Carmen Orozco Khan transferred to UL Lafayette鈥檚 Spanish program to dig deeper into her roots.
鈥淚 started taking Spanish classes at South Louisiana Community College and wanted to advance in Spanish language and culture,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his drove my passion to learn more about my Colombian culture.鈥
While at UL Lafayette, Carmen discovered many things about herself, from her favorite book to her call to activism.
鈥淢y favorite class was Topics in Hispanic Culture (SPAN 451G) with Dr. Leslie Bary,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e focused on race and nationalism in Latin America.
鈥淚n this class, I found my favorite book, 鈥楲a Raza C贸smica鈥 by the Mexican philosopher Jos茅 Vasconcelos,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his essay predicted this new age of a fully mixed race and why mestizaje persists in our modern times.
鈥淭his class also demonstrated the continuous challenges of racism in Latin America and how people identify themselves with national identity,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t opened my awareness to how we view ourselves holistically.鈥
Carmen was an active student on campus. She was vice president of both and the . She worked on special projects and she attended guest speaker events.
鈥淢y favorite guest speaker was John Smihula who directed the documentary 鈥楬idden in Plain Sight,鈥欌 she said. 鈥淭his event sparked my interest in activism for human rights.鈥
Because of Carmen, 鈥淗idden in Plain Sight鈥 is available for all students to watch. She worked to put together the housed at the .
All of these experiences Carmen had at UL Lafayette led her to a 10-year career at Apple Inc., where she now serves as a project manager. She focuses on optimizing the supply chain in the Americas.
鈥淢y experience at UL Lafayette has helped me apply my Spanish skills within a global company,鈥 she said. 鈥淎lso, the literature classes highlighted my innovation skills.
鈥淭hinking outside the box is important to apply in any career,鈥 she said. 鈥淭he creative perspective I gained from these classes is something I apply to projects I manage today at Apple.鈥
