June 20: the Story of Lina Rodriguez, professor and entrepreneur

Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine… by 2023, over 100 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes. Despite the fact that almost half of all refugees in Europe have a higher education diploma in their pocket (Eurostat, 2020), it takes them around 10 years, an entire decade, to return to their original socio-professional situation.

Lina Rodriguez is a Mexican professor and entrepreneur, who started a Master’s Degree in France after numerous academic and professional achievements in Mexico — but not only.

Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your professional career prior to your arrival in France?

My name is Lina Rodriguez, Mexican. I studied industrial design, I worked in two government entities working on projects with social impact. Then I spent a year in Argentina studying different courses in marketing, business administration and accounting. In 2010 I started a master’s degree in business administration in Mexico and launched my own business called “Arroz con leche mamá” as a master’s project. With this brand I worked with different indigenous groups in Mexico, artisans who work with different materials and craft techniques. Since 2009 and until 2019 I worked in parallel as a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro and the Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Querétaro teaching courses such as Creativity and Innovation, Experience Design Workshop, Marketing. In 2016 I obtained a scholarship from the Japanese government to study a technical stay in modern design and Japanese craft techniques.

In 2017 I launched a crowdfunding campaign to set up my own ceramics studio and thanks

to exceeding expectations, I was able to set it up. In 2019 I made the decision to live with my French partner in Nantes and leaving everything in Mexico, I started studies in the Master “Social and care design” at L’école de design de Nantes Atlantique.

What were your greatest professional achievements in your home country?

I was named as one of the women of the year as entrepreneur of the year in 2013 according to a magazine “Mujer Querétaro”, Recognition of the magazine “Sada y el Bombón” as one of the most recognized designers of the Bajío. I participated in the exhibition of the biennial exhibition of ceramics of the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City in 2013, 2015 and 2017.

Do you feel like you have experienced professional downgrading since your arrival?

Can you tell us about it?

Yes, very much so. I chose the master’s degree at L’École de Design because they had two semesters of internships, since I arrived in September 2019 I started looking for those internships, but I was rejected in all the agencies in the country, so I opened my spectrum and started looking in Belgium and Holland. The first week I heard back from two agencies and finally spent my first internship in Belgium at a sensational design studio. The second internship was very similar to the rejection in France, so I looked in Germany and Hape Toys, a renowned brand of wooden toys gave me the opportunity to develop the internship

with them. Once I graduated from my master studies, the agencies rejected me, so I looked for a job as a nanny and for 9 months I took care of two children, a 9 month old girl and a 2 year old boy.

What were the main obstacles you encountered in finding a job that matched your qualifications?

The language, I was not fluent in French and although I speak two other languages, in France you have to speak and write French very well to develop a high level job, which is what I was looking for.

Can you share a particularly difficult or frustrating moment you experienced while looking for a job in France?

It was very difficult because not only do you have to deal with the frustration of rejections on a professional level, you also have to deal with the lack of motivation, being away from your family, but the hardest part is that the money is running out and you have to find a way to support yourself while you look for a job.

How did you hear about SINGA and what motivated you to join us?

I was motivated by the fact that they were open to support me, I found a place with a sense of belonging, the support they gave me was not only professional growth but also a motivation and a hope to be able to achieve my adaptation in France.

What SINGA program(s) have you taken and how did they help you overcome professional downgrading?

I was in the ceramic project incubation program. In Mexico it is very easy to open your own business, in France it is extremely complicated, Singa helped me in the organization of my ideas, in locating all the elements I need to launch the brand, also a team that believed in me. All of that was very valuable to me.

How has SINGA influenced your inclusion in France?

France is a complex country. If you are a migrant and you are not fluent in the language, you feel like you have lost your sense of speech a little bit. SINGA helped me to have a safe, trusting, warm space and community. I think that besides helping me in the business side, the biggest help was in my mental health.

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Interview conducted as part of SINGA Global’s World Refugee Day awareness campaign on the professional downgrading of refugees on June 20.