JULISA SALAS

Tech Entrepreneur and Strategic Initiatives Manager, Toast

Heritage: Dominican-American

Age: 27

 

Recognitions:

• Posse Foundation Full Tuition Scholarship, 2006-2010

• Recognized from Univision as an immigrant daughter accepted into HBS

• Recognition for startup, Tressed from Black Enterprise and BKReader 2016

• Selected to participate at Harvard's Innovation Lab, 2016

 

By: Tim Estiloz

                 

Julisa Salas has not only been a successful entrepreneur creating services that benefit her community; but also, she is a testament to determination, drive and confidence. As co-founder of the non-profit Blingitt while in college she, along with two associates, created an entity that taught students how to better manage their finances.

 

“For us, it was extremely important to empower students financially,” said Salas, “so, they were better equipped to make life changing decisions; such as, how much debt to take on for college, how to manage credit scores, and how to balance a budget.”

 

Salas also co-founded Tressed, an on-demand hairstyling service for multicultural women to address their specific needs not sufficiently met elsewhere. “I wanted to prove that we can reimagine what services in our communities can look like,” said Salas, “… and inspire others to address problems they see in our neighborhoods.”

 

A born and raised native of Washington Heights, New York, Salas came to Boston to attend Harvard Business School. Coming from humble beginnings, Salas’ parents always stressed that education is the most important factor for future success.

 

“My parents always impressed upon me the value of really hard work and that’s something that I’ve tried to take with me,” said Salas.

 

“What I’ve always tried to do is connect with people from my community; whether on a mentorship level or attending a diversity initiative or speaking to people about next steps in their career. For me, it’s not just about furthering yourself, it’s about furthering your community.”

 

Currently, Salas is the Strategic Initiatives Manager at Toast which is a point of sale and processing service for restaurants. “The reason I chose to come to Toast was to build a business with a great mission,” said Salas. “I think as I learn from the excellent management and people that work here about how to build a scalable business; these are lessons that I hope I can pass on to our community.”

 

Salas credits those who have helped her along the way during her career with her determination to live by a motto of “paying it forward” by helping others in need professionally.

 

“I’ve been super privileged to have incredible mentors who have always helped me figure out my next step and next path”, said Salas. “The fact that I’ve had so many different people help me has been very motivating to me to make them proud; but hopefully to also give back a fraction of what I’ve been given”.

 

“I think it’s a huge honor to be part of this year’s El Mundo Boston Latino 30 Under 30,” said Salas. “It shows that together, we can shine a spotlight on Latino talent that we can start our own communities of people who want to do different things; and as a community we can really achieve all of those goals.”