WEBVTT
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Language: en

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I worked in public affairs for September
 11th in a variety of different positions.

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I worked on and off
 for about a year and a half

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from a public affairs standpoint,
 we had to get out information to those

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that had been impacted,
 that lived in lower Manhattan

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and those that potentially
 could receive assistance from FEMA.

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And it was hard. 

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So at the time, The New York Times
 was your local media source.

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You had terrorism going on. 

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You had anthrax going on. 

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You had families still looking
 for their family members, the media,

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and just the sheer volume of information
 that was out there.

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And to try to cut through
 that was really hard.

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So at different phases of the disaster,
 we did easy things like the eight

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hundred number for the registration
 to get help on the Nasdaq

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when we were working later on. 

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I designed a poster that went in
 to about three fourths of the subway cars.

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We worked with the New York
 Transit Authority 

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and got those in the subway cars across
 the city to get the information out.

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In those ways, we had to really think
 outside of traditional media.

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Some of the things
 that now 20 years later,

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we do some of those things,
 20 years ago, we didn't do those things.

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Everything was very gray, 

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this dusty steel, big, huge steel beams.

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And I remember walking through
 and thinking that you should see

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desks and chairs
 because of all the office spaces.

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There was none of that.
 And as we were walking,

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the one day I looked down
 and I saw a red, high heel shoe.

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And it hit me really hard
 because I wondered who it belonged to and

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what was the story
 behind that person who it had belonged to.

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But normally you didn't
 see stuff like that. 

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It was just a big pile of debris
 that they had to work

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through to try to find remnants
 and clear it, as I did.

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So I think a couple things that come
 to mind for the impact of the agency.

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Obviously, we used to pay more attention
 to natural disasters.

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We look at all hazards now. 

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That's a natural thing that across
 the whole agency we plan for, we work.

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DHS came to be. So prior to that,
 we were an independent small agency.

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And FEMA has grown
 dramatically in the last few years,

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given the scope and the things
 that we continue to tackle.

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DHS came into being and FEMA 

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went underneath it as part of DHS. 

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I think about those that were lost. 

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And the heartbreaking posters
 that you would see

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hanging up all over the city for so long.

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There were people in the streets 

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holding up like thank you
 signs to the workers that were out there.

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Initially it was fairly quiet and low key.

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And then as restaurants 

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and other things started to open
 up, the city started to open up more.

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I mean, it was an interesting
 time to be there.

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It was rewarding because you felt like
 you were trying to help and do something.

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And the city kind of came to life. 

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It bonded as an American.

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You felt proud to be there. 

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I think it's the one disaster. 

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I've worked 100 plus disasters
 in my time with FEMA.

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But this time, it was really
 a national disaster. 

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And that was the only time
 that I've ever really experienced that,

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where it impacted,
 I think, every single person in the US

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to some degree, and still
 does. Twenty years later.