As Puerto Rico’s culture changes, more and more women are taking work into their own hands and creating job opportunities for themselves and the community at large. Whether they are artisans like Heidy Colon, Morivi, and Las Malcrías with their brands of jewelry and natural skincare products, fashion designers like Sarah Paulette Arana with Raitru and Selina Williams with Ankhari Crochet, or artists like Andrea Lynn Andino Deida and Veronica Vazquez Papaleo, Puerto Rican women are using everything at their disposal to pave their own way in the market. Meanwhile, programs like Colegio’s Centro Empresarial para la Mujer en la Agricultura (CEMA), as led by director Dr. Gladys M. González Martínez and co-director Dr. Alexandra Gregory Crespo, seek to aid women who wish to work in the fields of agricultural entrepreneurship and agribusiness by providing a variety of workshops open to students and the community at large.
(logo for the program as found on its website)
While many still deem the field of agriculture to be male dominated, many of the women who go to CEMA’s courses and workshops would say otherwise. Take for example UPRM student Yaira Aviles who has worked and been interested in this discipline by helping her father work on his farm since she was nine years old. This passion eventually helped her choose a college career, as she was indecisive between business or agriculture. Eventually, she decided on both, a career aptly named agribusiness, which combines the best of both worlds. In addition, Aviles, along with other CEMA classmates like Wilmarie Alequin Otero and Isela Ortiz Toro, agree that this project has helped them gain confidence in their abilities empowering them to be the women in agriculture they wish to be.
(picture provided by Dr. Gladys M. González Martínez)
According to Aviles, Alequin Otero, and Ortiz Toro, the program has also given them the necessary tools they will need in order to be leaders in agribusiness such as the crops that need to be grown and how they can be distributed across the marketplace. Moreover, according to Ortiz Toro, who specializes in administration and human resources, CEMA has also provided their students the proper education to aid others so they can perfect their skills to aid the island’s agriculture flourish.
(picture taken by the author of this article)
In short, CEMA’s services seek to educate women interested in the field of agribusiness. While the goals of each individual member can vary, one thing is for certain that aiding Puerto Rico’s agriculture flourish is always a part of it. As the aforementioned students stated, “the importance of Puerto Rico’s agriculture has been somehow forgotten, programs like CEMA help us educate ourselves and, in turn, we can help others understand about the importance of such an important resource, be it a small girl who is interested in the field or someone already involved.”
To learn more about CEMA go to their website or Facebook