CAREERS IN GOVERNMENT
Meet the Women of the Administration: Tammy Duckworth by Monique Dorsainvil
O
ne of the goals of the Council on Women and Girls is to highlight the
inspirational women working in the Fed- eral Government and to learn more about their paths to their current positions as public servants. In this series, Meet the Women of the Administration, we asked Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth to reflect on how she developed an interest and expertise in government affairs and public service and to weigh in on how she balances work and family. Take a look and find out what keeps Assistant Secre- tary Duckworth inspired!
How did your childhood influence you?
I grew up overseas as a privileged
American living in developing nations. I am an Amerasian (biracial) child of an American Vietnam Veteran and a Thai
mother. The images of other, unwanted and discarded biracial children my age living and working as child laborers, beg- gars and street children are forever im- printed on my mind. The difference in opportunities between them and my life is what made me want to serve the United States from an early age. I have always been grateful for the rights that I enjoy and am proud of the work that America does abroad to improve the lives of peo- ple, especially those who have been dis- placed by war or economic disasters in other nations.
Growing up, who were your role models?
As a child I had two role models. They
were the American Ambassadors and Peace Corps volunteers. They represent- ed a face of America that was performing
good deeds globally—whether it was per- sonally helping to dig wells for fresh wa- ter or opening new health clinics or schools funded by the people of the Unit- ed States. Even as a child, my heart welled up when I saw that other children my age were so happy for a chance to fi- nally go to school. I decided when I was about 8 years old that someday I wanted to be a US Ambassador so I could take my turn at helping improve people’s lives.
How did you become interested in working for the Federal government? Because of my childhood in develop-
ing nations, I have always wanted to work
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