34 TOBACCO BUSINESS | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER | 22 factory were not just available locally but were soon exported to the U.S. and Spain. The tobacco trading part of the business was also expanded upon. When Rodriguez took a more prominent role in the company, he also felt compelled to grow the business. The challenge came in honoring what his father and grandfather had built but also taking the business into the future and growing it. Rodriguez focused his efforts on the factory and its workers, making sure every employee was getting the best from the company and that the working environment was ideal for everyone. ADayintheLifeofRamRodriguez Although Rodriguez is focused on honoring what his father and grandfather built and accomplished before him, he’s not afraid to bring his own approach to the family’s tobacco business. For example, his father and others in his father’s generation view increasing regulations as something to be concerned about. Rodriguez, however, is open to all the new challenges and views them as opportunities to grow and a reason to do things differently, something he also attributes to his background as an industrial engineer. Another instance of Rodriguez opting to do things in a newway can be seenwithin theTabacaleraEl Artista factory and its use of solar panels. Not only does the use of solar panels benefit the factory economically; it also helps the environment and Artista’s surrounding community. “I’m very open to market trends and seeing what we can do to follow those trends,” he says. “Now that I’m running the cigar making operations in the factory, almost all of the people who work with me are young as well, allowing us to identify changes and opportunities better.” Today, Rodriguez holds many titles within his family’s tobacco business. Due to there being so many different divisions and operations within the vertically integrated company, Rodriguez is the vice president of Tabacalera El Artista (with his father serving as its president). He’s the president of Artista Cigars, which handles the sale of the company’s cigars in the U.S. and international markets, and he’s also responsible for the Miami operations of the company’s logistics and back-office company, TCD Logistics. With so many responsibilities falling on him, Rodriguez’s days are far different from how they were when he first started working within his family’s business as a teenager. Back then, he was reluctant for many Rodriguez has not been afraid to put his own stamp on the business, from introducing green initiatives within the factory to bringing new blends to the market that are atypical when it comes to what Tabacalera El Artista is known for. I’m very open to market trends and seeing what we can do to follow those trends. Now that I’m running the cigar making operations in the factory, almost all of the people who work with me are young as well, allowing us to identify changes and opportunities better. –Ram Rodriguez
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