Arai Buendia

Client Operations Associate

Arai comes to Mission Driven Finance with experience in public health and small business entrepreneurship and a passion for equity and accessibility. Arai grew up in Berkeley and graduated from San Francisco State University with a BS in health education. Though she started her career in public health, she transitioned full time as business operations manager to support and grow her mother’s small business in the heart of San Francisco. In her time as the operations manager, Arai taught herself accounting and data interpretation, consequently growing the business by 20% yearly and quickly finding a passion for numbers. To satiate her curiosity for accounting, she participated in the Jewish Vocational Services’ (JVS) accounting program to work with other small businesses by helping owners interpret financial statements and organize their bookkeeping. At Mission Driven Finance, Arai wants to continue helping small businesses grow their impact with access to affordable capital.