Fathima Garcia

Fathima Garcia is no stranger to the Seattle Promise program – in our last interview with her, we learned how Promise was helping her achieve her goal of completing her college degree without taking on massive student debt. A year later, as she begins working as a Promise Ambassador, we caught up with her to find out what college has been like, how her plans are evolving, and how she hopes to create impact as one of the public faces of Seattle Promise. 

Despite her first year of classes being conducted entirely online, Garcia is enjoying her college experience. Last summer she took on an internship with the City of Seattle’s Budget Office. “I enjoyed interning there because I am interested in having a career in public service. That six-week internship was a great fit for me to test the waters and make new connections. I am also continuing to look for more internships with the City to gain more experience. Specifically, I was also surrounded by the great City of Seattle employees who were more than willing to offer me their experiences! 

This desire to praise the virtues of Promise has become a recurring theme for Garcia – as a peer mentor and now a Promise ambassador – and allows the Cleveland High School graduate to share her story with a much wider audience. “I always talk to everyone about Promise, because it’s been such a huge blessing to me as a first-generation college student.” 

Her ambitions for her career after college have evolved as well. While she entered Seattle Central College with an interest in marketing, she's since become more focused on recruitment, where she can have a tangible effect on representation in the workplace. This change of focus didn’t happen overnight; as she took classes, explored new internship opportunities, and experienced more of what the curriculum had to offer, she found her ambitions beginning to crystallize.  

“Marketing was fine, but it’s not the most fulfilling for me, because I’m not dealing with a lot of people every day, so it lacks that human connection, you know?” she says with a laugh. “I’m glad I’m more confident of what I’m doing now.” 

Garcia’s experiences working with the City of Seattle have inspired her to recalibrate her plans for her future: today she envisions a career of her own in city government. “I would love to work for the City of Seattle, where I could be creating and making change. “I want to be where I can have real impact on equity and diversity in the workplace.”