How does Darwin Salas do it?
The 47-year-old Salas is the president of the championship-winning Iowa Demon Hawks, a Des Moines-based professional soccer team that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League and in the outdoor National Premier Soccer League.
He is also the president and owner of La Q Buena, Iowa's largest Latino radio station, and the president of Salas Enterprises, his personal business that focuses on point-of-sales systems technology.
Salas somehow also found time to accept the position of director of international affairs for the Mini Football Brazil national team and the Mexico National Indoor Soccer Team. He also gives back to the community through his different ventures.
For a man who juggles various responsibilities and roles, Salas, one of the Des Moines Register's People to Watch in 2025, never seems to miss a step or stop smiling.
"When you do something that you love, it's not a job," he said. "It's something that you want to do."
His passion and drive have led to success in his various business ventures, and his high-energy, positive attitude can quickly win over a stranger or an entire room.
"He's got a vibe about him, I don't know what it is, but the minute he walks into a room, you just feel very comfortable with him," said Trish Flaherty-Barnes, who has worked with Salas through the West Des Moines and FuseDSM chambers of commerce.
"He's just infectious. … He's a go-getter and that's one thing about Darwin, it's not really just about what he wants and what his dream is, he wants to make a difference with children, giving them an opportunity through soccer, and he just really wants to make a difference within the community and not just business-wise."
Darwin Salas, his family, and the American Dream
In Latin culture, family is everything.
For Salas, it's been that way since he was born in Mexico City to Margarita and Juan Salas, and then when his family, which also included his older brother Ulises, immigrated to California when he was 11.
Inspired by his parents' work ethic, he had a dream to pursue higher education. That goal was fostered by Dr. Emilia Fern, who oversaw a program at North Hollywood High School to encourage minority students to chase their collegiate dreams.
He eventually started his own family after graduating from California State University-Northridge and getting his master's degree at UCLA. Salas worked for Fonovisa Records under founder Guillermo Santiso, where he worked in finance and managed artists, before an opportunity arose when the company formed a partnership and created Latin Broadcasting Corporation. The newly formed company acquired radio stations and venues throughout the Midwest and wanted Salas to oversee them.
He took his then-wife and his two sons, Christopher and Joseph, along with him for the move to Des Moines in 2003.
In the 21 years since then, Salas started his own business, become the owner of the largest Latino radio station in Iowa, and is the president of a championship-winning soccer team, and his family has been a part of his success along the way.
"It's a lot of work, and if you see it from the outside, you're like, 'Wow, it's a lot,'" Salas said of his ability to run multiple business ventures. "It's just being able to learn how to delegate and empower people that surround you. I learned from my dad, from the mentors I have throughout my life, that the best way to succeed is respecting who you have under, giving the respect, and holding them accountable. I don't like to work, I love to work."
His two sons play a part in Salas Enterprises and the Iowa Demon Hawks.
He also has four adoptive brothers — Carlos, Anthony, Juan and Jorge — who all live in Iowa now and are also involved.
His 74-year-old mother, Margarita, is an important advisor in life and on the business front.
"His mom is a part of everything he does," Flaherty-Barnes said. "I'll never forget the first meeting I had with him, walking into that boardroom. Their office isn't there anymore, but I remember they had made all this food and it was just very comfortable, very homey. She was there and there's this close relationship between the two of them, and she just energizes him."
Family was also a motivator through some of the toughest parts of his life.
Salas' father died on Dec. 30, 2005. A week before that, he was going through a separation with his wife at the time. Four months later, he lost the job that he first moved out to Iowa for.
He was driven by the pressure to provide for his widowed mother, his two sons and his adoptive siblings.
With the assistance of one of his mentors, Dave Anderson, he started Salas Enterprises, which specializes in point-of-sales technology in 2007, after being inspired by witnessing a need for updated systems to serve Latino restaurants around Des Moines that were still tracking everything, including receipts, on pen and paper.
There were nights where Salas slept in his car as the business slowly started growing, and it eventually got him back on his feet and grew to the point where he was able to return to some of his other passions, eventually returning into the entertainment field and, later, the soccer world.
"He's the American Dream," Major Arena Soccer League 2 commissioner Chris Economides said. "Came here with very little, if anything. He's worked hard, and he succeeded at it. In my opinion, that's a recipe for success."
Bridging entertainment and soccer
By 2016, with his company growing, Salas was in position to return to radio and he purchased La Q Buena.
While it was an opportunity for Salas to venture back into music, he also found a way to serve and inform the community.
He noticed a disconnect between the Latino community and mainstream radio stations, one that was especially highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Complete disconnect, like the Latinos out there and immigrants, and whomever, they were claiming there were not programs to help out businesses (during COVID)," Salas said. "But guess what? There were programs, they just had no idea of what to do or who to talk to. Businesses didn't, and they weren't ready with their numbers or with their reports to be able to submit an application."
It also created an opportunity to fundraise and assist businesses and individuals. Salas organized a week-long radiothon to raise money for those who needed assistance during the pandemic. The program, Unidos por la esperanza, which translates to United in Hope, raised $44,000.
The concept spread and was utilized in several other states, and La Q Buena has had other radiothons to assist relief efforts for the country of Mexico over the years.
As someone who worked with local chambers of commerce and various businesses throughout the city, Salas started to get involved with local, grassroots soccer leagues.
One day, a player, Rapha Nascimento, approached Salas with an idea to create a soccer team that could give an opportunity for soccer players attending nearby colleges to continue playing at the next level.
"He called me crazy, 'like soccer on a hockey arena?' and I showed him some of the videos, some of the games, and he got excited," said Nascimento, who is now a player, assistant manager and a director for the Demon Hawks. "On the first year that we played, we didn't have a home arena, but he saw how passionate everybody was on the team, other players that were here, and it motivated him. He has a huge heart, and he's passionate for everything that he does, and he would do everything for the team and the players."
Des Moines United FC was born in 2017. It saw success at the United Premier Soccer League and National Premier Soccer League, but it has vastly transformed since then from a team with "just 15 fans at games" to well over 1,000.
It rebranded to the Iowa Demon Hawks for the 2021-’22 season in the Major Arena Soccer League third division, and it won the title despite not having a home arena. The following year, it moved up to the second division and shared an arena in Cedar Rapids.
For the 2023-’24 season, the Demon Hawks returned to Des Moines and played their games in Buccaneer Arena in Urbandale. A home arena gave them a chance to connect with locals and start to build a foundation. They brought in Brazil Mini Football national coach Thiago Coutinho to lead the team, and they stormed to a 15-0 record and a national title, while scoring a MASL-record 186 goals.
In the NPSL, they won each of the last three Gateway Division titles.
They received an invite to move up to the top division of the MASL, a move they anticipate making within the next two years.
"Darwin is a person that has a vision. He likes to win," Coutinho said through an interpreter. "He likes to drive high. Go for higher goals in life, and I am the same way. Me and him, working together, I believe that it's a good combination, because we push each other to fly higher and reach these 'impossible goals.'"
The next step: Soccer for all and continued growth
With the Demon Hawks entrenching their roots in Des Moines, Salas wants to be able to bring soccer for all.
Although soccer is a sport that requires just a ball, two goals and some cleats, a child playing for a travel soccer team could cost families thousands of dollars per year.
"There's a big need for underserved communities that are not able to pay $2,000 per season," Salas said. "It's not considered an elite sport like it was 10 years ago, because there's different soccer clubs that have come with lower prices and reach out to the community, but there's still a need out there. We partner with the Iowa Foundation and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to do free clinics in Des Moines Public Schools.
"We try to provide as much as we can with our players during the winter and the summer. We have an excess of players and they need something to do."
More clinics, more accessibility, and for women and girls, too.
The Demon Hawks will be starting a women's team for the newly created MASL-W league, giving an opportunity for women to play professionally in Des Moines. Their inaugural match will take place on Jan. 24, 2025, at Buccaneer Arena.
"(The Demon Hawks are) at the M-2 level, but in my opinion, Darwin operates at an M-1 level," Economides said. "It sounds corny, but if I had 20 Darwins, I think our league and our sport would go so much further ahead."
Salas also hopes to continue evolving through La Q Buena and Salas Enterprise as a way to help the Latin community, but also those throughout Iowa.
If there's anyone who can continue to successfully handle the juggling act of responsibilities, it's Salas.
"I remember him talking about so much of what he's doing now back in 2018," Flaherty-Barnes said. "... Knowing back then and what his plans were, what the future was, he was even talking about bringing these tournaments and things here back then. Obviously, he's in the present as well, but he is very much a visionary."
Meet Darwin Salas
AGE: 47
LIVES: Des Moines. Born in Mexico City, Mexico, before immigrating to the United States with his family and moving to California at age 11.
EDUCATION: Attended North Hollywood High School in California. Graduated from California State University-Northridge, where he studied business and finance. He also got his master's of business administration from UCLA.
CAREER: Salas is the president of the Iowa Demon Hawks, La Q Buena radio station, and Salas Enterprises. He is also the director of international affairs for Mini Football Brazil national team, and for the Mexico National Indoor Soccer Team. He was also previously the chief financial officer of Headliners Music Group and the vice president of finance at Fonovisa Records.
FAMILY: His mother is Margarita Salas, 74, and his father, Juan Salas, died in 2005. He has one biological brother, Ulises Salas, who lives in Las Vegas. His other biological siblings died at childbirth, Frida and Juan. Everyone else in his family now resides in Iowa. He also has four adoptive brothers: Carlos, Anthony, Juan and Jorge Salas. He has two sons, Christopher Salas, 23, and Joseph Salas, 21. He also has three grandchildren, Tino, Miko an Manuel Mateo Salas, and four dogs: Rosie, Hiwa, Daisy and Esko.
About the Des Moines Register's 15 People to Watch in 2025
It’s a Des Moines Register tradition to close out each year and open the next by introducing readers to 15 People to Watch — individuals expected to make an impact on Iowa in the coming year.