Rosie Alba is a business partnership specialist working within our Information & Communications Technologies sector. This month, we asked Rosie about her role on the team, working in workforce development and how she spends her free time.
What professional moment or project are you most proud of?
As a business partnership specialist for our TechHire program, one of my proudest accomplishments has been working with an organization called Our Genetic Legacy (OGL). When I first partnered with this company they were a staff of one–the founder, Shellie Baxter. However, after listening to Shellie speak about her objectives I knew I had to get involved. OGL’s mission is to correct the published history of America to include ALL Americans. The many contributions of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Americans have been ignored and their historical family legacies have been lost. OGL creates projects that expose and publish lost family legacies of BIPOC Americans in order to diversify, correct and expand the current history of America to include all Americans. Since partnering with the Workforce Partnership’s TechHire program, OGL has received numerous grants including one to open a museum as well as grants from colleges to publish new textbooks on her findings. Further, they will be going national with this project by 2023 and international with projects in Africa by 2024. Shellie contributes the organization’s success to her partnership with the TechHire program. This thriving organization now has over a dozen employees, all of which came from TechHire. It has been amazing to see the growth of one person’s dream turn into a nationally, soon to be internationally, recognized and highly respected organization in just one short year.
What do you like best about working in workforce development?
The San Diego Workforce Partnership is a GREAT place to work. I especially enjoy the transparent working relationship we have with our managers and directors. There is also a common goal of training and developing the workforce here at the Workforce Partnership. I also love working with a diverse group of businesses throughout the County of San Diego to assist them with their business needs. Not to mention the major perk of being surrounded by colleagues that hold similar values and are enthusiastic about the same social causes. The most obvious advantage to working for at the Workforce Partnership is the potential to work on a social issue that you care about. At the end of the day, I enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that all our challenging work over the past day, month or year is part of something bigger than all of us.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
When not at work I enjoy going to music festivals and spending time with my family. My favorite festival I like to attend with my 20-year-old son and 21-year-old daughter would probably be the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC). The foundation upon which the EDC phenomenon was built is one of unity, love, self-expression and respect for one another. Their philosophy is All Are Welcome Here. As for my 7-year-old twins, my partner and I like to take them on many different adventures throughout the San Diego area like camping, riding go-carts, rock climbing and beach days. However, during the pandemic my all-time favorite way to spend family time would have to be playing Rock Star and dressing up with my kids and partner.