Susan Salinas Moncada

“Psychologist turned marketer, bridging human insight and business strategy, learning to build tech products people love”

Hometown: Lima, Peru

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’ve volunteered across 10+ nonprofits, and giving back has been a constant thread throughout my life.

Undergraduate School and Major: Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Clinical Psychology

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Senior consultant at NTTDATA EUROPE & LATAM

What makes Seattle such a great place to earn an MBA?

Seattle offers a unique balance that’s hard to find elsewhere. The city’s tech and innovation ecosystem creates constant exposure to new ideas and career paths I’m still discovering, while its proximity to nature gives me the opportunity to step back to think clearly. That combination has made Seattle an ideal environment for my MBA journey: it challenges me professionally while giving me space to reflect, recalibrate, and approach leadership more thoughtfully.

Aside from your location and classmates, what was the one key part of Washington Foster’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school?

Beyond location and community, the defining factor was Foster’s commitment to applied learning. The first-quarter case competition was the final challenge with my assigned team, bringing together everything we’d learned across all our core classes to solve a real business problem and present to external judges. It forced me to think across disciplines in real time, which was both challenging and eye-opening. Now, in my Applied Strategy course, I’m working with a healthcare startup to define its go-to-market strategy, navigating real constraints and trade-offs that no textbook can fully prepare you for. These experiences, working with real clients, real stakes, and real outcomes, convinced me Foster would push me beyond what I thought possible, not just technically, but as the kind of leader I’m working to become.

What course, club or activity have you enjoyed the most so far at Washington Foster?

Finance, one of my core classes first quarter, has genuinely been a highlight. I’ve spent years working on digital transformation projects and helping startups scale, but I’d never formally studied finance, and it’s opened up a completely new way of thinking. Learning to analyze cash flows, valuation, and capital structure gave me a framework I didn’t know I needed. What I love is how it complements my background in psychology: understanding what drives people’s decisions is one thing, but finance is teaching me how companies actually capture and create value from that understanding. Having both lenses is reshaping how I approach strategy and business problems. I honestly didn’t expect to find finance this engaging, but it’s become one of the most valuable parts of my MBA so far.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far:

Tecmentor, a nonprofit I founded during the COVID pandemic, remains the work I’m most proud of, though it taught me as much through struggle as success. It started when I saw students and teachers suddenly being left behind by the shift to digital education. What began as a small effort grew into reaching over 40,000 students and 800 teachers across all regions of Peru, with a team of 8 direct reports and 50 volunteers.

I learned to scale impact with almost no resources, which meant constant improvements, many failures, and hard leadership lessons. It reinforced something I believe: that empathy without execution is just intention, but together they can create real change. Tecmentor continues to humble and inspire me.

Describe your biggest achievement in the MBA program so far:

My biggest achievement has been building a clear path toward a career in product marketing in tech. I’ve spent years working on everything from digital transformation projects at large organizations to helping startups refine their growth strategies, but I wanted to deepen my expertise specifically in product marketing. At Foster, through challenging coursework, conversations with marketing leaders, and hands-on client projects, I’m sharpening my ability to connect customer insights with go-to-market execution. I’m learning that great marketing isn’t just storytelling, it’s about strategic positioning, clear prioritization, and creating alignment that drives business impact. Being selected for the Foster Marketing Association board has been a turning point, connecting me directly with second-years pursuing marketing careers and giving me insight into how they’re navigating recruiting and building their professional networks. Foster is giving me the tools and the confidence to get there.

What has been your best memory as an MBA so far?

Hosting a “reset and recharge” gathering for the women in my cohort. Having lived in the U.S. for three years before Foster, I know how isolating big transitions can feel. I wanted to create space for honest conversation, laughter, and the kind of reflection that’s hard to find between case preps and recruiting. Seeing my classmates open up and connect reminded me that building community, even in small ways, matters as much as anything we learn in class.

DON’T MISS MEET THE WASHINGTON FOSTER MBA CLASS OF 2027

© Copyright 2026 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.