Carolina Rodriguez

Carolina Rodriguez's career has never followed a straight line. She started in architecture, moved into urban development, stumbled into communications almost by accident, spent years inside the United Nations system, and eventually became an entrepreneur running purpose-driven businesses across continents.

Born in Chile, Carolina spent much of her childhood moving between Chile, Argentina, Central America and the United States. Growing up across different countries made change feel normal. At school, she was drawn to art and design and initially wanted to study industrial design. Her father, a doctor working in public health, encouraged her to choose something broader that would provide more options in the future.

Architecture became the compromise. It combined creativity, design and technical skills, while leaving multiple career paths open. Looking back, that decision would shape everything that followed.

While studying architecture in Chile, Carolina lost her father. At the same time, she became increasingly interested in global development and social issues. Fresh out of university, she dreamed of working for the United Nations and helping to "save the world". Architecture, however, was not exactly what the UN was looking for.

As Chile entered an economic downturn, she stayed on to pursue a master's degree in urban development, seeing it as a pathway into international organisations. During her studies, she secured an internship focused on urban regeneration and the rehabilitation of old city centres.

Then an unexpected request changed her career.

Someone asked whether she could build a website.

She had never written a line of code, but after a crash course in HTML from a friend, she figured it out. To her surprise, web design came naturally. Architecture had trained her to think spatially—to organise information, guide people through spaces and create intuitive experiences. Websites, she realised, were not that different.

One project became two, then five. She built websites, designed interfaces and produced visual materials. By the time she completed her thesis, she had accumulated five years of communications experience without ever intending to enter the field.

At thirty, Carolina landed the opportunity she had been waiting for: a communications role at the United Nations in New York. Leaving Chile meant giving up a comfortable life and the familiarity of home, but she knew that an international career would require taking risks.

New York opened up a completely different world. Surrounded by journalists, diplomats and communications professionals, she joined the UN's web team and learned on the job. More importantly, she found leaders who trusted her, gave her autonomy and encouraged her to experiment.

After several years in New York, Carolina relocated to Geneva, beginning the next chapter of her international career.

She continued working remotely for the UN while adapting to a new city and raising a young family. A chance introduction eventually led her to Michael Møller, who was helping to establish what would become the Africa Progress Panel under Kofi Annan.

Initially, she had no intention of leaving the UN. She even offered to help recruit someone else for the role. But after volunteering for several months and seeing the opportunity to work directly with Kofi Annan and other global leaders, she changed her mind.

The move turned out to be one of the defining experiences of her career.

As Head of Communications at the Africa Progress Panel, Carolina suddenly found herself in a five-person team operating like a start-up. She was responsible for media relations, advocacy, events and communications strategy, working alongside figures such as Kofi Annan, Muhammad Yunus and African heads of state.

The experience forced her to learn quickly. She discovered how senior leaders think, how to communicate complex issues simply, and why decision-makers value clarity above everything else.

One of her proudest achievements was transforming technical development reports into visually engaging publications. Drawing on her design background, she turned statistics into infographics and stories that people actually wanted to read. An alternative guide to the 2010 World Cup, which compared football teams through the lens of development indicators, became an unexpected success.

After moving to Rome, Carolina experimented with the corporate world for the first time, joining WaterHealth as Business Development Director for Europe. Although the company was bringing clean-water technology to underserved communities, she struggled with the commercial side of the role. After six months, she left, realising that not every opportunity is the right fit.

Back in Geneva, she launched Dilucidar, a creative agency focused on sustainability and development. The early years were messy. Banking regulations, immigration rules and the realities of entrepreneurship created obstacles she had never anticipated. More than once, she considered abandoning the idea and returning to the security of the UN.

Instead, she kept going.

When she relocated to Singapore seven years ago, Carolina rebuilt the business from scratch. Dilucidar gradually evolved into a global team spanning Africa, Australia, Mauritius and Turkey, helping organisations tell stories around sustainability, social impact and development.

The business became even more important during a difficult period in her personal life. Faced with uncertainty and the need to support herself and her children in Singapore, Carolina doubled down on entrepreneurship. What started as a one-person consultancy became an international network of creatives, writers and strategists.

Today, she continues to lead Dilucidar while helping Leidar expand its presence in Singapore. The two organisations complement each other: Leidar brings expertise in strategic communications and crisis management, while Dilucidar focuses on design, storytelling and sustainability.

Looking back, Carolina believes the most important career lesson is to keep your options open. That was the reason she chose architecture in the first place.

Her advice is simple: be generous with your time, embrace uncertainty and apply for opportunities even when you do not feel fully qualified.

"The reality is that nothing is certain," she says. "You might as well take the leap."