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Luber: I want to talk about your high profile roles now in city government and how you got
onto that path. And in reading about you, I learned that you came from very humble beginnings
and I think this is a really interesting story. You werenít even going to go to college;
you werenít sure if you were going to go to college at one point and you were growing
up in a neighborhood that wasnít the safest. Tell us about your background.
Rich Rodriguez: So born and raised here in the city of Chicago. My dad is from Puerto
Rico and my mom is from Ecuador. So my mom immigrated here, so Iím first generation.
This is where they met and this is where Iíve been raised. We lived here up until the age
of about 9 years old.
The community that we lived in wasnít, as you mentioned, the safest or the greatest
at that point in time. Itís hilarious, because I look back now and the property values in
those communities now are just booming. So itís just funny how the real estate market
changes over the years. But my parents, and it depends on whose version of the story you
hear ñ if you hear my grandparentsí, if you hear my dadís or you hear my momís ñ
is basically, I just woke up one morning, I was put on a plane and I was sent to Puerto
Rico to live with my paternal grandparents. I think it was my parentsí way of getting
me out of the neighborhood because we couldnít really afford to move out of the neighborhood
at that point, but the Puerto Rican community has always been very close and itís not uncommon
to raise other peopleís children for a period of time. So my grandparents raised me for
a little bit over two years.
I was sent to Puerto Rico. Wasnít able to come back and visit my parents for that time,
but when they were able to actually purchase some property and move a little bit further
north in the city out of that community, into what was then deemed the safer community,
they sent back for me. And itís a very rural upbringing. I tease my kids nowadays because
you always want to try and give your children a bit more than what your parents were able
to give you. And Iíve now become my father where I tell them and say, ìYou have no idea
what itís like when I was growing up,î and I refer back to those years when I was in
Puerto Rico where I tell them I wore shoes to church and school only. I walked to school
for over 45 minutes and back, and they canít fathom the thought of that so itís kind of
fun.
Luber: Ha, ha! Thatís great. Wow! And so when youíre growing up in these different
communities, both in Puerto Rico and then back in Chicago where a lot of people arenít
going to college, what led to you making a decision to ultimately go to college and even
to law school?
Rich Rodriguez: As you can tell from my career, and because there hasnít really been too
many role models within my inner family circle, those that had gone to college and beyond.
I do have an aunt who had actually gone to college but my parents werenít so lucky.
My older brothers didnít follow that path either; they actually joined the military.
So when I eventually graduated from high school there was no plan for me to go to college.
In fact, I remember there were a couple of friends in high school, we were all very close
and it may have been a couple of months before graduation when finally they began to say,
ìOh, weíre going over to the local community college that we had there to register for
classes.î And I literally just tagged along to see what the process was like and itís
there where I discovered what the admissions process was like and what each per credit
hour was like and so on, and then just jumped on the bandwagon and did that and that was
my first year out of high school.
I went to a college that was literally within a mile away from my high school and spent
my first year of college there and then eventually transferred over. That was Northeastern Illinois
University. I was there for a year and then I transferred over to Loyola University here
in Chicago which is where I majored in both sociology and communications.
But college wasnít something that was in the plan or in the books. My parents couldnít
afford to do it; they were very clear about that, but I was able to get some scholarships
and some federal grants and somehow I made it through.
Luber: Thatís excellent! Thatís really great. And do you have advice to people that are
in similar situations from a similar upbringing on whether they should go and how they should
make that happen?
Rich Rodriguez: Oh, I think nowadays itís common knowledge and everyone always hears
that a college diploma is somewhat similar to what a high school diploma may have been
back in the 60s and so on, but itís a necessity; itís something that I think individuals should
pursue, especially when you donít know what you want to do. I know that some say college
isnít for everyone but I would always encourage someone to at least go for a semester or two
and get a sense and see if itís for you or not. Otherwise, thereís trade schools and
thereís all sorts of other places that individuals could pursue an education beyond just high
school. But I would strongly encourage college for everyone, again, especially if you donít
necessarily know exactly what it is what you want to do when you grow up. Some of us are
still trying to figure that out.
Luber: Iím glad youíre sharing that story because I think a lot of people take college
and law school for granted and so youíve showed that you really had to fight for it.
What about law school? What led you then to say, ìNow Iím going to go an extra level?
Rich Rodriguez: So the strategy throughout college because I hadnít done it before,
because there werenít really any mentors or many people that I can turn to and say,
ìWhat was your experience like?î again, the Northeastern experience was wonderful.
I went through that and then there was an opportunity for me again to transfer over
to Loyola and finish up there and I basically took it a year at a time. I never went in
to college saying, ìIím going to graduate with a college degree.î I went in saying,
ìLet me finish this semester. Letís see how I can do,î and then once I did well in
that semester, itís like ìokayî.
So it was always kind of in semester and bite-size chunks. So I never really said, ìWell, you
know, 4 years from now I see myself having a college degree and then moving on to a specific
fieldî. It was literally just, let me do as well as I can this semester and enjoy the
class and enjoy the experience and then I would do the same thing for the next semester.
Next thing I know, I was graduating.
It was a similar experience after I graduated. I happened to be working at a law firm. It
was my first official job, which I began working at the age of 15 and it wasnít until a few
months before I turned 16, which back then was the legitimate age for working, so I had
fibbed on my application. But by the time that they found out that I wasnít 15, I had
already turned 16 so they allowed me to remain, and it was for a local grocery store.
So I did that the last 2 years in high school and my first 2 years in college up until an
acquaintance of mine who was working at a law firm in downtown Chicago, turned to me
and said, ìHey Rich, theyíre looking for someone to fill in a couple of days that I
canít work. Is there any way that your class schedule would allow you to work a couple
of hours each day so that I can keep my job,î meaning himself. I said, ìSure.î
So I left the grocery store and I began to work downtown with a shirt and a tie at a
law firm as an office clerk. I was the copy boy. I learned how to file things in all the
courts, began to develop a great relationship with the individuals in the chambers and the
judges and so on, just because I was there so frequently. I got lunch; I washed cars.
I mean you name it, I did it all.
And it was the partners at that law firm, that law firm that I worked with, that began
to give me research assignments and began to give me things that were above and beyond
just your regular clerical office clerking duties. And I began to really enjoy it. I
learned how to use Westlaw and LexusNexus and all those things back then and then one
day they turned to me and said, ìHey Rich, have you ever thought about going to law school?î
and but for them having said that, I would have never thought of it on my own because
it wasnít as if, again, I really knew any attorneys other than the ones that were just
there in the office. So they are the ones that encouraged me to pursue taking the LSAT
and thatís where it all started. It was a great investment. I would encourage and I
still do encourage many individuals to go law school.
Luber: Excellent. Inspirational story, isnít it? You guys can watch Rich describe his roles
in government agencies and learn about the interesting ways heís put his law degree
to use by going to JDCareersOutThere.com ñ or JDCOT.com for a shortcut. Be sure to become
a MEMBER so you can watch the full interview and get access to lots more exclusive content
filled with great advice. Thanks for watching everyone ñ Iím ML and look forward to seeing
you again soon. Take care.