00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;21
Intro-Outro
Hello and welcome to Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Dora Mendez. I am the founder and CEO of Coach Dora LLC. Our guests will be entrepreneurs, small business owners, and community leaders that drive social impact. It can be lonely at the top, but it doesn't have to be.
00;00;30;21 - 00;00;50;22
Dora Mendez
Hello and welcome to Building Leadership Community Podcast. I'm your host, Dora Mendez. Thank you to all our listeners and viewers. And if you're new to our podcasts, please like, share and subscribe on YouTube by clicking that subscribe button with the Bell to get notified when new content gets
00;00;50;22 - 00;00;56;26
Dora Mendez
posted. So we're thrilled. We're always thrilled to have you here.
00;00;56;29 - 00;01;38;27
Dora Mendez
Since launching Building Leadership Community Podcast, the journey has been nothing short of transformative. As a champion of inclusive leadership, growth and connection, season two is all about deepening the conversations and expanding our impact. At its core, Building Leadership Community Podcast is about fostering authentic leadership and empowering professionals to build stronger, more engaged communities. Every episode dives into strategies, insights, and personal stories that help leaders navigate their leadership journey with confidence and purpose.
00;01;38;29 - 00;02;15;09
Dora Mendez
Let me tell you more about today's guest. I'm especially excited for today's conversation because I'm welcoming someone incredibly close to my heart, and that is my remarkable sister, incredibly talented theater artist Rocio Mendez. Yay! Round of applause. Just recently, my family and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Rocio in beautiful Ashland, Oregon during a much needed spring break.
00;02;15;11 - 00;02;54;00
Dora Mendez
It was such a rejuvenating time filled with relaxation, connection, and creating those precious family moments. A true highlight was seeing Rocio shine as a guest artist at the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Witnessing her artistry firsthand and spending quality time together in such a picturesque setting was truly special. Those moments of exploring the beauty around us and celebrating Rocio's artistry were so important to recharging and appreciating the incredible talent within our family.
00;02;54;03 - 00;03;22;29
Dora Mendez
Beyond her captivating performances, Rocio has carved a unique path as a leader in the arts. Today, I'm thrilled to delve into her leadership journey as an artist, exploring the challenges, triumphs, and insights she's gained along the way. Get ready to be inspired by the conversation I'm about to have with my youngest sister, Rocio Mendez.
00;03;22;29 - 00;03;24;16
Dora Mendez
All right, Rocio.
00;03;24;16 - 00;03;27;24
Rocio Mendez
Hi. That was so sweet, Dora. Thank
00;03;27;24 - 00;03;57;24
Dora Mendez
Welcome to the stage. Welcome to the stage. I could say more, but I don't want to start crying and getting emotional. So I. Before we get into your conversation, I think I'm going to read your bio, your brief bio so that the audience, gets a sense of your leadership background. It's short, so you're just going to have to sit there and listen to me read or and say more nice things about, about you.
00;03;57;27 - 00;04;32;14
Dora Mendez
So Rocio Mendez is an award winning actor, fight and intimacy director, and a proud New Yorker committed to building confidence in brown and black girls through storytelling. Rocio has done multiple independent films showcasing their their talents in martial arts and comedy. Rocio has worked on Broadway and with a range of theaters nationally, including the Public Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Atlantic Theater Company, and the Classical Theater of Harlem.
00;04;32;14 - 00;04;45;04
Dora Mendez
Among many and many, many others. Rocio has been nominated for multiple awards for their fight in choreography and movement. Rocio
00;04;45;05 - 00;05;00;27
Dora Mendez
is a team member of the Unkle Dave's Fight-House and the resident Intimacy director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. So yeah, that's your bio and we're going to add your website.
00;05;01;00 - 00;05;27;06
Dora Mendez
Rocio Mendez.com in the episode description so people can see for themselves your profile, your headshots, your videos and, and you know, I've seen all these things many times. So let's, let me hand the proverbial mic over to you with our first conversation prompt. Can you share a little bit about your leadership story and your career trajectory with our, audience and viewers?
00;05;28;07 - 00;05;44;19
Rocio Mendez
Yeah. Of course. In the beginning, when I was a wee when I wanted to become an actor, and that was kind of like what I was focusing on, as you know, and I would tell the world, I went to a performing arts elementary school, high school.
00;05;45;04 - 00;05;50;03
Dora Mendez
You went to to the same high school as Timothy Salome.
00;05;50;03 - 00;05;54;08
Rocio Mendez
did go to the same high school as Timothy Salome, which is really funny.
00;05;54;08 - 00;06;20;21
Rocio Mendez
LaGuardia School of Performing Arts. And then eventually, went to an acting conservatory, also for, acting, obviously. But, luckily I had, very good background in movement, dance and martial arts, so I was just always a really good mover, and we were required at the school. I went to to take something called stage combat. So it ended up being one of my favorite classes.
00;06;20;21 - 00;06;41;19
Rocio Mendez
I really loved it. I thought it was so fun, and a lot of my teachers who then became started, become became my first mentor out of college. Encouraged me to pursue fight choreography just as a side hustle, just as something that, you know, I could do as well as try to act at audition and all that stuff.
00;06;41;19 - 00;07;14;09
Rocio Mendez
But she was like, you could also make money doing this and be a part of the theater, and you love it and you're good at it, so might as well. So I took her advice and, it's sort of snowballed and I started fight directing more and more and more, and I was going, there's like national workshops you could go to, and there's places you could get certified from, which I went to, then I met another mentor who who, really opened my eyes to, thinking of fight choreography in new ways.
00;07;14;11 - 00;07;20;26
Rocio Mendez
And I consistently, participated in some type of martial arts throughout my whole life. So that's also really important
00;07;20;26 - 00;07;22;02
Dora Mendez
remember when you took.
00;07;22;27 - 00;07;24;26
Dora Mendez
remember when you took Muay Thai.
00;07;24;26 - 00;07;42;17
Rocio Mendez
Yeah, yeah, for a really long time. And I still take it here in Ashland, which is really great. And then when I worked at with Unkle Dave's Fight-House, Dave Anzuelo, that's when I started some of my intimacy work and journey.
00;07;42;20 - 00;08;06;04
Rocio Mendez
He was an intimacy director and had done some intimacy stuff, so he started giving me some really cool vocabulary tips and tricks and how to choreograph, scenes of intimacy and then I ran into, a woman, who started an organization, Intimacy Directors International. Her name is Claire Warden, and she ended up mentoring me as well.
00;08;06;04 - 00;08;22;16
Rocio Mendez
And basically, I became this fight and intimacy director. And it's so niche that, you know, it's sort of like 10 to 20 of us just kind of became the intimacy people in the United States, like,
00;08;22;16 - 00;08;45;08
Dora Mendez
Yes. You are a leader in the in the industry. And, it's much needed. I know in the movies, there's a, there's a big controversial case about the fact that, you know, intimacy coordinator, how important it is for actors to feel safe and the safety at work. Can you tell us? Well, first of all, there's two things I would like for you to talk about.
00;08;45;08 - 00;09;11;21
Dora Mendez
First one, I noticed you said mentorship. And since we are Building Leadership Community, I think mentorship is really an important part of supporting our leaders. Because, you know, my tagline, it can be lonely at the top, but it doesn't have to be. And, mentorship is really important, but I would so I just want to lift that up and it's it's it's something that's very important to what I do.
00;09;11;23 - 00;09;31;04
Dora Mendez
You know, for my students at the college and then, you know, as a, as a coach, as a leadership coach, can you share a little bit more about the, like, how you got into the intimacy directing part and how important that job is? That role is, to the theater.
00;09;32;18 - 00;09;57;05
Rocio Mendez
Yeah. I mean, I got into it because I was hired to actually do, a sexual assault scene at a college, an undergraduate program, and it's a college that I'd been working for already for almost a decade. So they have been used to hiring me as a fight choreographer. All the time. Included something as serious as choreographing a sexual assault in a play.
00;09;57;07 - 00;10;22;28
Rocio Mendez
And this is when intimacy was really coming into, starting to get a buzz. And they hired an intimacy director to come in to work with me. And I was like, oh, this is this is great. You know, like, this is this is some new vocabulary that, like, I've never heard this is really cool. And I was like, I want to sort of lean more into this just to be a better fight choreographer.
00;10;23;00 - 00;10;42;25
Rocio Mendez
But as life does to people, it just ended up snowballing. And I ended up becoming a certified intimacy director, through one of the first organizations that had that possibility for you to, to get obtain something like that. So that's how it started. And like I said, and out
00;10;42;25 - 00;10;50;13
Dora Mendez
when you share why it's so important to sort of the culture and the, you know, and the play and.
00;10;50;13 - 00;11;16;25
Rocio Mendez
Of course, essentially what intimacy direction does or intimacy professionals in general do is we not only do we choreograph, right, we have choreographer, so we choreograph scenes of intimacy, but we're also there to make sure that everyone has a voice in the room that everyone has, like autonomy with their bodies. Everyone has a voice and people are consenting to the actual work they do.
00;11;16;27 - 00;11;46;13
Rocio Mendez
So there's conversation around choreography. We don't just do it, you know, just go out there and be like, okay, do this thing. But we first have conversation, understand and learn about boundaries and body autonomy and showing people that there are many ways to tell a story. So if someone doesn't want to be touched somewhere or for example, or, there's all kinds of, consent out there, but let's just say, for example, someone can't be touched in a specific place of their body.
00;11;46;16 - 00;12;10;20
Rocio Mendez
We work around it to create the illusion, right? Or just not touch it at all. So we're there to help build creative ways so that performers, actors can work without having that sort of paranoia or, having to, like, just squish down their emotions or what's really happening to their real selves in their body just for the sake of art.
00;12;10;20 - 00;12;22;11
Rocio Mendez
So they're not sacrificing themselves for the sake of art, but able to work through it in a way where they can build a sustainable, fun work environment where their needs are met.
00;12;22;11 - 00;13;01;25
Dora Mendez
So it's safety. So you create safety. But, help the storytellers, while creating that, that safety. So I think of, that is really important to lead to lead that, and sort of be a culture builder. And so what, what another really important thing is sort of, I always ask, you have such a unique career to trajectory, and then you, you landed into this sort of the top tier, in this field.
00;13;01;27 - 00;13;27;01
Dora Mendez
Right? And you travel all over the country. And it's, you know, it amazes me. So can you share about how, like, how are you, how do you like, blend into the. Because you come in and you do a specific thing. So how do you, you know, I don't know how to say how do you, like, integrate yourself?
00;13;27;01 - 00;13;47;14
Dora Mendez
How do you how are you able to take the lead when you just, like, come in, do your thing? And how do you sort of like, help? How do you do that? Like, how do you put yourself in there? Because, yeah, it takes a strong I mean, it takes a strong. You have to have a, you know, you can't be a wallflower to do that.
00;13;47;14 - 00;13;48;01
Dora Mendez
You know.
00;13;48;01 - 00;14;07;24
Rocio Mendez
No, I mean you know, I think you know now that you're asking me like how do I do that. But I think just understanding the value of what I do is helpful. And understanding the value of what I do gives me the confidence also of what I do.
00;14;07;24 - 00;14;39;01
Rocio Mendez
So to this day, as an intimacy professional, I do get questioned by both producers, actors, directors, just because it's still so new. It's still new ish. But I think that at the end of the day, I when that happens, I go in with even more confidence because I know I could prove them wrong. Right. So I think coming in with a mindset of like showing people what the value of this work is, showing people what the collaboration of this work could be.
00;14;39;03 - 00;14;51;12
Rocio Mendez
And, and ultimately, showing people how it works and that and that it's, it's just good storytelling and good and good work as an artist. It's just good
00;14;51;12 - 00;15;34;04
Dora Mendez
I like how you said collaboration because I think, collaboration is important and, and for me, community is about that. It's really an arts good art is to like, collaborative. So thank you for elevating that. So you have such a unique career tra trajectory. And we we ask every, leader on our show if they could, give advice to the next generation or if you could go back and give your advice to your younger self, what would that be?
00;15;35;27 - 00;16;13;12
Rocio Mendez
Well, I think the advice I would give to the next generation, which I think sometimes artists forget, is that, both as a fight and intimacy director always educating ourselves and keeping it sort of keeping up with the times is really important. So I'm constantly making sure I'm going to workshops and constantly reading the new the new FAD book that's out about whether it's like first a mental health, you know, gender politics, gender identity, whether it's about anti-racism, I'm always making sure that I'm up on, like, what the world is, where the world is at, because that that's actually very, very vital, very, very important to my work.
00;16;13;14 - 00;16;40;15
Rocio Mendez
So I think the, advice I would give is remember that, like, even though I have quote unquote made it, that doesn't mean I stay stagnant in terms of what I do to educate myself. And continuing to know what's going on in the world. Also, it's a way to build community is I go to these workshops and suddenly I have, a better community of professionals because I'm making sure to constantly educate myself.
00;16;40;15 - 00;16;53;14
Rocio Mendez
No matter where I get in the scale of my career. There's always room to learn and there's always room to adjust. And also, sometimes going back to the basics is just as important as learning something new.
00;16;53;14 - 00;17;27;16
Dora Mendez
So what I'm hearing you're saying is, continuous learning, continuous improving is, part of your leadership style, making sure that you, I think no matter what field you're in. Professional development, leadership development is important. And then like how you said, like, no matter how how you get in the field, you're always learning, you're always educating yourself.
00;17;27;19 - 00;17;56;00
Dora Mendez
And I like that, because you do that, you continue to build your net, your network, your community. So I think that's that's really great. So, anything that you'd like to, share with our. Any final words, you'd like to share with our listeners and, and viewers about leadership, the theater and the work that you do.
00;17;59;08 - 00;18;18;12
Rocio Mendez
I always support the arts. They're really important. And and also continue to listen to my amazing sister, Coach Dora. It's wonderful the work you're doing as well. And I love that you continue to lift everybody.
00;18;18;12 - 00;18;27;26
Dora Mendez
Thank you. Can you, share, with our listeners and viewers how they can learn more about you and, follow you on, social?
00;18;29;06 - 00;18;44;09
Rocio Mendez
Of course. And Instagram I am at it's Rocio Mendez. My website is Rocio Mendez at com. And the organization I'm full time with, as a resident artist is Oregon Shakespeare Festival,
00;18;45;18 - 00;19;14;05
Dora Mendez
We're going to put all those links in the description of this episode. And, I, you know, supporting the arts is so important. Especially now there's a, you know, there's, a threat to all kinds of funding for the arts. I, I think I had one more question for you about, Oh, I have to say, Ashland, Oregon was surprising.
00;19;14;06 - 00;19;33;22
Dora Mendez
It was wonderful visiting you there, and it was wonderful visiting there as a as a native New Yorkers that we are as Hell's Kitchen girls that we are. It was it was unexpected. And the shows were really fantastic. And so if you're ever in Oregon,
00;19;33;22 - 00;19;34;13
Rocio Mendez
Come visit!
00;19;34;13 - 00;19;38;23
Dora Mendez
so I want to thank you so much, Rocio.
00;19;38;23 - 00;19;39;18
Rocio Mendez
I want to thank you.
00;19;39;18 - 00;19;47;14
Dora Mendez
I want to disclose that it's not nepotism when you have, you know, I interviewed Mom.
00;19;47;16 - 00;20;07;09
Dora Mendez
She's she kicked off, the season. And so great leaders, make leaders so empowered women empower women. So it doesn't surprise me that, we're both, leaders and and builders of community. So. Love you. Thank you for being here.
00;20;07;09 - 00;20;08;27
Rocio Mendez
I you to thank you.
00;20;13;22 - 00;20;46;24
Intro-Outro
You've been listening to Building Leadership Community. Watch on YouTube @CoachDoraM. Listen, wherever you get your podcast, follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube @CoachDoraM. Visit me on the web at CoachDoraMendez.com. Hosted by me, Dora Mendez. Produced by Dora Mendez and Dylan Rogers. Graphics, editing, and sound mixing by Dylan Rogers.
