She is connected enough to rub elbows with people like John Leguizamo or Eva Longoria, yet she’s not anxious to drop these very names.  She can have a conversation with you, as if she were your favorite aunt, although she sits on numerous boards.  This woman has been importing Mexican folk art, done public relations work for major companies, produced for TV and is still working to improve her community.

Before I met Maria Elena Rodríguez, I was already familiar with the feeling that she gives people.  This Renaissance woman works hard for her community and inspires everybody with whom she makes contact.  Rodríguez has devoted much of her efforts to the progression of Mexicantown and the Hispanic community as a whole.

Her intense passion for her culture and community bloomed at the age of eight when she went to stay with family in Mexico.

I love Mexico.  I love everything about it.  Everything was so special that it has always stayed with me.  So, no matter what I do there is always that thread that runs through everything I do,” said Rodríguez.

One of her current projects that is getting a lot of buzz is Mexicantown Casting.  Rodríguez loved working in film and television, but always wanted to get things done her way and so Mexicantown Casting was born.  She wants to help the talented Latinos that are so abundant in this community get exposure.

“I have this experience,” she explained.  “I have my connections.  I wanted to put Mexicantown on the map in a positive way for the general public.  Sometimes, I was criticized and people would say, ‘Well, this is ours.   Yes, but the only way we’re going to have any understanding-any relationships with any other groups is by opening our doors.”

Rodríguez is realistic about the small demand right now for Mexican actors, but hopes that will change.  People of all age groups and with all sorts of “looks” are welcome.

“The point is, at least, they know.  We are Hispanic and we come in every shade.  When they need us, we’re here,” she said

One success story of Rodríguez’ talent management is her own son, Carlos Guadarrama, a the rapper and actor known professionally as Sol.  Rodríguez is his manager and was able to land him a spot in the Clint Eastwood film Gran Torino. He just began a national tour opening for rap group, Insane Clown Posse, through the fall.

Through all the good she does, sometimes things just don’t work out.  One of the hardest things for Rodríguez so far was the painful ending for both her and her staff of The Mexicantown International Welcome Center and The Mexicantown Mercado.  Due to nothing more than miscommunication and misunderstandings, The Mercado didn’t turn out the way it should have.  Rodríguez knows the project’s importance and still holds out hope for it.

“I hope it stays with the community.  I hope it doesn’t get sold off to someone who has no interest in our vision.  I hope it falls into the right hands.”

Rodríguez still works hard for the community.  She currently sits on the boards of Cristo Rey High School, the Michigan Commission on Spanish Speaking Affairs and The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy.

“I sit on all of these boards not for the recognition or prestige, but because I feel that I am an agent of change,” she told me.  “This is a way of changing things—others’ perceptions of us, showing them that we’re present here in Detroit.  That’s the reason I do it.”

Rodríguez is currently writing a book about the history and development of Mexicantown and its people.  People assume, with all the media coverage today that we’ve just arrived and that we’re all illegal.  I want people to see who we were.  These are the things that people need to know.  The book is tentatively scheduled for next year.

Rodríguez has a real vision for the future of the community.  “I want people to see us as a can-do community and that we are here to stay.  I want the general public to understand we are as much a part of a solution to the economy—maybe more so than anyone can imagine.”

Her hopes don’t just stop at this community.  Rodríguez wants more for the Latino community.

“We want to have the same respect as any other person that comes to this country.  Coming across the Rio Grande to this country is not less compelling than coming through Ellis Island.  People have to let that political stuff go and understand that we’re no different.  It’s not going to happen overnight, but I have hope.  If you don’t know your culture, find out about it.”

Author: Crissy Zamarron
Photo: Courtesy of Maria Elena Rodríguez

Originally published 10/24/09

Update [12/22/11]: Maria Elena Rodríguez has recently published a book, Detroit’s Mexicantown-part of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series.

It is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Arcadia Publishing.