great assistant as a gateway into more. More career opportunities. More business opportunities. More access to seeing the pieces of how things actually happen that many people may never get to see throughout their careers. She spent years close enough to those pieces to understand that there really is very little magic involved. It is relationships, trust, timing, taste, and knowing how to connect the dots.
But what interested me most was what she decided to do with that access.
She didn't just continue waiting to be invited into someone else's ecosystem. She decided to build one of her own. And in doing so, create a room where she gets to notice who is missing, make the introduction, advocate for the idea, and create opportunities that did not exist before.
That is why I chose Cathy.
Because there is power in getting into the room. But there is a different kind of power in learning everything you can while you're there, then turning around and building a room big enough for somebody else to enter.
The Question
When you've spent years close enough to power to see how ideas actually become opportunities, careers, and cultural moments, what have you learned about the difference between being invited into the room and eventually deciding to build a room of your own?
Her Answer
“I've learned that being invited into the room and building the room require two completely different kinds of confidence.”
For years, I was very fortunate to be in rooms that most people never get access to. I got to see up close how an idea goes from something someone says casually at dinner to an event, a partnership, a television show, a cultural moment. And what I learned is that there's actually very little magic involved. It's relationships, trust, timing, taste, and having someone who knows how to connect all of those dots.
But I also started noticing who wasn't in those rooms. And how many great ideas never became anything simply because the person with the idea didn't have the right access, infrastructure, or advocate.
CDA really came from wanting to build that infrastructure myself. I didn't want to spend my entire career waiting to be invited into someone else's ecosystem, or only using what I'd learned to further someone else's vision. I wanted to create a place where I could say, this person should know this person; this idea deserves to exist; these people should be in the room.
And I think the biggest shift has been realizing that power isn't actually being the most important person in the room. It's being able to create the room, curate who's in it, and then create opportunities for people that didn't exist before.
That's ultimately what I want Cat Darling Agency to be. Not just an agency that executes things, but a connector and a catalyst, something that can turn a good idea or an unexpected introduction into a real opportunity.
About Cathy
