e [Music]
[Music] I am so excited that you are all here today like I said before this has been a dream of mine for 10 years and I am so thankful to God for making this come true you are here and you were selected
because you all have something to give the world I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself I was born in Puerto Rico I came here at 9 years old did not speak a word of English was made fun for the fact that I didn't speak a word of English was made fun because even my
kids still make fun of me because I have kind of like a bronze accent and a Spanish accent but it's okay no one believed that I was going to graduate from high school no one believed that I was going to get a college degree no one believed that I was going to be successful in my career
and when I gave up my career in television to be a stay-at-home mom I thought thought that was it that I was just going to be a mom but there was something in me that said I have more to give I have more to give and I started volunteering in the
schools I started translating for non-english speakers I started helping parents in the school and I still said I have more to give and in 2015 I was approached to be the first Latino person
in government and in Woodbridge Township I'm the first but I know I'm not going to be the last cuz somewhere in this room there's probably a future major of Woodbridge I believe it I believe that we have doctors we have lawyers we have teachers we have nurses
we have it all in this room you have it within you to achieve your dreams life is not easy we all know that some more than others there were times in college I went graduated from syracus University the first woman in my family
to get a college degree sometimes there wasn't enough money to eat but I had a goal my mom always stressed education I remember everything that we went through when we came to this country everything that she went through we moved here because she
believed that this is the country where her kids were going to be able to achieve their dreams especially her daughter because she was taken out of school when she was in 8th grade she wasn't allowed to have any dreams she gave me wings to have [Applause]
dreams I am my mother's dream those two young ladies that are sitting back there are my daughters they are my dream they are her dreams you sitting here are your parents' dreams sometimes we can't express what
we want for you because the world can be overwhelming but believe me when I say that each of your parents want big things for you they might not be able to express it in the right way they might not be able to give you the words but in their hearts as a parent we all want
what's best for our children I want to encourage you today to take advantage of this room women this is strictly surrounded by women women in power women in positions ask questions soak everything in because every single
person that is in this room believes that each of you sitting here are going to do great things if you need a push you can find me anywhere in town you can ask your counselors hey I want to talk to that
lady get her in here and I'll be there don't be shy about it in me think of me as your friend when you see me at events some of you are lucky and get to see me every day but when you see me anywhere in town if
any of you needs anything advice a little push a little help feel free to reach out this is what I'm here to do I am here to be an example to the Latino Community because I am a Latino woman
but to wom period because I've always said my daughters go with me everywhere I have two sons too but I always bring my daughters because although it's 2025 is still a little hard for us to get to where we need to be surround
yourself with people that are going to the place where you want to go it's okay to our girlfriends it's okay to leave people behind as long as you stay in path to achieve your dreams I'm that's all that I have to say but I
do want to thank some people here because in count in government we have ideas and we have dreams but nothing happens without a group behind us and like I said this has been an idea a dream for over 10 years and I couldn't
have done it without the support of our chief of staff Carolyn [Applause] [Music] elri there are two fantastic young ladies that work in the mayor's office and I think very highly of them and
you're going to be able to hear from one of them later Megan Kisha and Kelly [Applause] Walsh the idea was there uh in the mayor's office we met and then we decided to bring other women on board
that were going to be able to help us we think very highly of them we brought in Jennifer De Jesus who's the COO campus Operating Officer of Berkeley College meliss Melissa codin who's at high school and community relations for berki
College Angie circus who's the senior vice president or government for government banking at Northfield Bank Jen stoko and Joan pish Jen is the division head of Youth Services here in Woodbridge Township and Joanne working Youth
Services Shira Aman Well Springs Center for prevention Nicole Lawrence sustainability specialist for Woodbridge Township Eileen cajano Recreation
coordinator we also have Madison De um kuspa I was going to say Madison De Jesus we have Madison kuspa from EMT and Jasmine annaya from [Applause] EMT because an amazing thing has happened in the 10 years that I've been
on Council we now have women firefighters in a lot of our firehouses in our district we have police women but I know um it took them a little longer you know the firehouses to get in touch with the program but now I'm proud to say that Woodbridge Township has a
couple of women firefighters I'm going to open it up to our panelist I'm going to invite them to come to the front so that we could begin our program our panel is are um Angie circus from Northfield Bank Megan Kusa Nicole Lawrence Gabrielle bartnik
elanora Lawrence Ranna de h and Jasmine anayia they are going to talk to you about their careers and how they got to where they're at feel free to ask questions all I ask is
that you are respectful and give them your in Uninvited attention [Music] so I'm going to make sure that we go this way I think it will be easier to just come and pass the mic over this
young lady is Brianna De Jesus is my daughter and I'm super proud of her and she was open to the idea of sharing some of the stuff that she's been through as a college student and as a young lady thank you I'm going to stand up so I can see
[Music] everyone um first and foremost thank you guys so much for being here um getting out of bed in itself is a great accomplishment so really Pat yourselves on the back for that um and so I'm going to start off with that I've lived here my whole entire life I've grown up in
Woodbridge Township School District and how many of us have dreamt of when my mom said oh some of you guys are going to be like an officer in Woodbridge y'all are like not me like I want to get out of this town and that's a normal thought to have but as I've grown up having that thought it has really
diminished because of the sense of how important Community is so my little Spiel today is about being weird um weirdness is defined as being uncanny or Supernatural and that's something that I've always been called um I've been in
friends friend group with um the football players with people in band with everyone I've always loved talking to a lot of people and that has been such a great blessing in my life and has garnered the title of weird so I'm going to tell you where weird has gotten me in
elementary school I was weird enough to race the boys in track and all the other girls you know now we have that term called pikney girl the girl that gets attention but I just really loved running and I started to get insecure a little bit because I didn't want to rise the boys because I like them I didn't
want to raise the boys because I wanted attention I raced because I loved running just for the joy of running so being weird got me to be um the one of the fastest girls and out of all the boys the fastest in track and field in elementary school going to Middle School
um instead of I went to R stre school 11 and usually go to Woodbridge but I went to Island Middle School and I didn't know anyone there um I'm sorry I'm like shaking a little bit so when I went to ISL Middle School I
was really I I wasn't nervous per se but I was like I really I'm starting from zero I have no friends but um I remember my first day of school outfit mustaches were like a popular Trend I don't know what year that was but my sh had like mustaches on it um and I was weird for
that um and so weird enough and bold to despite not knowing anyone I wanted to run for class president and I created a rap and I wrapped in front of an auditorium and I got class president that year and being weird still has um allowed me to have some of the best
friends from when I was 11 years old to Now 23 years old and we have just grown up together and without me taking that step to despite not knowing anyone being class president I have great relationships that I hold so clearly to my heart then I went to Woodbridge High
School and Woodbridge High School um I was homecoming queen um despite again doing another shift and I knew some of the girls there cuz I went to elementary school with them but again it was like starting from Ground Zero but I knew that my weirdness would take me places I
knew that being the girl that talks um and actually participates in class and not not afraid of what anyone is going to think will bring me places um and although homecoming queen is a title it just shows like kindness and it shows like how willing I am able and willing
to talk to anyone no matter what background they have no matter what religion they have no matter what gender whatever identity that people found themselves in so going to college was really challenging um I transferred three times and I changed my major three times and
there was a certain point after my second time transferring I was going to drop out and become a YouTuber I was like I'm not doing this I'm going to do lifestyle bids wake up um even though I didn't go to school I don't know what I would Vlog about just me waking up cooking meals but um my boyfriend at the
time he was like just try one more time and I was like okay so I found myself at Kane University and if any of you guys are looking for colleges um K University just talk to me I really love that school with all my heart and I told myself I don't really like school but I'm going to give it my all if you don't like something it's
just so important to give it your 100% because you don't know if you'll find a person along the way you don't know if you're going to get another opportunity and during this time um I was I played basketball I did cross country I was very athletic but when I entered College
it was a little challenging for me and I was really anxious and that um manifested into an eating disorder so I struggled with binge eating um and OCD anorexia for about a year and a half and that's why I'm so grateful for our sta counselors especially miss joah and miss
Linda cologne because even though I graduated high school I still had that connection and I was so nervous to open up to my mom that I was eating in private that I wasn't eating at all and that I was purging even so I reached out to miss joa and I said Miss joah like I
love food this can't be me like I'm very outgoing I was homecoming queen I was on varsity basketball like everyone knows me like how can I be struggling with an eating disorder and she's like breath like it's okay to ask for help so my
first year of college um I saw therapy I talked to different people and I was weird enough to despite my eating disorder still go outside for events not isolate myself in my room because I knew that um despite like having that shift
of a girl who's confident to now who's insecure about her body that I had to be weird enough to take that step to heal and I'm grateful today because I have been eating healthy ever since through like great support and everything like that and now that I'm about to graduate college um and I still have dreams of
becoming a writer I just got accepted to NYU summer publishing Institute and I'll be writing children's books especially about um Eating Disorders because a lot of research shows that um eating research and eating disorders lack within the B POC
Community um black indigenous and brown community and especially um it's seen as a quote white girl issue and that harms our white beautiful sisters as well because eating insecurities um it goes beyond race and it goes beyond ethnicity so again I'm just so grateful to be here
today and thank you guys so much for listening and one thing I could just let um I'm going to finish off that it's okay to be weird it's okay to do The Uncanny things participate in class it's okay to ask ask for help because um you are beautiful and there's only one you so thank [Applause]
[Music] you good morning if you think she's nervous you should feel my legs right now okay she's kind of used to it I'm not so my name is Jasmine um that's Miss who said I'm one of the EMTs in town uh
we just recently opened a police EMS in town approximately 4 months ago um I was born in New York and tell you a little bit of my story was born in New York um I was 3 months old when my biological mother gave me an adoption to
a wonderful family who I call my parents and I did it backwards instead of staying in New York my parents decided to move to Puerto Rico when I was 4 my biological mother is also Puerto Rican so was in my jeans but I moved to Puerto Rico when I was 4 I was raised in Puerto Rico full-blown Spanish my English today
it's still the people make fun of me but it's okay cuz I'm the one who they call at 3:00 in the morning cuz the 91 Wall came in and nobody speaks English in the house so keep making fun of me but don't call me at 3:00 I'm joking everybody calls me at 3:00 in the morning it's number one rule um when I was living in
Puerto Rico with my adopted parents I were a little older um my mom had a sh when I was 7 years old so I'm having a perfect childhood only schools watching TV and riding my bike and going to beach every day I become the woman of the
house my mom was bed bound my mom taught me how to cook while she was in bed so I took me a little bit to burn the rice to not not put enough water to put too much water to burn the chicken to not knowing how to do it I did it all my my own when I was 7 years old my mom you know rice
is the thing rice is the thing yes so my mom was the kid my mom's room was next to my K the kitchen so she'll be like one cup of rice two cups of water but I didn't measure the cup rice so it was either too soft or too hard or never got cooked or it got burned because I was watching TV so that that happened a lot
until I finally learned um when I was 14 years old my mom passed away I think that was sorry one of the toughest Moments Of My Life um Depression was part of my life
for a period of time but I could tell that um I could say I thank God for my friends and I thank God for my Spanish teacher at the moment in Puerto Rico there was the one who got me up in bed every morning and said you got to do this you're only 14 years old um as I
got out of that depression I learned that the power is in me I do have I had a good a friend system and and my friends one of my two best friends parents was always there but it's all about me you know people can tell you every day you got this you got this you
got this you got to think about yourself you got to look at it in you and it's each one of you have that power in you you might not think you don't but you have it at 14 years old I become woman at the house I raised my little brother I graduated high school decided to come to the United States I
was in Kane University um I was here with my oldest sister who worked three jobs so it she was there but I was still a little alone and trying to push through it and every day I wake up and I only my only thought every day was if my mom was alive what
would I do to make my mother proud and that's how I lived my entire life even it's until today I went to college I dropped out of college please don't do that just think about it but I did drop out of college I become a mother I was a single mother for a period of time but
there was always something in me that's say I want more I see myself more than just being a single mother and a home just cleaning I always wanted more I work for FedEx Express for 8 years and I went from being a package handler to
actually manage the hiring process for um FedEx round um FedEx Express in the airport with the assistant of I was the helper assistant of the manager still I wanted more I wanted more there was something that fire in me that that always tell me I want more I want more
and every day I'll be like where my mom wanted me to be where my mom wanted me to be I remember my mom always said you always wanted to be a doctor I always wanted to be a doctor I always wanted to be a pediatrician I love kids that was my heart and soul when Co hit we all
know we all got stock home I was still going to work oh you guys are too small did you guys were even how old were you when K Co hit four five how five years ago okay you guys were young
three how old are you guys 14 15 so 98 okay some of you guys know what is to online computer I still use paperworks you guys got to make fun of me I still have an agenda I do everything old school on papers okay and then I pass and then I put it in my
Google Calendar but you guys know that more than that when Co hit I wanted to help I always wanted to help and you know Co was a trauma for everybody that's how I decided that I wanted to go back to school and I wanted to seek my dream which was being the medical field
and that's how I found the EMT program which I originally wanted to nursing I'm not saying I'm not going for nursing cuz I am keep I'm going to keep moving up but right now I'm good where I'm I'm enjoying my emergency services and I become an
EMT honestly I'm 36 years old somebody told me around there that I looked younger but I'm not I'm 36 years old my son will be 17 in 3 weeks I was the oldest person in my classroom in EMT school and everybody make fun of me being the oldest and everybody make fun
of me on my accent like there was medical stuff in the book that I didn't understand Google Translate is the best tool you could ever find in life I was so excited when I found about it and I always said you know what and somebody in the classroom actually told me like
you're too old for this I'm like I'm never going to be old you know I'm not too old for that I have it in me if I have the goal I'm going to get to it I don't care who I'm going to push through or move through I have it in me and I did it I I went to take the state test and I cried after I took the test
because between me and nervous and my Spanglish cuz I speak Spanglish I don't speak Spanish or English I speak Spanglish um I thought I have failed the test and I failed I passed my test in the first try compared [Applause]
to compared to other people that that told me you're not going to make it you're you're old you don't speak the language you know a lot of people are going to be negative around you but I choose to put that people away that words away and believe in myself and
only take the positive people that were around me and surround me about positive people you could do it you could do it you got this you'll make the difference I've been working in the town in one of the Woodbridge agencies for 2 years and then when the police department decided
to open their their division I got called by um our director and said I would like you to apply so if there's somebody around you that going to tell you you're not going to make it to college you're not going to make it to your career you can't be a doctor you can't be a lawyer you can't be whatever
you want shut them off tell them to go whatever word you want to use I'm not encouraging you guys to cush at anybody but shut that door you have it in you the fire is in you and if you set your goal and that's where you're going to go just go for it don't stop surround
yourself with people that are willing to support you just like they I'm always around you will always see me in an ambulance either in Woodbridge or you will see me in Aven now but I'm always around so if I ever go to your school or you ever see me around town and you need to talk to somebody feel come feel free
to come and approach me I'm always around I've always been open to talk to anybody okay so if you woke up this morning thinking really don't want to go there it's just boring they're going to talk and I'm letting you know please don't don't have those thoughts put them
to side you have it each one of you guys have it in you and I can see doctors nurses sitting in this room when I get old please remember me treat me right when I go to your office be nice to me you guys got it
okay good morning good morning okay my name is Gabby it's very nice to be here today I'm actually not from Woodbridge but I have spent the past 6 months here over the summer with my best friend Nicole um attending Beauty School actually getting my nail
license so thank you thank you thank you it's been um a long road to get where I am to start I guess I'll preface by saying that I am my mother's dream but also Paving my own path because a lot of time I I've lived in their my parents
shadow of what they wanted me to do and kind of skewed my decisions in terms of what I what I really wanted to pursue in my career so in high school I went to a vocational school um in Wayne New Jersey and I studied criminal justice for 4 years also influenced by my father um who wanted me to go to West Point which
is hilarious thinking about me in like an army school was crazy it's like giving Cadet Kelly I don't know if you saw that movie with Hillary de but anyway um it was just not feasible for me but I did give him kind of try to satisfy him so I did four years of Criminal Justice in high school and then
I figured it's not really for me so let me try something else in college my first semester in college I majored in athletic training and I was lying to myself again cuz I was like oh maybe I'll do physical therapy you know I've played Sports my whole life maybe we'll go into that route my first semester in
college I I mean I passed the I passed the course for athletic training and whatnot but I was like this is also not for me I'm spending a lot of money here at school like let's actually figure out what we want to do so I decided to switch Majors into Communications and media arts and I found um my Niche
actually I loved writing I loved being very just creative so it kind of let me have that creative outlet and I found prssa which is the public relations student Society of America which is a great club that you can join in college um and it basically connects you with a bunch of public relations professionals
which is now where I'm at which is a publicist at De Global in New York um I work on the Sephora and Kohl's accounts and when I tell you those are no joke those are no joke these companies are crazy as you know um and I'm sure you guys are all up
in the Sephora craze I know the Sephora tween story is going crazy right now um but yeah so almost 4 years in I decided that PR is probably also not really what I want to do so I went back to school to get my skincare license about 2 years ago and then I figured I was still not
done cuz nails were my first Passion so I went back to school recently at Perth Amboy here at Robert fiance and got my nail license um now I work at a salon but still at the pr agency so I'm pulling s days a week I don't necessarily recommend that to everybody but it's what I have to do for now so
kind of just rolling with the punches um making the sacrifice I need to make to have my own career moving forward but I joke with my dad sometimes I'm like we could have skipped a lot of steps coming here cuz I wanted to be in cosmetology in high school but I mean you know I did
everything quote unquote by the book but ultimately I guess my Testament is that you can do everything the way someone tells you to do but ultimately it's really up to you to choose the path that you want so I hope today you are encouraged to kind of you know obviously listen to your parents I'm not saying
don't do that cuz they are a good to listen to um but definitely I want to empower you to do what you want to do and yes that was a weaker ending than I expected but thank
[Applause] you tough acts to follow hi my name is Ellie Lawrence um ell andar Lawrence um I am a vice president um in information
security at a wealth management firm here in Woodbridge um I was surprised when I was asked to uh participate that understanding um the goal of this um Gathering it's it's really important
that you see people like you um in roles that are um what people might think unachievable so um my daughters used to say I don't see representation and I didn't really understand that um when
they were growing up um I don't see people like me and I've never saw color uh I grew up in a very diverse household um and so when they used to say that to me I I it I struggled with it but then I understand because if you
don't see someone who looks like you you can't fathom achieving that um and so once I UND and I got it I was like okay so it motivated me to provide that for my
children um so my story is um how many of you guys have parents that are not from this country good amount of us so I am actually not from this country um I moved here with my parents when I was
eight um I uh my ESL teacher was German I learned how to speak English in Germany um um I started elementary school in the United States when I was 9 or 10 um and I was actually pulled back
a grade um it was that difficult I struggled um school was not um my favorite I I struggled a lot in school I actually ended up graduating um a semester late um and then right after high school
I got pregnant uh so had my first child at age 19 um I knew I wanted to go to school um there was always something in me that said I needed to get my education that was my mom's goal for us was for us to
get um higher education um my mother actually graduated high school but that was the highest school education that she received but my mother um was a very determined person my mom spoke six different languages uh had a career as a
translator um fought hard for us to come to the states uh when we came here it was you're an American I'll be an American so I only know two languages the the goal was not for me to you know um uh grow up to be like her my mom
wanted us to um create our own paths um and I did the same for my children um and what my mom taught us was that we are her Legacy and my children are my legacy so for someone who barely
graduated high school pregnant at 19 I am 50 years old and am in school about to receive my first Bachelor [Music] um um but even without a college degree having the same determination that my
mom had I am a vice president I am working for um a prominent bank I um uh have a team that I lead um and it I've never felt confident to share that
with people in public um I've always lied about my age cuz my daughter's 30 I'm 50 they're going to figure it out that I was a tea mom um you know I don't have a degree I can't tell people what my role is um I've always had that
embarrassment and that shame but then as I talk to my kids and I see how proud my kids are of me I see what they've achieved um they've given me the confidence to be able to live my truth um and be able to share with people that
you know no I don't have a college degree but how I got here was people um your network sharing your dreams with people um councilwoman deis Su says reach out to me reach out to her um
because you never know who she might know that could provide you whatever resources you need you never know what she might know that could give you the motivation you need to achieve your dreams um and like Gabby said you
know know what you want and know how to ask for what you want um because as a parent if my child says I want this and I know I want this as a parent I'm going to do everything I can to support my child in
what they want and it's the same with the people that are around you there are people your Council um uh School counsel um uh counselors um English is not my first language forgive me um your teachers
even your peers um when you share with your peers always know um who you're sharing with there's people who are always going to be able to have like your back and say I know who you can talk to and then you know those
people who are not going to have your back so that's the first thing that I would advise to you is really have a good Network know who to lean on don't be afraid to share um because the only way that I'm standing here right now I'm able to tell you my stories because of
people who've had my back every career move that I've made was because someone had confidence in me and said you can do this the position that I'm in right now it was because someone said to me you better raise your hand because you can do that and it's other people who had
confidence in me that pushed me up um and it was the most unlikely resources um my last job that I had I had a gentleman um say to me you know why aren't you raising your hand and I looked at him like well I don't have
education I don't you know I can't do that and he says well you're doing it right now and it took me a minute to think about it and I'm like hell yeah I'm doing it right now um and so I raised my hand and um like I said every career I've had it was people who looked
at me and said you can do this why aren't you doing it and so I thank um councilwoman Deus cuz that's what she's doing here she's saying we can do it and and you can do it um and so this is your
first resource this is your first um motivation to say there are people out here who may have had it worse than you or um you may think they had it better than you but that's not the case I mean I really struggled being a young mom um
and I'm proud to say that without a college education um you know being a Teen Mom I have a child I a legacy who graduated Columbia with her master sumacum Lai
um I have another one who is currently in Milan now um uh working um for 40 days she's uh traveling and she's working as a chef um and so these are things that I would have never imagined
and I am my mom's Legacy and they are my legacy so if nothing else think of it in those terms you know what Legacy do you want to leave um and there are people out here who will support that and support you in
that hello every let me back up hi everyone my name is Nicole and as you guys can see I have my best friend who I've been friends with since first or second grade here and my mom and it just goes to show what having an amazing
support group can do for you so if anything I'd say lean on your trusted friends and family and people around you in the community to help get where you want to go don't be afraid to ask for what you want and speak up but I'm also
going to focus my talk on actually Independence because at the end of the day it is your life and I know that a lot of people struggle with having a support group as amazing as mine and other people's so I want to just talk about how I've structured Independence
as the center of my focus to be able to achieve my goals um basically I have always been raised to be very independent my mom said that when I was like 7 days old my grandma took me out to New York City because she wanted to visit New York City and I don't know if
you let a baby that young out but I'm still here thriving but I think the reason I say that is because I've always traveled by myself um I've gone out by myself I went to South Korea when I was 17 alone the year after that I went to France um I've been to London all these
things I've done on my own because I wanted to have these experiences regardless of if my friends could or could didn't want to go or any limitations I had you have to be completely comfortable with being alone and being your own best friend because
if you allow other people to limit you from having these experiences it will have an impact on your life just thinking about what I want to structure this around um so yeah basically how I got
here is does anyone know what sustainability is is anyone familiar with the current state of our planet and the environment raise your hand if you are okay I was a little worried for a second
um as you guys know our Earth is warming up at a very alarming rate as a result of us humans producing stuff at a rate that it just can't handle and so we have a very finite amount of resources on the planet some of them are renewable
meaning they can be replenished and used again and again and others are non-renewable which means once we use them up they're gone and as someone who just growing up has a really fond respect for nature I wanted to see if there was anything that I could do about
it and so I started to develop a career Focus around the environment and that is called sustainability it's in the word to sustain means to maintain something for a long period of time and the ability is the action to do something so in my career that I've developed basically
what I do is I look at a lot of the natural resources that we have and other things in our society that we use on a regular basis and try to find ways to make them last for generations to come from yours to the ones after you and the ones following that's my whole Focus
because at the end of the day we only have one planet as much as these wealthy people like to think we can go to another planet and do all these things that's not how it works so that's where my career is focused but I'll talk about how I actually got there I first started
at an undergrad um focusing on business strategy my dad is an entrepreneur I've always been focused on business and finance and that's where I originally started but I also had a particular interest in fashion and I thought at the end of the day I had to choose between
that but I slowly realized that the fashion industry as glamorous as it is is actually a business in of itself and so I was able to find a career within fashion and business and then I continued going on and realized wait the fashion industry is actually incredibly
damaging to the environment as well and so ultimately I was able to combine my career and my passions to focus on sustainability within fashion and I graduated during the pandemic from my under and it sparked an interest in me to
launch my own fashion brand where I used um Tech textiles that would otherwise go to landfill I used those scraps to create swimsuits and I sold that for about 3 years um it did really well but again I launched this during the pandemic so there are a lot of things
that were happening um in my personal life and just in the market in general that made it a little bit challenging to be an entrepreneur and so I took a step back from that after sold my inventory and I realized um within my career I said okay I think I want to work for a
company now um I want to help manage and make their impact within house and I realized a lot of the jobs were asking for you to have 5 to six years of experience or to be a manager and I thought well I don't have 5 to 6 years
of experience so let me go look into getting my Master's Degree so I did some research and ultimately I went to Columbia University to get my Masters of Science in sustainability management and that is kind of how I ended up where I am today I am really proud of that
career or that academic accomplishment because um I am first generation um undergrad and master's degree within my family thank you and also for those of you who don't know only 8 to 9% of black
women in the US have a master's degree so it's just a really profound accomplishment and lastly 4% of black people graduated from Colombia so as you can see there are a lot of like trailblazing actions that are taking place here but
as my mom mentioned you know representation is really important but the reason why Independence is so even more important than that is because when you don't see yourself in those situations when you don't see other black women in positions that you want to be in you have to think outside of
that you have to realize I am skilled I am passionate about this thing I'm capable of anything that I want with if I'm able to achieve it I do not need validation to from outside sources to confirm that I can have this thing and
once you're able to do that you can have whatever you want exhibit a so the reason I want to reel it back into Independence is because like I said you might have friends that don't want to go to the school that you want to go to or don't want to go to the concert that you want to go to or the country that you
want to visit you might have a significant other that wants to have their own life and do other things do not attach your value or your life experiences to other people because at the end of the day it's your own life so
find the validation within yourself believe that your goals are achievable and go out and get them the last thing I'm going to say is that when it comes to creating a plan to achieve your goals use technology to get the information to
create that plan but then remember to take a step back because I think technology has made us the goal of social media and advertisement is to gain our attention and distract us so we need to focus and realize that if you
are able to dedicate consistent time to something you give it the potential for it to grow it will grow just stay focus focus and be consistent remember that any small increment per day is still change excuse
me change towards where you want to go consistency is key try to stay focused as much as you can and set boundaries around your interactions with people negative interactions social media you can genuinely achieve what you want to
achieve when you focus thank you hi everyone my name is Megan U Megan Kusa I am mayor mccormix uh Deputy communications director and let me tell you something pretty cool about that when my boss retires in 2 to three years I will be Woodbridge Township's first
ever female director of communication and I'm really proud of that because I was born here born and raised in Port Reading um I went to school nine I went to avano middle where my wild cats at um and then I went to Bishop bar I I
went to Ruckers for my B my undergrad and I went back um while I was working full-time for my masters in public relations so you guys have been listening to a lot of really inspiring women up here um and I know you've been listening for a long time so I just want to leave you with one really important thing and that's to be bold and make
sure that you guys do not hesitate to ask for what you want so when I was um an undergraduate Ruckers I needed an internship and I really didn't know what I wanted to do um I was studying political science but um I really had an interest in history but I knew that even
though teaching is amazing and I give all of you teachers and advisers a hand I couldn't do it um it was not for me so I studied political science um minored in history and double minored with u multi media and Communications and when I was looking
for an internship I just had the idea to go on to the township website I'm like I love my hom Town um let me see if I can make a difference here and I pulled up the mayor's email address and I said hi my name is Megan can I have an internship um so I didn't think I was
going to hear back I actually didn't hear back I don't think for like four months so I went out and was trying to find a part-time job for the summer and eventually I heard back I was brought in for an internship that was when I was 20 years old I'm now 28 I have not let him fire
me um so I'm really really proud of the work I do here if I'm here to help you guys um as a public servant if you guys are interested in writing in event coordination in um we work with our tv35 crew who is also run by the first female
um director of tv35 Gina Forbes who's also a poeding woman so if you guys have any interest in any of that please never hesitate to reach out to our office because we are here to serve you guys to help you learn um again be bold do not
be afraid to ask for what you want because if you are if you don't step out of your comfort zone then you will not get to where these amazing women are um so I just want to leave you with that do not be afraid to ask for what you want thanks good morning everybody I'm the
last one and this is a very tough act to follow um welcome everyone my name is Angie I um was honored uh when councilwoman Deus asked me to be on this panel today um I'm going to share my my
story briefly I came to this country from uh Greece when I was 11 years old I went to school uh because I I had to without speaking a liqu of English I knew how to say hello and goodbye but that's it they put me in ESL classes but
no one uh spoke Greek everybody was speaking English so I really had to learn in the cafeteria I said by myself in the corner I was bullied I was made fun of but you know what I persevered and I said said you know what it's okay let them say what they want I will I
will be okay and I did overcome all the obstacles I went to VL classes and uh I had a lot of uh mentors in um uh middle school and in high school as well because they told me that I can do it I
did not stay back because they uh gave me uh my tests and I was able to write and read but I was unable to speak uh my accent still comes around and I had a problem with it until a few years ago when I said you know what it's okay I'm
different but that's okay you know and if I mispronounce Words My My Two children sometimes still make fun of me that I mispronounce things but it's okay uh we overcome things you know and we have it inside of us because we're
strong women and we can do anything anything we want to put our mind to it we can absolutely do you have a great support system your school counselors your mentors I mentored a few kids a few
years ago and as a matter of fact it was um it was during covid that I think it was uh I had two girls and two young men that came to my office and um we became very close they went on to uh college
and but they were so so appreciative they came in every Wednesday we sat down we spoke about about their challenges their um uh how to overcome things and their triumphs and I'm glad that they did we still keep in touch uh we made
things together and it was a great opportunity for me to bond with these um uh young people and for them to ask me you know how I I came to be a senior vice president for Northfield Bank
having a staff being with a bank for 36 years I moved up the ladder and I did it all because I am a strong woman and each and every one of you there's a a strong young woman inside you you have the
opportunity to do it we're all here to help you from Council woman from uh Caroline who is amazing each and every one of us we here to help you we're only a phone call away we can mentor you we can help you with anything you need
whatever you need to do do it from your heart because you're unique and you will be rewarded uh I hope today you get a um a this is a great opportunity for you I wish I had this type of opportunity when
I was your age but you're lucky because you have it uh use every any one of us and uh to your opportunity and we're here to help you thank you