 I joined the Army because of my family. My parents are immigrants from the Philippines, and they came to the United States to make a better life for themselves and for their family. And really, I'm just so grateful to grow up in New Jersey with my parents, my two brothers. And we had everything that we wanted and needed. Really, one of the most rewarding aspects of my position is I love this opportunity to work with soldiers and spend time with their families. For every educational promotion or assignment opportunity that I've been blessed with, I've been able to compete in a fair and equal pool of my peers, whether it was as an adventure platoon leader in Germany, as a young lieutenant working on a short-range air defense system to working with counter IED with special operations in Afghanistan. Every single leader, officer, commander, senior enlisted advisor gave me an opportunity, and I seized upon it. I joined the military to serve. A big influence was my father. My father was in the military, and I saw how much he enjoyed being in the military and just how the military had shaped him with his presence, with the discipline and leadership, and it was just something I wanted to emulate. I serve to take care of soldiers. Soldiers are not mentally and physically prepared, and they can't be ready. So, and as a leader, I think that is our job to make sure that those soldiers are prepared in that aspect. The women before us in the military have paved a way for us future women in the United States military, and my advice is, as a woman, you can do anything. We are just as valuable, we're just as essential as any other member in the military. I joined the Army because my dad was in the Army as well, and growing up, I've always wanted to serve too. It's been great. That's one of also the most rewarding things when you're working with other commanders to share the same values, and we want the best in everything that we do, and really it's really the only way to get through all of our obstacles is to get through them together. My mom was a 92 Alpha. I'm a 92 Alpha. The only difference is she was enlisted and I'm an officer. For me personally, I don't look at, oh, I'm a female, so I have these hindrance of what I can and cannot do. I always look at it as, if he can do it, I can do it. You can lift 230, I can lift 230. I might drop the weight on myself, but I'm gonna try my best to lift this 230. You cannot tell me I can't do it, and I would empower any female or anybody to do the same and look at things the same way. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is being in a position to be able to help others and to build teams. I grew up playing sports and being a member of a team, and I thought, why not join the biggest, baddest team on earth? And so I did, but I wanna continue to serve so that my kids have two positive role models in their lives. Hopefully by serving it will inspire them to be selfless, strong, and driven.