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EMPOWERING Her older brothers were not overly protective. “They

created a lot of room for me to be creative, to be free, to

OTHERS understand my place in the world. They were really
supportive. And especially my eldest brother—he had
a set of expectations for me that were sort of beyond
what my parents even could have imagined.”
Carmen lived in an extended family household with her
CARMEN ROJAS, PHD grandmother, her aunts and uncles, and her cousins. “I
don’t remember a time in my childhood when I wasn’t

PRESIDENT + CEO surrounded by family.” This made her feel she was a
part of something so much bigger. There were many
MARGUERITE CASEY FOUNDATION people, many stories, so much laughter, and loads of

SEATTLE experiences and perspectives to share. She had a set
of teachers that allowed her to tap into a creative future,
to tap into a desire for something more than what
existed. “They believed that I could be the architect
She earned a doctorate at UC Berkeley where she of my destiny, which I think is such a powerful thing for
also taught for one year. Today she heads a private teachers to do.” Her family and school provided her the
foundation with nearly $800 million in assets. Dr. security and aspiration while the books she read gave
Carmen Rojas grew up in a busy household in San her the curiosity and inspiration. “I am the expression
Jose, California. Her mother, an immigrant from of the dreams of a lot of people in my life,” she says.
Nicaragua, worked as a secretary for the school She explains that “when you grow up around so many
district. Her father, an immigrant from Venezuela, people with so many different experiences, there’s
drove a truck. Her brothers, fourteen and sixteen an understanding of an ‘us’ that’s different than a
years older than her, earned their GEDs but never ‘me’. That orientation has always been a part of who
graduated high school. Her home exuded the hard I am and what I want. And that’s the commitment I
work and energy of a family establishing itself in grew up with.”
a new country. Recently, while cleaning out a box
of photos, Carmen discovered an old report that she She attended one of the largest high schools in
had written in elementary school. It was laminated California, with 4,000 students. She joined a community
by her mother as a keepsake. Carmen had written college before transferring to UC Santa Cruz. As a
that she wanted to be a college teacher. junior, her mentor was a city planner for San Jose. “I
didn’t know what city planning was. As we spent more
What produced that dream in her? “I was not around time together I realized that I loved cities because
any professors, and in my immediate family there they are important laboratories for our social and
weren’t those kinds of people around me that economic stories. The stories that we make, that we
created a way for me to imagine the future that I want for each other, they’re like a perfect geography
would end up living, and that it could be such a for me.” She earned a Fulbright Scholarship to study
whole and rich future for me.” Her father was an the Venezuelan economy under Hugo Chavez’s
avid reader. He took her to the San Francisco Book revolutionary movement. Visiting her dad’s old country,
Festival every year. He was also a collector of vinyl she realized she was first and foremost an American.
records and loved all kinds of music. Carmen loved “In Venezuela I’m a white person and in the United
music too. “My dad’s way of traveling, I think, was States I’m not, and that was very difficult.” Barack
through music.” Her mother, the second eldest of Obama was campaigning to become the president,
seventeen kids, came to the U.S. as a teenager, which symbolized a tectonic change in the U.S. “I never
really by herself, not speaking any English and with felt more like I belonged to the United States than when
only a middle school education. “My mom did such I was on my Fulbright in Venezuela.” She felt she had
a great job lighting a fire of joy inside of me and to be a changemaker who shifts the narrative of power
making sure that I protected that, that it was mine to create a truly representative economy. “I just really
to protect, mine to cultivate, mine for my life. I think refused to be the last generation of people in this
that’s such an amazing thing.” country that got to benefit from a robust social safety

CARMEN ROJAS EMPOWERING OTHERS https://icaf.org