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>> Why don't you all
talk a little bit

2
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about how you chose
law enforcement

3
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and maybe specifically I know

4
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we have two actual
law enforcement ladies,

5
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and then an attorney
who is now our AD of policy.

6
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So a little different probably
path to law enforcement.

7
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Why don't you talk about
that a little bit?

8
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>> So for me once upon a time

9
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I thought I wanted to be
a chemical engineer

10
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and at some point in college

11
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I kind of changed
paths and realized

12
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I wanted to go into
Federal Law Enforcement

13
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that, that was
the better fit for me

14
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because I've always
been very inquisitive.

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I've always been
a very analytical person

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and I wanted a career that
I felt would make a difference.

17
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And I feel that law enforcement,

18
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particularly Federal
Law Enforcement

19
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is the perfect combination
of all of those skills.

20
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In my career a lot of
my investigations have been

21
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in the child exploitation arena

22
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and I believe within HSI,

23
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ERO, and ICE everything
we do is important,

24
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but that particular arena I feel
just really makes an impact

25
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because we are saving
the lives of children

26
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and protecting children.

27
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So it's just
the perfect fit for me.

28
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Sometimes you think back
and you think what if?

29
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What if? But I don't
really think that.

30
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I believe that I ended up
where I was supposed to be, so.

31
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>> Mine was a little bit
of a different path.

32
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I didn't really have a goal
to be in law enforcement,

33
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or certainly the military
when I pursued college.

34
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In fact I was very set.

35
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I was pre-med
for the first two years

36
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and had wanted to be
an obstetrician

37
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and then botany and chemistry
got in the way in college.

38
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It's like; this is not
really my thing.

39
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One of the gifts again
going back to my mom

40
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and my grandmother
is my mother insisting

41
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on continuing
to speak French with me.

42
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As we came back
to the United States

43
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I would continue
to answer in English,

44
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but her shortcoming in English
was my strength to learn French.

45
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So it kind of opened up
that side of the brain

46
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on learning language

47
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and then of course
knowing French I was able

48
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to pick up a couple
of other languages fairly easily

49
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and so in college

50
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I went to that

51
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just because
it was my comfort zone

52
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with Spanish and business

53
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and I grew up in a rather
structured environment.

54
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My dad is a retired colonel
from the military.

55
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I lived on five continents,
I went to numerous schools

56
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so the sense of finality
after I graduated

57
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from college,
I couldn't take it.

58
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It was like okay you're done,
boom. Go find a job.

59
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And so much to the horror of my
parents-not horror necessarily

60
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but here they had paid all this
money for me to go to college

61
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and then I decide
to go to the recruiter

62
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and because it just felt
right I joined the military.

63
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And I joined the Army and I
became a Russian linguist,

64
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again just kind
of going down that path

65
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of interest in language.

66
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And I was in
the intelligence community

67
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which I absolutely loved.

68
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That was something that
I didn’t know was in me,

69
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but to be the analyst
and it was very enjoyable.

70
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So coming from that structure,
coming out of the military

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I had a window there
where I was actually

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going to go back to school
to become a midwife

73
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'cause that was still
just in my goals

74
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but life calls,

75
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I had children at the time

76
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and I became an analyst
for then INS

77
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and just through

78
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I don't know, the good graces or
just leadership at the time back

79
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when we had district directors

80
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I was very blessed in that
they saw potential in me

81
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with my languages

82
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suggesting why don't you
become law enforcement?

83
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And so that's what I did.

84
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,580
So I became a deportation
officer in 1998, loved it,

85
00:04:05,590 --> 00:04:09,050
and just saw that
the language skills came to play

86
00:04:09,580 --> 00:04:13,040
and very blessed
too with mentors

87
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and just to fall into
what came natural to me,

88
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and that was taking
care of people.

89
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I absolutely love leadership,

90
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and so that was my path
to be very honest.

91
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I really never saw that coming,

92
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but so blessed
and fortunate excuse me,

93
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to have become
the field office director

94
00:04:30,950 --> 00:04:34,250
for the Seattle
field office in 2010.

95
00:04:34,750 --> 00:04:36,660
So you just never know
where your path takes you.

96
00:04:36,660 --> 00:04:37,340
>> Exactly.

97
00:04:37,340 --> 00:04:41,950
>> And here I am now
in a much different role,

98
00:04:43,020 --> 00:04:46,030
but it's just sometimes
you don't know

99
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if you try to be too rigid

100
00:04:48,270 --> 00:04:49,930
on what you think
you're supposed to do,

101
00:04:49,930 --> 00:04:52,480
or what other people
want you to do your true

102
00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,620
calling may be
overshadowed by that.

103
00:04:55,620 --> 00:05:00,090
So that's a take away when we
talk to--I have two daughters

104
00:05:00,090 --> 00:05:01,450
so talking to my daughters,

105
00:05:01,450 --> 00:05:05,190
or talking to the young women
who are in our academy

106
00:05:05,190 --> 00:05:07,960
currently it's just if this
is your calling, right?

107
00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:09,510
Just settle into it

108
00:05:09,510 --> 00:05:11,860
and the rest kind of
takes care of itself, right?

109
00:05:11,860 --> 00:05:13,240
>> Exactly.
>> It's just, yep.

110
00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:14,540
>> Yeah, totally agree.

111
00:05:16,500 --> 00:05:22,720
>> So for me I've always been
interested in law and justice.

112
00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:28,060
That was always very exciting,
and in law school

113
00:05:28,060 --> 00:05:31,880
I focused a lot on crime pro

114
00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:36,060
and other criminal
clinical classes

115
00:05:36,060 --> 00:05:38,180
and was a student prosecutor.

116
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I think that as Nathalie
just mentioned,

117
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the jobs that were
available to me

118
00:05:47,820 --> 00:05:52,980
in sort of stumbling upon
the Federal Government position

119
00:05:52,980 --> 00:05:57,920
I was able to then specialize
in the administrative law

120
00:05:57,920 --> 00:05:59,500
realm

121
00:05:59,500 --> 00:06:01,500
having previously been

122
00:06:02,710 --> 00:06:05,680
with the Government Information
Law Division in OPLA.

123
00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,040
What has really been
fortunate for me

124
00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:14,880
in terms of ending up in
law enforcement agencies

125
00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:16,950
prior to ICE I was with DEA,

126
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is my admiration for
law enforcement officers.

127
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That stems partly
from my mother, right?

128
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Just being in awe
of the strength,

129
00:06:31,050 --> 00:06:34,810
and courage it takes for someone
to be in that position,

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to protect the public

131
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and to put other people’s
safety first before theirs.

132
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And so I also feel
that I'm very fortunate

133
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that although I'm in
a supportive role

134
00:06:47,230 --> 00:06:49,340
within management
and administration

135
00:06:49,340 --> 00:06:51,910
that I’m service
this greater purpose

136
00:06:51,910 --> 00:06:54,790
and I'm supporting
law enforcement officers

137
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in the mission of the law
enforcement agency.