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Cintya Gajardo V茅jar, a Fulbright Scholar from Concepci贸n, Chile, was 25 years old when she was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

As she pursues a Ph.D. in entrepreneurship from the Manning School of Business, Gajardo V茅jar has taken it upon herself to help educate cohort peers about invisible disabilities like her own.

鈥淢any of my classmates will become professors, and they鈥檒l have students with ADHD,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to share what disabilities are and how they impact peoples鈥� lives 鈥� and how we as professors can help students who may need clear instructions and other considerations.鈥�

Gajardo V茅jar earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in industrial design in Chile (鈥淚 discovered at an early age that I like to build and create new things鈥�), and for her undergraduate thesis she designed a way to help salmon farms control parasites called 鈥渟ea lice鈥� without the use of antibiotics. She ended up patenting her idea 鈥� a system of buoys that emit electrical pulses to kill the parasites 鈥� and launched her own research and development company in 2013 called Oleaje (Spanish for 鈥渟urf鈥�).

鈥淲e wanted to help the salmon industry be more environmentally friendly,鈥� says Gajardo V茅jar, who spent four years trying to get the company off the ground, to no avail.

鈥淭he pharmaceutical industry is very powerful and they sell huge amounts of these antibiotics,鈥� she says.

Gajardo V茅jar鈥檚 work, however, drew the attention of President Obama鈥檚 Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (), and in 2016 she was among 250 people chosen for the program. She spent a month in San Diego learning about entrepreneurship as an intern with a company that makes remote undersea vehicles, and she now serves on the YLAI alumni advisory board.

After further developing her interest in entrepreneurship at a business incubator at the University of Pittsburgh, Gajardo V茅jar decided to apply for a Fulbright scholarship. She interviewed with several Ph.D. programs and chose UML鈥檚 Manning School.

鈥淪peaking with the professors here was completely different from all the other interviews. They weren鈥檛 as hierarchical; it was like having a normal one-on-one conversation,鈥� says Gajardo V茅jar, who works closely with Assoc. Profs. of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Michael Ciuchta (her advisor) and Ann Kronrod. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 going to spend four years with them, I prefer to be with people who are kind and also able to share their knowledge.鈥�

Gajardo V茅jar has become deeply involved at UML, joining the Office of Multicultural Affairs鈥� Pair-Up Program, mentoring students in the Business Innovation Living Learning Community, working as a research assistant for HEROES (Harnessing Emerging Research Opportunities to Empower Soldiers) and advocating for students through Disability Services.

She was recognized by the university for her efforts with a Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award.

鈥淚t was a nice surprise. I never thought the things I was doing were on that level of importance,鈥� says Gajardo V茅jar, who looks forward to continuing to help improve the lives of others through entrepreneurship once she鈥檚 completed her Ph.D.

鈥淚 used to work with entrepreneurs from native communities in Chile, helping them receive funding and support,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 noticed that when you give an opportunity to an entrepreneur, that opportunity can spread and have a big impact on communities and families. That鈥檚 what motivates me.鈥�