Singing alongside his mother and brother in the church gospel choir, Roderick Cox was aware of his passion for music at a very young age. As a kid, he aspired to become a band director, because that's what you do when you're a young, talented, black male musician from Macon, Georgia. At the age of 30, he is now living a reality that surpassed his wildest dreams. For the past two years, Cox has served as the associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra. He thanks his Northwestern University instructor, mentor, and famed Russian Conductor, Victor Yampolsky for expanding his horizons. “Yampolsky, who was very charismatic to me, told me 'You should be a conductor.' At first – I laughed at him. But after he reiterated that, it started to become a reality for me,” Cox told NBC News.

                                                    

One, in a fraternity of very few African-American orchestra conductors in the world, Cox says that his passion for the work has been essential to his success. “You’re clawing yourself through the profession. I always say you can’t want to be a conductor you have to need to be a conductor,” he says. “At some point, I found in my career that if I focused on the music, just focus on the music, that will be enough because when you start thinking about yourself, that’s when you start to get nervous," he says. "But what you’re doing out there is greater than you.”

While he has certainly faced obstacles in occupying a space that is so traditionally non- inclusive, Cox welcomes the opportunity to help break down barriers and expose different kinds of people to the music. He sometimes rehearses the Orchestra outside to perform in front of new crowds. “I think it’s important for people of different races and backgrounds to see themselves represented on stage,” he says. "As our country continues to diversify, we as an orchestra have to diversify. Diversify our music choice, diversify our vendors, diversify our audience, diversify the musicians on the stage.”

We are here for this diversification. Kudos to Roderick Cox for breaking barriers and opening doors.