or Dolores Arredondo, the answer is still taking shape. That may be exactly what makes this chapter so interesting.

Previously recognized by HL as a Latina of Influence, Arredondo has built an accomplished career spanning marketing, business strategy, customer engagement, partnerships, entertainment, sports and community leadership.

After more than two decades of building brands, advising organizations and serving communities, she isn’t approaching her next chapter as a reinvention. She is looking at everything she has learned, experienced and accomplished and considering where she can make the greatest difference next.

Leadership Beyond Business

Arredondo’s professional background reflects years spent working at the intersection of brands, consumers, partnerships and business strategy.

As a growth marketing executive and strategic advisor, she has helped organizations understand audiences, strengthen customer engagement, develop strategic partnerships and turn marketing investments into meaningful results.

But business achievement tells only part of her story.

Throughout her career, Arredondo has maintained a deep commitment to service, education, inclusion and creating opportunities for others  particularly women, girls and communities that have not always enjoyed equitable access to resources and opportunity.

She has served on the boards of the Adventist Health White Memorial Charitable Foundation and Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), where she also served as chair.

Arredondo was appointed a Commissioner for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, bringing her leadership and community perspective to issues affecting vulnerable populations.

Today, she continues that commitment as a member of the Wellesley College Board of Trustees and on the founding board of College Match Los Angeles, helping expand educational opportunities and pathways to success for first-generation students.

Those roles are impressive.

But in the many years I have known Dolores, what stands out most is something more personal. She is a woman of impact. She has consistently looked for ways to lift up others, create opportunities and connect people with resources, relationships and possibilities that can move them forward.

Service is not simply something Dolores has added to an already accomplished professional résumé. It is very much part of her DNA.

That perspective helps explain why her leadership has extended well beyond business. Whether through nonprofit organizations, education, healthcare or the advancement of women, she has repeatedly found ways to use her experience and relationships in service of others. 

A collection of moments with Dolores alongside family, friends and community leaders reflecting the relationships, service and sense of community that have been such an important part of her journey.

Finding Her “Next, Next”

After years of building, leading, advising and serving, Arredondo describes this point in her journey as searching for her “next, next.”

The phrase says a lot.

This isn’t simply about finding another job or adding another title. It is about determining where decades of experience, leadership, relationships and perspective can have the greatest impact. The possibilities cross several worlds she already knows well.

Healthcare is one.

Helping organizations better connect people with services and resources that can improve their lives is an area that naturally brings together her marketing experience and commitment to community.

There is also the continued opportunity to help brands better understand and connect with consumers, particularly within communities where trust, relevance and authentic engagement matter.

Sports and entertainment remain another area of interest, particularly where partnerships, marketing and the advancement of women intersect.

Whatever direction comes next, the common thread is purpose.

“I want to use my marketing prowess for good,” Arredondo says. “Whether it’s connecting people to the products and healthcare services they deserve or helping advance women in sports, I want to be a part of creating a better and more inclusive world.”

That statement may offer the clearest definition of what her “next, next” looks like. It is not simply about what she wants to do. It is about why she wants to do it.

Experience With Purpose

There comes a point in a successful career when advancement does not necessarily mean another rung on the professional ladder.

Sometimes it means having the freedom to ask a different question: Where can I contribute the most?

For Arredondo, marketing has provided an extraordinary professional foundation. Service has provided another. Over time, those two parts of her life have become increasingly connected.

She brings decades of strategic business experience, organizational leadership and an understanding of how brands, institutions and people connect. She also brings years of involvement with organizations focused on healthcare, education, opportunity and the advancement of women. Those aren’t separate chapters anymore. They are increasingly part of the same story and that may be one of the advantages of reaching this stage of a career.

Experience creates choices. Perspective helps determine which choices matter. Purpose helps determine what comes next.

Looking Forward During Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month naturally gives us an opportunity to look back. We celebrate accomplishments. We recognize contributions. We remember the people and experiences that helped create opportunities for the generations that followed.

But heritage isn’t only about where we have been.

It is also about what we do with those experiences moving forward. That is one of the reasons we wanted to reconnect with Dolores Arredondo.

HL recognized her as a Latina of Influence because of the leadership, achievement and commitment to community she had already demonstrated.  Years later, those qualities remain. What has changed is the question. Today, we are less interested in asking what Dolores has accomplished. There is already plenty of evidence of that. We are interested in what all of those accomplishments have prepared her to do next.

Arredondo doesn’t appear interested in simply adding another title to an already distinguished résumé. She is looking for the place where experience meets purpose  where marketing, leadership, relationships and service can create something meaningful.

The next chapter has not been completely written. Perhaps that is the most exciting part.

Because for a woman who has spent so much of her career helping create opportunities for others, the question now becomes:

What opportunity will Dolores Arredondo create next?

HL 2018 Latinas of Influence. Dolores is located on the back row, 3rd from the right.