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Hi, my name is Laura Peterson.
And I work at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center,
focusing on public and digital engagement.
Hispanic Heritage Month first began in 1968
as a week-long celebration.
Over 50 years, later it has grown to spend an entire month,
running from September 15 to October 15.
The National Heritage Month pays tribute
to generations of Hispanic Americans
who have positively influenced and enriched
our nation's society.
Today I'm happy to be joined by two members of my team, Alana
Roche, public and digital engagement
lead, and Elena Johnson, public affairs specialist.
Thanks for joining me.
How are you both doing?
Hey, Laura.
Thanks for having us.
Happy to be here.
I'm doing great.
I'm doing great too, Laura.
Happy to be here.
So happy to have you guys on with me.
Well, let's just get right into it.
Alana, let's start with you.
Tell us briefly about your work here at NASA
and when you first knew you wanted to join the agency.
Yeah, so I am also a public and digital engagement lead.
I've been here for about three years now.
And some of what I do is public engagement.
But I also do social media, so I take
care of all of our social media here at NASA Armstrong,
also contribute to the headquarters page.
And then also beforehand, I would
help with live events and in-person events,
but now we've moved to the digital landscape.
One of the things that I did here was I
was able to start my career through college.
So I went to a local college at Cal State-San Bernardino.
I know that's also where Elena went,
and that's really where I got my start and foot in the door.
It was actually a speaker that came to my college,
and that's how I knew about the job.
I never really thought that I would end up
at NASA being a communications major
but nonetheless was able to apply and get a position here.
So Alana, I know that you went to the same school.
Do you want to tell me about your experience?
Yes.
So me and Alana did go to the same school.
We were both Cal State-San Bernardino alumni.
And just like her, I never thought
I could join the organization.
It wasn't until I received a job recommendation
from one of my professors who was a mentor of mine
while getting my communications degree.
And she let me know about the job opening,
and I decided to apply.
And I ended up interviewing for a different position
that I'm in now.
And that first position, I didn't end up
getting the job, but the second time around,
I did end up getting the job.
And now I work as a public affairs specialist, and I am--
the areas that I cover are airborne science and SOFIA.
And another big responsibility that Alana and I share
are doing Spanish translations.
We translate for our Spanish speaking audience.
And that's something that we do, and it's been really great.
Alana, do you want to tell me more about the work
that you do with the diverse team?
I know you work with headquarters on that as well.
Yeah.
So I'm honored to be able to be a part of the DEIA team.
So that's our diversity and inclusion team here at NASA.
So I am on the board with headquarters.
I'm one of the five members that's on there.
And basically it's a new thing that we're working on.
We just worked on our plan so that we
can help be more diverse internally, externally,
and just making sure that we're reaching people
at all levels, all races, all genders,
making sure that we're hitting those notes
and applying to all.
It's such fun.
I'm also part of the Hispanic team here at NASA,
where, like Alana said, we translate a lot
of our messaging to the public.
And it is something to make sure that I'm
reaching a bigger audience.
And I'm really happy to be able to help with that team.
That's awesome.
Elena, other than what we just talked about,
is there something specifically that you just
find to be your favorite part of your job?
Yeah.
So I would say my favorite part of the job
is just the consistent challenge.
I'm constantly learning more and just
working with all the people in our office
and the center and just the agency overall.
It's just a constant challenge and I'm always learning more.
So it keeps me on my toes and it's never really a boring day.
Yeah, I definitely understand where
you're coming from-- me too.
Alana, what about you?
For me, it's going to be interacting with people.
Now it's more on Teams, of course.
But before that it was in person, walking the halls,
meeting different people that I really never thought I
would get to meet.
I've met astronauts.
I've met a couple administrators.
I've met different people that I never
thought I would get to meet and I
know I wouldn't have if it wasn't for working here.
And also, my favorite part of my job
is the team that I work with.
We are a small center, but we get a lot done.
And it's really an amazing thing to be
able to be a flight research center
and get a lot of information out there.
Yes, there's definitely a strong sense of community,
especially at our center, since we are one of the smaller ones.
We get to work a lot more with everyone.
Alana, is there any role models that
have inspired you to get to where you are today?
Yeah, my family.
My family is such a big inspiration
for me, especially my mom.
My mom is somebody who came from Mexico
and she worked her way up to become successful.
Because of her financial situation,
she wasn't able to complete college.
But that didn't really stop her.
She was able to accomplish so much.
She is successful today.
She keeps going.
She's very hardworking.
I think that I'm proud to say I was able to get my work
ethic from her.
We have that can-do attitude.
And I think I just learned a lot from her overall.
And there's other people in my family.
I have an uncle, my uncle Carlos, my aunt Maria, my dad,
I just have so many people around me.
Even my cousins that are in this similar age group as me--
we're all really proving ourselves and working hard
and keep getting promotions.
And I'm just really, really proud and inspired
by everyone in my family.
That's awesome.
I think it's so important to be surrounded by people
who keep you going for more.
Elena, what about you?
For me, I would say I'm the same way.
I took so much inspiration from my mom.
She was such a hard worker.
Unfortunately, she did pass away recently in December of 2020.
So she's no longer with us, but she was such a great worker
and she was constantly going above and beyond.
And her work ethic really inspired my work ethic.
And I also took really great inspiration
from Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla.
I feel like I really resonated with her
when I was younger watching her movie
and hearing about her story.
So that's really shaped kind of who
I am and made me feel kind of welcomed
and I guess I'm supposed to be here
and that there are other people who are like me out there.
That's awesome.
So where, Elena, are you specifically-- where
does your family originate from?
Yeah, so I'm half Mexican on my mom's side.
My grandparents are from Zacatecas, Mexico.
They decided to immigrate to California
and they ended up in La Puente, California.
And they ended up raising six kids, including my mom.
And yeah, they really wanted to be here
for a better opportunity to give their kids a better opportunity
and also give their kids' kids, which is me,
a better opportunity.
And I feel like that has really shown where we're at right now.
And yeah, it's really great.
Alana, what about you?
Yeah, so my dad's actually from New Orleans.
So he was born and raised there.
I have a big family and big sense of community
from New Orleans, but my mom is from Mexico.
Her mother is from a small town called Apatzingan,
and my grandpa is from a small town called Chihuahua.
And those are both in Michoacan, Mexico.
And funny, like Elena, my family,
when they first came to the country, they went to East LA,
but they did end up in La Puente.
So I'm starting to see that we have a lot of similarities
here.
But yeah, they came to this country with the same
as Elena, with big dreams.
And luckily, a lot of my mom's siblings
have also been very successful.
And I have a huge family.
I think my grandparents have something
like 12 grandchildren.
So we have a huge sense of family
and definitely have our roots here in the United States.
Wow, that's a lot of grandkids.
But a small world that you guys both have roots in La Puente.
So Alana, are there any traditions
that resonate with you?
Yeah, when I think of traditions, I think of food.
Because it seems to me like everything
that I have in my family or every gathering that we have,
it's like, what are we eating?
What's going on?
What are we making?
What's happening?
Tamales during Christmas time, pozole when it's cold.
We always have some kind of family tradition
during different times.
And I know that at every family gathering,
we're going to have really good food
and we're going to have a lot of it.
And that's just something that my family has always
brought me up in.
Yeah, that's actually very similar.
I'm Italian and grew up in a very similar household
with the respect that holidays are always
associated with food and traditional food as well.
Like Christmas Eve, it's always the fish.
Elena, what about you?
Yes, I have to say the same.
For my family too, we really do celebrate our traditions
in food.
And just like Alana said, we're very similar.
And we are the same.
We do tamales for Christmas, pozole for Thanksgiving
or for whatever it's cold.
And yeah, that's a great way for all
of our family to come together.
And it's a great way for me to learn from my grandparents
how they cook and just the traditions that they brought
over from Mexico and just learning more from them
and being surrounded by so much food
because it's great eating and indulging
into so many different foods.
And I feel like a lot of people can really
connect together with food.
Yes, definitely.
I know that food is something that people can always relate
to and come together for.
Alana, what does Hispanic Heritage Month really
mean to you?
So Hispanic Heritage Month means to me just a time for all of us
to kind of reflect and think back on where our families are
from, where we've come from and how far we've come along,
and just really reflecting on those things.
I feel like this is a time for me
to really think about that and to kind of share my experience.
I feel like most of the time, I wouldn't
be able to share an experience like this.
And it's really great to connect with my coworker Elena on this,
and it's just really awesome.
And so yeah, I think that's just a great way
to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
And for other people, I think it's a great time
to learn about other cultures and other races
and just a time for us to learn about all the different people
that make up Hispanic Heritage Month because there's
just so many groups, so many different people.
And it's a really big room.
Yeah, I can completely agree with you on that one.
Elena, what does Hispanic Heritage Month mean to you?
To me, it just really means learning.
So I'm, like Alana said, learning
about different cultures.
Hispanic Heritage has such a huge community.
There's so many different Latino and Hispanic cultures.
And I'm Mexican, but I'm also learning about so
many different kinds and learning
how we have similarities and how some of our traditions
are very similar.
But then some of them aren't.
And I think for others, it's the same.
It's about learning.
I take these months as learning about other cultures
and then also learning more about mine
that I maybe didn't know about.
Yes, definitely.
Now one last question.
Elena, do you have any advice that you'd
give to young individuals interested in a career in NASA?
I'm just going to go ahead and say, go for it.
One of my favorite things to live by
is kind of fake it till you make it.
And when I say that, I don't mean lie your way.
I don't mean lie on your resume or lie to get to where you are.
I mean you're here for a reason.
You got to where you are.
And just go for it.
Don't let anything stop you.
Don't let the feeling of maybe you're
not where you're supposed to be or you aren't sure
if you should go for it and just go for it.
Keep pushing, keep going.
You'll get to where you need to be.
Set yourself up.
Ask other people that are in the field that you want to be in.
Or ask for mentors.
Ask questions.
One of my biggest thing is I'm always learning,
I don't allow other people to make
me feel like I'm less than.
Learn from those people.
Ask questions and continue to learn.
And you'll always have a space where you need to be.
Yes, I think it's so important for young individuals
to know that.
It's so important to have the confidence
to progress and to have the confidence to continue to grow.
Alana, what about you?
So my advice would be to just never give up
and to not take failure as an option.
Failure is OK.
And it's OK to fail sometimes.
Just like for me in college, I failed a quarter one time.
And I never thought I could be here at NASA, but here I am.
I graduated as a first generation grad student
or alumni, I guess you can say first generation college
student.
And yeah, I just never thought I could be here.
And I think that's advice that anybody
could take to just be OK with failure
and be fine with making mistakes and embracing those mistakes
and using those to your advantage
and getting to where you want to be,
because you are meant to be where you are,
where you want to be.
And don't let the imposter syndrome, the feeling
of not feeling like you're supposed to be here,
don't let that get to you.
And yeah, I think that's just my best
advice to give because it's something that I'm still
working through but something that I
feel everybody needs to hear.
Yes, definitely.
And I think it's an important reminder for young adults
that no one is expecting you to have it all together
immediately.
So take the time to learn.
I do want to thank you both very much
for virtually being with me here today.
As someone who's not a part of the Hispanic community,
this has personally given me the opportunity
to learn more about the culture.
Do either of you have any closing remarks
you'd like to make?
Elena?
I just want to thank you for the opportunity to be here,
and I'm really proud to be able to share more
about my Latino heritage.
Yeah and I'm really proud too.
I'm so thankful to be here.
And thank you, Laura, for taking the time to hear our stories.
And thank you for giving us a space to share our time.
I'm really thankful and appreciate it.
And I hope everyone can learn from us and hear our stories.
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