National Hispanic Heritage Month takes place each year from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. In honor of the month, we are highlighting members of the Weatherhead School of Management community who are of Hispanic heritage to shed light on their experiences at the school and learn how they like to celebrate their heritage.
Axel Rodriguez was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and currently lives in Westford, Massachusetts. Rodriguez graduated with his Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree in 2016 from Weatherhead. He is now the global lead for cybersecurity partnerships at Rockwell Automation. Get to know more about Rodriguez:
What did you love most about Weatherhead during your time here?
I loved the environment, the people and meeting lots of other people from different paths of life.
Was there anything you learned during your time at Weatherhead that you have taken with you in your career?
It is hard to pinpoint one thing. It was a great experience that allowed me to grow as a person and a professional.
As part of your Hispanic heritage, do you have any favorite traditions?
This is a [soccer] World Cup year and it is a big deal for us while it happens. I also have two daughters with whom I’ve shared many of our Hispanic heritage traditions with, even though they lived most of their lives here in the U.S. Most of our traditions revolve around food, and one that they love making is chocotorta, which is a no-bake cake that is very representative of Argentina.
Anything else you'd like to add about Hispanic Heritage Month?
Being a first generation immigrant is quite challenging. I loved the diversity of my class in the EMBA program at Weatherhead, where I learned a lot about many people with many different backgrounds. I have learned a lot from many other cultures that I have run into over the years since being here in the U.S.