Frito-Lay announced the winners of the first-ever Frito-Lay Community Builders Scholarship, with $25,000 awarded to each of the four recipients.
Recipients were selected by a diverse group of Plano-based employees, including frontline workers, DEI leaders and executives from 500 submitted applications, according to a news release. Employees were selected for their unique perspectives, tenure, experience and “commitment to pep+ (PepsiCo Positive), a strategic transformation focused on winning with purpose and giving back to the communities that Frito-Lay and parent company PepsiCo serve.”
“As a first-generation college student, I also received a life-changing scholarship while pursuing my degree. I know the impact this scholarship will make on these students, who are each pioneering change through their own passions,” said judge and Frito-Lay North America DEI HR Manager Jesus Gutierrez. “Each winner has had their own unique path to finding their purpose through community, education and their personal backgrounds. Based on my own lived and professional experience, I’ve seen the value diverse thinking and backgrounds can bring to leadership.”
L to R: Mehar Bhasin, Jaelyn Hardaway, Caleb Oh, and Sgt. Ramon Perez
The recipients were:
“It was inspiring to learn more about each of these change-makers, plus the challenges they’ve overcome fueled by grit and determination,” said judge and Lay’s Global marketing director Tionna Cunningham. “As a student with a tough path to college, this was an opportunity to pay it forward in honor of the people and financial resources that supported me.”
Since 2022, Frito-Lay has provided $600,000 in scholarship funds to students across the country.
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