Dr. Robyn Magalit Rodriguez
ACTIVIST. FARMER. PROFESSOR. AUTHOR. MOTHER.
Robyn Rodriguez and her husband/partner Joshua Vang at the Remagination Farm in Kelseyville, CA.
Dr. Rodriguez’s Motivational/Keynote Speeches and Consultations/Trainings draw from her scholarly expertise, community organizing and personal experiences. She brings rigorous research as well as tested practical experience along with honesty, vulnerability and humor to all of her presentations. She has addressed a large array of audiences from scholars and youth/student groups, to health care professionals and migrant workers, to nonprofits/community organizations, policy-makers, and lawyers, as well as the broader public at a range of venues across the globe.
Topics Include: racial equity, diversity and multiculturalism; BIPOC (Black Indigenous, People of Color), Women of Color, Asian American (including Filipino American) histories, struggles and activism; immigration; COVID-19; human rights; coalition building; empowerment and social justice advocacy; issues in higher education; work/life balance; grief and resilience
Dr. Rodriguez has addressed audiences in the following colleges/universities and community organizations as a motivational/keynote speaker and/or workshop trainer:
Educational Institutions (Partial list)
California Teachers Association
Hayward Unified School District
Vallejo Unified School District
New Haven Unified School District
Jefferson Unified School District (Daly City, CA)
Delano Union School District
Cornell University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
University of Virginia
Oxford University (UK)
McGill University (Canada)
University of Sydney (Australia)
Hong Kong University (China)
Organizations (Partial list)
Google
Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies
People’s Collective for Justice and Liberation
California Domestic Workers Coalition
American Muslim Voice Peace Convention
Filipino Lawyers of Washington
International Migrants Alliance
Seeding Change: A Center for Asian American Movement Building
Centro Cultural de la Raza
Featured Talks
Speaking Topics include…
ASIAN AMERICAN Histories, Issues and Activism
Dr. Rodriguez is one of the leading experts on the Asian American experience. Dr. Rodriguez provides an overview of some of the most urgent struggles facing Asian Americans ranging from anti-Asian hate to Asian American representation in the media to barriers to Asian American advancement in the workplace Though she draws on the latest, cutting-edge research in her talks, Dr. Rodriguez also shares her insights as a long-time social justice activist in the Asian American community and her personal experiences as an Asian American woman.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the WORKPLACE and Higher Education
As one of the first Filipinas to be admitted into her doctoral program and now, one of less than a handful of Filipinas to earn the rank of full professor at a major research university in the country, Dr. Rodriguez is all too familiar with underrepresentation in the workplace and higher education. A stalwart champion of diversity, equity and inclusion, Dr. Rodriguez has led several initiatives that have created new spaces of community, particularly for women of color. A devoted mentor to BIPOC and other underrepresented groups (LGBTQIA, first-generation, undocumented, etc.), she has been celebrated by her peers for her work. Dr. Rodriguez shares strategies for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
Filipinos in America
Dr. Rodriguez is peerless when it comes to the topic of Filipinos in America. She was the sole faculty member leading the charge in founding the Bulosan Center for Filipinx Studies in 2018, the first research and education center of its kind in the country. The Center not only houses a vast digital archive chronicling Filipino American history since the early 20th century, it also houses the most up-to-date survey data on Filipino American health and well-being in the country. Dr. Rodriguez shares insights from her own publications, research from the Bulosan Center, and first-hand experiences to provide nuanced understandings of one of the oldest, largest and fastest-growing Asian American communities in the United States.
Ethnic Studies: The Interconnected Histories of Black, Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC)
BIPOC communities’ rich contributions to our country continue to remain at the margins or in the footnotes of most American history textbooks. Dr. Rodriguez centers their untold stories highlighting the various ways BIPOC communities have come together through shared trials, tribulations and triumphs as racial minorities in the United States. Though BIPOC communities are incredibly diverse and have sometimes been pitted against each other, more often than not, Dr. Rodriguez highlights how they have been united in a common cause against the root causes of racial inequity.
“The way in which she balances her academic research teaching commitments, political activism, and personal interactions is probably among the best models I have seen among the many API scholars I have encountered throughout my years within academia.”
REcent Publications
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A minimum of 10% of Dr. Rodriguez’s booking fees will go toward any of the following non-profit organizations:
