Illustration by Gisela Goppel

Illustration by Gisela Goppel

When Michael Trejo (MBA 2013) was a freshman at Arizona State University (ASU) in 2005, he almost lost his full scholarship. "I just really lacked direction, and needed to focus," says Trejo, who had a prodigious skill and passion for finance, but lacked role models to show him the way.

That's when he joined ASU's Hispanic Students Business Association and met a local investment banker and entrepreneur named Gary Trujillo (MBA 1990), who became a life-changing mentor. Trujillo and his wife, Melissa, cofounded the Be A Leader Foundation, a nonprofit focused on improving educational opportunities and outcomes for underserved, predominantly Hispanic youth in Arizona. "As my mentor, Gary invested in me as a student and as a person," says Trejo, a Phoenix native, whose Latino family's roots run seven generations deep in the city. "Within two years of meeting him, I had two internships on Wall Street and was accepted to the HBS 2+2 program. It was like a light switched on for me and everything changed."

Trujillo grew up in a poor Hispanic neighborhood in South Phoenix, and with the help of a mentor, managed to overcome the challenges of poverty, under-resourced schools, and limited opportunity. He found his way to college, Wall Street, and HBS, then started his own investment firm, Southwest Harvard Group, before returning home, determined to give back to his community. "I grew up like Michael, in an underrepresented community," says Trujillo. "My parents never finished high school." Trujillo's mentor, Pete Garcia, a community leader who worked to empower poor families, set him on the path to success, and it was Garcia's reminders to "be a leader" that inspired the name of his foundation.

Since 2002, the Be A Leader Foundation (BALF) has impacted the lives of thousands of underserved youth like Trejo in Arizona, and currently serves more than 14,000 middle, high school, and college students annually. Be A Leader programming—offered in partnership with multiple Arizona school districts—starts in grade 7 and is designed to develop leadership skills, self-awareness, and familiarity with pathways to postsecondary education. High school BALF programs provide students with critical skills and support to successfully prepare for, apply, and transition to a college or trade school, including sorting out the complexities of the financial aid process.

Be A Leader also partners with several colleges and universities to provide individual support throughout the admissions, enrollment, and transition process. Once students are enrolled, Be A Leader helps them connect to college tutoring services, provides internship and career planning, and offers monthly check-ins with a college success coordinator all the way to graduation. "The kids we work with are similar to me," says Trujillo. "Growing up poor, the idea is embedded in you that you don't get to do things that people with resources get to do. But we tell all of our kids, ‘don't be afraid to try, to dream, to expand your horizons and go for the best that you can become.' It's an honor to work with them."

After getting his MBA and a Master of Public Policy (MPP) at Harvard Kennedy School, and receiving multiple honors for his leadership, Trejo quickly rose through the ranks at Bank of America. He then spent nearly a decade traveling around the world and working on billion-dollar transactions in the renewable and clean energy sector.

Now, Trejo is back home, working alongside his mentor as a Be A Leader board member. He is also an active mentor, particularly for Hispanic students who aspire to have a career in finance or attend HBS. With his help, Be A Leader now has a vital partnership with HBS Admissions, and both Trejo and Trujillo avail themselves to help with applications, recommendations, and even practice interviews. "Michael was one of our first Be A Leader grads and he's quickly become our poster child for the program's success," says Trujillo. "He became our first Be A Leader kid to go to Harvard Business School, and now we have 26. That inspires me, and I told Michael that before I leave this Earth, I want us to send 100 Arizonans to HBS."

In the meantime, Trejo's full-circle story is still unfolding. When he felt it was time to go back to Phoenix, he called Trujillo, and the two decided to invest in a local company together. In 2021, they bought Standard Printing Company, a provider of bill printing and mailing services, and business form printing. Since then, Trejo has been learning the ropes as president and CEO, while Trujillo serves as Chairman.

Together, they are working to make sure the company thrives, which means their employees and, by extension, the community, can thrive as well. It is an ambitious goal, but one boosted by the fact that some of the employees at Standard Printing Company have children in the Be A Leader programs.

"It's really been wonderful," says Trejo. "From Gary being the guy who pointed me in the direction of Wall Street, writing my recommendation letter for Harvard, to now being my business partner—a lot of beautiful things came out of this relationship. So, I try to do something similar for as many people as I can, because there's so much talent that you can unlock when you start to believe in people. They go in all these wonderful directions and it changes their lives. I just want to spread that around."

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