Jessica R. Herrera-Flanigan

Jessica R. Herrera-Flanigan is the Staff Director and General Counsel of the House Committee on Homeland Security, where she directs, supervises, and manages the legislative and oversight activities of the Committee’s staff.   Her responsibilities also include advising Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-MS, and other Committee Members on policy and strategy relating to homeland security and global counterterrorism matters.

Join me as I ask her what an average day looks like and what is the most challenging aspect of her job?

What is it like to interact with and BE a high level policy maker and what can we learn from her about making “policy” in our own lives?

Before joining the Committee, Ms. Herrera-Flanigan served as Senior Counsel with the Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she led a team of prosecutors who specialized in cybercrimes and was one of the government’s leading experts on critical infrastructure protection, electronic evidence gathering and related procedural and Constitutional law, and international issues.

What are these types of crimes and how do they affect us in our everyday lives?

She served as vice-chair to the U.S. Delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (”OECD”) Experts Group, which produced the 2002 “Guidelines for the Security of Information Systems and Networks: Towards a Culture of Security.”

Prior to joining Justice, Ms. Herrera-Flanigan was with Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, D.C. where she practiced communications, intellectual property, and energy law.

Ms. Herrera-Flanigan also has served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., as well as an adjunct professor at the Washington College of Law at American University and at the American Military University.

What has she learned from her various career choices and how can we apply these lessons to our own lives?

Ms. Herrera-Flanigan is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a past President and on the Advisory Council of the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C. and has twice been named one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S. by Hispanic Business magazine.  She was honored by Women in Government Relations with its 2007 Congressional Staff Award and by the Women’s High Tech Coalition as a 2005 Cybersecurity Woman of the Year.

What have these awards meant to Ms. Herrera-Flanigan and what drives her to succeed and give back?  What can we learn from her motivational strategies?

A native of Port Arthur, Texas, Ms. Herrera-Flanigan received her JD from Harvard Law School and her BA with distinction in American Studies from Yale University.

Have you taken time to celebrate your wins from last year?

In this, the last week of the first month of 2008, make sure you’re celebrating YOU!  During January, we often reflect upon, and make "New Year’s" resolutions.  This is usually focused on what we want to *change* in our lives.  But what about the things we’ve done terrifically?

Have you taken time to write down 10 awesome things you did last year?  Make a list right now of things for which you can be proud - whether it is something like biting your tongue in the last argument with a family member, or something like having traveled to a place you’d never been before.

No matter how little or how big, make sure and reflect upon, and HONOR, the changes and victories you’ve had over the past year.

And if you want to list more than 10, go right ahead!  Keep that list with you and keep adding to it.  And when you need reminding of how awesome you are, just pull out the list and
know that you already ARE a beautiful being.

Important Lessons and Insights From Dr. Elma González

 I had a wonderful interview with Dr. Gonzalez on Wednesday evening. What a remarkable and accomplished woman! In addition to being so warm and genuinely caring as evidenced by her lifelong contributions, she also had some amazing words of wisdom for us. She was truly a trailblazer.

Earlier this week, I listened to a talk about the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (this being the week of the year that we celebrate his life with a holiday in his honor). In the talk, the speaker reviewed both what we know in the general media about his life (his struggles for civil rights), but also highlighted certain items that a lot of people do not know about his life that during the last few years of his life he focused on human rights and economic justice issues.

I found this insight interesting and relevant to my work with the Powerful Latinas interview series. I want to bring to you all new insights into the women with whom we meet, not just the standard things you can read about them in the general media.

You can gain access to the audio or transcript by clicking here.

With that, I hope youll join me as I dig deeper in each weeks segment.

 

Dr. Elma Gonzalez

Dr. Elma Gonzalez, currently Professor Emeritus at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was born in Ciudad Guerrero in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico in 1942. When she was six years old, her family moved across the border to the U.S. She grew up in Hebbronville, Texas but spent summers from about twelve-years-old on moving from farm to farm across the country picking crops with her family who worked as migrant farmworkers during the summertime.

Even as a child, Dr. Gonzalez had an interest in science. Both her parents were very open and eager to interact with the world, although neither of them had very much education, and her father encouraged her interest in science by bringing home birds’ nests, among other items from nature.

How was it that Dr. Gonzalez knew that science was her calling?

Dr. Gonzalez attended Texas Woman’s University as an undergrad and majored in both biology and chemistry. For three years after college, she worked in a research lab at Southwestern Medical School that studied autoimmune diseases. She began her Ph.D. work at Rutgers University where she studied cell biology, specifically, how each organelle contributed to the overall activity of the cell.

Join me as I talk with her about how her studies evolved and how her persistence helped her move forward even when she encountered those who would try to dissuade her from continuing. What can we learn from Dr. González about persistence?

After a post-doctoral position at The University of California, Santa Cruz, she became a professor of cell and molecular biology at UCLA where she taught for thirty-three years.

During her time at UCLA, Dr. González studied organelles in yeast and later organelle biogenesis in plant seeds. She applied similar tools and techniques (as those applied in her earlier research) to understand subcellular calcification in a group of planktonic algae called coccolithophores.

What was her study about, you might ask. Well, a short description is as follows:

When these tiny organisms (coccolithophores) die, their shells sink to the bottom of the ocean and become limestone and chalk. In fact, the White Cliffs of Dover on the coast of England are huge chalk cliffs that are actually made up of the ancient skeletons of coccolithophores.

Why was this research important and what kept Dr. Gonzalez’s research interests alive and well? Join us to learn how to keep your own “business” moving forward.

In addition to her academic endeavors, Dr. González has been involved during the course of her entire career in various programs that help minority students succeed in scientific research careers.

For example, in 1990, she founded the Center for Academic and Research Excellence (CARE) program at UCLA as a way to organize funding for students in science. The CARE program became an umbrella organization under which various other programs were housed. One of these programs was the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health to support about a dozen UCLA undergraduates each year by funding their education and research. Dr. González also served as the director of the MARC program.

Even outside of her own university setting, Dr. Gonzalez was involved and continues to be active in initiatives to bring more Latino students to the sciences. She is considered a co-founder of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). She is currently serving on the SACNAS Board of Directors (which for her is a second round on the Board, as she first served on the Board in the 80’s).

A current project of Dr. Gonzalez’s is working with the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education to bring more Latinos to the sciences. Last year, she and a group of colleagues organized a plenary for the group’s annual meeting. This was so well received, the group asked them to organize a similar plenary for this year’s meeting in Miami. As a follow up to the plenary, a group of folks met this past year to strategize increasing the numbers of Latino professors in science, math and engineering. Although in its initial stages, the intended outcome of this strategy session will be to guide and encourage proposals to foundations to enact the strategies.

I will be asking Dr. Gonzalez what she has learned from her work with students, what kinds of problems they’ve encountered and why she believes there are so few Latinos as science professors.

Dr. Gonzalez has had numerous articles and books written about her life, including:

Verheyden-Hilliard, M. and M. Menzel. 1985. Scientist With Determination: Elma Gonzalez

Schniedewinds, N. and E. Davidson. 2006. Open Minds to Equality – A Sourcebook of Learning Activities to Affirm Diversity.

Ruiz, V. and V. Sanchez Korrol. 2006. Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia.

In addition, there is a book coming out about her next month in February of 2008, entitled Paths of Discovery: Chicanas in Science, Math and Engineering, published by UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center Press (formerly published by the American Association for Advancement in Science under the name Floricencia: Chicanas in Science, Math and Engineering).

From her long and illustrious career, what can we learn and take with us from Dr. Gonzalez’s experiences? What can she teach us to help us in our own life path?

Selected Publications are listed below:

Corstjens, P. L. A. M. and E. L. Gonzalez. 2003. (In Press) Effects of nitrogen and phosphorous availability on the expression of the coccolith-vesicle V-ATPase (subunit c) of Pleurochrysis (Haptophyta) : - .

Gonzalez, E.L. U, Riebesell, J. M. Hayes, E.A. Laws. 2001. Effects of biosynthesis and physiology on relative abundances and isotopic compositions of alkenones Geochem Geophys. Geosys 2: 2000GC-000052.

Corstjens, P.L.A.M., P. Westbroek, and E.L. Gonzalez. 2001. Coccolithophorid calcification depends on a highly conserved vacuolar ATPase: characterization of the gene encoding the membrane-bound subunit. J. Phycol. 37: 71-78.

Gonzalez, E.L.. 2000. The Calcifying vesicle membrane of the coccolithophore, Pleurochrysis sp Wiley VCH, Weinheim, Germany : 269-283.

Corstijens, P.L.A.M. and E.L. Gonzalez. 1999. Isolation and Molecular Analysis of our Actin encoding cDNA clones (Acc. Nos. AF144403, AF144404, AF 1444405, AF 1444406) from the Cocoolithophorid Pleurochysis carterate (Prymensiophyceae). (PGR 99-091) Plant Physiol 120: 933- .

Arako, Y. and E.L. Gonzalez. 1998. V- and P-type Ca2+ -stimulated ATPase in a calcifying strain of Pleurochrysis sp., (Haptophyceae) J. Phycol 34: 79-88.

Isreal, A.A., and E.L. Gonzalez.. 1996. Photosynthesis and inorganic carbon utilization by the coccolithophorid alga Pluerochrysis sp. (Haptophyta) Marine Ecology Progress Series 137: 243-250.

Pavel, M., Bruno, J.E., Gonzalez, E.L., and Strand, S.. 1996. Identifying and addressing information deficits for minority undergraduate students in science J. Educational Technology Systems 24: 335-357.

Corstjens, P.L.A.M., Y. Araki, P. Westbroek and E.L. Gonzalez. 1996. A Gene Encoding the 16 kD Proteolipid Subunit of a Vacuolar-Type H(+)-ATPase from Pleurochrysis carterae strain 136 (GenBank Accession No. U48365 and U53182) Plant Gene Register PGR96-038: - .

Kwon, D.K. and E.L. Gonzaelz. 1994. Localization of Ca2+-stimulated ATPase in the coccolith-producing-compartment of cells of Pleurochyrsis sp. (Prymnesiophyceae) J Phycol. 30: 689-695 .

Dr. Nancy Raquel Mirabal

Listen in to the interview with Dr. Mirabal and find out how her life lessons might be applicable to your life…

Dr. Nancy Raquel Mirabal is currently Associate Professor of Raza Studies at San Francisco State University. Dr. Mirabal was born and raised in Southeast Los Angeles, South Gate and Huntington Park to be exact. Her parents emigrated from Cuba in the late 1950s to New York where they met and were married. A few years later they moved to Los Angeles.

***During the interview, we’ll be discussing growing up in a Cuban household in Los Angeles, where historically the Latino population has been Mexican, and more recently, Central American immigrants.  What is it like to be a minority within a minority?

She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in United States History from the University of California at Berkeley and her Masters of Arts and Ph.D. in United States History at the University of Michigan.  She has been awarded a number of fellowships and grants including the Chancellor’s post-doctoral fellowship at U.C.-Berkeley, a postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Science Research Council and is currently serving as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians (OAH).

***I’ll be asking Nancy questions about how she navigated the maze of academia, obtained admissions to elite institutions and what she found both challenging and rewarding about the process.  Also, where did she find out about these fellowships and what did she have to do to have them granted to her?

Dr. Mirabal has published widely on the history of Afro-diasporic communities in the United States and specializes in the history of Spanish Caribbean migration to the U.S.

***We’ll find out about Nancy’s area of study – what makes it interesting to her, how was she called to this area of inquiry and what keeps her going?

Dr. Mirabal has published articles detailing the history of Cuban and Puerto Rican Migration. Most recently,

1. Dyasporic Appetites and Longings:  An Interview  with Edwidge Danticat.  Eating Callaloo,  Reading Callaloo,  special issue of Callaloo:  A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters,  (eds.) Shona Jackson and Karina Cespedes  (2007).
2. “Scripting Race, Finding Place: African-Americans, Afro-Cubans and the Diasporic Imaginary in the United States.” Contemporary Perspectives on the Meaning(s) of Race and Blackness in the Americas. (eds.) Anani Dzidzienyo and Suzanne Oboler  (Palgrave Press, 2005).
3. “Ser de Aqui: Beyond the Cuban Exile Model”in Latino Studies Journal - Nov. 2003 and reprinted in American Dreams, Global Realities:  Rethinking United States Immigration History, (eds.) Donna Gabbacia and Vicki L. Ruiz (University of Illinois Press, 2005).
4. No Country But The One We Must Fight For: The Emergence of an Antillean Nation and Community in New York City, 1860-1901. In Mambo Montage: The Latinization of New York. Columbia University Press (2001).

She has edited an anthology entitled, Technofuturos:  Critical Interventions In Latina/o Studies, (Rowman and Littlefield, 2007), is completing a manuscript, Hemispheric Notions: Diaspora. Masculinity, and the Racial Politics of Cubanidad in New York, 1823-1901 (under review NYU Press) and is on the Editorial Board, for the Latino Studies Journal, the premier journal of Latina/o Studies.

***As a student of race among Latinos, what can Nancy tell us as Latinas?  What can she share from her studies?

Dr. Mirabal is also a trained oral historian who has directed and consulted on several community oral history projects, including a five-year community oral history project on gentrification in the Mission District of San Francisco and its impact on Latina/os.  She has recently completed an article entitled:  “Displaced Geographies, Latina/os, Oral History and the Politics of Gentrification in San Francisco’s Mission District.” (Under Review, The Public Historian)

***As a writer, what can she tell aspiring writers, current writers and sometime writers about the process, the journey and the lessons?  What are her secrets for writing?

In addition to her published work, Nancy is currently developing a collaborative community oral history/community archive project with AccionLatina and El Tecolote (a San Francisco Spanish language newspaper) on the history of Mission District Latina/o activist from the 1960s and 1970s, and is consulting on the CYMC (Conscious Youth Media Crew)/Mission Archives social documentation project which trains youth to conduct oral histories for documentary film-making. Dr. Mirabal has also served as a consultant on Makibaka, a technology infused and interactive community oral history project that included art, dance, oral history, and activism.

***I’ll be asking Nancy about her other projects and involvements.  What does she enjoy about teaching?  How did she find the consulting projects?  What about these fascinate and inspire her?

In addition to her research, teaching and community involvement, Dr. Mirabal enjoys film, spending time with her close friends and family, going to Giants baseball games, and she is known to love a good joke.

***Maybe we’ll get Nancy to share with us a good joke…

Introduction to the PowerfulLatinas.com Seminar Series

The PowerfulLatinas.com seminar series was conceived as a project to compile a storehouse of wisdom from Latinas who have reached successful peaks in their careers.  The goal is to motivate and inspire women – both young women who have not yet started their careers or are at the very beginning and also those of us further along in our careers who can learn from others’ life lessons. 

It seemed to me that when I was a young woman, there was a lack of positive role models for me to look up to that were anything like me.  I knew very few Latinas who had graduated from college (I can remember two teachers in my high school) and I didn’t even know what my career choices were.  I think the sum of my career options were:  nurse, teacher, military personnel, travel agent.  I didn’t know what possibilities existed out there.  I was lucky to have a high school career counselor push me to apply for college and also to apply for financial aid.  Thanks, Mrs. Provenzano! 

And when I got to college, I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t have anyone to “show me the ropes” until some students from MEChA reached out to me.  They were life savers.

I remember going to the Career Center to find out what career options I might have, but everything seemed so vague and amorphous – what do people in these careers DO?!?

Then, when starting my career, again, navigating the path of how to make alliances, what to say and what not to say, eluded me.  I just wasn’t used to this world of professionals.

I’ve heard the same story over and over from friends of mine – their families didn’t know how to support them (except in general ways) and their friends were figuring it out just like they were.

That’s why I am so excited about this seminar series!  I’m looking forward to learning with all of you about what motivates our guests, what has allowed them to take the steps to make it to “the next level,” and how I can apply the lessons they’ve learned to MY LIFE.

And even though I’ve garnered some success in my life (and feel myself very blessed), I’m still always looking to learn and grow.  There is always something I can do better, something for which I can strive, a way to stretch myself.

I hope you’ll join me on this exciting journey.  Let’s learn together!