good morning thank you all for being here today and to Tinisha the director
of our office of civil rights here at the Department of Commerce
thank you for spearheading this truly important initiative four years ago
first generation of professionals or FGPS was really just an idea it was a
concept and Tinisha you brought it from concept to execution and every step in
between
your work and effort is the reason we're here today at the first meet at the
first summit I'm told over 500 people registered for today's event and there
was a waiting list of over a hundred people which is just incredible this
should give us a sense though it's not just the numbers it's the it's the point
that it should give us a sense of how much this topic resonates it's not only
across the federal government it's here at commerce it's in the private sector
and it's much talked about at the university level today as we prepare the
first generation professionals we're here today about the most important
investment we can make at the federal level and that is with our in our people
my mentor would always say Karen remember our greatest inventory goes up
and down the elevator every day it's our people and that is true the first
generation professional summit furthers our government-wide focus on diversity
and inclusion and continues a discussion about the particular importance of the
socio-economic diversity as a major agency with the federal government the
Department of Commerce is among the very first to begin collecting and studying
real data around the positive impacts of the first generation professional and
will continue to do this but all the data in the world will not shed light on
what we already know first-generation professionals are Trailblazers they are
the first in their immediate families to enter the professional work environment
each of them come with their own backgrounds life experience and skills
FGPS offer unique perspectives to every work environment and here at commerce we
see they're impacting contribution as one of our real great
assets Catalina Martinez a regional program manager at NOAA's
office of ocean exploration and research said FGPS have a superpower that
allows them to turn obstacles into detours I love that line super powers I
can't agree more it turns adversity into opportunity and
later this morning you're going to hear from the Treasurer of the United States
Jovita Carranza she has super powers super powers that took her from a job as
a part-time box handler working the night shift at UPS to a senior executive
at UPS and very and now a very senior and influential official in the US
government my hope for today is that we leave here with better clarity about how
we can best leverage the super powers of FGPS while continuing to mentor and
develop the next generation of them I am NOT an FGP but I am the proud product of
one my dear sweet mother Ella Marie she was the first college graduate in her
entire family and in fact on the way to graduation one of her relatives thought
the BA didn't stand for Bachelor of Arts but was getting she was getting a bridge
award upon graduation she became a teacher at PS 102 in Brooklyn New York
she then also taught taught at Camp Lejeune where my father was stationed he
is a proud was a proud marine and also an FGP later she became an entrepreneur
she started a very successful interior decorating business she was a terrible
agent when she was young she became one of the very first female lifeguards in
the city of New York in fact she was a lifeguard in the 40s and 50s
and the city law did not change allowing female lifeguards until 1969 for my
mother I learned anything and everything is possible and to that end as a mother
myself I have pushed my children to accomplish more than I have to this day
her example reminds us and reminds me of the value and importance the FGPS bring
to our lives every single day congratulations to each and every one of
you for being part of that incredibly elite group of people and could I just
ask at this moment for all the FGPS to stand up
congratulations again you are truly a unique and accomplished group I also
have been had the privilege to be surrounded by incredible FGPS here
at my professional life and commerce for example Dave Ziya who I have known since
I got here about the second or third week I didn't know this he want well I
did know this I did not know he was in FGP he runs and leads a critical mission
as the chief administrative officer at the Census Bureau as we prepare for the
2020 census another commerce FGP is Ko Barrett Ko serves as the deputy
assistant administrator for research at NOAA and in addition to her bachelor's
degree she has also earned an honorary Doctor
in science yet another FGP in the ranks of senior management his senior
management analyst seventh Stephanie Mendez who was encouraged by retired
gunnery sergeant Donald Prescott to pursue and achieve more Stephanie took
that advice to heart and has acted on it and then and one more the TC 2100 group
director Seema Rao who was inspired by her fourth grade teacher to complete her
Bachelor degree and to become an engineer that is truly a statement that
mentorship and development is critical and important to the next generation
these critical members of our department and all of our FGPS here today you
are inspirations to the next generation of FGPS and to all of us I am very
very proud to be part of today's event and I pledge to you that I will sustain
it and elevate this initiative moving forward I look forward to next year's
event professionals and business services are one of the fastest growing
employment categories in our economy adding 37,000 jobs last month and
380,000 this year alone there are millions of opportunities for
Americans to move into the workforce leadership comes from every aspect of
our society we must also devote ourselves to finding new ways to harness
this unique skills those superpowers that come from our individual
backgrounds in closing let me share a quick story with you every week
I lead a management check in with our departments senior management at the
table is the deputy assistant secretary for administration the budget director
the senior procurement executive the deputy general counsel and our
chief information officer to name a few I was mentioning and I mentioned
yesterday at any meeting I had this event and the importance of this event
but before I could even finish talking about it a hand went up and said I'm one
of those and then somebody else said I am too and all of a sudden we went
around this table everybody's sharing their stories and before you knew it
everybody at the table was either at FGP or was a second generation or knew
somebody and we were sharing the stories that's just how infectious this group is
and how important it is this story from yesterday also reminds us that first
generation professionals are not alone you don't know where you'll find them
they're your supervisor they're your colleague they're your staffer and for
me in particular they include the lady who keeps the Department of this deputy
secretary running and me organized Nellie thank you very much for all your
service we should take great pride in where we come from and we ought to use
the lessons we have learned in our career to help others over the next days
I ask each of you to share your personal stories and to be an inspiration so that
the next generation can see where we come from reach out to the next
generation of professionals and students be mentors and help them understand how
important their skills are and what an asset they are to us in
conclusion thank you again Tinisha to your team to the Department of
Commerce's Office of Civil Rights for your leadership your work will truly
strengthen not only our department the entire federal workforce and the
American people thank you and have a great day