The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2023

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2023 51 FROM UNDOCUMENTED TO U.S. CAREER DIPLOMAT Jesse Gutierrez joined the Foreign Service with USAID in 2010. He is currently serving at USAID Mission Somalia in Nairobi. He recently completed a Master of Legal Studies degree at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. He also holds a B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from the University of California, Irvine, and California State University, Fullerton. He is part of a USAID FS tandem couple and has an energetic young daughter. An FSO with USAID shares his story. BY J ESSE GUT I ERREZ I had always been ashamed of my background and never spoke out about my past, but the recent focus on the importance of diversity has chipped away at the stigma and encouraged me to speak about my experiences. After a meeting to set up a new diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) council for USAID/Somalia, I stayed behind to chat with a local employee. He talked about how it felt to start school for the first time as a teenager and other struggles he had growing up as a member of a minority group in Kenya. I shared something about my childhood, and we were both surprised by the similarities. A story that I had been hiding for decades started rising from deep inside. Before that time, I had only shared it with my wife when we began dating. I wanted her to know everything. FOCUS DEIA: FOUNDATIONS FOR PROGRESS