Her Story
About Irma
Irma Moore serves as a public safety dispatcher with 15 years of experience, having started her career at the Oakland Police Department in California. Motivated by the need for bilingual representation to support the Latino community, she provides emergency dispatch services for police, medical, and fire agencies while also contributing to wellness initiatives as a volunteer on her county's wellness committee. Irma is a certified instructor through POST and holds national credentials as an Emergency Number Professional (ENP) through NENA and a Registered Public Safety Leader (RPL) through APCO, along with an advanced POST dispatcher certification. She earned an associate's degree in administrative justice and is working toward a bachelor's in criminal justice. Her volunteer efforts extend to national organizations APCO and NENA, where she develops training and resources for first responders. In 2025,she was recognized as the 9-1-1 Wonder Woman of the Year by her peers for her work in raising awareness around mental health and professional development in public safety communications. Irma attributes her success to the strong work ethic and values of helping others instilled by her parents.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Irma
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say it goes back to the way I was brought up. Both of my parents taught me the importance of working hard and having a good work ethic, and also instilled in me the value of when you're climbing up, whether it be a professional ladder or just growing, that you always look back and reach back and help those others that either helped you along the way or may not be as fortunate as you have been. So just having those strong values instilled in me at a very young age has definitely helped me work hard for everything and has gotten me to where I am to date.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Never give up on your aspirations. Keep being persistent. If one door closes, don't get discouraged. There's always a new opportunity somewhere else, you just have to be willing to do the work. And if you stay committed, and you keep on pushing through, you know, your hard work will pay off in the end.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Biggest challenges would be lack of opportunities. A lot of agencies don't have, are smaller agencies, so if you do want to grow professionally, there's not a lot of opportunity there, and it's just really hard to find good mentors that are willing to take the time to kind of guide you to other opportunities that maybe are not within your own department. Opportunities include getting involved with organizations like NENA and APCO, going to conferences to network and meet different people, which can lead to other opportunities and things you can bring back to your own department.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.