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Sonia Pressman Fuentes
A Negative Experience, A Positive Outcome
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Contact Ms. Fuentes at: spfuentes@comcast.net |
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A Negative Experience, A Positive Outcome
This article was first published in the e-zine, The Gantseh Megillah of March 2009.
At the end of 1981, I accepted a position with one of this country's top corporations in Cleveland, Ohio, to be in charge of their Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Affirmative Action programs. It was a daunting decision because acceptance required me to move, as a newly-single mother with my nine-year-old daughter, to the Midwest--a part of the country I had never expected to live in since I had spent my entire life (since coming to the US from Germany at the age of five) in the East.
My time at this corporation was rocky because I realized after I came aboard that the company had hired me because (1) at that time the federal government was requiring that companies improve their diversity policies and (2) so the company could say it had a well-known feminist on board, although it did not really want anything done about its EEO policies.
In 1984, at the request of my boss, I prepared a slide presentation to be shown to the company's chairman and president on the company's EEO situation. The presentation I prepared revealed problems in recordkeeping with regard to diversity at the company's west coast operation. When he learned what the presentation would show, my boss said, "You're not going to hang that on the west coast!" and shortly thereafter, I was fired.
I was devastated--I had moved my family to the Midwest, I was 56 years old, and did not know what I was going to do.
Everyone told me not to bother trying to find another job as no one would hire a 56-year-old woman. But I felt I had no choice--I had worked all my adult life, wanted to continue, and had to support myself and my daughter. I began to seek other employment. It took me a year-and-a-quarter, during which time my brother gave me loans that tided me over, and then I was offered a position as an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at HUD (U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development). This brought me back to Washington, DC, where I had previously spent 16 years as an attorney with the federal government. I stayed there until my retirement in 1993, thus adding considerably to my pension with the federal government. Shortly thereafter, I began to write my memoir, Eat First--You Don't Know What They'll Give You, The Adventures of an Immigrant Family and Their Feminist Daughter, became a writer and a public speaker, was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame, and moved to Sarasota, FL, where I created a new life for myself. My discharge (which, with the help of a Cleveland attorney, was turned into a resignation) turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me.
Copyright 2009 by Sonia Pressman Fuentes.
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Fuentes -- Photographs |
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Sonia’s mother, early 1900s
Germany, circa 1930
Berlin, circa 1930
Germany, circa 1930
In Toy Car, circa 1930
Germany, circa 1930
Germany, 1931
Berlin Shop, 1931
Germany, 1932
Belgium, 1933-34
Belgium, 1933-34
Belgium, 1934
Cornell, 1950
University of Miami, 1956
Washington, DC, 1966
Washington, DC, 1968
Washington, DC, 1993
Coral Gables, 1990s
Sarasota, 1990s
Plainfield, 1998
Women's Hall of Fame
At the Capitol, 2000
Meadows Players, 2001
Piltz Library, 2001
Piltz, Poland, 2001
Sarasota, March 2002
Sarasota, April 2002
Lewin Studio, 2003
Alice Award, 2003
Book Signing, 2003
Teaching English, 2003
Book Bag Replica, 2004
AILF Awards, 2005
Foremothers Awards, 2005
IAYC Conference, 2005
Alice Paul Award, 2005
National Woman's Party, 2006
Potomac, MD, 2006
Bozeman, MT, 2007
CLEA Course, 2007
Cornell University, 2008
Montreal, Canada, 2008
Cornell University, 2009
Close shot at Cornell, 2009
Sarasota, FL, 2009
Sarasota, FL, 2009
Sarasota, FL, 2009
Rockville, MD, 2009
Sarasota, FL, 2009
Sarasota, FL, 2009
Oxford, London, Wales, 2009
Sarasota, FL, Feb. 2010
Bradenton, FL, Feb 2010
Siesta Key, FL, Feb 2010
Sarasota, FL, Feb 2010
Bradenton, FL, Mar 2010
Sarasota, FL, Mar. 2010
Birthday, May 2010
Chautauqua, NY, 2010
Sarasota, FL, July 2010
Bat Mitzvah, March, 2011
Washington, DC, March 2011
Sarasota, FL, March, 2011
Sarasota, FL, April, 2011
Washington, DC, Mar 2011
Tampa, FL, Jun 2011
Sarasota, FL, July 2011
Chautauqua, NY, July 2011
Chautauqua, NY, July 2011
Sarasota, FL, August 2011
Berlin, Germany, Sept 2011
Germany, Belgium, Sept 2011
Antwerp, Belgium, Sept 2011
Antwerp, Sept. 11-13,2011
Sarasota, FL, Nov 2011
Sarasota, FL, Nov 2011
Sarasota, FL, Dec 2011
Sarasota, FL, Dec 2011
Sarasota, FL, Jan 2012
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