Videostories7860
Gayle Sonoda
„Keep eating well, stay wealthy, keep working out and the basic, learn to be nice to people. In that sense, when you are good to yourself, you are good to others and you build that strong network troughout your entire life.“ These are the advices Gayle Sonoda, Inspector in the Los Angeles Fire Department would give her 14-year-old self. „The coolest thing would be, the people that i work with and to be able to be part of that big team. In addition to that we get to serve the public and make a difference and empower them. That’s exciting to me.“
Cody Weireter
„You are the last line of defense, the next one is the Army. People call you, because they are having the worst day of their life and we show up to mitigate their problem. We are here to solve that issue, whether it might be minimum or the biggest thing that happened in their lives. They call the Fire Department and for that level of trust to be able to come and solve that issue and hopefully put their lives back on track.“ This is the coolest thing on his job, so Cody Weireter, Captain in the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Miriam Calvo-Gil
“Travel the world and learn as many languages as possible, it helps you to find different perspectives and meet people from different backgrounds. It opens doors”, says Miriam Calvo-Gil, Learning & Development Design and Technical Manager at Proponent. “The coolest thing about my job is to see how people grow and how their self-reliance also grows with them. You see them realizing their potential.”
Orin Saunders
„Definitely follow your passion, you definitely want a job, that you gonna enjoy doing it, where you love coming to work. That’s what i found myself with the Fire Department. Orin Saunders ist Assistant Chief in the Los Angeles Fire Departement. „My job as Assistant Chief is a amazing job. Is a large footprint, to be really able to dictate the day to day operations. To have that spirit influence, great policy and i see that remarkable change in order to be able to serve. To support the men and women in Los Angeles Fire Department.“
Kristina Kepner
„Be self confident in your decisions and never let anybody tell you, you can’t do something. If you have a goal in life, you can do it. It’s just about working hard and have a positive attitude.“ Kristina Kepner is Assistant Chief in the Los Angeles Fire Department. „I am a paramedic, so obviously having the opportunity to truly save peoples lives to paramedicine, has been extremely rewarding. But for me is the giving back to the youth program. Because i came up in the youth program and it really changed my life.“
Branden Silverman
„In my current position the most rewarding thing, is when we give a class a presentation to the public and they truly sincerely thank us for the education we were able to give them.“ This is one the coolest thing for Branden Silverman, Captain in the Los Angeles Fire Department. „I would tell my 14-year-old self to learn other languages while you are young, because I definitely try to expand my knowledge know and it is a lot tougher as you get older, as we all know.“
Andrew Todhunter
“I would encourage myself to be a little bolder in forming and maintaining relationships with people. At fourteen I certainly didn't have the same confidence. I never really had a plan for where I was going, I tried to find things that interested me at the time.” Today, Andrew Todhunter is the CEO and President of Proponent. For him, the best moments are “when we come up with some sort of innovative, sophisticated customer or supplier solution and create a new business arrangement.”
Daniel Valdez
“Focus and listen to the instructors, they're not there to be your enemies. They're there to guide you”, says Daniel Valdez, Senior Systems Administrator at Proponent. “Overall, I just love IT. I have a passion for it, I've had a passion for it for the past twenty years. What I love most about it here are the people, they are what makes my job worthwhile.”
William Oglesby
“Trust your instincts, 99% of the time they are going to be right. Learn a foreign language early and commit yourself to that. You'll be surprised how far it will take you in life.” These are some pieces of advice William Oglesby, Customer Solutions Support Manager at Proponent, would give to his younger self. “There's always a new challenge, there's always a new issue, something that forces you out of your comfort zone. I do enjoy the interfacing with the customers, that includes to travel.”
Tim Gill
“You have to have a lot of humor to get though life, because life gets pretty challenging. You can't be afraid of work, you have to want to get up in the morning and go make a difference to society”, says Tim Gill, Vice President of Manufacturing at Proponent in California. “Each day I might see a new product that I've never seen before and we have to figure out how to solve the customer's problems. If I can't solve it, I can probably lead them in the right direction. It's a variety. I get to see something different almost every day and it's almost always a challenge.”
Jacob Raabe
„My father was also a firefighter, my brother was a firefighter so i kind knew it in my head that this is a career path, that i wanted to take. Jacob Raabe is Inspector & Paramedic in the Los Angeles Fire Department and the coolest thing in his job is being able to do public education. „One of the great aspects working for the Los Angeles Fire Department is gonna work togehther as a team. Having that unique backround and viewpoint makes a huge difference in accomplishing a common goal.“
Melissa Wong
“The first thing is to get your personal finances under control, because there's a lot of decisions that you can make if your personal financial health is already taken care of”, says Melissa Wong, Regional Manager Customer Relationship and Global Customer Quality as well as a Learning and Development Specialist at Proponent. “The coolest thing is that our parts help people get home to their loved ones safely on the airplanes and that really brings me a lot of joy.”
David Cresine
“Be more focused, have some structure. You've got different things going on all the time”, is one piece of advice David Cresine, Purchasing Agent at Proponent, would give to his 14-year-old self. “The best thing is when you have an issue where it's been going back and forth for sometimes months and then the customer is finally happy, we're selling the product. That's rewarding!”
Desiree Garcia
“Embrace your struggles and the things that are difficult, they will help you in the future. Have more fun and don't be afraid to fail!” These are pieces of advice that Desiree Garcia, Director Marketing and Communications at Proponent, would give to her younger self and others. “Recently the most rewarding moment was when showed the new brand to our employees and after two years of work and establishing what the name of the company should be and what the aesthetic should look like, and seeing people say that we got it right. That is who we are, that is who we aspire to be.”
Kristin Crowley
"You put the community's needs ahead of your own and it's an incredible feeling to come to work each and every day and to impact somebody's life." Kristin Crowley is the highest ranking female in the Los Angeles Fire Department and found her purpose in what she is doing every day. Even though it looked like her initial feeling would take her down a different career path, eventually she decided to join the Fire Department. "My first step in the fire station - I knew that's what I was supposed to be doing."
