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,” says Trejo.

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.

“Gary invested in me,” says Trejo. “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.”

Like Trejo, Trujillo grew up in a poor Hispanic neighborhood in South Phoenix. A mentor helped him overcome the challenges of under-resourced schools and limited opportunity. He went to college, Wall Street, and HBS, and started his own investment firm, Southwest Harvard Group, before returning home to give back to his community.

Since 2002, the Be A Leader Foundation (BALF) has impacted thousands of underserved youth like Trejo in Arizona, and currently serves more than 14,000 middle, high school and college students annually. Programs aim to develop leadership skills, self-awareness, and familiarity with pathways to postsecondary education. They help students prepare for and transition to a college or trade school, including sorting out financial aid, and offer regular support and encouragement to get students to graduation and beyond.

After Trejo spent a decade on Wall Street as an investment banker with Bank of America, he’s back in Phoenix, working alongside Trujillo as a Be A Leader board member. He is also an active mentor, particularly for Hispanic students who aspire to a career in finance or to attend HBS. With his help, Be A Leader now has a vital partnership with HBS Admissions.

“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 was our first Be A Leader kid to go the 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 2021, the pair also went into business together, when they bought Standard Printing Company, a provider of bill printing and mailing services located in Phoenix. Since then, Trejo has been learning the ropes as president and CEO, while Trujillo serves as Chairman.

“A lot of beautiful things came out of this relationship with Gary,” says Trejo. “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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