Luisa del Rosal ’08, executive director of the Tower Center and founding executive director of Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center at SMU, received the Latino Up-And-Comer Award as part of D CEO’s 2017 Latino Business Awards. The awards are designed to honor the top Latino “visionary thinkers and industry pioneers” in North Texas.
“I get to do what I love every day and it’s an honor to be selected among such a worthy group,” del Rosal said. “Each nominee and award winner is an outstanding Hispanic leader, proving that we are better together.”
EXCERPT:
D CEO
September 2017
In 2004, Luisa del Rosal left Chihuahua, Mexico, to attend school at Southern Methodist University.
She was a shy, doe-eyed girl who had trouble finding her way around campus. Arriving several minutes late to her first class, she entered through the wrong door and ended up at the front of the classroom. “I’m apologizing in Spanish, but I don’t notice because I’m so frazzled,” she says, only realizing the mistake when her professor responded with confusion. “I remember being just mortified.” But to del Rosal’s relief, the professor and the rest of the class laughed it off and welcomed her inside.
That first day of school has been much like the rest of her story: a series of peers, communities, and superiors who have welcomed her and her ideas.