Q&A: Talking with one of our Golden Ticket Winners, Sara Vivas

The Collectively^SM program is Jacobs' approach to global giving and volunteering. To celebrate one full year of Collectively goodness, we’ve transitioned to an open matching program and randomly seeded six employees with a $500 Golden Ticket charity donation throughout the month of June.

Today, we connected with one of the lucky Golden Ticket winners, Sara Vivas, to chat about The Trevor Project, the organization she chose to donate to, why the Project is so meaningful to her, and ribbon snakes.

We’re publishing this article as part of the celebrations to mark the successful first year of the Collectively program and you were a lucky recipient of one of the Golden Tickets and a $500 charity donation. Tell us a bit about the organization you chose to donate to.

The Trevor Project is the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth.

Why is The Trevor Project important to you?

During the past two years, I experienced a period of personal growth while accompanying a close family member through a process of self-discovery and affirmation of their true, transgender identity. At the beginning we navigated the ultimate lows filled with periods of depression and dysphoria to where we are now—joy, love, acceptance, and respect. Along the way I relied on many resources to increase my understanding of how to create a safe space for someone to make the transformation into who they wanted to be. It is much more than saying “I love you no matter who you are,” it is saying “I am your ally, I understand your language in how you describe yourself, I recognize this requires great courage, and I am proud of you”. The Trevor Project provides a lifeline to LGBTQ youth who are in crisis and at great risk to suicide. The anguish of not feeling safe to express who you truly are is real and I will forever be an ally to those who have the courage to be their authentic selves.

At Jacobs, you are part of the Client Deliverables Solutions (CDS) organization. What’s your favorite part of your role?

I have many! I am passionate about my role as a technical editor and Client Deliverables Manager (for 20 years!), but for the past two years I have also served as the Staff Supervisor of the CDS U.S. East group. I love working with a close network of super-smart, motivated and creative people who are unified in the goal of telling the story of the great work we do at Jacobs.

If you aren’t working, what would we be most likely to find you doing?

My days are book-ended by hiking with my dog, Juno, in nearby trails through the gorgeous landscape of North-central Florida. Walking through the native pine, cypress, oak and other forests around my home is my oft-needed forest therapy.

Most proud career moment?

Becoming part of the CDS leadership team—this role has enabled me to learn so much about how to improve myself and my understanding of people to be able to lead them towards meaningful career growth as well as the growth of our organization. It is an incredible feeling for me to know that I am part of CDS’ continuing evolution towards a best-in-class solutions provider within our Jacobs community.

What’s something you learned in the last week?

In the last week I learned that ribbon snakes are non-venomous (doesn’t mean that I won’t run away screaming when I see one, though!).

People would be surprised to know that I….

Served in the Peace Corps in Lamphun Province, Thailand, in the mid-1990s and spoke fluent Thai!

What do you enjoy most about being part of #OurJacobs?

I love seeing the incredible breadth of diversity among our employees and how proud we are of our company—we showcase to the world that we are not only working to provide critical solutions to important global infrastructure and climate-related challenges, but that we are a group of people who genuinely care about each other.