How Solange Quintana ’26 MSM is Turning Opportunity into Action

“My father told me something when I was eight years old that I have never forgotten: ‘The first job you will have in life is to look for an opportunity.’”

That advice has guided Solange Quintana ’26 MSM, through her journey at the Eller College of Management, and through every business she’s built along the way.

Growing up in Peru, Solange watched her father, a carpenter, approach his work with precision and pride. If something didn’t fit, he fixed it. No shortcuts. No excuses. That example shaped how she sees business today.

“I learned that business isn’t just something you study. It’s something you build,” she says.

When Solange started exploring business schools, she wasn’t interested in surface-level marketing. “I didn’t want to learn how to make things look good,” she says. “I wanted to understand why people choose one thing over another.”

She found that the Eller Master of Science in Marketing program focused on strategy, psychology and long-term value—not just promotion. Courses in competitive strategy and digital transformation helped her move beyond instinct and start thinking more intentionally about how businesses grow. “Before, I relied a lot on gut feeling,” she says. “At Eller, I learned how to back that up with data, structure and clear reasoning.”

She began asking stronger questions: What problem am I actually solving? What makes this idea defensible? How will it hold up five years from now?

“That shift changed how I build,” she says.

Solange launched her first company at 18. After COVID disrupted her father’s manufacturing work, she founded Inversiones YSQ to help him return to the industry he loved. The company went on to complete institutional projects across Peru, but for Solange, the real win was personal. “The real success was seeing my dad excited about building again,” she says.

Her second venture, Valantia, started during a time when she felt defined by grades and academic performance. “I thought excellence meant being perfect on paper,” she says. “I needed something that reminded me I was more than my GPA.” What began as a creative project quickly turned into a business, securing a major executive event contract within three months.

Her third company, CANIS, a spa and veterinary service, was inspired by a rescue dog named Nala. After facing serious challenges trying to access care, Solange saw firsthand the gaps in support for stray animals and the people trying to help them. “I realized there were systems that just weren’t built for everyone,” she says. “So I decided to build one.”

Across all three ventures, Solange says Eller helped her add structure to passion. “Emotion can start something,” she says. “But structure is what keeps it going.”

During her time at Eller, Solange has continued developing new ideas. She describes herself as someone who can work intensely on an idea, step away, and then return with more clarity. “At first, I thought that meant I wasn’t consistent,” she says. “But I’ve learned that stepping back is part of the process.” Eller also helped her separate her identity from her ideas. “When you build something from scratch, it feels personal,” she says. “But not every idea is meant to last forever. You have to test, adjust and sometimes let go.”

That mindset has shaped both her business strategy and her personal growth.

This year, Solange is bringing that perspective as a finalist to Grad Slam—a university-wide competition in which graduate students have just three minutes to present research in a clear, engaging way—which will take place on February 25. Her project focuses on autistic adults who are often labeled “high functioning.” While they may live independently and communicate fluently, many struggle with unspoken social cues like tone, timing and subtle shifts in conversation.

“I couldn’t have started this project without my boyfriend,” she says. “I didn’t know about the gaps for people like him, let alone what autism was before I met him.”

Solange developed an AI-powered tool that helps users practice conversations by making implicit social cues explicit, offering structured feedback before real-world interactions. 

“Grad Slam is really about communication,” she says. “Eller has trained me to break down complex ideas and explain why they matter.”

Solange plans to continue building at the intersection of artificial intelligence, behavioral economics and market design. She’s especially interested in how systems are structured and who they unintentionally leave out.

“The most important question in business isn’t just ‘How do we grow?’” she says. “It’s ‘Who does this serve and who does it ignore?’”

Her goal isn’t to collect credentials. It’s to create tools, companies and systems that expand access and create real opportunity for others.

That mindset started with her father’s advice — look for opportunity.

At Eller, she’s learned how to recognize it, evaluate it and build something lasting from it.