The Daniels director of finance and business operations has found a home in Colorado
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There’s a very special section of Leticia Robledo’s office on the sixth floor of the Daniels College of Business.
No, it’s not a textbook or memoir. Rather, Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.”
She believes strongly that every student should have a copy. It’s a reassuring read for those experiencing turmoil.
“When you’re going through a transition, it’s a great place to read it. It really helps with anxiety and not knowing what’s coming, putting you in a state of mind of openness,” she said. “You don’t know what will happen, but there are possibilities, right? Holding onto the possibilities more than the scary aspects of changing life.”
Robledo is a trailblazer in her community and family, who has learned to be comfortable in uncertainty and embrace a future full of opportunities.
Robledo is first-generation Mexican American, born and raised in the California Bay Area. She grew up in a tightknit Mexican community, speaking Spanish exclusively at home and in school, until transitioning to an English-speaking high school.
She was the first in her family to go to college when she landed at California State University, East Bay, to study accounting. Robledo was taking a leap by choosing that field, something she never had considered before.
“Truly, who knows at 18 years old what an accountant is? I just happened to take a class that a professor recommended,” she said with a laugh. “He said, ‘I think you’ll be good.’ And I took it to heart and stuck with it.”
Years later, it appears Robledo’s professor was correct in his assessment. She’s the director of finance and business operations at Daniels, after arriving at the University nearly six years ago.
Robledo’s path to Denver was winding, spurred by a career move for her husband two decades ago.
“Meth brought us to Colorado,” she said with a straight face, before softening, laughing and detailing her husband’s career move.
Robledo isn’t married to “Breaking Bad’s” Walter White, rather a less sinister chemist that moved to Colorado for a job with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency laboratory. After growing up in the Bay Area, Robledo and her family have found a new home in the Centennial State. She’s quickly taken to the abundance of outdoor activities, spending her time outside of the office running, biking and swimming. Robledo has lost count of how many half marathons she’s run and estimates that she’s completed about 10 of the full variety. While putting feet to pavement, she’s learned important lessons in mental toughness and perseverance that she brings with her to work.
“When you’re hit in life, when you’re hit in your job, when people are being difficult, you go outside and you come back and you’re like, ‘Oh, what was I thinking? Why was I so upset?’ Everything loses its strength [after being outside], especially with negative emotions in my mind,” she said.
Despite moving away from the Mexican culture in the Bay Area, Robledo fought to ensure her two children grew up feeling the same closeness she did with her heritage. Spanish might not be their first language, but Robledo is proud that her children have grown up embracing their Mexican American roots. The family celebrates traditional holidays, sees relatives every weekend and roots hard for the Mexican national soccer team. It might not be a carbon copy of Robledo’s youth, but it’s still something.
“I’m happy that they are their own version of Mexican Americans,” she said of her children. “But I’m also happy that they are retaining some of the values that came from my parents to me.”
After an early career in accounting roles with municipalities like Wheat Ridge and Lakewood, Robledo has spent more than a decade in higher education. Along the way, she earned a master’s degree in accounting from Daniels and is currently enrolled in the College’s Executive MBA program. Education and the possibilities it provides have been central to Robledo’s personal mission and kept her at Daniels.
“It’s about the people, about what we represent,” she said. “I believe in education and the opportunities that it brings.”
She never expected this path but has embraced every challenge and choice along the way. She’s living the words of Dr. Seuss to the best of her ability.
As he wrote in that book perched on Robledo’s shelf: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go.”
Awesome lady. Had her as a student