Gema Schipilliti’s parents sold chicken at a local market in Callao, Peru, the port city next to Lima. They came to the U.S. in the 2000s with very little, and with big plans for their only child.
Schipilliti said that market taught her grit, hard work and resilience early. And that Seton Hall University gave her confidence, a community and the understanding that she never had to leave her roots behind.
Last Friday, Schipilliti, now a vice president at The Campbell’s Company, stood on the stage at Cipriani Wall Street to accept an Alumni Impact Award from Seton Hall’s Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute.
She made it through Seton Hall without the kind of support the institute now gives first-generation students. She said so, directly, to its executive director, Lori Tarke.
“I wish I had somebody like you when I went to Seton Hall,” she said.
Then she turned to the students in the room.
“Throughout my career, I have learned that impact is not about the title you hold or how you climb. It is about what you do and who you impact once you get there,” she said.
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Gema Schipilliti didn’t accept her Alumni Impact Award alone. Her husband, Goyo, received the same honor.
It was fitting. The couple, who met in high school and went to Seton Hall together, represent the mission of the institute. They’re also the first couple it has honored at its Generaciones Gala.
Goyo Schipilliti, director of international and emerging partnerships at DailyPay, used his time on stage to thank the people who got him there. That included his mentor, longtime Goya executive Rafael Toro, whose company has backed the institute for years.
“I’m just a guy who took your playbook,” he said.
He also thanked his family. He closed his remarks in Spanish with a tribute to his mother, telling her the award was for her.
The couple’s connection to Seton Hall runs deep. They had their children baptized there and said they would have gotten married there too, except for one thing — there wasn’t a room big enough to hold all the hundreds that came.
That connection, and what they’ve seen the institute do for students, led both to bring their companies to the table. DailyPay has been the gala’s presenting sponsor two years running, and Campbell’s was one of this year’s platinum sponsors, along with Goya Foods and Zimmer Biomet.
Goyo Schipilliti said the institute’s mission sold DailyPay.
“That level of humanity resonated with us because we are strong believers that you can do good while also doing well,” he said.
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The couple’s mentoring is already showing up.
The two scholarship alumni who introduced them said the Schipillitis treated them as young professionals, not just scholarship recipients. Fiorella Carvo is now a pediatric nurse at Hackensack Meridian Health, and Lucas Brasil is starting his career at Ernst & Young in New York City. Goyo Schipilliti took Brasil and other students on a tour of DailyPay.
Gema Schipilliti, who has three young daughters and mentors Seton Hall students, said she accepted the award on one condition for Tarke.
“So, Lori, I accept this award with tremendous gratitude and give you the responsibility to continue paying it forward,” she said.
Her father was in the room to hear it.
