Page 35 - BusinessWest October 31, 2022

Women
IMPACT
A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST Women of Women of IMPACT
IMPACT
A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
WOMEN
of Impact A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
Hilda Roqué
WOMEN
of ImpactWomen of A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
Executive Director,
Women of IMPACT
Nuestras Raíces
IMPACT
A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
Women of
Women of IMPACT
This Leader Helps
IMPACT
HBy George O’Brien
Others Achieve a Sense
of Belonging
A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
ilda Roqué was 14 when she and other members of her family arrived in Holyoke from her native Puerto Rico.
It was February, she recalled, noting that the extreme climate change from the tropical
Caribbean provided a constant reminder that she was a long — as in long — way from home.
And, unfortunately, weather was far from the only such painful reminder. Language was a considerable barrier, she said, and there were myriad cultural differences as well. Overall, she did not feel included.
“I had no sense of belonging when I came here; when
you come from a different country, it’s always difficult, especially when you’re trying to find your own identity,” she told BusinessWest, adding quickly that she worked hard to overcome what would be considered stern challenges to lead the Spanish newspaper at Holyoke High School and become the first recipient of its Latino Leadership honor, a poignant sign of what was come.
Indeed, fast-forwarding to today — we’ll go back and fill in some gaps later — Roqué has become a leader in this community on many levels.
She is the executive director of Nuestras Raíces, a Holyoke- based nonprofit with a broad mission that involves connecting people with the land through agriculture programs, empowering communities, and advocating for food justice.
While doing all that through a process of growth, evolution, and essentially breaking agriculture into two words — agri and culture — the team at Nuestras Raíces, and especially Roqué, have made it part of the mission to make sure that current and future generations of people coming to Holyoke from Puerto Rico and elsewhere don’t have to feel as far away from home as she did all those years ago.
Indeed, they strive to make them feel at home in as many ways as they can.
“It was always my dream to make it easier to transition,” she said. “I went through a lot of bullying and a lot of racism ... there were so many barriers, including language, that I didn’t want people to feel like I felt when I came here.
“That’s why I fought so much, and why I’m still fighting, for that to happen,” she went on. “Equality — that’s something that this organization stands for. We are all worthy of eating healthy, we should all be eating healthy, there shouldn’t be so much discrimination when it comes to food; we all have the same rights. This is something that is also my passion; we should live in better places, and we should aim for the stars
A PROGRAM OF BUSINESSWEST
35