My name is Mariju and I'm a Political track Officer in the Foreign Service. I joined the
Foreign Service in 2004. I came to the Department in 2001, actually September 11 was my second
day at work, and so it made quite an impression on me and I decided I wanted to stay and work
for the government. Because originally I came in on a fellowship program called the Presidential
Management Fellowship program and I had planned on clerking for a district court judge here in
the area immediately after law school; but because of the historic events of September
11, I made a commitment to myself to give back to my government and to my country. And
since then, I have travelled around the world as a Foreign Service Officer in several countries.
I've been posted to Mexico, Ecuador, Greece and I am now back in the Department, this
is my second day of work on the France desk. Did I ever think I was going to work for the
State Department and become an American diplomat? No, I did not. I always thought diplomats
were important people from important families and I had no idea we had a Foreign Service
and that we had a system of selecting people to represent our country. And I actually,
it's all kind of fortune that I became a member of the Foreign Service through the
State Department. I started my career actually doing counterterrorism. I began in the Office
of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. I had the multilateral portfolio and then coordinated
our counterterrorism efforts in international organizations such as the European Union,
the G-8, the Group of Eight, and from there I kind of made multilateral diplomacy my area
of expertise. I think 9/11 was the starting point for me to understand that I was going
to dedicate my career and my life to public service and to the U.S. government. And I
found the best way I could do that was actually representing my country overseas and being
an American diplomat overseas is like no other lesson in patriotism. You are that voice representing
our country back home. And whether that has been in having to call a family member and
saying "I'm sorry to inform you on behalf of the Department of State I must let
you know that your son has passed away in Mexico," or if that means speaking to a former
president of a country and reassuring that former president that yes, the United States
is obviously very interested in what's happening in your country. Every basic lesson for me
is that I'm an American and whoever I'm speaking with or interacting with is coming
away with some sort of impression or feeling about my country. And so it's so important
to me that in everything I do here in Washington or overseas that I'm creating the most positive
impression of what my values are as an American. I can't do this anywhere else in terms of
furthering our policy goals and doing that with other countries and being able to celebrate
all of the values that our country cherishes; it's democracy and human rights and equal
treatment under the law, and for me, being an American is such an honor and a privilege.
And I'm just so grateful, that the bottom-line is that
I get to share that love of my country every single day.