8 minute read
CLR/LALS External Advisory Board Members' SPOTLIGHT - Lou Sandoval
CLR/LALS External Advisory Board Members' SPOTLIGHT - Lou Sandoval
Interview Conducted by Josué Paniagua
Over the past three years, the CLR and LALS Department have been working with Dr. Marisa Alicea to identify a group of DePaul alumnae/i and community members to serve our units as an External Advisory Board. This volunteer group serves as advocates, advisors, and resources for CLR & LALS faculty and students. The group meets quarterly to remain informed about CLR & LALS activities and to establish a plan to assist in our efforts. The board’s work is grounded on a common understanding of the importance of the opportunity to study and research Latin American and Latinx communities. In this spotlight, we conduct personal interviews with our alumnae/i to shine light on what they have done since graduating DePaul University and the work they do outside of serving on out External Advisory Board.
Hi Lou! Could you tell me a little about yourself?
I'm originally a Chicago native, born, bred, and raised in Southeast Chicago. I'm the oldest of 16 grandchildren on my mom's side and the first generation to go to college. My passion when I was growing up was really around science so I thought for the longest time that I wanted to be a doctor. I majored in biochemistry and pre-med, and when I graduated from school, I got accepted to Loyola to go to medical school. But, as I was doing my thesis, I changed my mind about medical school. About a week before I was supposed to start, I sat my dad down and told him that I didn’t want to go to medical school, I wanted to be on the business side of things. My dad was a little shocked, because I spent all this time wanting to be a doctor, got accepted, and all of a sudden changed my mind. But, he said, “It doesn't matter what you do, I just don't want you sitting around here all summer long.” So, I pivoted and in the process of figuring out what I was going to do, I got a telegram from a company that I interviewed with on campus. They told me “We'd like you to come in and talk to us.” It was Abbott Laboratories, just north of the city. I started in their management professional development program. That kind of got my career
off in the right direction. There are so many companies in Chicago, so I had already interned in a couple of different positions in my field. Having that background and experience by the time I graduated made it kind of a no-brainer.
Lou Sandoval
Do you feel like DePaul had enough opportunities for you to grow and belong there?
At DePaul you're able to embrace your cultural identity. While we knew the other Latino students, there were only a handful of us. If we all got together in the cafeteria, you could see us all sitting at one table. So you knew the people that were Latino. But
for us in that generation, it was a lot of trying to blend in. Everybody knew we were Latino, but you didn’t wear it on your sleeve. At the same time, the school was still trying to figure out how to best serve Latino students. They gave us jobs, they gave us career planning to help us find internships, ways to supplement our education, and eventually get employment. Towards the end of my time at school is when they started the Bridge Program. I think that started to make a big difference for a lot of students from underrepresented communities. You looked at the Bridge students, and a majority of them were African American and Latino. It's no surprise that sometimes the gaps in education due to whatever inequities that are there inherently needed that little extra leg. So that felt like the school's first move into equity, at least trying to create an equitable playing field. To raise up the groups that needed it to give them a great shot.
How do you think DePaul is supporting their Latino student body today?
Our Latino population is at 22.9%, almost 23%, we're almost at that level of becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution. If you're at 25% undergraduate Latino student population for two years or more, then you will get HSI status, which means that it gives you a different level of grants and support from the federal government to be able to make sure that the students have what they need to continue on in their education. So I think the goal right now for the CLR and LALS is to figure out how to give back so that the students of today have it a bit easier than we did when we were going through school. A lot of my contemporaries on the CLR Advisory Board are all people that I knew in undergrad or thereafter, and they all have very similar stories about some
of the challenges that they had to get through to get into college or stay in college. It’s not atypical. If you reach out to African-American students, they have similar challenges. It's just what happens in underserved communities.
The goal right now for CLR and LALS is to figure out how to give back so that the students of today have it a bit easier than we did when we were going through school.
What was it like reflecting back on all of your experiences throughout life when writing Tenacity for Life? What did you learn through this self-reflection?
I think life is a series of peaks and valleys and everybody, especially in today's world, with social media, where you can manage exactly what your situation looks like, can make everything look wonderful. Yet at the same time, you don't show the struggle. I think it's important for people to know about struggle because it's not all peaks. That's what drove me to write the book and tell the whole story about all the ups and downs, and how looking back at it, you can see how you had to go through that valley to get to that peak. I had to really double down on learning that because it helped me in the next opportunity that came on. And it was amazing. Writing a book is an extremely vulnerable experience because you're sharing your innermost thoughts with people. In most cases,
it's a complete stranger that reads your book. And through all these different formats, I've gotten so many emails of people that have said, “I was reading your chapter on blank and blank, and it felt like you were speaking directly to me.” So it's in that sharing, that you make an impact on people. And hearing people say that my book made a profound difference in what they were going through has probably been the single most rewarding aspect of having written the book.
Looking back at all the roles you have taken on, is there a common thread between them such as a lesson you have learned, a consistently applied skill, etc.?
I operate on the following areas, we'll call them operating principles. One, I function on creating a lot of teamwork between people. I believe in developing avenues for collaboration with people. Where you collaborate, you come up with solutions as a group. Next, I focus on the aspect of transparency as a leader in different organizations. The vulnerability to the degree that you're able to offer transparency. Because people want to know why decisions are being made and so you have to help bring people to the
why. Sometimes that's not possible but I think if you focus on making that part of your operating values, your operating principles, it'll come through. Three, I believe I've always operated on a high level of integrity. The one thing that we all have is our word and our determination to keep our word. When you say you're going to do something, commit to something and do it to 100% of your capability. And then lastly, I really believe in celebrating victories as a team. That's probably my Latinidad. So, work hard, play hard, and then celebrate the victories of the team. As I've kind of evolved and developed as a leader in different organizations, those are the operating principles that I've tried to tackle everything with.
What’s a piece of advice you would like to share with students currently at DePaul?
What would you say to students who are in leadership roles right now or are interested in pursuing it in the future?
Some fundamental advice that I got when I was about to graduate high school was from my guidance counselor. He said to me, “Lou, please make a list of things you want to do before you die. And do so in a manner that you leave nothing uncovered. Just think of everything that you possibly want to do and then keep that list close by, add to it, subtract as time goes on and accomplish things because that's the only way you'll really understand whether you've made progress or not.” So I made that list, and I'm fortunate that at various inflection points I’ve referred to it, scratched some things off and added more things, and it has continued to flow. I think you need those goals to push yourself. So create some short-term goals and then some long-term goals that you want to accomplish.
