Lizbeth Ledesma-Suarez

Career Q&A

Question: How did you choose the career you're in?

Answer: I did an internship after I graduated college, I volunteered for a year at the probation office in Colorado Springs. and I just fell in love with what I did and so I decided to make it a career.

Question: How important is your previous work experience?

Answer: It's important because it helps you learn how to deal with the public and just be able to talk to people and how to have work ethic, manners and professionalism.

Question: Do you think adults have a hard problem talking to young people? Why?

Answer: Yes I do actually. I think probably, you know just because, there's such an age gap and the way I was raised and the way you were raised is probably very different. and the times were different. I did not grow up and go to school using technology. I was pen to paper, physical books, lockers, lugging all the stuff around, you know? So I think just the different changes in society and the norms and stuff, they shift. So that's not my normal. So we have to just kind of re-learn how young people- how they are, how they talk, and how to interact with them. and understand that not everything  they say is disrespectful, but it's just different. and i don't think everybody- I don't think all adults probably think that way. 

Question: What's the most important thing you've learned from being a role model?

Answer: That I have to walk the walk; I have to follow what I say. So if I'm trying to be somebody's role model and somebody looks up at me. i probably better, follow my own advice, I probably shouldn't be out there partying and drinking and doing crazy stuff. I need to be what those kids- or those people are expecting me to be.

Question: If you could ever go back to the beginning of your career what would you do differently?

Answer: Thats hard because I was so young when I started. I was 24 when I started. So I didn't really know, you know how this job could shape me and what it could do to me as far as burn out- things like that. if I knew then what I know now I would definitely take better care of myself at the beginning of my job. Because overtime this job gets to a point where it can create a lot of burnout and we do get traumatized when we work in this field. because we get traumatized by all the stuff we read, hear, see, how people interact with us, all of that.