“Going into medical spaces became really difficult for me,” she said.

Just like earlier in her life, Del Canto worked hard to adjust to her new reality and explore what was beneath the surface. It was then that she first learned of 31 bits, a jewelry company that employs women in Northern Uganda and trains them to graduate and create their own businesses within five years. Del Canto applied for an internship, which she won, and spent six months in Uganda with 31 Bits before deciding to stay full-time with the company for two more years.

“All of the women who made the jewelry pieces had been heavily affected by the civil war in Uganda,” she said. “When you're there, you see firsthand how someone purchasing a necklace in the United States can have such a positive impact on a woman in Uganda who has five or six children, doesn't have a husband, and can now send her kids to school.”

What Del Canto loved even more was that the organization didn’t just offer employment, but also a path to self-sufficiency. “The employees would slowly taper off from working full-time. They had access to micro-loans and other resources to help them start their own businesses and be self-sustaining.” For women who were often left as single mothers without an education or income, this type of opportunity was tremendous.

In Uganda, not only did Del Canto see how she could combine several of her life’s passions—helping others, fashion and entrepreneurship—but she also met her husband. When he was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania, they moved to Philadelphia, where Del Canto worked for clothing and accessory behemoth Anthropologie.

“I was very interested in working for a big corporation—kind of the complete contrast of what I was doing in Uganda. My intent was to understand how a corporation functions in terms of profitability,” she said. “Having the grassroots 31 Bits experience and then Anthropologie, I figured then I could figure out how to meet the two ideas in the middle.”

Interestingly enough, the marriage of ideas Del Canto was looking for are the very lessons the MSSE program teaches: how to look past the bottom line toward social impact, but in a way that is scalable and sustainable.

“While working at 31 Bits, I felt like there was a lack of a understanding of the technical aspects of how a business works. I wanted to attain the skills to take a business like theirs to the next level,” she said.

Of the many things that she’s learned in the MSSE program, Del Canto says USC Adjunct Professor Courtney Brunious’ discussion on shared value has proved most memorable. “The MSSE program is so integrated into business. It’s not just social benevolence or funneling money out of the bottom line and putting it towards a specific sector. If you’re creating shared value, you’re expanding the pool of wealth for your company, for communities. And you’re expanding skill sets. I think this is going to be the future of business,” Del Canto said.

Currently, Del Canto is on the wholesale team at sustainable clothing brand Reformation, an engagement she plans to end this month in pursuit of launching her own branding strategy firm that focuses on social impact-focused companies.

“Looking back, there was always an entrepreneur in me,” she said. “I remember visiting my aunt’s sugar farm in Venezuela when I was 10 and making bathing suits out of whatever I could find. I love the creativity in the entrepreneurial space.”

At MSSE, Del Canto remains an explorer. From Professor Jill Kickul’s management class to the USC Athena competition, Del Canto has worked with students on brand strategy for products like sustainable underwear. She hopes to one day return to Venezuela and build a business that benefits and supports the people who she’s always coupled with the idea of home.

In the meantime, she’s rising to a different challenge: commencement speaker. At USC Marshall’s graduate ceremony this year, Del Canto will be sharing her story in hopes it inspire others to push past obstacles. “The past three years have been so hard for so many people,” she said. “I’m excited to let them know that no matter what you are going through, there’s always good to be taken from it.”

Reflecting further, Del Canto remains so grateful for that first experience with social enterprise in Uganda. “I'd had something really difficult happen,” she said, “but I was working alongside women who had been child soldiers. Their stories were very intense and traumatic, and yet they were so optimistic and joyful, and had such a strong sense of community. And I just remember feeling inspired to be working alongside these women every day who went through so much but still felt they were grateful to be alive.”