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The Motivated Mindset The Power of Perseverance Managing the Unexpected · Military Broadcast Radio | MBR Talk

• 1:18
  If I'll be hinted welcome to the motivated mindset with me your
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  host Jose Antonio Florida and joining me as my Co host on
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  today's motivated mindset is Doctor Michelle Bacheco Turner
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  good people who are AUS Army veteran psychologist, leadership
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  strategist and founder of what reset and rise consulting me
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  hinted. Check this out with a PhD in
• 1:40
  organized psychology. She brings together her military
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  experience what's up who are science mindful and purpose
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  different leadership to help people navigate change and to
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  rise into the next chapter. That's we the Michelle.
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  Welcome to the motivated mindset.
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  I'm how. You doing?
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  Oh my God, Oh, I'm so excited. I don't hold back, Jose.
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  As we continue this conversation about purpose, resilience,
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  leadership, and becoming the best version of ourselves.
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  Michelle, it's all yours. Come on Oh my goodness how you
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  doing my friend, My brother from another Mr. I am so grateful and
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  honored to be here Co hosting this with you.
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  What a day. What a day to be live right.
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  What a day. It is, it is and and.
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  Oh, and what are we celebrating? Is there some celebration?
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  Of course, we are celebrating Hispanic heritage.
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  Manja tu sava aqui tu sava lomio, yes.
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  Yes, yes, absolutely. So who do we got?
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  Who? Who's?
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  Oh my goodness. Today we have a dynamic, A
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  dynamic speaker. First of all, talk about the
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  power of perseverance, right? And managing the unexpected.
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  Eileen Velez Vega is a civil right engineer with 23 plus
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  years of leadership in aviation, transportation, public
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  infrastructure across Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and the US.
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  The first woman run that back. The first woman to leave Puerto
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  Rico's Department of Transportation and Public Works.
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  She now serves as a strategic and strategic infrastructure
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  director at Kim Lee Horn. Big deal.
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  Anne is a Space Camp Hall of Famer inductee and a national
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  advocate for women and underrepresented groups in STEM.
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  So excited to have her as again as a person to be able to talk
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  to us today. I am so excited to be part of
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  this and so excited to ask her all the questions.
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  Me, Amiga, my friend Eileen welcome.
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  So we're we're ready to bring her on.
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  Yes, we are. Let's.
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  Do this. Woo.
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  Here we go, people. The interview of the week is
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  brought to you by Jersey Mike's, a sub above.
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  Eileen, thank you so much for be to be here.
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  It is such a pleasure to see you again and we just saw each other
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  not too long ago a few weeks back.
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  So, so great to have you and the motivated mindsets again.
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  Your introduction speaks volumes of who it is that you are and
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  the great work work at you do. But for now, tell our speakers,
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  who is Eileen? Mono Gracias, it is a beautiful
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  day in Puerto Rico and so I love that we're here together and I
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  love the energy and and just the fact that we were together in
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  Hispanic Heritage month. So it is an honor to be here
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  with all of you today and and thank you for the invitation.
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  This is super great. So who is Aileen?
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  Well, Aileen is the daughter of Aileen in Sergio.
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  I grew up in Sabanarande, Puerto Rico, a small town on the West
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  Coast of the island. I am the proud mother of Anna
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  Isabel. She's 15 years old, super
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  fortunate to have an amazing husband.
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  I ran here, we met in college and so many amazing people
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  around me. I'm an engineer, I'm a public
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  servant at heart. I'm a survivor.
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  I'm a Christian and I'm someone that really believes that
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  leadership is about service and that's what I've strived to do
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  in my 23 years of career right now as a civil engineer.
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  So there's there's so much into what I've been able to do in my
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  career. I'm so grateful for the amazing
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  people that have helped me get to where I am.
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  As as you saw, I'm in Puerto Rico.
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  I came back to Puerto Rico 12 years ago, so I was at the
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  Aspora that left and was able to come back.
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  So I've always been grateful and fortunate and blessed to be back
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  into my beautiful island and to be working in Puerto Rico, in
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  the Caribbean. So Michelle Gracia.
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  Gracia. Thank you so much for that.
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  So you said that you grew up in Savannah Grande, Puerto Rico.
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  Did that little girl imagine this life or did the dream get
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  bigger as you did? So the little girl did not have
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  the visibility of everything that could be, but I had some
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  amazing parents that were always telling me there are no limits,
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  even when they had limitations and economically and also
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  professionally. My mom is a retired English
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  teacher. She was my English teacher as
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  soon as I was born, so that I see a mommy and my, my, my dad
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  is a sales representative. He's also retired.
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  So there was not a lot of money at my house, but there was never
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  the sense of, because we are a humble family or the, the
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  financial resources are limited. There are so many other
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  resources like love and confidence and support and, and
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  just that helped me a lot because I had big dreams from
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  books and movies and being able to see so much out there in the
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  world that I thought, well, mom and dad set no limits.
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  So I'm going to believe them. And so when I started going to
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  STEM camps in 8th grade at a university and a teacher called
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  me to her office and said there's this application to go
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  study in the summer to a university university get
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  Americana in San Germont, Puerto Rico.
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  And it was a stent camp and I was good in math and science and
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  I was in the eighth grade. So I didn't know.
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  She said, we're going to fill this out and you're going to do
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  a PhD in physics and you're going to do all these things.
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  And she filled it out. And I was like, OK, so I went, I
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  got selected to go to this camp and thanks to those teachers
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  that called me to their office saying, you know what, we've got
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  some talented students that we could propose for this camp.
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  After that, I did space camp in the that was 30 years ago.
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  I went to the University of Puerto Rico in Maya, WI am by
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  the way, it's and we're celebrating this month, Maya W
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  115th year history. So we call it Sangre Verde.
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  So Colegio. But I think the dream got bigger
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  as I was able to accomplish more things.
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  I could see. I couldn't believe I did that.
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  So what's next? Maybe I can do more.
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  And so it kept growing. But, but reading and
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  realistically, I did not know as a little girl growing up in
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  Puerto Rico, in Samana Grande, everything that I was going to
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  do or that it wasn't that it was a possibility.
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  I just had a lot of dreams and nobody said I couldn't.
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  So that's important for a child. If you allow them to dream and
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  give them the possibilities of like a big life and and you
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  don't tell them all you can't do that that's funny or, or limit
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  you, then my God, the the possibilities are endless.
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  And that's what happened to me. So yeah, definitely Michelle
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  grew with time. No, thank you.
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  So. I love that I was going to ask
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  that. I was going to ask that.
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  Thank you so much for sharing that, because that's a that's a
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  pivotal moment too, right? Kind of.
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  And all the things and everyone that poured into you to include
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  your parents, your teachers, and although all of the people that
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  saw something in you, if you could trace back your life to
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  like one decision or pivotal moment or at moments like you
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  described that quietly changed everything.
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  What was that? You mentioned camp, you
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  mentioned that too. What was that pivotal shift?
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  Wow. So I guess we have different
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  pivotal moments right in your life, and it keeps changing.
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  But the moment that I was admitted to engineering school
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  at the University of Puerto Rico at Maya West, that allowed me to
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  work at Disney World at NASA, I was learning that I could do so
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  much more if I was brave enough to apply and show up.
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  When I graduated, I left Puerto Rico and went to Mississippi.
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  So I moved away from home from what I was used to.
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  So I had to make a name for myself.
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  I, I was just, I was the 1st engineer in my family.
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  So that was pivotal because I couldn't visualize because I had
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  examples. I had to pretty much create the
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  vision for another people that were doing it or just be were
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  even asked to try. And then I came back to Puerto
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  Rico 12 years ago when the company I worked for with Kim
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  Lee Horn opened the Puerto Rico office and they asked me to come
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  and leave that office. That was another huge pivotal
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  moment in my life. I was in Puerto Rico when
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  Hurricane Maria happened. We were helping the recovery
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  process of our beautiful island, which by the way, we also
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  celebrated 9 years post Hurricane Maria and we're still
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  recovering. And that's when someone
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  suggested my name to the governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro
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  Pierre Ricci, November of 2020 in the pandemic.
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  And that's how I connected with him.
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  And he offered me, nominated me as the first woman to become the
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  secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation.
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  All these things were pivotal moments that I was like, I had
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  no idea that one thing was going to lead to the other.
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  But I think that when you do your work with passion, people
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  start mentioning your name when you're in places that you're not
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  in, because that's how it happened to me.
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  And you prepare yourself with studying and education and the
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  perfect timing. And you kind of prepare yourself
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  without knowing that the right opportunity is coming because
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  you've been preparing for it. Now, I do want to say all these
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  things professionally have been amazing, but I want to tell you
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  that I think the biggest pivotal moment in my life was not
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  professional. It was personal and 16 years
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  ago, September actually in 2010, I was 5 months pregnant and I
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  was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Hutch lymphoma.
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  I had cancer at 29 years old and since then my whole life
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  shifted. That was before I came back to
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  Puerto Rico to leave the King and Horn office.
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  I was before being secretary. Today I've been in remission for
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  14 years. I had a stem cell transplant in
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  2012. It changed my entire life.
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  It changed the way that I saw life, that I prioritized life,
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  that the way I was a workaholic changed.
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  And I'm just being very grateful that I've had 16 years to see my
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  daughter grow up. She's healthy, she's a beautiful
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  young girl. It changes your perspective.
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  Work is important, but it, it was not the center of my life
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  anymore. And it's, it is not.
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  And I love my job, I love my profession, but that experience
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  changed everything. So I think I'm not going to say
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  life is before and after cancer because it wasn't the same time
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  that I was pregnant with my daughter.
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  So before and after my daughter just happened to be the biggest
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  struggle and the biggest fight of my life.
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  Yeah. No, thank you so much for
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  sharing that. First and foremost, again,
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  Congrats on being the first woman, right?
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  And then it in that role, but also being so again, vulnerable
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  to share that pivotal moment because sometimes pivotal
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  moments that don't feel like pivotal moments.
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  That's something that we've talked about in the past.
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  It's like in your in that moment that may not have felt like a
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  pivotal moment. It may have felt more like
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  something like a detour or something like not saying a
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  disappointment. Let's say that because you're
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  here, you are the first woman to do this thing.
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  And then also now you have to shift.
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  So what you mentioned, you know, how you reprioritize certain
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  things in your life and as a leader and how you now became,
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  you know, you were workaholic, but then you kind of changed a
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  couple things. So what do you what, what have
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  you like, had to unlearn to become the leader that you are
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  today? Right.
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  Well, you learn or unlearn that in the office you can be
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  replaced, but in your family, in your life, you can't, right.
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  I would say that even, I mean, the secretary position was four
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  years and after the four years we complete our mission and we
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  go back to our regular lives because it does change.
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  When you're the secretary of transportation, you're a public
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  servant, you're a public figure and everything changes.
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  And so you unlearn or learn that you are replaceable, but not
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  repeatable, which is important, right?
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  Because we leave a legacy and nobody can be us.
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  We are authentic. We are authentic self.
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  We leave behind a legacy, right? And that's important.
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  But I think that I had a really good supervisor at Kimberly Horn
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  many, many years ago, Dave Bart, if he ever sees this, he's going
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  to remember telling me this. But he said don't expect
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  anything and you'll be pleasantly surprised.
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  And at that time I told Dave, that is very sad.
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  I don't, I don't, I don't want to live like that.
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  But what he was telling me did help me through public service,
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  because I think that many times when you go through this
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  experiences, you go in with a full heart and with a sincere
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  heart, right? But you have to understand that
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  not everybody's going to have the same level of commitment or
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  the same level of emotional intelligence in these roles.
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  So to me, it was hard to learn or unlearn that not everybody
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  was going to like me. Not everybody was going to help
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  me. Not everybody had my best in the
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  best interest or my best interest at heart.
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  And so that was hard. So I had to learn how to be more
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  alert to certain things. Assertive, yes, but but just to
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  to protect myself and to protect my integrity and my and, and
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  just to protect your back, right.
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  So that was a lesson. You know, it was, it was harsh
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  and I think politics taught me that in those four years.
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  So I'm just being very honest. Yeah.
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  No, we appreciate that. Yeah, those were the things that
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  I might have not have gone through in my career before
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  those four years in the government.
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  Yeah, no, I again appreciate the vulnerability and just showing
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  up as you are because that's some some of the things, again,
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  having to unlearn and relearn because everybody celebrates
• 15:14
  being first, right? We all have those.
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  We celebrate being first. But what what don't we talk
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  about enough? I think that you kind of started
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  hitting the nail on the head with that about when it comes to
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  the weight of that of being first.
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  Oh, yeah, the, the weight is heavy.
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  It's a big responsibility. It's a privilege, right?
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  I was the first woman. I was working with the
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  governor's cabinet that that, that, that his constitutional
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  cabinet. So, so there was a secession
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  line from the governor to to where I was in in his cabinet.
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  So it was a very high level in the government.
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  And when you do have those privileged roles and positions,
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  it comes with a huge responsibility to perform for
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  accountability. And so you and you're the 1st.
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  And I feel that's what I went through.
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  I was representing women. I was and you know,
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  representation matters as a Latina, obviously that you
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  always want to represent us well everywhere we go.
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  In this case, I was representing women in engineering.
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  I was the first woman in 105 years to lead the Department of
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  Transportation. So it was heavy.
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  It was really heavy. And so the other thing was I
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  wanted to be an example. And I was already a role model
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  for, for girls and for for for women.
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  So I wanted to be that woman that made my daughter very proud
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  because she was going to see me up there and she was going to
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  see mommy. And I had to live up to her
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  expectations and a lot of other unrealistic expectations.
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  Right When we are the first woman, anything we are judged
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  and we are measured with a very maybe higher or unrealistic
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  expectations as as my former colleagues that did the
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  position, it's not their fault. It's just the reality of how it
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  works for US women when we are the 1st in these positions.
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  So absolutely it came with a price and it was also, it cost a
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  lot of nights of or sleepless nights and and yeah, physically
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  and emotionally it cost a lot. Financially it also did because,
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  I mean, I took a huge financial sacrifice when I went from
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  consulting to to public service. And sometimes we only talk
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  about, well, you know, my privacy.
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  I didn't have privacy. I was a as a public figure and
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  all these things. But let's just talk really about
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  about the money part. I mean, it was a huge cut to or,
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  or or set back to my financial goals, to healthy goals.
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  But I see it as a as a, as AI see it as it was an investment
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  in my career and I didn't do it for the money.
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  You never do that. You never go into public service
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  for the money, but you do have to recognize that it does set
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  back a lot of your financial goals.
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  So, so we have to be honest, it does cost a lot emotionally and
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  professionally, but financially it also does it also cost you.
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  So you have to be willing to make that sacrifice and have a
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  plan to get back on track once you complete your journey.
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  So, so yeah, we have to be aware of that.
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  I think that ignoring that would be very superficial.
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  Yeah, no, I I agree. Again, having a heart for public
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  service is not about the money. It is just really about the
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  heart of being in service, what I call being in service and
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  being in servitude and the impact that you, you do.
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  Again, it's so happy to see and it's so good for.
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  And like you said, your daughter's a little watching,
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  but you were there representing women in general 105 years.
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  Wow, that's amazing. But seeing you in STEM, right.
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  You spend your your career literally building
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  infrastructure so you've broken barriers.
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  Is there a difference between breaking a barrier for yourself
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  and actually leaving the door open behind you?
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  What are you your thoughts surrounding that?
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  I think we break barriers every day.
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  Some are set for us, some we set ourselves.
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  I think that if I would have thought, if I would have thought
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  back when I was a little girl that these things sound or look
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  very difficult, I'll never, I'll never be there because there's
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  never been someone like me that has done it.
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  Well, you, you are actually putting those obstacles in those
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  barriers first, right before anybody else would do that.
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  So the barriers are there most and I got to say they're,
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  they're real, but also a lot of them are, are, are ourselves
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  putting those barriers out there.
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  And so we have to break them every day.
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  Now, opening the door and leaving the door open, that's a
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  responsibility that we have. Once we break these barriers and
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  we open the door, we have to leave that door open and invite
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  other women to come in it, or even if we have to put in a
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  ladder or whatever it is that we have to put.
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  But once we have the privilege of being in these positions, in
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  these roles, we have to give it back.
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  I mean, if we take it for ourselves and just keep it, then
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  we didn't, we didn't learn anything or we weren't worthy of
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  it. So to me, the breaking the
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  barriers was something that I had to do because if not, I
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  wasn't going to go anywhere. But the leaving the door open,
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  that was the responsibility I had for being able to break
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  those barriers. And I think you continuously do
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  that. Every day, even when we when we
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  think that we can do any something or that we see
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  something that's really hard or we have goals that we haven't
• 20:21
  achieved because we all have to continue setting goals for our
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  careers. It might look like, Oh my God,
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  here, here goes another struggle, here goes another
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  obstacle, here goes another barrier.
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  So I don't think that ever ends. However, they become easier to
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  break once you have that confidence of I already did
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  this. So I am qualified to do this.
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  And even if you get a little bit of imposter syndrome, you have
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  to believe that a lot of these things are everything that's
• 20:45
  happened. Not everything could have been
• 20:46
  luck. Because sometimes you say, oh,
• 20:48
  she's so lucky. It's like, well, they might have
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  been a piece of there of luck, but this is a lot of work.
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  It wasn't just luck, it was a lot of work.
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  So we have to, I have to convince myself a lot of the
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  times that the imposter syndrome, it'll it'll, it'll,
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  it'll reappear every once in a while.
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  But someone said to me, Google yourself.
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  If you're doubting who you are, just Google yourself.
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  And, and I did once and all these things came up and I'm
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  like, God, you know what? I have to stop being so hard on
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  myself. There is a reason why I've been
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  chosen and I've had the privilege of having all these
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  experiences and leadership roles.
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  It can't be luck and it can't just be, oh, I just fell into
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  it. No, no, no, you've worked
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  yourself, your butt off to get into these places to accept it
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  and brace it and then help other women get there as well.
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  So it's a constant process. I don't think this ever ends.
• 21:38
  No, and I'm I'm glad that you you said that.
• 21:40
  I think sometimes it's like you mentioned you, you are chosen.
• 21:44
  It's not just luck when sometimes we send spend too much
• 21:48
  time thinking, oh, you know, I won't because I don't see myself
• 21:51
  already represented. Then you are hesitant.
• 21:53
  Like you said, the imposter syndrome sets in.
• 21:55
  But then you like someone told you, Google yourself and then
• 21:58
  you're like, wait a minute, I am that here, here is me.
• 22:02
  It's just like the introductions, right?
• 22:03
  And you're sitting there like sometimes like, oh, I did all
• 22:05
  that right. And I think that when you you
• 22:08
  had so many lessons and you have so many pivotal moments that
• 22:11
  you've shared already. What is something else that you
• 22:15
  stopped either apologizing for or you're defining success as as
• 22:20
  it is now for you? Yes, you stop apologizing for
• 22:24
  being assortive, decisive, strong, ambitious, because I
• 22:32
  think sometimes when you're like this, you might receive some
• 22:36
  feedback of who does she think she is or, or she's too much or
• 22:40
  Oh my God, I've learned how to modify my message and my, my not
• 22:48
  attitude, but just the way I carry myself in different
• 22:51
  settings. Depends on the audience, depends
• 22:53
  on where I'm going. Like you don't stop being
• 22:56
  yourself. So I had to be comfortable with
• 22:59
  who I was. Like I remember when I was in
• 23:02
  Mississippi, I was in Mississippi with the Army Corps
• 23:04
  of Engineers. I always like color and I dress
• 23:08
  up with colors. And, and sometimes when you
• 23:11
  don't see people using color, you're kind of like, oh, maybe I
• 23:13
  should just wear black and white, black and white only.
• 23:17
  And so, but you can't. I mean, we're Latinas, right?
• 23:20
  We love color. We love expressing ourselves.
• 23:23
  We talk with our hands. So I had, I have to stop
• 23:26
  apologizing for, for being like that.
• 23:29
  Obviously, again, I learned how to use my strengths and, and
• 23:36
  modify who I was to adjust right the message and, and and just
• 23:41
  the way I carried myself in different settings, but without
• 23:43
  losing who I was. And I think that's really
• 23:45
  important also as a women in engineering because we work in a
• 23:49
  male dominated field and sometimes I would see women
• 23:53
  dressing more like the men or acting more like the men so that
• 23:56
  we would fit in better in the engineering world.
• 23:58
  And I was like, no, I'm not going to do that.
• 24:00
  I'm not going to be wearing bows and frills and ruffles and lots
• 24:05
  of pink if I don't want to. But if I want to, I will, but I
• 24:08
  will not become or or act more or or look like a man so that I
• 24:13
  can be successful in my engineering career.
• 24:15
  And I haven't had to do that, right.
• 24:16
  So, so it's, it's not apologizing for who you are in
• 24:20
  understanding how do you control your emotions, but also how do
• 24:23
  you control your messaging? And, and that takes time and
• 24:26
  it's taken me 23 plus years of being in the industry to access
• 24:30
  who I am with the accent, with my look, with who I am.
• 24:34
  I'm only 5 feet tall. So when I go somewhere I'm tiny
• 24:36
  and I'm usually underestimated. That is OK.
• 24:39
  I will not fight. I will not have an attitude.
• 24:42
  I will definitely make sure that, and I'll have to work
• 24:45
  probably 3 times as hard to get recognized for my, my work and
• 24:49
  my knowledge and my experience. But I won't go in with a
• 24:53
  combative or, or controversial attitude.
• 24:55
  Like, you know, I think that after 23 years, I've been able
• 24:59
  to see what works and you educate people.
• 25:01
  You let them see what your tragic, what trajectory has
• 25:05
  been. Your work speaks for you.
• 25:07
  And it might take time. It's probably not going to
• 25:09
  happen in this in the first meeting, but keep showing up and
• 25:13
  it's worked for me. You're not.
• 25:15
  I love that. Yeah, go ahead.
• 25:17
  Go ahead. Question before we go to the
• 25:19
  next one, Maria from Wisconsin that says congratulations, first
• 25:24
  woman. That's amazing, Darlene.
• 25:27
  And we have. That that's, I love it.
• 25:30
  And we have Sharon from Puerto Rico, and she says as we
• 25:33
  celebrate Hispanic heritage. But how has your Puerto Rican
• 25:37
  heritage shaped the way you lead, solve problems and serve
• 25:41
  your community? Yeah.
• 25:43
  So you know, as a Puerto Rican, we are very big on family.
• 25:47
  So many times your team becomes your family and you spend so
• 25:51
  many hours in the day with your team that it, it does feel like
• 25:54
  that. And it's funny.
• 25:55
  I, I, I've read some executive things and a lot of, I do a lot
• 25:59
  of education and it says, you know, not to treat most of the
• 26:02
  time they recommend not to treat your Co workers as family or, or
• 26:06
  go out with them and, and write. And I'm like, no, you know what?
• 26:08
  I, I disagree. I mean, there's always somebody
• 26:10
  a time and a place for everything.
• 26:12
  And I keep it professional. But I do have, and I've had
• 26:15
  amazing teams in my career. Because you don't know
• 26:18
  everything. And as a leader, you recognize
• 26:20
  what your strengths are and your weaknesses as well well as you
• 26:23
  understand how to communicate with your team and how to take
• 26:26
  the best out of them, right? So I think that that has helped
• 26:29
  me lead. And it's because I'm from Puerto
• 26:31
  Rico, from a small town, humble beginnings, accessibility to
• 26:35
  people, that empathy of dealing with people, not robots.
• 26:38
  People are not robots, right? And I'm an engineer.
• 26:40
  We work a lot with equipment and with construction and with
• 26:43
  pavements and materials. But you have to think that all
• 26:46
  those things are things, right? You're really dealing with
• 26:49
  people and you have to be able to support a team and have them
• 26:53
  trust you. So I believe that my background
• 26:55
  and my upbringing in Samana Grande in that small town of
• 26:57
  Puerto Rico has helped me be a better leader and treat my team
• 27:01
  members as friends and family. And, and there are some that you
• 27:05
  are never going to be best friends and that's OK.
• 27:07
  You have to recognize that. But the people that you work
• 27:10
  with, that you trust, that they trust you to be their leader and
• 27:12
  that you trust them to get the work done, I think the
• 27:15
  relationship has to be stronger than just 9:00 to 5:00.
• 27:18
  So I believe that because of my Puerto Rican background, I've
• 27:21
  been able to, to be a better, more empath, you know, a kind,
• 27:26
  empathetic. Yeah.
• 27:26
  And then? Yes, that's the word, Yeah, No.
• 27:31
  No, we get it. That's why we're here for no.
• 27:33
  Thank you so much for sharing that.
• 27:34
  I know that Anna from DC said love how you said assertive.
• 27:37
  Most people say and will say that Latinas are bossy, which
• 27:41
  generally we do get that. But I love the fact that you
• 27:43
  said that even though you went to Mississippi, you still
• 27:45
  brought color. That's something that in male
• 27:48
  dominated in male dominated roles, we usually try to dim our
• 27:51
  light. I say, why do that, right?
• 27:53
  That's what we bring the light for in forward to all of us.
• 27:58
  Before we move on to the next segment, you had something that
• 28:00
  you wanted to share with our listeners as well as our
• 28:03
  viewers. So we can go ahead and segue to
• 28:06
  to that portion as well so that we can see where and how we can
• 28:10
  get connected and stay connected with Eileen.
• 28:12
  OK, here we go. So I'll bring the slides up and
• 28:15
  Eileen, it's on. You don't.
• 28:18
  Step by look at that. Well, this is when I was the
• 28:20
  secretary of transportation. That was one of my main
• 28:23
  conference rooms. I was that was when I was the
• 28:27
  secretary. So I love seeing those pictures
• 28:29
  because it brings back a lot of memories of the four years.
• 28:32
  But you know, the main thing of becoming secretary, Puerto Rico
• 28:37
  needed to recover from the Hurricanes.
• 28:40
  And so we had a lot of federal funding and compliance issues.
• 28:43
  So when they brought me in, my first, pretty much the first
• 28:47
  thing I had to do was create a federal grant management office
• 28:50
  in the Department of Transportation and Public Works.
• 28:53
  It was 7 agencies under my, my agency umbrella.
• 28:56
  So I was, I was working with more than 3000 employees, 7
• 28:59
  agencies, all loads of transportation from airports to
• 29:03
  sea boards to the buses and the bridges and the roads, the DMV,
• 29:07
  the Traffic Safety Commission, what else did I have?
• 29:10
  The, the construction, the demolitions and public works,
• 29:13
  everything. So becoming secretary came in
• 29:17
  with a very big responsibility of a workload, but there's also
• 29:22
  so many possibilities of things that we needed to do.
• 29:24
  So, so I love seeing that picture because I remember
• 29:26
  standing in front of that logo and being like, oh wow, this is
• 29:32
  a big deal. I've done a lot of work.
• 29:35
  Oh, and this is probably, this is this photo, and I look so
• 29:38
  serious. I also gained a lot of weight
• 29:40
  when I was secretary because I wouldn't sleep and I would eat
• 29:43
  whenever I could. And I see that photo and it's
• 29:45
  like, Oh yeah, that was part of the physical consequences.
• 29:51
  It looked great. I gained weight.
• 29:54
  It's OK. Wait, I'm OK with everything.
• 29:56
  And I got more Gray hairs. You know, it's, it's part of the
• 29:59
  process. But the infrastructure
• 30:01
  challenges. I was also in charge of
• 30:03
  Emergency Management for the transportation and
• 30:06
  infrastructure side of the island.
• 30:07
  So we did have, in 2022, Hurricane Fiona, which added up
• 30:13
  to the damages that we had from Hurricane Maria.
• 30:16
  So I would work with the governor and the Emergency
• 30:18
  Management agencies and public safety agencies and the recovery
• 30:23
  office of Puerto Rico. It was a big deal to be more
• 30:26
  efficient and work faster so that people could come back to
• 30:30
  their daily lives and to safety. And so I, what I did was a lot
• 30:34
  of collaboration. My, my leadership style is about
• 30:37
  collaboration and teamwork. I actually did memorandums of
• 30:40
  understanding with the 78 mayors so that we could have
• 30:44
  maintenance money that will go faster to them.
• 30:47
  We would have agreements so that when, if, if they had, if there
• 30:51
  was a natural disaster with FEMA funds, they could do the initial
• 30:55
  emergency work without having to go through the department
• 30:58
  because we were slower. We weren't.
• 30:59
  We weren't. We didn't have enough people to
• 31:01
  deal with everything that happened in the island.
• 31:03
  So having the mayors and the municipality staff as an
• 31:06
  extension of staff to our department helped us be way
• 31:10
  better at our jobs and more efficient.
• 31:12
  We came in, we didn't have funding for maintenance, which
• 31:14
  was our core purpose of being in public works.
• 31:17
  So we developed a system for all the traffic fines that came into
• 31:22
  the department, $120 million every year would be collected
• 31:26
  through electronic fines and that didn't exist before
• 31:29
  November 2021. And 70% of those funds were
• 31:33
  directed to maintenance of roads.
• 31:35
  So from $3.5 million that I had when I came in as secretary,
• 31:39
  which was not enough to do anything for in Puerto Rico, we
• 31:43
  ended up in 2024 with more than 353 million in in maintenance
• 31:48
  funds. So it just changed the whole
• 31:51
  narrative. And it wasn't that I was doing
• 31:54
  something that my predecessors did not do because they wanted
• 31:58
  to. It was because Puerto Rico's
• 32:00
  fiscal situation was changing and we had funding that was
• 32:04
  coming in. We have to be efficient and
• 32:07
  using it. So I, I commend and I admire
• 32:11
  the, the former secretaries that came before me because the
• 32:14
  fiscal situation, the budget situation was way different for
• 32:18
  them. And I was able to do a lot
• 32:20
  because we found other ways of being able to, to get money for
• 32:25
  the department. And, and again, the Department
• 32:27
  of Transportation is responsible for the people, the, the, the
• 32:31
  quality of life of everybody in Puerto Rico because you drive
• 32:34
  everywhere, right? I mean, we're annoying that
• 32:36
  still doesn't have a lot of public transportation so that we
• 32:40
  can connect all the municipalities.
• 32:42
  So, so we had to give people better infrastructure and we
• 32:45
  didn't fix it all. Obviously you don't fix
• 32:46
  everything in four years, but I'm very proud of the work that
• 32:49
  we did because we definitely changed the trajectory of the of
• 32:52
  the Department of Transportation.
• 32:55
  Thank you so much for sharing that.
• 32:56
  Yeah, absolutely. Sure.
• 32:58
  Those are those are my probably contractors we did.
• 33:02
  Recovery efforts, yeah. I was secretary, yes.
• 33:05
  What I love to do when I was secretary was visit my my
• 33:08
  employees. We had seven regions around the
• 33:10
  island, 78 municipalities, so 78 mayors and I will go around all
• 33:16
  the time to see the projects. We had a certain point.
• 33:18
  We had more than 800 projects all going out at the same time.
• 33:21
  So I would love to every week I took days to go see the work
• 33:26
  that was being done on the projects, visit a different
• 33:28
  municipality and it went it, it didn't.
• 33:31
  What I, what I made sure that I did was cross any political
• 33:36
  lines or barriers. Because I think that the issues
• 33:38
  in Puerto Rico have been that every four years we change
• 33:42
  administration and there's a lot of political issues of you help
• 33:46
  the Reds or you help the Blues or you help the Greens, right?
• 33:49
  Just Just like it happens everywhere.
• 33:51
  And to me, I'm an engineer, I fix problems, right?
• 33:54
  I'm, I, I, I'm like a doctor. When the doctor, when a patient
• 33:57
  comes into emergency room, you don't ask them what religion or
• 34:00
  what color or affiliation or political affiliation they are.
• 34:03
  That's how I wanted to work with everybody.
• 34:05
  And the governor was very supportive of me working with
• 34:07
  everyone. So I made sure that when I was
• 34:09
  working, I did not care about political affiliations or if a
• 34:14
  municipality was red or blue and the road stopped in the
• 34:18
  boundary. I didn't care if the road had to
• 34:20
  be finished. I would do it all.
• 34:22
  I wasn't going to be looking at colors or political affiliation
• 34:25
  because that's not how you do work.
• 34:27
  That's not how you're supposed to to fix infrastructure, right.
• 34:31
  So, yeah, so that was a big deal.
• 34:33
  I just try to be as fair and as I could for especially since
• 34:38
  Puerto Rico had so many infrastructure issues.
• 34:40
  So again, we didn't fix everything, but we made a really
• 34:44
  good, we made good progress with with everything that we did.
• 34:50
  Ha ha ha. Spacecraft.
• 34:53
  So. So you mentioned, or maybe I
• 34:55
  did, 30 years ago, I went to Space camp.
• 34:58
  And so in 2023, I wrote a proposal for my daughter's
• 35:02
  school so that her 6th grade class could go to space Camp and
• 35:05
  they approved it. And so I worked at NASA 22 years
• 35:10
  ago, so in 2000, and maybe more or Lord, more and more, one in
• 35:16
  2002, I worked at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in
• 35:19
  Huntsville, AL as an intern. I was there for about two years
• 35:22
  when I was at the University of Puerto Rico.
• 35:24
  And so I still had friends that worked at Marshall Space Flight
• 35:28
  Center, and that's where Space Camp is and the US Space and
• 35:31
  Rocket Center. So they helped me write a
• 35:32
  proposal for my daughter's school.
• 35:35
  I went with my daughter's school in March of 2023 and I
• 35:40
  reconnected with my NASA roots and so they because I was in
• 35:46
  space camp, there's something called the Space Camp Hall of
• 35:48
  Fame. During that trip, my former Co
• 35:51
  workers at NASA said Aileen would be great to nominate for
• 35:54
  the Space Camp Hall of Fame. I thought that was so cool.
• 35:56
  I just didn't think of anything. The next year, in February of
• 36:00
  2024, they called me to tell me that I had been nominated and
• 36:04
  inducted in the Space Camp Hall of Fame in the class of 2024.
• 36:08
  Yes, it had been 28 years since I had been in Space Camp.
• 36:13
  I was the first Puerto Rican ever inducted in the Space Camp
• 36:16
  Hall of Fame. Space Camp has 1.2 million
• 36:20
  alumni from all over the world. And I was so honored that I was
• 36:24
  the first Puerto Rican to be inducted.
• 36:26
  And I remember how I went to Space Camp.
• 36:28
  It was 10th grade, and I had to sell chocolates and little bags
• 36:32
  of bread and cakes. And my mom and dad had to fry
• 36:35
  bacalaitos in the Vedate Festival and something around
• 36:38
  it, the Christmas festival. It was a struggle because it was
• 36:41
  like $2000 or so. And that's a lot of money for,
• 36:45
  you know, a teacher and a sales representative.
• 36:47
  And still today, I mean it. And I was like, I want to go so
• 36:50
  badly. So I learned about fundraising.
• 36:53
  And so when I got inducted in summer 2024 in the ceremony, I
• 36:58
  was like, wow, that was the whole, this was the reason why I
• 37:00
  went to Space Camp 30 years ago. This is pretty amazing.
• 37:04
  So now I'm an ambassador for Space Camp.
• 37:05
  I go to schools, into conferences and I talk about the
• 37:09
  program, get more kids to go to Space Camp, especially kids from
• 37:13
  Puerto Rico. And I promote the scholarship so
• 37:15
  that we can have more kids from Puerto Rico that can go because
• 37:19
  maybe they, I don't have financial resources to be able
• 37:22
  to go. So that's one of my new purposes
• 37:24
  in life is help more kids win scholarships so that they can go
• 37:27
  to Space Camp. And it's been awesome.
• 37:30
  Right, it's amazing. Again, talk about leaving the
• 37:32
  door open, right? So yes, yes.
• 37:36
  You got somebody who saw from Proud Rican.
• 37:39
  I like that. I'm going to write that.
• 37:43
  Down. I never used that.
• 37:46
  Yeah, for I wrote it. OK, so this is this is this.
• 37:52
  I like this photo, this photo. We were getting a recognition
• 37:56
  from Federal Highway Administration and we were
• 38:00
  celebrating the department's seventy 70th year under the
• 38:05
  Constitution of Puerto Rico. So the Federal Highway Authority
• 38:09
  gave us a recognition at an engineering event for our
• 38:13
  anniversary. So the department was 105 years
• 38:16
  since it was the Department of the Interior, but we were
• 38:19
  actually called the Department of Transportation and Public
• 38:22
  Works since 1952. So this was in 2022.
• 38:25
  And that's Jamie Christian from Federal Highway giving us the
• 38:27
  award. When I was a secretary, I was
• 38:31
  actually appointed by the US Department of Transportation to
• 38:34
  work with former Secretary Buttigieg, the Secretary of
• 38:37
  Transportation, as an advisor in his advisor committee.
• 38:41
  So Federal Highway was amazing. Working with the federal
• 38:44
  government was amazing. I had a lot of access to DC and
• 38:49
  to and a lot of help from them. So yeah, federal partners were
• 38:53
  extremely important when I was secretary.
• 38:54
  So I was really happy that I was able to do that while I was
• 38:56
  secretary. I love that.
• 39:03
  The 12th IRS Caribbean Regional Congress, we did this in July of
• 39:07
  2024 in Puerto Rico. It was the first time that we
• 39:10
  had the International Rd. Federation Caribbean Congress in
• 39:14
  Porto Rico. We held it in July of 2024.
• 39:17
  It was amazing. We had, I don't know how many
• 39:20
  countries represented from the Caribbean in the US and we
• 39:23
  pretty much held it to highlight what we were doing in
• 39:26
  transportation. But it was a very good exchange
• 39:29
  of ideas and initiatives between all the countries in the
• 39:32
  Caribbean and Puerto Rico. So my original, I guess my, my
• 39:38
  original, not degree, but concentration specialty in
• 39:42
  engineering and civil engineering is aviation.
• 39:45
  Since I started working with the Army Corps of Engineers in
• 39:48
  Vicksburg, I was in the Airfields and Pavements branch.
• 39:50
  Then Kim Lee Horn, I became an aviation engineer working in
• 39:53
  commercial airports. And so this STEM and aviation
• 39:56
  connection, I now work with the Women Aviation International,
• 40:00
  getting more girls to learn what they can do as an aviation
• 40:04
  professional. I do a lot of work with the
• 40:06
  Society of Women Engineers. To make sure that I promote
• 40:09
  engineering and STEM for more women out there.
• 40:11
  So that's the connection. I mean, I think that there is so
• 40:14
  much that we can do to promote them for more children so that
• 40:18
  they know about it and they learn what they can do in this
• 40:22
  field. They if in aviation, if you want
• 40:24
  to go into aviation, you don't just have to be a pilot.
• 40:26
  You can be an engineer, you can be a maintenance, you can be an
• 40:28
  administration. But if you don't tell kids the
• 40:31
  opportunities that are out there, they're not going to see
• 40:33
  it. So, so that's my purpose also.
• 40:36
  And we know this is if letting them know what's out there and
• 40:39
  what they can do. So we have a question that came
• 40:42
  in while you were talking about if they're so happy to see a
• 40:45
  Latina in STEM, what advice would you give a young woman who
• 40:49
  wants to produce STEM careers, Maria from New York City.
• 40:53
  So I would definitely tell them that self initiative is
• 40:56
  important. I told you all that I worked at
• 40:59
  Disney back then. I learned that Disney does a lot
• 41:02
  of magic behind the scenes. So the engineers or the
• 41:04
  imagineers at Disney are amazing.
• 41:07
  And that got me hooked because I was a student at a college
• 41:09
  student when I went to Disney 1st and I think that when I was
• 41:13
  there, I was working in the entertainment and characters
• 41:15
  department. So I was not in engineering at
• 41:18
  Disney, but I went and spoke to my supervisor and asked to
• 41:21
  shadow a civil engineer at Disney and he connected me with
• 41:25
  the structural and design director of Disney's
• 41:29
  Imagineering. Amazing.
• 41:30
  I did a shadow day with him. It was it was, it was such an
• 41:34
  eye opening experience for me as a student.
• 41:37
  And then I put that experience in my resume for the next summer
• 41:41
  when I applied for an internship at NASA and Mickey Mouse got me
• 41:44
  NASA. So the idea he, I always say
• 41:48
  that Mickey Mouse got me NASA, but my message always for for
• 41:51
  young people is self connected. It don't wait for someone to
• 41:54
  tell you what to do or, or to go do something.
• 41:58
  I wanted to learn more about Disney and I went and talked to
• 42:01
  my supervisor. I did not expect him to connect
• 42:03
  me with this amazing engineer at Disney.
• 42:06
  And then that had a, an abdominal effect with everything
• 42:10
  that I've done in my career. So never underestimate asking,
• 42:13
  going out to and having that self initiative of, of of just
• 42:17
  just show up, ask the question, mention what you're interested
• 42:22
  in. Because whenever the opportunity
• 42:23
  comes around, they might say, hey, Eileen told me this.
• 42:26
  So why don't we, why don't we see if she's interested in doing
• 42:29
  this? And that has a powerful effect
• 42:31
  in whatever anything that can happen in your career.
• 42:34
  So the other thing I would say is never underestimate the power
• 42:37
  of prayer. I pray a lot.
• 42:40
  And so I think that's important too.
• 42:42
  You need, you need to have a connection, a spiritual
• 42:44
  connection and, and be able to ask for help as well.
• 42:48
  And, and if you're not feeling well, that is also very
• 42:50
  important. You can't do everything that you
• 42:52
  want to do if you're not feeling well, so.
• 42:55
  Absolutely. Let let me tell you, I worked at
• 42:57
  Disney, I worked in the Magic Kingdom, I worked in the Hectic
• 43:02
  Kingdom as a what you call a cast member because that's what
• 43:06
  they call this, right? That's.
• 43:07
  A cast, Yes. And I worked in the.
• 43:10
  Backyard I was a cast member too. 2000 Yes.
• 43:14
  Animal Kingdom. I loved it.
• 43:17
  Look, I was stationed this. I worked on the weekend.
• 43:20
  Had that been my last, had I retired in Florida, I would have
• 43:23
  worked for Disney. I love what they did.
• 43:25
  Let's not talk about that because I've always said that.
• 43:28
  I mean, I mean, if it wasn't going to be the NASA internship,
• 43:31
  I would have stayed at Disney. And who knows, you know, who
• 43:33
  said we might end up there later in life?
• 43:35
  Who? Knows yeah, we work there's so
• 43:37
  many people that retire and you know seasonal they hire and the
• 43:41
  seasonal hey we need you for. Thanksgiving.
• 43:42
  Christmas. Oh my God, I loved it.
• 43:45
  I I remember all the different hidden places they had in the
• 43:49
  magic Kim that they did. You didn't know to go downstairs
• 43:52
  into the, you know with with the.
• 43:53
  Cast Oh yeah, the back the back of the house.
• 43:55
  I mean, that's as impressive as everything that happens that the
• 43:58
  guests, right? We call them guests.
• 44:00
  The guests see all the magic. The magic's happening in the
• 44:03
  back of the house that they. Can't see it's.
• 44:05
  Pretty impressive what everybody behind the scenes is doing so
• 44:08
  that they can have the magical experience.
• 44:11
  So if a Disney person is seeing this now you know Jose and I are
• 44:14
  are Disney cast that's. Right.
• 44:16
  That's right, let's see what we got here next.
• 44:20
  Those photos. Wow.
• 44:22
  So, yeah. So the legacy of service, I
• 44:24
  think that it's not about the titles because titles are
• 44:27
  temporary. They come and they go.
• 44:29
  What how people remember you is important.
• 44:32
  And I'm really happy that when I meet with former employees at
• 44:36
  the department or the mayors or the leaders of the agencies that
• 44:40
  are still there or, or only people from my, my four years in
• 44:43
  the government, they say, I miss you or, you know, something
• 44:47
  great. And I was like, thank you.
• 44:49
  So you know that you did leave a legacy.
• 44:51
  And we, we lead with that sense of urgency, but also knowing
• 44:56
  that whatever you do is going to impact people's lives.
• 44:59
  And so I'm very proud of what I did as secretary.
• 45:02
  And again, we're not perfect. I learned to be very present in
• 45:06
  the media so that people knew what the message was.
• 45:08
  So every day we had radio, TV, printed press.
• 45:12
  It wasn't easy. It wasn't always friendly, but
• 45:14
  even when it wasn't something that we had, even if it wasn't a
• 45:17
  positive message, I had to show up.
• 45:20
  I was in charge, right? I was a boss, so I would put the
• 45:22
  face forward and if we messed up, we messed up.
• 45:25
  And I think that's important as a leader.
• 45:27
  You have to be, you have to be honest and you have to be
• 45:31
  transparent. So definitely service and public
• 45:35
  service has been one of my most favorite times in my career, The
• 45:40
  hardest, not easy, the hardest, but definitely the ones that
• 45:44
  I've found very rewarding. And so now back at Kinley Horn
• 45:48
  leading infrastructure projects, I still want to combine that
• 45:52
  service piece with also serving the clients as a consultant.
• 45:55
  So it's finding how to still get back and in the role that I'm in
• 46:01
  now. Absolutely.
• 46:03
  OK. And we I love this slide.
• 46:05
  All the different things, please.
• 46:06
  Oh, that is awesome. So I think it's yes Ted talks.
• 46:11
  So in in 2022, I met this amazing person, Prince Taylor.
• 46:16
  He is in the the veteran affairs in DC and also Monica, Monica
• 46:21
  Rivera, another Puerto Rican in DC and veterans.
• 46:24
  They invited me to speak at a TEDx, the TEDx talks from, from,
• 46:31
  from veteran affairs. And so you go through a six
• 46:33
  month process of being nominated and, and everything has to be
• 46:36
  perfect. And I gave a tip tock that talks
• 46:38
  about how pivotal moments shape our lives.
• 46:41
  And so I loved it. I think that it's so amazing and
• 46:45
  so fun to be doing this. You only have a certain amount
• 46:47
  of time to get your message in. And, and I, I enjoy public
• 46:51
  speaking. I've done it a lot.
• 46:53
  I do constant events and, and speaking engagements with with
• 46:57
  young women, with young students.
• 47:00
  And so I think that once you have these opportunities, your
• 47:03
  story has to be shared. And I think you mentioned it
• 47:06
  also. You never know who's on the
• 47:08
  receiving end of who needs to know that yes, it's going to be
• 47:12
  hard. Maybe you don't see yourself out
• 47:14
  there out there, but you can do this, but you have to put
• 47:17
  yourself out there. There's two books that are that
• 47:21
  I've been part of this year. The first one is extraordinary
• 47:23
  Engineers volume three. I'm a co-author with that book.
• 47:27
  It's it's an it's a compilation of a lot of amazing engineers
• 47:30
  that are shaping the world. And then the next one is just
• 47:34
  launched now in Hispanic heritage month is Latinas and
• 47:37
  Aviation volume 6. So I, I suggest everybody goes
• 47:42
  to Amazon and find these books. They're amazing.
• 47:44
  I'm an honor that they picked my story to be highlighted in these
• 47:48
  books. But there's also so many amazing
• 47:50
  women doing incredible things around the world and I'm just
• 47:56
  fortunate that that I'm there with them.
• 47:58
  So, so yeah, it, it's, I've been very privileged and, and, and,
• 48:03
  and just, I have this, these amazing opportunities to speak
• 48:07
  and to go and impact people's lives.
• 48:10
  So I just love doing that. And I think it's funny, when I
• 48:13
  was young, my teachers would say to my mom that that I was
• 48:18
  talking a lot in class and they would put me next to the quiet
• 48:21
  kid and I would make the quiet kid talk.
• 48:24
  So look at that. Look at this now.
• 48:26
  I'm actually encouraged to go and talk.
• 48:30
  I love it. I love it.
• 48:30
  Oh my goodness, that's awesome. That's awesome.
• 48:33
  And then this Moxie mogul Moxie. What was?
• 48:37
  That mogul moxie yes with my friend Yvette yeah Yvette also
• 48:40
  got me into this and then there was a really awesome interview
• 48:43
  as well TCD podcast there was inviting me as well.
• 48:47
  The quiet work of a civil engineer was in the Atlantis
• 48:50
  many years ago, CEO magazine, right as I was finishing up my
• 48:54
  job and my, my position and the secretary position.
• 48:58
  So every time somebody reach out, reached out to me like what
• 49:02
  you did, I'm honored. I, I, if I can, I will always
• 49:05
  say yes because I believe that you never know who you're going
• 49:09
  to expire next. And I'm still learning there's
• 49:12
  still a lot that I want to do and I'm also inspired by a lot
• 49:16
  of people that are doing these amazing things.
• 49:17
  So when I see what they do, I always say if I was a young girl
• 49:22
  wanting to meet this woman, I would like the opportunity to
• 49:26
  reach out to her. So I do all these things, but I
• 49:29
  also like people to contact me and to give me feedback because
• 49:32
  that's why you thrive and and thank you.
• 49:35
  People can find me on LinkedIn. There's also, I have an
• 49:38
  Instagram that's PRSECD top. It's my former secretary
• 49:44
  position of, of transportation and it's, it's in, in LinkedIn.
• 49:48
  You could probably find me D top secretary Aileen.
• 49:50
  But yes, I, I love when I get feedback and I love it when
• 49:53
  people reach out for me to help them in any way.
• 49:56
  I, I think that's, that's why I'm here.
• 49:58
  You know, I got a lot of help and a lot of mentors and a lot
• 50:00
  of sponsors. Now it's my time to give it
• 50:02
  back. Yeah, absolutely.
• 50:04
  No. Thank you so much, Eileen, for
• 50:06
  that. And and we had we got we got
• 50:09
  time for another question. And it says it says here as a
• 50:12
  minority Latina only, only female Latina engineer first D
• 50:18
  top secretary. What guidance advice would you
• 50:20
  offer parents like mine of minorities, Latina go who dream
• 50:25
  of pursuing STEM and aviation? Yes, I think that the access to
• 50:31
  it if you're especially if it's a if it's a little girl, don't
• 50:36
  be afraid of thinking that's a male dominated field.
• 50:40
  My parents didn't know anything about it but they still said
• 50:43
  well if she wants to do it we will help her and encourage her.
• 50:46
  We might not be able to help her out with a lot of resources but
• 50:50
  they were there for my support and telling me yes you can do
• 50:53
  this. So the validation is important.
• 50:57
  Also, if your kid wants to go to a STEM camp or an event on a
• 51:03
  weekend like Girls in Aviation Day or the school is offering a
• 51:07
  STEM program, let them go, encourage them to go because you
• 51:11
  never know, they might love it. They might find their calling at
• 51:13
  a very young age. There's a lot of programs that
• 51:16
  are free, so you don't have to actually send them to space
• 51:19
  camp. But usually the schools have
• 51:21
  either a STEM week. I believe this week is going to
• 51:25
  space week, it's going to start. So a lot of schools and a lot of
• 51:28
  organizations have events for children so that they learn more
• 51:31
  about aerospace and STEM and engineering and all that.
• 51:34
  So if there are those opportunities, take them, you
• 51:38
  know, encourage it. And if they are already telling
• 51:40
  you that they're interested or you see them being really good
• 51:43
  at math and science, enjoying playing with Legos, enjoying
• 51:46
  programming, I think even now there's like online things that
• 51:50
  they can play that you're seeing that your child has a, a talent
• 51:55
  for math and science and technology.
• 51:59
  Encourage that, nurture it because we do need a lot more
• 52:02
  engineers. And I would love to see you way
• 52:04
  more Latinos, Latinas, engineers, because in Latinas
• 52:08
  we're still about two to 3% of the same workforce.
• 52:11
  So there's not, there's not a lot of of us out there.
• 52:14
  We are definitely making strides, but we still need to
• 52:17
  continue promoting more Latinas and Latinos in STEM.
• 52:22
  And I know we're out there. We just have to get the access
• 52:24
  and the opportunities and our parents are very important and
• 52:27
  our teachers as well. So I would encourage you for
• 52:30
  sure to have some, either a guidance counselor or someone
• 52:35
  like me out there in the field, help you find resources and ways
• 52:38
  to help your child maybe find their passion in STEM.
• 52:42
  Absolutely no. Thank you for that.
• 52:45
  And before we give you your last word to close out, let me just
• 52:48
  bring something up of who our next guest is, ladies and
• 52:51
  gentlemen. And we continue to celebrate
• 52:54
  Hispanic Heritage Month and going in into our you know,
• 52:57
  October is is disability wedding month.
• 52:59
  Next, next week we're going to have star Major Lisbon Nemesaki.
• 53:03
  She's awesome. I rode with her on the soldier
• 53:07
  ride in New York City and she is an awesome human being and she
• 53:10
  has so much. I can't wait for you for you to
• 53:13
  meet her. So just make sure you tune in
• 53:15
  next Saturday, October 10th at 7:00.
• 53:19
  I'm about to say military time, 5:00 PM, which is easy.
• 53:24
  Wow, got to get get used to. So make sure you join us for
• 53:26
  that. So Eileen, any last words,
• 53:29
  anything you know we messed up before we sign off and just
• 53:33
  thank you, man. No, I thank you for the
• 53:36
  opportunity. I'm really glad that that that
• 53:39
  I'm get that I'm able to speak about my story, but also what
• 53:43
  the possibilities can be. You know, once you you decide to
• 53:46
  be brave and even if you're the only one, just go for it.
• 53:50
  I might have been the only one or the first one in some things,
• 53:54
  but I'm not going to be the last.
• 53:55
  And that's the idea, right? We do this so that we open the
• 53:58
  door for other generations to see what's possible.
• 54:01
  Again. I'm still in my career.
• 54:03
  I have many years left to continue working.
• 54:06
  I I now have things that I'm building myself.
• 54:09
  I'm building a practice in the Caribbean and infrastructure.
• 54:14
  Can you hear me? Yeah.
• 54:18
  Do you want to do? And things that I want to do.
• 54:20
  So the learning process never ends.
• 54:23
  And I believe that's important. We cannot get discouraged when
• 54:26
  we have a no or when things don't go exactly as planned.
• 54:30
  That's life. But you have to continue showing
• 54:33
  up. And sometimes when you feel
• 54:34
  like, I don't think I want to go to this, why should I go?
• 54:37
  Am I really going to get anything out of it?
• 54:39
  You show up and you meet someone and you get a new opportunity
• 54:43
  and then you're like, wow, if I had not shown up, I would have
• 54:45
  never had this opportunity. So sometimes it's just showing
• 54:48
  up and being brave enough to even if you're afraid and do it,
• 54:51
  if you're afraid, still go ahead and do it.
• 54:54
  Because when we're afraid of something, it means that we
• 54:55
  care. And sometimes people ask me, do
• 54:58
  you get nervous when you start talking in front of people at a
• 55:00
  presentation or anywhere? I'm like, of course I still get
• 55:03
  nervous. And that doesn't mean you can't
• 55:04
  do it. It just means that you care and
• 55:06
  that you have an interest in making a good impact and
• 55:10
  something good out of it. So do it even if you're scared.
• 55:14
  Absolutely. Look, Julie, Lily said.
• 55:17
  Yes. Jump into opportunities we got.
• 55:20
  That and then. Oh my goodness, Becky from PA
• 55:23
  say representation, representation matters.
• 55:25
  Thank you for taking the lead. Thank you for taking the lead.
• 55:29
  And we have one more. Can you repeat your social
• 55:32
  media? The one you had and I'll put how
• 55:33
  to. Get yes, so in Instagram it's
• 55:38
  PRSECD top Eileen. So if you go Instagram and you
• 55:44
  and you check DTOP secretary or my name, it'll come up 'cause
• 55:49
  it's a it's a public, it's a public profile, but LinkedIn I'm
• 55:54
  always there on LinkedIn as well.
• 55:55
  If you did a lot yes, the LinkedIn, but definitely on
• 55:58
  Instagram. If you sex, if you check
• 56:00
  secretary DTOP it, it'll come up with my name yes and and that
• 56:05
  one's an open profile. So you can definitely write to
• 56:08
  me there or connect with me on Instagram or through LinkedIn.
• 56:11
  Yeah, and, and, and, oh, look, we got that already.
• 56:14
  And ladies and gentlemen, if you have, if you need to get in,
• 56:17
  contact me. Just shoot me an e-mail and I'll
• 56:19
  make sure you get the information.
• 56:21
  But Eileen, I want to say, Gracia, thank you for every
• 56:24
  being, the human being that you are in the leader more important
• 56:28
  and making a difference in our world.
• 56:30
  I appreciate it so. Much no Gracia Hadi for having
• 56:34
  me here, for having this amazing program, Otro Otro Latino, but
• 56:39
  also this is important. So thank you also for what you
• 56:42
  do. Thank you for that now and, and
• 56:44
  thank you for for being here, especially as we celebrate
• 56:46
  Hispanic heritage. My.
• 56:48
  Book. So I think that's what it is,
• 56:55
  me. And my spangers, yes.
• 56:59
  And I I I believe that 1000%. Absolutely, ma'am.
• 57:04
  So I just want to say thank you, Eileen, for being here.
• 57:07
  Ladies and gentlemen, Thank you. Together we are more.
• 57:10
  Thank you, Yvette. That's she.
• 57:11
  She. We are.
• 57:13
  More and together. With some of my I like it.
• 57:17
  Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen.
• 57:19
  Have a great weekend. Eileen.
• 57:21
  Thank you. God bless you for everything.
• 57:23
  You are gracias. We're looking forward to your
• 57:26
  next book, so you'll come on the.
• 57:27
  Site. Oh yes, that'll be sometime
• 57:30
  soon, I promise. OK, good.
• 57:32
  I see you everybody. Bye bye.
• 57:36
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• 57:40
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