Influential Woman · Destination Marketing Organization
Cristal Rodriguez
Director of Marketing, Tempe Tourism Office
Phoenix, AZ
Her Story
About Cristal
I'm the Director of Marketing for Tempe Tourism, and honestly, destination marketing is a dream - it's the best of all worlds that I've touched in my 17-year marketing career. My job is to promote Tempe at the highest level, and our target audience is anything out of Arizona, so we're going into different markets to attract people to come and visit Tempe. I get to dive into the cool things happening in the city - the cool restaurants, the cool places to stay, the unique experiences. When I've been here, we've rebranded with a new website, new logo, new look, new feel, and new messaging. I'm so thankful to be in this position right now where I have a strong team behind me that has allowed me to get out of the weeds of the day-to-day and be more strategic with my time. A lot of my time is focused on mentoring, whether that's people on my staff or outside of my organization through boards like Latino Professionals of America and Young and Empowered Women. I also focus on partnerships, stakeholder engagement with our mayor and council, and thinking about cool new ideas to promote foot traffic into Tempe. Right now, we're launching a summer campaign - a local Tempe restaurant week where we went out to all the local restaurants to create prefix menus and we'll handle all the marketing for that. My favorite part of the day-to-day is championing this brand, this new brand, and watching it grow and elevating it.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Cristal
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the day-to-day trials and tribulations - I've learned more of this industry and of business and of strength and resilience out of failing. No matter the degrees, and I tell this to my mentees all the time, degrees are great and they're great to get through the door, but you have to be able to be strong enough and strong-minded enough to come in and get rejected and fail and watch something flop and ruin a couple things before you can actually grow from it. I've put in the work - I've failed miserably, I've taken so many L's, it's not even funny. And I think that I've grown from that, and to be able to dust yourself off and keep going and try again is the biggest flex. My biggest strong point is being able to have lived the life lessons and have gone through things that have kind of got me where I'm here today.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice is to not be afraid and to take the chance. I think a lot of times, especially as women, we learn to cower, we learn to conform, or stay low profile in order to either be likable in the workplace or easy to work with. But I do feel like in the professional field, it is so important to use your voice and to be heard. Find a great boundary with yourself in terms of what works, what doesn't for you, and really hang your hat there. Don't be afraid to make mistakes - I think that's how you learn, I know that's how I've learned. Use your voice, think outside the box, get creative, and keep pushing. There's a fine line between being respectful but still being respected, and unfortunately, even in 2026, we have to ride that line to ensure that we're being respectful but we're still being respected. There's still a male-female dynamic in the workforce, and egos can get bruised, feelings can get hurt, so it's an art form of getting your point across, and you need to learn it fast. But I think the alternative of staying quiet and staying meek and being a note-taker and staying coy is not the way to go - that's not gonna kick any doors down. So use your voice and don't be afraid to push the boundaries.
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