PROFILE MARÍA DEL MAR RODRÍGUEZ
Climbing to success María del Mar Rodríguez
María del Mar Rodríguez is just the kind of executive every company needs, hardworking, dependable, and fiercely loyal. Someone who always gets the job and without making a big deal out of it. At Tropical Shipping, María has shown that even after a tough start in life you can enter at the bottom and climb your way up the corporate ladder. Today, María not only heads up the carrier’s USVI and Dominican Republic operations, but she is also chair of the CSA’s influential Group C.
Q. Where were you born? A. San Juan, Puerto Rico Q. What did your parents do for a living and what influence did they have on your early life and subsequent business career? A. My mom was in sales, we lost my dad (who was a fisherman) when I was eight years old, then my brother got murdered a year after, he was just 22. Seeing her working hard in sales for me and my older sister inspired me to be the hard-working person I am.
Q. Where did you go to school? A. Escuela Superior Catolica de Bayamon (Catholic School) in San Juan Q. What about college or university? In which subject(s) did you major? A. Inter American University of Puerto Rico (a private Christian university with its main campus in San Germán)/Business Administration Q. On leaving university and noting your father’s love of the sea, did you see a
6 Caribbean Maritime | June- September 2022
career for yourself in the shipping or logistics sectors? A. Totally random, I wanted to be a doctor. It seems he knew better as my father named me María del Mar (Mary of the Seas). I began working part time while in college at the age of 17; the job was doing clerical tasks for a freight forwarder. I began learning about bills of lading and shipping; back then I got fascinated with the field. I never stopped asking my co-workers questions and I always wanted to do more to learn.
