This story is part of a series highlighting the contributions women have made to the Forest Service. If you’d like to nominate someone to be featured in a HerStory piece, please contact Patricia Burel. 

New Mexico—Meet Oriana Saiz, program specialist for the Southwestern Region. A former Air Force master sergeant with a background in military personnel and education, Saiz holds a master’s in Public Administration from Norwich University. With a strong grounding in data analytics, she came to the Forest Service in 2012 as a contact center agent and trainer. During her Forest Service career, Saiz has worked in strategic workforce planning, training and multiple areas in human resources. She has also attended the Office of Personnel Management’s leadership school. Her most recent assignment is with the Office of Civil Rights.

Drawn into the world of union advocacy early in her Forest Service career, Saiz has made her union work a major part of her identity within the agency. She has served as a steward and represented employees at the Merit Systems Protection Board, driven by a powerful sense that advocacy is critical to creating and maintaining a respectful agency culture.

“I’m very anti-bullying," Saiz says. "I cannot tolerate people who bully others.” And for Saiz, fostering that respectful agency culture also means helping former military personnel successfully transition to the Forest Service and adapt to the agency’s approach.

“Everyone has the right to exist here in this country and to be how they want. And they have the right to show up to work without being harassed or bullied if they're different, or for speaking the truth, or for saying their piece, or just for just showing up and being odd, just being kind of not mainstream, or what people like them to be.”

As a former noncommissioned officer, Saiz keenly feels gaps between military and civilian agency culture, including respectful treatment of subordinates. While working in HR and in her efforts with the veterans’ program SALUTE, which she co-chairs, Saiz has worked to facilitate veterans’ success in the Forest Service and to harmonize military and civilian approaches.

Looking back over more than a decade with the Forest Service, Oriana notes that the agency has gradually shifted toward a greater interest in emotional intelligence and a greater willingness to tackle bullying and create a culture of civility. She is proud to have been part of that shift and of her service. “I got to do that,” she says. “It was something that I got privileged enough to do.”

Read and listen to Oriana Saiz’s full interview at the National Forest Service Library.