There’s An Art to the Bottom Line, Says Denisse Esther Mayers Paulino. That’s By Design.

She didn’t know how to develop an app. She didn’t “speak tech.” And she didn’t—according to tired stereotypes—look the part of a coder. But despite all of those didn’ts, Denisse Esther Mayers Paulino pushed forward and did.

Mayers Paulino had joined Commonwealth Corporation, an agency dedicated to workforce equity in Massachusetts, as an art consultant while an MBA student at Northeastern University in 2014. The agency’s annual youth art auction with the Department of Youth Services was on the horizon again. As she planned for and branded the event, Mayers Paulino confronted what could have been a repeated setback for the fundraiser: an “archaic” bidding and selling system that too often resulted in limited sales. She grew determined to upgrade that manual process and streamline sales for agency staff members.

She brought her concept to Northeastern’s IDEA, where Mayers Paulino taught herself how to code and eventually developed her prototype. Before long, the app helped Commonwealth Corporation sell thousands of dollars worth of art in just hours. 

But that’s the short version of the story. Because behind the computer screen, Mayers Paulino did more than balance new technological skills and her Northeastern assignments. She also endured chemotherapy treatments for lupus. For Mayers Paulino, the autoimmune disease caused fatigue, inflammation, and extreme pain—symptoms her doctors addressed with immunosuppressants.

Mayers Paulino remembers her first Demo Day as a participant in the Husky Startup Challenge, a venture incubator and pitch competition hosted by Northeastern’s Entrepreneurs Club. While she presented her auction app, Trunkbook, the effects of her medications took hold. She grew increasingly disoriented and struggled to read the note cards she’d prepared for her presentation.

So many emotional and physical stressors culminated in that moment, extinguishing Mayers Paulino’s first chance at funds. But her ambition persisted. One year later, the self-proclaimed “autoimmune warrior” returned to Demo Day for her second pitch. And she won.

Mayers Paulino consistently turns headwinds into rising tides, says Tiye Cort Odima. The high school friend-turned-trusted colleague describes the entrepreneur’s lifelong commitment to “do more” and “do better.”

“She’s someone who has been through the lowest lows, but can definitely attest to the fact that the highest highs are possible, regardless of what’s going on in different areas of your life.”

Mayers Paulino, founder of and chief creative officer at marketing and design agency DEMP, would go on to embrace her resilience and determination as a solopreneur—taking on the risks and rewards of business when she first launched as a one-woman enterprise while enrolled in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. Since 2016, Mayers Paulino has scaled the DEMP portfolio to include more than 50 clients. Her mission to empower companies dedicated to uplifting underrepresented communities across industries, from education to health, is fueled by her network of over 25 consultants from across the globe and five full-time creative strategists.

Mayers Paulino, who also earned her bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, or MassArt, exemplifies the “business of art.” Because design, she says, always impacts the bottom line. Her combination of creative and business acumen landed Mayers Paulino among Innovator Award honorees this year.

The community of founders from across the Northeastern network assembles annually to celebrate emerging and established ventures committed to a more healthy, sustainable, and just future. Three years in, 69 innovators hailing from all of Northeastern’s schools and colleges have been recognized as part of the Women Who Empower initiative.

That solidarity among peers is what Mayers Paulino strives for as she steers her clients and strengthens her own professional connections. She describes the illusion of competition that can loom over women and BIPOC business owners, but says that shared experiences can fuel shared progress. 

“I have a really solid group of entrepreneurs that I’ve built over the years,” says Mayers Paulino, who includes fellow 2023 Innovator Award honoree Adebukola Ajao—also an advocate for marketing as a tool to transform business—among her treasured contacts. “I love the years that I’ve spent building that community.”

Those relationships are proof of Mayers Paulino’s expert communication skills and emotional intelligence, says Odima, high school teacher and DEMP consultant for clients such as The Teacher’s Lounge. Mayers Paulino, Odima says, invests time in authentic relationships with her clients and brings cultural sensitivity to all projects.

“Not every marketing or business strategist does that.”

Odima was once a DEMP client when she launched Feminessay, an online community for Black women who share their own narratives through fiction, memoir, poetry, or other modes of storytelling. The initiative partnered with InnoPsych, a directory for therapists of color and fellow DEMP client, to celebrate Women’s History Month through a mental health lens in 2020. Mayers Paulino, says Odima, helped to create a safe space to speak openly and honestly about a topic that often feels out of reach. The InnoPsych team is among DEMP partners who presented at this year’s NAACP convention in Boston. As the founder spoke about health for people of color on a national scale, the organization also announced the launch of its new tool for employers to provide workplace racial wellness.

The opportunity to establish and fortify diverse brands like InnoPsych with “everlasting” missions is what drives Mayers Paulino, whose initials comprise the DEMP name. The choice was intentionally agnostic of industry, she says. Though she, at the time, “didn’t want to be boxed in,” Mayers Paulino has embraced her gravitational pull for businesses in the social impact space. She continues to hone her client criteria and discovery process, ever willing to shift her vision and yield to the creative process.

She is a lifelong learner from Northeastern, after all.