Deborah Rodriguez

I would say just my upbringing and understanding that I really needed to work. For me, working and school, I would love to balance both, so I always just wasn't actually a hard worker, and I always wanted to get my degree and start my career, so that was just one of my biggest drivers, just based off of my upbringing. My mom and dad really set the standard for excellence - they showed me hard work and sacrifice will kind of get you to that next level. They would work multiple jobs while I was at school to kind of get me to the point of going to a university, and seeing how hardworking they are really influenced me.

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever received is to never take anything personal. At the end of the day, it's not personal, and it is work. I always try to abide by that, especially when somebody tells you no - just don't take it personally, just keep moving forward, because the opportunity will come eventually, but just keep moving forward.

One piece of advice I would give is when somebody tells you no, the no is not the definite answer, it's all about how you recover from that. Also, it's always about, if somebody's telling you no, maybe you're just asking the wrong person, because you will hear no a lot in this industry. As a woman of color in the fashion industry, I feel like there's not as many platforms for us, unfortunately. In my industry particularly, and in my leadership, I don't really see that many women of color in leadership positions, which is unfortunate. I think when you hear the word no, that's your motivation. I would love to kind of be the face of change, because when you see people that look like you, it really motivates you, and you understand that there is a platform for you, there is opportunity for you.

I would say currently, with all of the tariffs and the fees, it's really challenging right now for sourcing a lot of materials, and also just the funding. Right now, I feel as though we are unfortunately not really allowed to hire any more help, just based on the funding. We went from a team of 3 to a team of 2, so it just puts a lot of strain on the two of us, because we kind of have to do multiple jobs that initially weren't really assigned to us. It gives a little bit more room for error as well. As far as opportunities, I would say the biggest opportunity would be if there was a better resourcing strategy, and also if we had enough more manpower, then we can really get down to the sourcing strategy a little bit better if we had a little bit more hands on deck.

I would say that it's important to both my work and personal life. For me, my team really trusts and values me, because I'm open and honest and transparent with them, and I have the same approach at home. My leadership style is that I like to manage down how I manage up, and what I mean by that is I like to manage people the way I like to be managed, which is a little bit more of a hands-off approach. I feel that as leaders, we should be guiding and not micromanaging, because at the end of the day, your relationship between the people you manage, the respect comes first. I like to be hands-on in the sense that I'll do the same job that you will do. I'm not going to do anything less or more than I'm giving to you, because I feel like if they see it, they'll emulate what you do.