Influential Women spotlights Karelyn Lopez Rodriguez on authentic workplace leadership

Influential Women is featuring Karelyn Lopez Rodriguez, a senior communications and employee recognition specialist at Included Health, for her focus on recognition, integrity and employee connection. The profile highlights her career path from Puerto Rico to corporate communications, along with her message that leadership and success should not require sacrificing authenticity.

Why it matters: - Karelyn Lopez Rodriguez’s work centers on employee recognition and internal communications, areas that shape how frontline staff feel valued and informed. - Her approach reflects a growing workplace need: leadership messages that feel human, clear and connected to organizational purpose. - The profile also puts a spotlight on women in communications who are navigating remote work, AI and employee engagement at the same time.

What happened: - Influential Women published a profile on Karelyn Lopez Rodriguez on September 21, 2026. - Lopez Rodriguez is a Sr. Communications and Employee Recognition Specialist at Included Health. - She has worked at Included Health for five and a half years. - She started at Included Health as a Member Care Advocate and later moved into supervisory roles before transitioning into communications. - She has held her current role for nearly two years and will mark her two-year anniversary in August. - The profile says she is originally from Puerto Rico and now lives in Davenport, Florida.

The details: - Lopez Rodriguez’s work includes reviewing peer recognition submissions, developing internal communications and partnering with leaders on organizational updates. - She also works across departments to help information reach employees in a timely and transparent way. - Her engagement efforts include quarterly recognition trips that bring standout employees to Included Health’s San Francisco headquarters. - She hosts a monthly internal podcast that highlights employees and shares company updates. - Before Included Health, she worked at Walt Disney World as a Guest Experience Manager in food and beverage operations and merchandise. - Earlier in her career, she served in education and language instruction in Puerto Rico as a supervisor and English as a Second Language instructor. - Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts with a focus on English from the Universidad de Puerto Rico. - She has completed professional certifications in corporate communications, communications-focused professional development and training, and Foundations of Project Management. - She also holds a Cicerone Certified Beer Server credential. - Lopez Rodriguez is continuing graduate school and says she will be the first person in her family to earn a graduate degree. - The profile notes that several women leaders at Included Health have served as unofficial mentors for her. - Her advice to young women includes pursuing education, seeking mentorship, using their voices and keeping records of their work. - She also stresses networking, integrity, kindness and authenticity in career growth. - Lopez Rodriguez says artificial intelligence is one of the biggest challenges in communications and should be treated as a tool that supports human work, not replaces it. - She says communications teams need guardrails, context and judgment to keep AI aligned with organizational values. - She also points to the challenge of reaching employees in remote workplaces where people absorb information in different ways. - Her view is that two-way communication matters because a message sent is not always a message understood.

Between the lines: - The profile frames Lopez Rodriguez as part of a broader shift in communications, where internal messaging is tied more closely to employee trust and culture. - Her emphasis on AI suggests the field is moving toward a hybrid model, where technology handles scale but people remain responsible for tone, context and ethics. - The personal details in the profile, including her family background and graduate-school milestone, reinforce a theme of upward mobility through education and mentorship. - Her comments also reflect a workplace philosophy that prizes collaboration over competition, which is increasingly relevant in remote and distributed teams.

What's next: - Lopez Rodriguez plans to continue building her career in communications, employee engagement and leadership. - She is also continuing her graduate studies. - Her profile suggests she will keep focusing on recognition, employee connection and authentic leadership as her work evolves. - More information is available through her Influential Women profile.

The bottom line: - Lopez Rodriguez’s story is a reminder that internal communications is not just about sending messages. It is about building trust, recognizing people and making sure employees feel seen.