Joshua Seguî- Rodriguez

Policy Associate at The Latino Policy Institute

Joshua Seguí-Rodríguez was born in the United States to a Puerto Rican single mom. Raising five children by herself, there came a time when she had to make the difficult decision to send Joshua and two of his siblings to live with their father in Puerto Rico due to food insecurity. Although the circumstances of his move were difficult, Joshua points to this as an invaluable experience that connected him to his culture and created his passion for making meaningful contributions to his community. 

At a young age, Joshua’s mother sat him down to explain that some people were going to hate him simply because he was a man of color and a proud Boricua. Being Latino influenced him deeply because of his early understanding of prejudice and injustice. Embracing his Puerto Rican identity, he learned as much about his history as he could. By understanding the similarities and differences between the history of his people and other historically oppressed groups, Joshua developed a strong sense of solidarity with people who have been relegated to the margins of society. 

Living in the mountains of Puerto Rico without running water, where he had much less materially and yet he and his community were happier, has helped Joshua chart his career trajectory. People’s connections ran deeper and everyone was so quick to gather, simply to be together. After serving as an administrator and educator in higher education doing racial justice, diversity, equity and inclusion work, Joshua is excited to join the Latino Policy Institute’s team as a Policy Associate to do his part to build the sort of community he wants to live in.