KANSAS CITY, Mo. — At Latinos Connect’s monthly meetings, a former therapist sits side by side with someone with an advanced degree abroad, both trying to figure out what their future in the United States holds.
Latinos Connect was launched in late 2023 as a way for people who immigrated to the U.S. with specialized skills and degrees to use their knowledge to restart their careers.
“Our goal is to connect with Americans not only within the Latino community but also outside of the community,” founder Maria José Ramírez Blaze said. “We have Americans who want to be mentors, Americans who want to connect with Latinos and help them excel in their professional fields.”
It’s already helping people like Carlos Rios.
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“In 2014, I already had a bachelor’s degree in IT and was working in the government implementing communications systems,” Rios said.
He was still in his early 20s when he came to the United States and didn’t speak much English, so he got a job setting up tables and chairs for big events, then took an entry-level job in a manufacturing plant until a machine broke down and he had the knowledge to fix it.
“My manager asked me, ‘How do you solve this?’ and I started saying, ‘Well, I’m an engineer from Mexico. I don’t speak English so I can’t explain it to you, but I can use Google Translate,'” Rios said.
Rios soon began attending community college to improve her language skills, find a more advanced career path, and prepare to soon earn a master’s degree.
It’s the type of success story Braiz would like to see more of.
“It’s to show the next generation of Latino kids that they can be professionals too,” Blades said. “If they don’t see professionals in their field, it’s really hard for them to get ahead.”
In Mexico, Liliana Rodriguez was a social psychologist.
“You lose yourself,” Rodriguez says. “When you cross that line, you become someone else.”
She started her own cleaning business in the United States, but the only time she can use her training is as a volunteer, helping a group of Spanish-speaking parents grieving the loss of a child.
“Liliana had a job in Mexico,” Rodriguez said, “and here there’s nothing.”
Gustavo Restrepo worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative in Colombia before moving to the United States due to threats from the FARC rebel group.
“I started working at a great place called Jack in the Box, which serves the best burgers in town,” Restrepo said.
Blades said a combination of language skills and prejudice is to blame for the underemployment of Hispanic immigrants with professional experience.
“Your appearance automatically determines what you’re going to do,” Blades said. “You can’t imagine being a doctor, lawyer, architect or teacher.”
But she says misunderstandings sometimes come from the immigrants themselves.
“My point is to sell yourself as a professional,” Blades said. “We have a stigma that we don’t see ourselves as professionals.”
Networking events like Latinos Connect’s monthly meetings can help.
Restrepo left his fast-food job while learning English and now works as a real estate agent, a tough journey he says the community he’s built through Latinos Connect has helped him.
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“It makes you feel like you’re not alone,” Restrepo says. “Everybody has crossed that bridge at some point in their life.”
“Without professional connections, it’s impossible to move forward,” Blades said.
Learn more about Latinos Connect here.
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