Meet Dr. Jacqueline Del Rosario | Founder & CEO of Recapturing the Vision, America’s Marriage Coach™

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Jacqueline Del Rosario and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Jacqueline, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Recapturing the Vision (RTV) is a 501(c) 3 organization helping the community, and the world, by providing support for under-resourced youth and families to succeed in environments lacking the structures that promote their success.

We are committed to breaking the generational cycles. Through education, prevention training, annual events, and after-school programs, our organization delivers interventions to children at every stage of development to promote their success and protect them from negative outcomes. In addition to serving youth, a large part of our work centers around family strengthening and unification with the intent of healing families.

For 27 years, we have been committed to changing the trajectory for struggling youth and families by empowering them to overcome adversity and learn to dream again.

What should our readers know about your business?

In addition to running my nonprofit Recapturing the Vision, which I founded 27 years ago, I also run a private practice as a coach. I am a relationship and marriage expert working with couples and singles across the country. Additionally, I am a TV host, an expert on marriage coaching and media personality known as Dr. Jacquie, America’s Marriage Coach™ and a former talk show host with Fox Soul TV (Heart to Heart with Dr. Jacquie). I am also an author and public speaker on topics relating to empowerment, entrepreneurship, education, program development, and building healthy relationships.

Through my work with Recapturing the Vision, I focus on the hard-core community work that I am very passionate about, such as youth empowerment, youth development, family mentoring, after school support and literacy as well as providing relationship counsel for low-income singles and couples. I have authored 12 curricula that are used in schools across the country, including Miami-Dade County and Broward County Public Schools, as well as New York, Orlando and Louisiana Public Schools. This work is also utilized in churches, community centers, after school programs and summer camps. Our programs have been recognized as a Best Practice Program Model by the Florida Department of Health, and our abstinence program was adopted by the Girl Scout Council of South Florida. Over the years we have received numerous awards and we have been fortunate to have secured more than $28 million in federal, state and local funding.

I look at each line of my work as a collective of empowerment initiatives that allow me to effect change and light a path towards an enriched life for many.

What sets you apart from others?

I think what sets me apart is the fact that I am Jacquie. I am not trying to be anyone else’s copy. I am purpose driven and goal centered. It has made me a woman to be reckoned with who sincerely believes that she can change the world. I believe we all come into the world with various assignments, some more inconspicuous than others, but never less important.

As we pursue our purpose, we make legacy evident because we were here. I am invested from a heart and soul level to my work. I love and care about our community, our children, our families, and our country. I work from my heart.

What are you most proud of or excited about?

I am excited about the future. I think the best is yet to come. It seems as if things have become very convoluted, and that there is so much upheaval and difficulty, but I believe out of chaos comes order. I feel our nation, myself as an individual, and my companies are at a place where something wonderful is about to break forth. I see greatness on the horizon, and I am excited about it.

How did you get to where you are today business-wise?

My mantra is Do the Right Thing and the right thing will happen. I think we often operate out of fear and don’t do things because we are afraid of what MIGHT happen. If you lose something because you did the right thing, just know that it was the right thing. This has always been a metric for me. I don’t question or fear, rather I know that if I did the right thing whatever followed was right.

In terms of being successful, I think that finding success comes by keeping it moving. In the face of disappointment, keep it moving. In the face of failure, keep it moving. So many people stop and give up, just keep moving. If you make a decision and it doesn’t work, make another decision; just keep going and eventually for those that do not quit, you will arrive at your destination.

Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges?

Challenges always have a silver lining. Long ago, I discovered that if I allowed challenges to become my teacher instead of wishing them away, my life became less stressful. My heart would not close in fear and whatever the challenge was, I would emerge stronger, wiser and more ready to embrace whatever was next.

What are the lessons learned along the way?

I have learned that change is inevitable, so relax and look forward to what it brings, rather than dreading what may come.

What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?

If there was one sentence summed me up, it would be that I despise mediocrity.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people that deserve credit for where I am in my life right now. Through every phase of my journey, there have been key individuals that have made such an impact.

Initially, I would like to recognize my parents for the example that they set for me. They gave me a sense of purpose, a centeredness, and a work ethic that is par excellence.

Then, as I began to build my business, there was a woman named Jenny Forester, who was a director in community policing for Miami-Dade Police Department. She gave me my first big break. I had a vision of improving the relationship between law enforcement and minority communities of color. In keeping with the tenants of community policing, I wanted to change the current stances of distrust and fear that plague both groups. I presented this vision to Jenny and within 30 days, she had organized a funding opportunity that gave me enough money to expand Recapturing the Vision. She opened the door for me and made it possible for Recapturing the Vision to become a force in the community.

Further down the road, I would credit Dr. Rudy Crew, who at the time was the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. He gave me the opportunity to bring RTV’s programming across the entire school district, adding an additional 40 schools to our portfolio. This allowed me to quantum leap and to go into other cities and begin to build a national model. I am so grateful to him for that.

More recently, there is a group of women that I have been doing morning devotions with since 2013. I would not be where I am at right now without them. I have been so battle worn and torn, carrying so much on my shoulders for so long, and these women decided to shoulder in with me. For years, I had to be my own cheerleader, my own strength coach, etc. but now, I had this group of women that offered to go through this journey with me. They told me “we are going to help to bear your load” and they have been a tremendous source of support. With that said, I think its important that we all have an outlet or someone to share with, to care with, or to cheer you on.

Essentially, there isn’t just one person to thank or recognize; it has been a collective number of people that have entered my journey at key moments when I knew I needed something to happen. Some people call it a blessing or simply being in the right place at the right time. For me, I think it was all these things.

Website: Dr. Jacquie, America’s Marriage Coach – https://www.drjacquie.com Recapturing the Vision – https://rtv.org/

Instagram: @askdrjacquie @recapturingthevision

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjacquie/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReCapturingTheVision

Image Credits
Photos by: KBARBER Photography and Richard Lecoin Photography