Each year, to celebrate commencement, Cal Poly highlights a group of “Great Grads”: a student from each of the six colleges who are completing an outstanding academic journey and moving on to the next phase of their lives. Yoali Romero is our Great Grad from the Orfalea College of Business.

As Yoali Romero graduates with a degree in business administration and heads off to a career in accounting, she already knows how her expertise can impact the lives of individuals in her community.  

During her time at Cal Poly, the Anaheim native has taken part in two senior accounting projects that focus on the tax practice: the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, program, that provides free tax help to qualifying taxpayers with gross income of up to $70,000; and the Low Income Tax Clinic, which offers pro bono representation to people with IRS tax disputes; advocates on behalf of low-income taxpayers; and conducts outreach and education about tax issues to the public, many second-language English speakers. 

“These programs gave me hands-on experience working with real clients, helping them lower tax liabilities that they couldn’t afford, and educating them on their rights and responsibilities,” Romero said. “In addition to helping mitigate their cases while working with them, I’ve been able to create and lead presentations and outreach to the community to bring awareness of the services that we offer.” 

Romero only learned of Cal Poly as a junior in high school when, after visiting Hearst Castle, she and her family stopped in downtown San Luis Obispo and learned the city was also home to a state university. 

“I fell in love with the small-town vibes of it, but we didn’t come up to the campus to see it,” she said. “So, I did my research after the trip to the Central Coast, and I chose Cal Poly — before even touring the campus.” 

Sight unseen, it was still her top choice when she graduated high school. 

“I think, at that time, the business program had a 96 to 98 percent employment rate after graduation,” she said, “so that really drew me in.”  

Moreover, the program offered accounting courses earlier than other schools, the Learn by Doing education model — and, she added “it was the school that gave me the most financial aid.” 

Romero has three sisters and a brother, ages 6-24, but she is the first to attend a four-year university. 

She planted the seeds for success during a bumpy freshman year in 2021-22 as she worked to find her footing and ultimately found her community in campus clubs — the Cal Poly Accounting Club and the college’s Latinx Business Student Association, or LBSA, which provides a welcoming place for students while striving to boost the numbers of Latinx professionals in business careers. 

“The people I met at LBSA my first year helped me so much,” she said. “They guided me through, helping to navigate Cal Poly and San Luis Obispo.” 

CPAC, meanwhile, helped her begin the process of career preparedness. 

“I started out as a general member my first year in CPAC, which helped me so much in preparing myself for the internship recruitment process, career fair-wise, in networking and so on,” Romero said. 

She later worked planning events and served as the club’s publicity director for a year before becoming president for the 2024-25 academic year, leading up of 130 members, with 60-70 regularly attending weekly sessions.  

“I had the opportunity to lead 10 board members, executing weekly meetings, bringing in different firms, and planning social events, professional development panels and two annual career fairs with over 30 firms,” Romero said. “This club has given me that hands-on experience in planning large-scale events, managing budgets and leading a team to provide students with resources to help them in their careers. 

“It has been one of most challenging and rewarding experiences in my college career, pushing me out of my comfort zone in the best way possible.” 

Her leadership abilities grew through other campus involvements, including serving as a resident advisor in her second year to first-year business students. And peers in other club roles encouraged her to join the LITC and VITA projects.  

As a VITA student volunteer, Romero prepared tax returns for low-income taxpayers. And LITC students assist with complex issues in tax law while also providing empathy and support to clients. The reports they prepare are turned over to the clinic attorney, who presents the case before the U.S. District Court in Fresno, California. 

“These crucial topics affect everyone, and a lot of people do struggle with financial literacy — especially non-English speakers,” Romero said. “Just being able to help these clients using my first language, Spanish, to translate and simplify those tax concepts has been honestly so rewarding. 

“Both of these experiences,” she added, “have reinforced my passion to help out others using the knowledge that I have.” 

Romero hopes to channel that work later in her career by launching her own accounting firm to bridge the gap between “the struggle for financial literacy and the people who really need it.” 

First, a few weeks after graduating, she will begin work at PricewaterhouseCoopers, a multinational professional services network known as one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, with which she has experience. Romero attended a summer leadership program with PwC at the end of her freshman year and then completed two internships with the firm, before her junior and senior years.  

She also will study for the certified public accountant exam; a CPA accountant is distinct from a general or unlicensed accountant. 

Looking back on her time at Cal Poly, the coursework and extracurricular activities, the result of Learn by Doing, also prepared her for her next chapter. 

“When I first came to campus, I feel like I was this small, shy, quiet person that had no idea what she was doing,” the 22-year-old said. “I was scared of just putting myself out there because I thought I wasn’t going to fit in. 

“On the eve of graduating, I’ve grown a lot. I’m still 5-foot-1, but I feel like I’ve made the most of my time at Cal Poly. So, advice I would give to my younger self is: ‘Slow down and have faith, everything will fall into its place. You’re right where you need to be.’ ”