Yulkendy Valdez is a 2016-2017 Net Impact Racial Equity Fellow and a student at Babson College studying Business Management. As her action project, she is using her company, Project 99 to organize a retreat style program to bring together 100 students to explore identity, systematic racism in the US, and inclusive leadership skills.
On her fellowship experience Yulkendy says “Being a Net Impact Racial Equity Fellow has given me the opportunity to be part of an amazing community of doers, shakers, and activists who won’t stop till our campuses, our workplaces, and communities in general become more inclusive. This entire experience has given me energy and optimism that together we can move the needle towards achieving equity for all.”
Read on to learn more about Yulkendy and her co-founder, Josuel Plasencia and how they are bringing diversity to Corporate America through Project 99.
With 2017 graduation looming across America, many students are finalizing plans for what comes next. For Babson seniors, Yulkendy Valdez and Josuel Plasencia, what is next is happening now. Together, they are the co-founders of Project 99, a social venture enabling millennials of color to not only get a seat but also stay at the table of Corporate America through workforce development programs, network of mentors-femtors and conferences - all for millenials of color by millennials of color. Today, diverse professionals are 3 times more likely than their counterparts to drop out of work, Project 99 aims to make this dropout rate no more.
Yulkendy’s and Josuel work is very much connected to their upbringing as a daughter and a son to immigrant families who lacked representation in professional services. Yulkendy immigrated from the Dominican Republic to the city of St. Louis at age 10, at which point she did not speak English. 3 years later she was a finalist in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. Josuel was born and raised by a single mother who immigrated from the Dominican Republic to an attic room in Queens, New York. Despite this, the skies have always been the limit for him. As senior in high school, he was named the Junior Achievement Student of the Year.
Both of them have stories that make them unique but that also inspired the same desire and commitment to a world that where no matter who you are - you have access to opportunity. This shared commitment was apparent when Yulkendy and Josuel both met just a few weeks into their Babson experience. Right after meeting, it was clear that both of them had an opportunity to take their common vision and put it into action.
Fast-forward from their freshman year in 2014 to their senior year in 2017, Project 99 has enabled over 100 young people through their programs at a global scale. Having launched in the United States, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Chile with the support of organizations like Resolution Project, EY and Delta Airlines, they have had great success. Every single participant in a Project 99 program would recommend it to another person as participants express increased self-awareness, teamwork ability and adaptability.
All things considered, this is only the start for Project 99. As Yulkendy and Josuel prepare for life at Babson alumni, so does Project 99’s expansion into working with leading organizations that can provide a ripple effect of their work in recognizing and giving visibility to millennials of color. Two organizations that have committed to their movement include, a multi-national global technology powerhouse and Humano, a leading Latin American health insurance company. In these companies, Project 99 will be put up to the task, to work with millennials in their respective companies to provide a space for them to be engaged on a personal and community level.
If you don't work for one of these companies you can still catch Project 99 on the road, speaking at the Ashoka U Exchange and the Harvard Social Entrepreneurship Conference this spring. In fact, Yulkendy and Josuel are also co-chairs of the 11th National Dominican Students Conference, which is coming to Babson this March 31st to April 2nd. The NDSC is an annual event featuring the highest quality in academic workshops, inspirational speakers, and networking events — for and by the Dominican-American community. Attended by over 400 student leaders annually it has been hosted in various colleges around the country, from Harvard to NYU, and now it is coming to Babson.
Project 99 envisions a future where the millennial workforce is stronger, resilient and visible. This will lead into more African-Americans and Latinx professionals entering leadership roles. Today only 3% of senior leaders in corporate america are Black or Latinx while the demographic represents 30% of the country. Yulkendy and Josuel believe that when millennials are brought together, they are able to inspire and enable each other in powerful ways. Perhaps the same way that both of them meeting and working together, led to the creation of a startup that is crucial to the future of America. In fact, Project 99 gets its name from the Human Genome Project, a scientific report that confirms that at the DNA level we are 99.9% alike and .01% different. In other words, we are all capable yet we are all special in our own unique way.
Hear Project 99's message from Yulkendy and Jousel:
Learn more about the Net Impact Fellowships, our four cohorts - Impact Design, Criminal Justice, Healthy Food, and Racial Equity - and all of our amazing fellows here.
