Our Goal at SOLS has always been to create a community of Sisterhood and love and to give back to our local community. Since day one, my dream was to be able to start a scholarship fund to help all underrepresented women wanting to attend college but that maybe don't have the means to do so.
As young Mexican Americans, my siblings and I became the first generation in our family to attend and graduate college. But because of language barriers with our parents and simply not knowing what resources were available, paying for college always seemed daunting. We all worked 1-2 jobs while attending school full time. But I was lucky enough to find a program at the University of Utah while I attended for my undergrad that helped all underrepresented students of all backgrounds. They are called the Opportunity Scholars. They Focus on recruiting and nurturing students of diverse backgrounds throughout their educational career at the University of Utah’s business school.
I loved that this program focused on giving everyone an opportunity to thrive. While I attended, there was a lot of focus on all women as a collective (including white, brown, black, etc) because women as a whole Female sex are so underrepresented in business.
They are privately funded so they are able to provide scholarships to anyone without too many extra hoops. I remember when the program director approached me and told me that a couple had provided a scholarship for me, it changed my life.
My hope with this fund is to be able to repay that debt. To be able to give some young woman the opportunity that was given to me, regardless of my background, parent’s income, and not perfect GPA.
Because they believed in me, I am who I am today. And in the wake of all this chaos in the world today, I believe education is key to invest in our next generational leaders, all of them! Half of the money from this fund will go to The Opportunity Scholars Program at the University of Utah and the other half will go to a candidate chosen by our team, through an application process we will set forth, to attend any school and pursue any degree of their choice.
Please feel free to email us with any questions at hola@shopsols.com
