Meet Alejandro Rodriguez | Theater Artist & Founder of Alejo Communication

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alejandro Rodriguez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alejandro, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
The idea for Alejo Communication came from a long life in the professional theater, working alongside some of the most creative, hard-working, empathetic people in the country. Which then turned into an opportunity — somewhat inadvertently — to lead communications training courses in the business world. I realized quickly that most corporate training programs were designed to help leaders deliver new performances, often in a rather dry and uninspiring way. It became clear to me: theater artists could add enormous value to these development programs. We literally rehearse new performances for a living! And we have fun doing it. So Alejo Communication was born.

What should our readers know about your business?
Alejo Communication brings theater into the world of Professional Development. Specifically, we use the tricks and techniques of the theater to produce beloved training and coaching programs for some of the country’s top business leaders. More broadly, what we see in the future is a world where anybody who wants to get better at any performance (and all interpersonal communication is performance!), will understand that Play and Rehearsal are essential to improvement. I’m not exaggerating. Once people get a taste of our approach to training, it alters the way they think about getting better at anything. This is not some genius revelation, by the way — elite athletes and topperformers have known it for centuries. Could you imagine a ballet dancer learning their choreography through a PowerPoint, or a baseball player reading a PDF on how to hit a fastball? Alejo Communication treats business leaders like coaches treat elite performers — we design development programs that introduce them to best practices, then give them meaningful, hands-on practice to build new muscles. Our biggest challenge is also our superpower: people have typically never thought about bringing theater into a business context. They think theater is something that only happens on Broadway, or at the Arsht Center downtown. Once they experience how trained theater artists can elevate their training programs, the two things are tied together in their heads forever.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This is a dangerous question for someone like me, I could write you a novel! But I’ll just say: to me, the wonder of Miami is that it is one of the most dynamic confluences in the world (literally, a place where streams intersect), both culturally and ecologically. Any meaningful engagement with the city needs to sample those diverse streams, human and environmental. I’d take my friend canoeing in the Everglades, or go on a wet walk through a slough. We’d have breakfast at a Cuban bakery in Westchester, and eat some oxtail for lunch at Naomi’s in Liberty City. We’d watch Nu Deco play at the Bandshell, or check out whatever they’re cooking up over at Miami Light Project. We’d go visit the lighthouse in Key Biscayne – part of the “saltwater railroad” (look it up) – then maybe get some drinks at The Cleat as the sun sets. The best days in Miami are spent outside with good food and company, then — after a shower and maybe a nap — at one of our amazing cultural spaces in the evening.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
What a fabulous question. There are so many people to name, I really believe I bring my people with me into every room I walk into. But I’ll take this opportunity to shout out mis queridos abuelos: the late Elisa and Jose Rodriguez, my dad’s parents, and Clara and Angel Araujo, my mom’s. I know it’s a well known story in Miami, the Cuban immigrants leaving everything they knew behind to give their kids a better life, but that doesn’t make it any less heroic. I try to remember daily the sacrifices that made my privileges possible — I studied theater in college, for godssakes! Those four individuals navigated grief, poverty, disorientation, loss, so that my parents could have more options to choose from, and me and my brothers could have even more.

Website: www.alejocomm.com

Instagram: alejocomm

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alejo-communication

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100023966342691

Image Credits
Photos by Stephanie Mas, Alejandro Rodriguez and others