Four questions. Five professionals. Five unique DOE offices. And lots of smiles. 🔴🟡🟢 To celebrate Black History Month, we brought in colleagues to share insights into their careers. And in the spirit of this year’s theme (African Americans and the Arts) to also share which Black artist they want to shoutout this month. ⏰ Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:29 What drew you to DOE? 01:39 What are top skills needed for your role? 04:02 Career advice for a young professional looking to start out in your field? 06:04 Which Black artist do you want to shoutout this month? 👥 Featuring: - Marjorie Fields Harris; Assistant Director of External Affairs; Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) - Nicola Ohaegbu; Senior Small Business Advocate; Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) - Anthony Pegues; Deputy Director, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility; Office of Energy Justice and Equity (EJE) - Marsha Manning; Assistant Director for Response Preparedness & Support; Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) - Pamela Wilson; Team Chief, Investigations; Office of Intelligence & Counterintelligence (IN)
do we have to redo it
no all right just shout out to all of my
colleagues that are out there working
hard every
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day hi my name is Pamela Wilson my name
is Mara Manning margerie Phil teris
Nikola ohu my background is I worked in
Human Resources Workforce Development
and also diversity equity and
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inclusion
doe was one of the standouts in the
environmental agency uh that uh promoted
supported and elevated Dei in the work
also having a passion for people and
helping to elevate people after about 22
years um in the US Army I retired and I
came on with the Department my
inquisitive nature is what drew me
towards the investigative real I have um
had an extensive background in social
justice especially in the front lines of
police brutality you know economic
Justice uh addressing the needs of the
millions of people who are unbanked and
underbank across the country and just
realizing that one Continuum that has
always been there and that's energy
Justice and that's the fact that
everyone pays an energy bill and when
you start addressing a lot of the
systemic problems in communities of
color you know it's not just poverty
it's the fact that they can't get around
the fact that there's certain bills that
they have to pay and you know our
ability here in the federal government
to address programs that will kind of
equalize and and give relief to some of
these burdened
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communities I'm currently a senior small
business Advocate I've been employed
with the U since March of 2016 one of
the top skills one would need is
technical competency you should be
knowledgeable of the rules and
regulation that govern the small
business program and also some of the
rules and regulation that governs
Government
Contracting yes I remember we were
working on a contract it was geared for
the military the soldiers in the field
and it was converting water in whichever
environment they found themselves and
most times it's not drinkable water and
with his technology he was able to
create clean drinkable water so you know
it's very empowering and you feel as if
you achieved something when they
succeeds top three skills would be
communication collaboration critical
thinking we do collaborate across the
agency we work really closely with FEMA
and then um private sector um so we we
really thrive on building unity and
building um mutual respect across the
sector sociability because you have to
like people um I always say that in
every role I'm a servant of the people
the next thing is versatility versatile
enough to move from Communications to
dealing with issues on the hill and then
possibly dealing with stakeholders I
have come to found out that it's
listening communicating and patience
listening is because you're talking to
people you're interacting with people
you want to make sure you're taking in
what they're telling you because that's
what's going to make you great at what
you do communication is the back end of
listening you know you want to make sure
that we are getting our points across to
audiences that may not know what Dei is
or understand or care about it Dei isn't
just for a specific minority group is
for everybody three skills for an
investigator would be the ability to
communicate both orally and in writing
because a lot of your interviews are
done orally critical thinking and I
would say attention to detail is a major
component within the investigative
field
I would like to speak to people who have
graduated from law school who may not
necessarily want to practice law I've
been on both sides of it but still
having what I like to say is the JD
advantage that's like having the law
degree but not necessarily practicing
federal government is really a great
opportunity a great place uh for you to
start for another small business
professional coming into the field I
would say apart from the current courses
or the track for your credential take
some of the contract serious classes as
I mentioned before the more
knowledgeable you are about the federal
um acquisition regulation in addition to
the Department of energy acquisition
regulation the more credible you are to
the um contractor Community it would be
to expose yourself to as much as you
possibly can the only way to truly
appreciate the work that we're doing is
to be around those who live it to
experience uh the work that we do as
people Center and as people focused if
we want to elevate others we need to
know exactly how those individuals
operate find a mentor within the
investigative realm try to follow their
pathway listen to some of the guidance
that they have to provide take advantage
of any training and um Advanced
schooling opportunities so that you can
kind of specialize in your Craft um
whether it's forensics interviews crime
scenes those type of things are really
really important cyber is really up and
coming um my advice would be to follow
really follow your heart there are a lot
of um really important things that are
happening right now you know in the US
and across the world and if you know
Federal service is a great way to have
an impact on those things we have
amazing people that work for the federal
government specifically at the
department of
energy uh my 10th grade algebra teacher
she told me to do it right the first
time so you don't have to do it
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[Applause]
again actually I want to shout out my
Father James Jones um an abstract artist
and sculptor out of um the New River
Valley in Virginia Prince um recently
visited Paisley Park and I got to see
exactly how humble of a person he was
and he also pushed the envelope with his
sty and his music I would just like to
shout out um those artists who are
really speaking truth to power right now
to rajie P hon who's calling out the
fact that she's had her
struggles I have to say I'm Jamaican
Viper so the legendary the one and only
Bob Marley he had a message through his
songs about Unity about love about
oppression I would like to shout out
Misty Copeland who is the first
african-amer inin Prima ballerina she's
an expert in her craft and she is
comfortable in her brown skin and is an
advocate for um young ladies doing the
very best that they
can
