“I planned my life around the passions that drive me,” Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta told Women of Washington radio show hosts Aileen Black and Gigi Schumm.

Archuleta’s career started as a kindergarten teacher in Denver. She then pivoted to state and ultimately federal service. She worked as an aide to then-Denver Mayor Fredrico Pena and later became his Chief of Staff at the Transportation Department, as well as his senior policy adviser at the Energy Department.

Archuleta also spent the first two years of the Obama administration working for Labor Secretary Hilda Solis as her chief of staff.

Archuleta is the 10th director of OPM and the first Latina to hold the office.

“Your character is really built not only by yourself, but by the network of people that you surround yourself with,” she said. “You can’t do it by yourself … as you build your character you have to be very strategic about that. You have to find and be with people who will help you become the person that you want to be.”

Archuleta talked about OPM’s new Recruitment, Engagement, Diversity and Inclusion or REDI Roadmap, how the Affordable Care Act personally helped her family and what she thinks it means to many of the underinsured members of the Latino community.

“I spent a lot of time assisting HHS in talking about the ACA in the last two years,” she said. “I ask to be sent to the Latino community because when I can talk to people who I look like then tell them my story, it is a connection between us. They know they have a story just like mine.”

Archuleta added, “You can’t be afraid. … You have to be able to take the risks. You have to be able to imagine. If you’re always thinking about how you can do the impossible, it encourages you to take the risk that you need to take.”

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.