A World of Opportunities ( Empathy Map)

His name is Rafael; he is 28 years old born in the Dominican Republic but currently resides in Manhattan, New York. Rafael majored in Finance and graduate last year from a university in New York. He is the manager of one of the most prestigious restaurants in the city. He enjoys his job and learning how to manage people and a business.

For Rafael what counts the most is his family, friends, and the relationships he has with them. He is ambitious but in a good way. He strives to become a better person every day and believes self- improvement is something that he will be working on for the rest of his life. It is almost a never ending passion for him.

Rafael does not have many preoccupations. He is a very positive person and has a positive attitude for everything that he encounters. He believes in himself and has faith that whatever he sets his mind to, he will accomplish. If there is one thing that he occasionally worries about is the future of his brother. He lives with his mother and his 18 year old brother. He believes he has a drive to find a future for himself but he does not see the same goals in his brother’s plans. He worries about his brother’s future after his mother can no longer support him.

In the job that he currently holds he aspires to learn skills that will serve him for the rest of his life. He wants to learn how to lead people and to run a successful business. One day he wants to own his own business and gain financial freedom. He enjoys his job for now but has bigger plans for his career. On the personal side, he aspires to one day form a family, a loving and understanding family. He also wants to have the resources to provide for them and to protect them.

In the environment that he lives in, he sees a fast paced group of individuals. He sees two worlds and two cultures on an everyday basis. In the neighborhood that he lives in, he interacts with his Dominican friends and family. In his work environment, he sees a melting pot of people, all from different cultures but with one goal in mind making money and moving up. Having an exposure to so many cultures has helped him to interact well with people with different backgrounds and to be able to understand them better. In his social life, he has friends of all types; he is very friendly and enjoys meeting new people. He does not have a lot of intimate friends but those that he does are individuals that are seeking to find a better future for themselves just like he is.

Rafael is an extrovert; he enjoys being the center of attention and the life of the party. Nevertheless, he is not always like that, he sometimes enjoys having quiet moments and being by himself. When he is new to a situation he is quiet, not because he is shy, but because he likes to analyze the situation he is in. Once he feels comfortable, he tends to open up and becomes more social. Appearance is important to him not only based on the way he dresses but also the way he communicates with his body language. He enjoys dressing well for work and on an everyday basis. He does not have a favorite style but enjoys trying out new and different styles. Throughout the years he has become more confident and that shows in his non-verbal communication. He has improved his posture and has become more confident in his handshakes and eye contact.

Rafael does not have many fears; with every experience he has lived he has learned to be brave for himself and his family. The only fear he has is not being able to live the life he wants and not being able to accomplish his dreams. His major pain is seeing his mother worried and stressed out. She is a mother and a father to her two sons, so she has had to work hard to raise them well and support them.

Rafael does not measure success in the number of times he has failed or succeeded but instead, he measures what he has learned from those experiences. He believes that everything happens for a reason and that every situation in his life has served him to become the person he is today. He does not see obstacles but rather challenges that he must overcome.