Plinio Ayala
CEO & President
Per Scholas
Newark, NJ USA
“Don’t forget where you came from, but more importantly, don’t let your yesterdays drive your tomorrows.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationPlinio Ayala
Milestones
My road in life has taken me all over.
I grew up in a rough neighborhood in the South Bronx and realized early on that careers create opportunities because I saw people leave those neighborhoods when their parents got a job.
One of my teachers saw potential in me and put extra effort into helping me grow that potential—this resulted in a scholarship to a school in Manhattan.
After graduating high school and college, I decided to take my credit card with a $1000 limit and go to Puerto Rico to start a business in refrigeration and air conditioning.
After a couple of years, I sold that business and moved back to the Bronx and was set on using the money I had produced to find a career that would help other people.
I ended up finding a job helping others write their job resumes, but I still wanted to help people on a much larger scale.
I started working with Per Scholas, which originally refurbished used computers for much lower than the market cost and taught the technology to others.
Half the original class we hired left after a few months because they now had the skills needed to succeed elsewhere—we realized this was our opportunity to train people in IT for career success.
We shifted the objective at Per Scholas to focus on workforce development and I eventually moved into the CEO position—we currently train about 10,000 people and hope to keep growing rapidly!
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Bachelor
American Studies
Wesleyan University
American Studies
Wesleyan University
Career
CEO & President
I lead a workforce development program that gives people the skillsets to succeed in a career.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Education
Technology
Helping People
Day to Day
I wake up early in the morning to go to the gym and think about previous and upcoming tasks while I work out. I get to the office before other employees start coming in so that I can answer emails, read reports, and analyze data. I then spend the rest of the day planning what the next iteration of the organization will look like. These are ideas like what city we should expand to next and what new training program should we launch. I also spend time traveling as president of the organization.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
Don't be afraid to say no to the things that aren't going to work for you. We need to realize when something—an educational program, a rule, an opportunity, anything!—doesn't work for everyone, say no to it, and come up with better solutions.
Hurdles
Challenges I Overcame
Socio-Economic Origin
Financial
Interviewed By
To Be Determined
Workforce training that opens up opportunities
