{"id":17236,"date":"2012-06-27T15:45:20","date_gmt":"2012-06-27T20:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=17236"},"modified":"2015-09-25T13:33:15","modified_gmt":"2015-09-25T17:33:15","slug":"grad-spotlight-peter-hernandez-ba-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2012\/06\/grad-spotlight-peter-hernandez-ba-95\/","title":{"rendered":"Grad spotlight: Peter Hernandez (BA \u201995)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_17241\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17241\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17241\" title=\"peter-hernandez\" src=\"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/peter-hernandez-small.png\" alt=\"peter-hernandez\" width=\"250\" height=\"220\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-17241\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peter Hernandez (BA \u201995)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For new author Peter Hernandez (BA \u201995), the \u201cother side of the brain\u201d is certainly a creative one.<\/p>\n<p>Hernandez completed his BA in general studies, focusing on business and politics, at Brock in 1995, and maintains a career in international business.<\/p>\n<p>This past winter he wrote and published a children&#8217;s picture book called <em>A New Day With Rhyming Robin<\/em>, available online at Chapters-Indigo or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rhymingrobin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.RhymingRobin.com<\/a>, with proceeds from book sales going to Parkinson&#8217;s research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a feel-good children\u2019s picture book adventure done in rhyme,\u201d Hernandez says. \u201cThe story is a day in the life of a robin and his little buddy.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17242\" style=\"width: 202px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17242\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17242\" title=\"a-new-day-with-rhyming-robin\" src=\"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/a-new-day-with-rhyming-robin.png\" alt=\"a-new-day-with-rhyming-robin\" width=\"192\" height=\"245\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-17242\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cMove over Dr. Seuss! Move over Eminem! Make room in the nest for a guest! Ryming Robin, he\u2019s the best!!\u201d ~from www.RymingRobin.com  <\/p><\/div>\n<p>Hernandez has fond memories of Brock from Frosh Week to professor David Newman\u2019s entrepreneurship class, to the camaraderie of the rowing team and his involvement with the International Students Association. He was also a contributor of comic strips (The Comic File, and Brock Life) to the student newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>We recently caught up with Peter to learn more about his time at Brock, his career and his new book in this grad spotlight Q &amp; A.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us a bit about yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My career is in international business, having worked for Maple Leaf Foods for 10 years, including living two years in Mexico City. I now live in Montreal, work for a U.S. company, Tri-Meats Inc., and continue exporting Canadian food products to Mexico.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What attracted you to Brock University?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An exciting campus life and community feel of the university.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was your most memorable moment while at Brock?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Competing at the Head of The Ohio in Pittsburgh as a member of the University Mens 8 Rowing Team, 1991.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How has Brock changed your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Brock opened my eyes to the many cultures of the world. It allowed me to see the payoff of commitment and hard work while having fun!<\/p>\n<p><strong>How have you been involved with Brock since graduating?<\/strong><br \/>\nI\u2019ve returned for alumni invitational rowing events at Henley Island.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What has been your career\/life path since graduating from Brock?<\/strong><br \/>\nInternational sales, import\/export, commodity trading, marketing \u2013 food industry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the most rewarding part of your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Closing international business deals. Buying and selling, meeting new people, experiencing new cultures and places.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your greatest professional achievement?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Having been given an ex-pat assignment by Maple Leaf Foods to live in Mexico City and develop sales to retailers, distributors, processors and importers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Have you received any awards or honourable mentions for you work?<\/strong><br \/>\nTwo recognition awards while at Maple Leaf Foods.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your &#8220;other side of the brain&#8221;? What are your hobbies and interests that don&#8217;t necessarily relate to your degree or line of work?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The other side of my brain &#8211; Creative! The creative side of my brain is what balances the serious, calculated, planner in me.<\/p>\n<p>Writing for me is an escape.  It\u2019s a peaceful place without boundaries and borders.  It\u2019s a world of unlimited creativity that leads anywhere. There is no right or wrong. Writing is creative expression. Writing for children is writing for me. It\u2019s a time travel back to childhood, and forward to the adventures that lie ahead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What community service, charities or associations are you involved with?<\/strong><br \/>\nParkinson\u2019s Society of Canada \u2013 Durham Region chapter. Six years ago my father was diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD). Our family has been actively involved within the PD community since.  Proceeds from <em>A New Day With Rhyming Robin <\/em>book sales go to PD research.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your greatest personal accomplishment?<\/strong><br \/>\nBeing a son, a brother, an uncle, a brother-in-law, a nephew, a cousin, a friend.<br \/>\nIn a nutshell, my relationship with family and friends is the only personal metric that matters to me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you want most out of life?<\/strong><br \/>\nHappiness, fun, laughs \u2026 and peace on earth.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What advice do you have for new graduates?<\/strong><br \/>\nFocus. Take every day as an opportunity to make a difference in your life or someone else\u2019s.  Enjoy the moment.  Stay true to yourself.<\/p>\n<p>For more info: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rhymingrobin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.RhymingRobin.com<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RhymingRobin.bookclub\" target=\"_blank\">Rhyming Robin Bookclub of Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For new author Peter Hernandez (BA \u201995), the \u201cother side of the brain\u201d is certainly a creative one. Hernandez completed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":17241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119],"tags":[3333,362,3327],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17236"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35528,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17236\/revisions\/35528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}