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Date: 11/7/2023
CHICOPEE — Jeremy Rodriguez, a motivational speaker and life coach, was the recipient of the Latino Excellence Award due to his hard work and dedication to helping others.
Rodriguez was nominated for the award by state Rep. Shirley Arriaga (D-Chicopee).
“I decided to dedicate my life to helping people become mentally wealthy, emotionally wealthy, wealthy in behavior, because what I find is that if we can really double down on somebody’s strength, and we can really remind people of their potential and we can truly nurture their belief systems, I believe that there is nothing somebody [can’t] do,” Rodriguez said.
He shared that he enjoys helping people change their quality of life from the inside out, stemming from the thoughts of their emotions.
With clients as far as Africa and as close as his hometown of Chicopee, Rodriguez has been able to “tap into different parts of the world” thanks to social media and people spreading his message, he said.
He noted that the experience has brought him diverse clientele and supporters.
Rodriguez shared that he got involved in this journey at a time he was looking to transform his own life as he was “struggling tremendously” with depression, anxiety and thoughts of suicide.
“As I embarked on this personal development journey, I just started to learn so many things that were helping me that I just wanted to share those things with the world. The more I would share those things then the more I was able to transform my own life, the more incentive people had to come to me [for] advice,” he said.
Rodriguez explained that it was not until he attended a seminar and saw himself in the shoes of the speaker that his idea was nurtured and years later, that idea became a reality.
Rodriguez has been doing public speaking work since 2015.
At the end of October, Rodriguez received the Latino Excellence Award. He shared that he did not know about the award nor was he working toward it, but Arriaga reached out to him and said she had to nominate someone, to which she thought Rodriguez was deserving of it.
He went on to say that Arriaga had a “hands-on experience” with him because they shared a conversation in which he told her she needed a little more “horsepower.” Therefore, he said Arriaga was directly impacted by his energy and messaging which he believed gave her an “extra incentive” to nominate him and recognize his effort.
“This award is in alignment with what I always tell all of my clients, all of my supporters and any future supporter that’s going to come across Jeremy Rodriguez … What you practice in private will eventually show up in public,” he said.
He continued, “I genuinely love impacting people. I genuinely — from the bottom of my heart — love seeing people be able to transform their life and really live a different life than they were used to.”
Rodriguez said the unexpected recognition gave him reassurance that he is doing “God’s work” and allows him to have even more motivation toward impacting people.
“I would rather do more work and get recognized less, than to be getting recognized significantly and not really doing the work that I’m being recognized for,” he shared.
Rodriguez reiterated that anything is possible when you shift your focus, your energy is where it needs to be, and those disempowering thoughts are redirected. He said he wants people to understand that you must be greater than your environment, programming and the vision that was given to you.
“Our life and the trajectory of our life is not based on our old programming. It’s based on the people that nurtured us,” he said.
He added, “If you can truly see it in your mind, there’s absolutely nothing that you can’t accomplish.”
Arriaga said, “I was happy to nominate Jeremy for the Latino Excellence Award as he is a great motivational human being. He uses his adversity to create a positive way to look at life. He is big on giving back, especially to our youth. The power of confidence and self-reflection goes a long way. Jeremy helps those look deep inside and find their true self. One conversation with him has you inspired for life. I was happy to nominate Jeremy, my friend, for all his great work and for his dedication to our youth.”
Rodriguez can be found on social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn and YouTube.