Sara Rodriguez: Owning Our Qualifications
From the world of ballet to political campaigns, Sara Rodriguez, director of communications for the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), knows how to push forward a communications agenda through determination. A motivated communications professional in the nonprofit sector, she shares her unique experience on the latest episode of NYWICI’s WomenHeard podcast. Here’s a peek at what you can expect to hear in the conversation with host Julie Hochheiser Ilkovich.
“IT’S NOT BRAGGING IF IT’S BASED IN FACT”
When asked what she thinks is the biggest challenge women in the workforce face, Rodriguez focuses on women allowing themselves to celebrate their own accomplishments. “Something I have been grappling with is that we are now at the point where we women are ‘more allowed’ to talk ourselves and our accomplishments up,” she says. “I am a millennial woman; I’m right on the cusp of being able to celebrate my wins, to talk about all the things that I do. It’s not bragging if it’s based in fact.” This is a conversation that many of Rodriguez’s peers are having, including in the face of parenthood and other challenges that working women confront.
What’s the worst that can happen if we share our workplace accomplishments? “Part of this discussion is internal,” Rodriguez says. “The reality is that women hold themselves to higher standards that are kind of implicit, as opposed to explicit, when it comes to being qualified for jobs; we don’t help in that we project this onto ourselves,” she says. “We end up tying ourselves into knots.”
THE JOURNEY FROM BALLET TO POLITICAL CAMPAIGNING
Rodriguez came from a performing arts background, doing ballet from childhood through her mid-twenties. “It was the career I always wanted as a child,” she says. “I had a natural facility for dance.”
In college though, Rodriguez got a minor in political science. “I have always been interested in the broader use of power—how we become numb to abuses of power over time. Who is suffering from that abuse,” she says. Rodriguez’s interest in systemic injustices led her to become passionate about Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s career, especially her efforts to end sexual assaults in the military.
By 2016, Rodriguez had stopped dancing professionally, and she took an unpaid internship for the nonprofit Day One, which provides education and guidance to New York City’s youth on dating abuse and domestic violence. She next worked for a state senator in Queens, New York. By 2018, presidential campaigns were launching and there were over 20 Democrats running for U.S. presidency. Within a few months of working in her first job in government, Rodriquez was hired on the digital communications team for Gillibrand’s presidential campaign team. “This is how I learned everything,” Rodriguez says.
A SCRAPPY POLITICAL COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIST
“Working on campaigns is crazy. It’s completely insane, non-stop,” Rodriguez says. “During that time, I was a complete sponge. All I had was confidence in myself that I would learn everything. That’s my best asset: I am truly scrappy as hell.” She notes that on her first day in the field as the content director, she determined Gillibrand’s online identity. “Online is so key to engaging with young voters, a key demographic,” Rodriguez notes.
Rodriguez became the person in charge of putting together all the digital content for the Gillibrand campaign. “Being able to see the connections between digital and all communications is what makes me a really capable leader in running a communications program,” she says. “I look at everything from a 360-degree point of view; I know how to do each of the parts in real time.” Rodriguez says she thrives in an environment where once the show is on, there’s no real option but to succeed.
USING COMMUNICATIONS TO HUMANIZE THE DISADVANTAGED
Rodriguez is thrilled with her current role as director of communications at NYLAG. Her organization aims to combat social, racial, and economic injustice by advocating for people in crisis in New York City through free legal services and financial counseling. “At NYLAG, my main goal is how do we put the onus on systems which create poverty instead of saying it’s a personal responsibility?”
“SAY YES AND THEN SAY NO”
Want Rodriguez’s career advice? In the beginning, “just say yes and stay scrappy,” she says. “If there’s an opportunity that comes to you and you can make it move toward your vision, it’s the best thing you can do.” It’s especially important to remain open and eager to learn if you’re trying to make a switch, Rodriguez explains. Later, once you’ve gotten experience, you can be more intentional about what you choose to do. “Build yourself to that place where you have your accomplishments under your belt,” she suggests, adding that then you can decide if you want to do something just because it interests you. In short: “Say yes, then say no.”
Thank you to Sara Rodriguez for being part of the podcast! To listen to all the episodes of WomenHeard, visit nywici.org/podcast.
