CV
Dr. J. Rodríguez, Ph.D.
Communication Consultant, Workshop Trainer, and Conference Speaker
Depth of Experience
I began teaching at the university level when Madonna was actively promoting her Material Self as The Material Girl. At that time, as a junior at Long Beach State, I was recruited to teach a popular facilitation course, focusing on interpersonal communication. Today, I am celebrating over two decades of teaching communication and a variety of other courses and workshops at colleges, universities, and organizations throughout the country.
Making a Difference
One of my heart-felt goals in life is to make the world a more empathic place through the practice of compassionate communication. I am immensely grateful to over 15,000 students, facilitators, and workshop participants, who have shown me what works and doesn’t work in an ever-evolving approach for helping people become effective communicators.
Focusing on Communication
As a proud communication strategist and data scientist, with an eclectic background in rhetoric and performance studies, I hold several advanced degrees, all with a communication focus, from Long Beach State (an MA in Communication Studies) and Michigan State University (a Ph.D. in Communication). My diverse research is published in top-tier journals such as: Text & Performance Quarterly, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Western Journal of Black Studies, Communication Research, and Communication Education. Blending big data with thick, rich data, I developed the first psychometric measures to assess the effectiveness of sexual assault interventions that use proactive performance, which features the highest level of audience participation and collaborative engagement.
Advancing Research and Community Engagement
I have received awards for the quality of my work from the National Communication Association (NCA), International Communication Association (ICA), and Association of Teacher Educators (ATE). My expertise has been featured on TEDxCSULB, ABC7 Eyewitness News, and KMEX 34 Univision in Los Angeles. I also serve as a trainer and consultant for public and private organizations across the nation, partnering with brands to create messages that help people relate to each other in ways that work. As a volunteer in my local community, I facilitated role performance training activities in a 16-week program, serving the needs of homeless, female survivors of sexual trauma—some of whom were combat veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).
Going Global, Multicultural, and Multilingual
In my role as Coordinator of Multicultural Innovations for the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity program (BUILD), I created interactive workshops to cultivate a culture of inclusive excellence through conversations that make a difference in daily discussions. As a native speaker of Spanish, who has lived in the Caribbean, Europe, and North America, I am updating my latest work to empower individuals from diverse multicultural and multilingual traditions throughout the world.