From Patient to President
The quiet resolve of a man who turned adversity into purpose comes alive through Jonathan Pitts-Wiley's masterful portrayal at The Slate Studio. In a sterile hospital room, a 19-year-old Randy Martinez lay motionless, tubes running down his nose, staring out the window at an air show on a nearby military base. It was at this moment, facing cancer for the second time and his family falling apart around him, that Randy made a decision that would shape the rest of his life.
"I remember thinking I have a huge future in front of me. I can't give up right now," Randy recalls, his voice thick with emotion. "And I remember thinking that over and over and over, thinking I've got to get through this."
This pivotal moment, etched in Randy's memory for over three decades, became the foundation of his personal philosophy: "When I see the invisible, I can accomplish the impossible."
Born in Los Angeles to a single mother who had him at 16, Randy's journey would never be easy. Spanish was his first language, and the odds were stacked against him. Yet, this background fueled his desire to make a difference.
"I look back at the beginning of my career, and then where I came from as a kid growing up, like my ethnicity, my culture, my family, and the trajectory for me was just kind of chasing that big opportunity to make a difference in life," Randy explains.
This drive led him to the nonprofit world, where he worked for national Latino organizations in Washington, D.C. But Randy soon realized he needed a bigger platform to make his envisioned impact. This realization propelled him into corporate America, starting with CBS in community relations.
"Now I was on the other side working with the nonprofits," Randy says. "Now I was giving them money, but the cool thing was now because I worked for such a big company, I could be on the boards of directors of some of these organizations that I used to be executive director of and help provide the funding and the ideas."
Randy's career evolved, focusing on driving social impact within organizations and leading cultural transformations. After 18 years at CVS, he took on the role of chief global equity officer and social impact officer at Pizza Hut, a position that seemed to culminate his life's work.
But life had other plans. Randy faced another significant challenge in a cruel twist of fate. The program he had poured his heart into was dismantled, and he was part of a massive layoff.
"Here I am, 54 years old, doing something that I was so passionate about, believing that I was making a change in people's lives. And suddenly, huge layoffs. And I'm part of that," Randy shares, the pain evident in his voice. Yet, true to his nature, Randy refuses to stay down. "I thought that day I was gonna fall apart," he admits. "And instead, I just started getting inspiration and getting excited and thinking, you know what? It's time to do me."
This resilience in the face of adversity is a thread that runs through Randy's entire life. From battling cancer as a young man to navigating the corporate world and now facing an unexpected career transition, Randy's ability to find hope and inspiration in the darkest moments is inspirational, to say the least.
"I came out of that, you know, think about it, 30 years of driving toward this moment to lead an organization, an iconic global brand, and it gets pulled out from under me in five minutes," Randy reflects, the pain of the recent layoff still fresh. But instead of succumbing to despair, he sees this as another opportunity for growth.
“This is one of those moments where I had to look at myself and say, ‘Dude, you've trained your entire life for this moment where you fall, but you don't stay on the ground. You get up, and you overcome it even more than you can overcome anything.’"
This perspective is at the core of Randy's philosophy on life and leadership. "For every bad, there's good," he insists. "And people just get stuck in the bad. But the good is there, and you just gotta go find it." This ability to see opportunity in challenges has propelled Randy forward throughout his life, from his battles with cancer to his current career transition.
As our conversation turns to the future and the lessons he'd like to pass on, Randy reflects on the advice he'd give to the next generation of leaders. His words, shaped by decades of experience and countless challenges overcome, are simple yet profound: "Stay true to yourself. Have the integrity to always stay true to yourself. Don't move away from it, don't shift, stay focused."
The depth of conviction in Randy's eyes speaks volumes in these final moments at The Slate Studio. This advice isn't just empty rhetoric for Randy. It's a distillation of the principles that have guided him through the highs and lows of his remarkable journey. Randy has never lost sight of his core mission to make a difference, from that hospital bed where he first envisioned a future beyond his circumstances to the boardrooms where he championed equity and social impact.
In Randy Martinez's story, we see a man who has faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles and emerged stronger each time. Randy has never lost sight of his mission to make a difference, from that hospital bed where he first dared to dream of a future beyond his circumstances to the boardrooms where he championed equity and social impact.
Portraits by Jonathan Pitts-Wiley
