GSA Blog

GSA: A Place Where Everyone is Valued (VIDEO)

The U.S. General Services Administration is committed to advancing each of the key priorities of the Biden-Harris administration, including racial equity and civil rights. As one of several ways the agency is honoring Pride Month in June 2021, GSA is pleased to release a video entitled “A Place Where Everyone is Valued.” The video takes a closer look at one employee’s journey from Peace Corps service in rural Paraguay to working with GSA in New York City.

“I’m honored the agency thought my story was worth telling in this way,” said Fiona Martin-Vargo, the GSA employee profiled in the video. “I hope seeing it can help inspire anyone who is making or considering a career in federal service, and for whom diversity, inclusion, and the opportunity to work to one’s full potential are important.”

The video includes many amazing photographs Martin-Vargo was generous enough to share of Peace Corps service in Paraguay and of being wed back home in the United States, plus footage of some of the employee’s day-to-day duties at GSA.

“The two years I spent in rural Paraguay were full of beautiful contradictions,” Martin-Vargo said. “There were the joys and wonders of the country and its people, at the same time as there were cultural norms that dictated keeping my sexual identity as an LGBTQ+ person a secret. Best and most beautiful of all, though, Paraguay was where I met my future wife, Marisa, who was a fellow Peace Corps volunteer there. Each of the photos collected in this video are full of memories for me of what were some truly special and life-changing times.”

Since the completion of filming, Martin-Vargo has experienced at least one other major life change.

“Marisa and I became parents for the first time in March,” Martin-Vargo said. “Between a beautiful family at home and a career environment as supportive as the one I have at GSA, I am truly very fortunate.”

To view “A Place Where Everyone is Valued,” please click on the thumbnail, below.