RUSULENNI CASTRO

Founder, Generation Wealthy

Revenue Accountant, Netflix

Heritage: Dominican-American

Age: 27

 

Notable Accomplishments:

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• Generation Wealthy was a Google featured organization for fundraising

• 2012 Atkinson Opportunity Grant

 

By: Alejandro Ramirez

 

Boston native Rusulenni Castro uses videos, social media, and her own education to help struggling young adults and teenagers develop strong financial literacy skills as part of Generation Wealthy, an online educational platform.

 

Castro writes and edits most of the content for the nonprofit, which she co-founded with Samantha Ealy, a fellow Bostonian and a Google employee.

 

Ealy contacted Castro about the idea for Generation Wealthy, and Castro said they connected on a desire to use their education and experience to help disadvantaged kids take control of their financial future.

 

It’s a very personal project for Castro. She’s the oldest of six children, raised by a single mother who came to the States from the Dominican Republic in the 1980s. Castro grew up in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood and was the first in her family to go to college.

 

Castro graduated from Bentley in 2013, and later earned an MS in accounting at Northeastern University in 2014.

 

After finishing her education, she worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Boston.  Eventually, she looked west to Silicon Valley.

 

Castro received offers from all over the valley. She accepted a job as a revenue accountant for Netflix and moved to San Jose, CA in 2015. Netflix even featured her in their “First Time I Saw Me” campaign, a series of videos in which actors, directors, and Netflix employees discussed representation and diversity in the media.

 

It was on the West Coast that she helped found Generation Wealthy. In 2016, the nonprofit, which started in Castro’s living room, grew from 5 members to 15, and raised $20,000. Google also highlighted Generation Wealthy for Giving Week last December, and the Black Googler Holiday Party selected it as a featured nonprofit.

 

“I never thought it would get this big, or get this much funding!” she said.

 

Castro isn’t sure what’s next for her, but plans to keep moving forward. “I’m just amazed at the fact that little old me from Jamaica Plain has made it as far” she said.