I'm a mother, and a gamer, and an artist.
I am a proud grandparent.
I was born and raised in Mexico.
From my indigenous group called Mixtecos.
I'm a school board member for the City of Kennewick.
I also work for the City of Kennewick's police department,
and fire department.
I am a person who is deaf and who has cochlear implants.
I am a Latino. A veteran.
I am a transgender woman.
I transitioned almost exactly 10 years ago.
I am an advocate for women in tech.
I love worshipping in Spanish, because that's my native language.
Eres todopoderoso.
It means "You are almighty."
So this is a picture of my dog Apollo.
And we're a team. We compete in nose work.
This is an emblem for the videogame series Zelda.
My son and I like to make these for different games and characters that we like.
PNNL has been the most amazing thing that has happened to me.
It's really allowed me to pursue my dreams.
Maybe I could redo it one more time, if that's ok.
When I was in high school, I was asked
"What do I want to be when I grew up?"
And I was told I was going to be a farmer because my father was a farmer.
And I said "No, that's not the stereotype that I want to fall into."
"There's other things out there."
That diversity I had to challenge right away.
When I made the decision to transition,
I was absolutely terrified of what would happen at work.
I was convinced that I would probably be fired,
and was so surprised at the level of acceptance
from my co-workers,
management and support staff.
It was a wonderful experience.
I would often find myself in meetings where
I would have an idea and express an idea.
And it was easily dismissed.
And when one of the men at the table would have the same idea,
it was suddenly a good idea.
I am a Mexican and DACA recipient from Morelia, Michoacán.
I worry about my status.
I worry about what I'll be able to do in terms of my career.
And even if I'll be able to stay in this country.
As a DACA recipient, I am technically a foreign national.
So I have to wear a red badge.
And so that is the one thing that makes me feel different from other people.
Even though I have been here since I was 9 years old.
I worry about the loss
of communication that we seem to have in the world today.
I worry that we can't talk openly and feel safe in doing so.
I have two granddaughters of my own, so I worry about their future.
And whether or not they'll have hurdles to go over.
To me, diversity means being kind to each other.
Diversity, to me, means allowing people to be who they are inside.
Diversity means being able to acknowledge, embrace and appreciate
other people's differences.
I'm not the way I am because of my gender or my skin color,
but those have affected my experience.
Having a seat at the table, for everyone, is extremely important to me.
I would like to see people less concerned about just checking the diversity box,
and really, truly be more invested in the inclusion part.
I've found that people here are accepting, and supportive, and helpful,
particularly if you disclose to them that you have a disability,
so they know about it.
And I welcome any effort that people would take to get to know me.
And vice versa.
I wish more people
would stand up and fight
to what they believe in.
I wish more people would just ask me what it's like
for me to be transgender.
I wish more people would advocate for others who are not like them.
You can really have an opportunity to help somebody
who may not have the same opportunities that you did.
Hi, I'm Steve Ashby, the Laboratory Director.
I just was to thank the staff who participated in this video.
It's that collection
of diverse individual and the background that they bring, their perspectives
that make the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
the great place that it is today.
Thank you.
My name is Ismael Rodriguez Perez, and I am a materials chemist.
My name is Trisha Henriksen, and I develop websites.
My name is Ron Mabry.
I'm the facility manager at the 3440 test facility.
My name is Liz Alexander.
I'm a physicist who designs and develops mass spectrometers.
My name is Ranata Johnson, and I manage lab-level strategic initiatives.
My name is Emiliano Santiago.
I am an electrical engineer.
My name is John Czarnek.
And I am a statistician and performance analyst.