Ashley Juracek

I can tell you that anybody who's ever known me will tell you that I have never made myself small, and maybe that's kind of how I've gotten to where I am. I don't go in and shy away just because it's men. I love the camaraderie that fire departments and police departments have, I love the whole familyhood and brotherhood, but there's definitely some stereotypes that you gotta get rid of when you walk in the door. One of them being that just because she's pretty doesn't mean she doesn't know what she's talking about. I think part of that is that I don't shy away from even having some of those conversations. I'm going to go and talk to you, and we're gonna have all sorts of very crude conversations, and sometimes part of doing that stuff is making them uncomfortable, because that helps them understand that I really am there to do the job, not just to be someone to look at. I spent the first 10 years of my career probably creating chaos more than actually doing work - my trucking days, I was kind of a battleaxe, and I got into some trouble because of my opinions and my thoughts. For a long time, I lived with the idea that if you can't be famous, be infamous. I'm not sure that that's really the right way of doing things, but it's just kind of how I've gotten to where I am. I definitely have a passion for EMS, and I think that's a lot of what keeps me going. I have a passion for knowing that we are out there saving lives, we're being the people that show up when no one else does.

I don't really know if it was advice, but the fact of the matter was that I was raised by a strong woman as well, who was raised by a strong woman. I've been raised by a generation, a few generations of strong women, and I think that leading by example has really shown me that you can either complain about the station of life that you are in, or you can continue to go and work for better. I appreciate the fact that my mother made sure that we saw that she did it all. She raised us, and she went and carried jobs and her own business and things like that, that really made me realize that we could do anything in this lifetime. My kids have seen the same from me, that when things aren't right, you change them. You make them right. There is nothing that says I am stuck where I'm at. That's the thing that I get to say, is that I showed my kids that I wasn't stuck. At age 30, I was able to go and get my master's degree. I am 35 and on the verge of getting my doctorate right now. There is nothing that makes you stuck.

I would definitely tell her that she belongs. Don't let anybody tell you that you don't. I see more and more women getting into fire and police industries, and I congratulate them. I think that they're doing more and more to try to get women into those spaces, but at some point, definitely, women belong in those spaces. I kind of go back to my conversation of if you can't be famous, be infamous, but it's not the whole idea of don't be shy, don't be small. That's not our job. Our job is to go and make sure that people understand that we are able to do the same, that we bring a value to the table that will always be needed, and maybe even more so needed today than ever. There are women that can do this job better than some men, and more power to them. Not every woman wants a man to show up at their doorstep to go and take care of them, so having a woman be able to do that on your team is valuable. I very much so believe in the whole fact that women belong, whether it's in the education side, or the EMS side, or the trucking side, or whatever side we're talking about. I've always been the person that says, you know, you deserve a seat at the table. So as a woman, my answer is that I deserve a seat at the table, then it's my job to go and show you along there, but I at least deserve a chance to sit at that table. I'm raising a very strong little girl in my household right now, and she is learning by fire on the fact that we do not make ourselves small.

When you call 911, you don't think about who's gonna show up, or you don't question is someone gonna show up, because everybody just assumes they will. And I will tell you that it takes a very, very unique subset of people that actually do that, that will crawl out of bed at 2 AM and come to your aid, that will show up at your darkest moment and tell you everything will be fine, and it doesn't happen overnight. It's not something that people do without thought or without practice, and so that's where I come in, is that I get to go and be the piece where they get to learn and practice and do better and be better, so that they're being the best people that they can be. There is a lot that goes on behind those scenes way before the cool fire gear and the turnout gear and the big red trucks. These people are really doing more than just looking cool and getting fire trucks. Those are the moments that I really appreciate for them, and I do have the same thought process in my head - if I need somebody, I want to know that they're going to show up and do their job. I work with a lot of volunteer departments, which means that they show up even more so when they're not getting any pay, they're not getting the recognition. They're doing it to go fill a void in a community and to go and help their neighbors and friends, not for the glory and the money. Those are the things that really keep me going, is that there are guys and gals out there doing a very thankless job because someone's gotta do it, and I'm glad that they've stepped up to do it, and so I will be next to them every step of the way to make sure that they're doing a good job of it.