Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Sanchez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lauren. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
The first thing most people reply when I share about my adverse childhood upbringing and the current career I am in is “wow, you turned out a lot more normal and successful than I would have thought possible.” I take this as a compliment when I reflect back on the police visits, the foster homes, the therapy, and the adoption as I prepare disaster response plans for my public safety job. The two realities almost seem contrasting as many people don’t fair too well when the cards quickly begin stacking against them at a young age.
My story began with a frequently incarcerated father and a mother that got similarly caught in very bad habits. As the third child, my life abruptly became a cycle of little food, witnessing regular drug and alcohol abuse, frequent police visits and raids, and numerous foster home stays. This difficult, but normal reality to me, gradually got a lot better when my brother and I were taken into our final foster home full of loving and strong-willed people at the age of 10. At the age of 13, my brother and I were adopted and molded into the people we are today.
As a young adult, I realized that regardless of my childhood challenges, I now had the opportunity to do great things by positively impacting the lives of others. I owed it to the people who helped me get to where I am today to better myself and, more importantly, those around me. I owed it to all the kind social workers, an older sister who stuck by me, my new parents, and a Fire Chief who saw enough in me to give me a job. All this has led me to become an Emergency Management Specialist for the City of Farmers Branch who prepares the City and all 65,000 people who spend their time here for disaster situations.
Has it been a smooth road?
As a child, my life was normal to me, so I did not struggle with what I now understand was childhood trauma. As a young teen learning to live a new lifestyle, I struggled but understood that I was in a much better situation. My first professional struggle came from deciding what to do with my life. This was never a topic growing up. I struggled with this until a friend said she was going to Sam Houston State for a college degree.
Naturally, I applied too because if it was good for her, it was probably a good idea for me too. Luckily, it was more than great, and I graduated six years later with a Master’s Degree in Homeland Security Studies. Like many others, my first big girl job search was not easy. I was not getting any calls back after submitting dozens of applications, and I was struggling not to let myself feel defeated. However, I knew that I had come this far, so I was not going to give up yet.
I soon got the only call I needed to work for a great fire department in a great city. Once I started in my position, I really struggled with feeling like I was truly capable of the work. I had learned about emergency management in school, but I never had a whole city counting on me before to be good at it. I decided to work as hard as I could to research and learn and shadow people in the field so that I was sure I was doing my job well.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the City of Farmers Branch Fire Department story. Tell us more about the business.
It is easiest to describe my job as “preparing for all the things we never hope happen.” A quiet day for me is good for the City because it means a tornado, hail storm, active attack, large chemical spill, or other disaster has not occurred. As the Emergency Management Specialist, I think about what disaster could harm the inhabitants of my city and what I can do to prevent it, to respond to it, and to recover from it when it happens.
Unfortunately, in this field, it’s not a matter of “if” something is going to happen, it’s a matter of “when.” That is why I spend a lot of my time training residents and businesses on how they can prepare and better protect themselves: the more people who are prepared to take care of themselves and the people around them, the better off we all are as a whole.
I strongly believe this to be true and that is why I am so proud to do what I do. If I, as one individual, can train others to potentially keep themselves alive in a disaster event, I would say I am trying pretty hard to do great things.
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
Not many people know that my job or my career field exist. However, in the next five years, I bet that is going to change. Unfortunately, our news channels are full of natural disasters and active attacks across the world, the nation, and down to small communities who never thought they would have to worry about it.
Luckily, Emergency Managers have been working behind the scenes for many years now to respond when disaster strikes. As the threat increases, more businesses, schools, government entities, and virtually all facets of the community are partnering with emergency management professionals to get ahead of disaster situations.
This trend of emergency management awareness and partnership allows myself and others in my field the opportunity to train and prepare more people. And like I said before, the more people who are prepared, the safer we all are. The safer we all are, the more people get the opportunity to better the world regardless of the cards they may have been dealt.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.farmersbranchtx.gov/830/Emergency-Management
- Email: emergency.management@farmersbranchtx.gov
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/farmersbranchfire
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