Rosy Nah Pech-Tucker

Rosy Nah Pech-Tucker was Born in Mexico City where she lived until she was 10. She moved to Campeche, a beautiful colonial coastal city located in the Yucatan Península, where she graduated from Universidad Autonoma de Campeche High School. She attended Universidad Autonoma de Campeche where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Accounting. She also holds a master’s in Executive Management and International Business from Universidad Anahuac. Rosy worked for a Mexican transnational company that manufactured rope and came to Athens in 2007 to work at the company’s corporate offices in Madison, GA as a controller. Currently, Rosy works doing property management and volunteers countless hours in the community. She has volunteered and served as the President of the Board for Casa de Amistad, served as founding board member of Acceptance Recovery Center and currently serves as President of the Board of Strong Girls. She volunteers teaching yoga in the underserved local Latinx community and is a founding member and volunteer for SIFIC (Support to Families in Crisis Due to Deportation). She’s also a mentor for the Oconee Area Resource Council, serving Oconee County Schools. She helped fund a UGA/LACSI study to identify needs of the Latinx population in the area that became the base for the Lazos Hispaños (Hispanic Links) Promotoras program, which is a health workers program seeking to enhance health and well-being within the Athens Latinx community by providing access to healthcare and social services. Rosy lives in Watkinsville with her beloved cat of 13 years Bartolo, her husband Jack, and their sons Emilio, James and Jackson.

 

 

 

What led you to want to be involved in so many service projects?

 

When I moved to the United States I was at an age where it was not so easy to go out and make friends in Athens. It is more like a college town, and I was in my mid-thirties so I was like huh, how can I go and meet people? So, that is how I found Casa de Amistad. I started volunteering there and helping them with translations, calls or paperwork. After I’d been there a while, I was invited to be part of the board and it was a really cool experience. Casa was a very small organization supporting the Latinx community. Back then, there was really no other organization in town helping and so that was my first involvement. It was wonderful! I paused for a little when I had my first son. It was a little bit of that crisis of who am I and where am I going. At that time, I was working full-time, with a baby and everything else, and I realized that I needed a pause and mostly, needed to slow down. My little one was getting sick very often at day care and it just didn’t feel right. I quit my job and became a stay-at-home mom for a couple of years. It was wonderful and it was such a privilege to be able to do it, but I felt like I needed to do something besides that. It was an organic move that we had a couple of properties in town and so I decided to step in and start managing those. That gave me the flexibility of schedule and allowed me to be with my kids, take time for personal growth and spend time working on my business. The concept of service is something that is really strong in my family. With everything that is happening in our country, I felt the need to do something. Not just to sit down and complain or sit down and cry about current issues. If I wanted to change things, I needed to start moving and I wanted to do more and help more people.

 

What is your favorite restaurant in Athens, and what do you love there?

 

I love food. As a Latinx person, food is a big part of my life. I love The National. I love 5&10. I love Cali-n-Titos. I love Girasoles. Heirloom. I love Seabear, I love Home.Made. For a good breakfast without counting calories, I love Mama’s Boy. I still think that there was one restaurant that I used to eat at every week, and still so sad that they closed it: Cinco y Diez. It was the Latino version of 5&10. I think if I had to choose my favorite restaurant in Athens, I would go for The National and 5&10 because of the social responsibility that they have displayed supporting the community during the current pandemic. They do have my gratitude and loyalty forever.

 

If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go and why?

 

Okay, I have two answers. This year (obviously pre-Covid) we were going to do a cruise on the Rhine river with some friends. We had tickets and everything and planned to go to The Anne Frank museum. It makes me really sad to think that because of the pandemic, these little historic places may not be able to recover from it, or if I am going to be able to actually visit that museum one day. The other one is Iceland. It is on my bucket list to sleep in one of those crystal roof cabins where you can see the Northern Lights and stars. I love nature and am a little bit of an amateur photographer, so that trip is on my bucket list.

 

What is your favorite movie?

 

As a person with a Latinx identity and a US immigrant, I feel like my personality and taste is always dual. So for my LatinX side, it is Roma. It is such a good movie, and it is so deep. It taught me to see a little bit more about different forms of racism and classism that exist in Mexico. It takes place in Mexico City–it was filmed very close to the upper middle class neighborhood where I grew up–so the images and music brought so many childhood memories. It is not precisely color-related or race-related but very complex. I highly recommend it. That one and then On The Basis of Sex about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That lady is my hero. So strong, so smart, so resilient. The movie has so many points of happiness and crying and everything in the middle. It is very emotional and at the same time really inspiring.

 

What is the best advice you have ever received?

 

I think I have two again. One will be that “all of the wisdom that we strive to look for outside is from the inside.” The other one came from a close friend while we were having a deep conversation, and she said, “do you realize not everyone wants to be friends with you?” It doesn’t matter how much you try. Friendship is a two way street. It was something so very simple and I hadn’t realized until then. The idea of trying to make friendships and connections is not a unilateral thing.I think it is a good piece of advice.

 

If you could give advice to your younger self, what would you tell her?

 

The universe’s timing is perfect.

 

If you could see any band or show throughout time, what band or show would you want to see and where would you want to see it?

 

Oh my gosh! I think I would love to watch the original Pink Floyd with the original people Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and David Gilmour. That would be like a lifetime high! I would probably see them at Red Rocks. I don’t know, my favorite band in such an incredible place sounds dreamy.

 

If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would you have lunch with and where?

 

I think I would love to have lunch with Thich Nhat Hanh. I don’t know where. Probably in whatever setting. His teachings are so deep, so current, so real. The place doesn’t really matter. It could be in a dusty basement like mine or in the most beautiful setting in the Alps.

 

If you could put anything on a billboard, what would you put?

 

Love your neighbor y’all, we are one.

 

What is something interesting about you that most people don’t know?

 

People are really surprised when they hear that my kids were never exposed to lullabies. If they are in my car or at home, I am usually listening to Pearl Jam, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Nirvana. It is not anything kid appropriate. But that is how I roll. The other thing people don’t know is my last names are from my Mayan heritage. It has been a journey but the older I get the more proud I am of that.

 

What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word “home”?

 

Home is love, community and compassion.

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