An Interview with Aisha Salazar

Aisha Salazar is our newest member of the Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) Office. As the Associate Extension Agent for Family Consumer Sciences, she leads the Master Food Volunteers, the Master Financial Education Volunteers, and co-leads the Energy Masters programs in Arlington County and the City of Alexandria. Her previous work experience with Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) was crucial for aiding people in need of proper nutrition and education. She was the manager of Cooking and Nutrition Education and coordinated, developed and taught cooking, nutrition, and health demonstrations, classes, and workshops for families receiving food in Arlington County.

To help with on-boarding, I, Käthe Rose the 4-H summer intern, was tasked to ask her some whimsical and informational questions to get to know her better. Questions are bolded for clarity.

Käthe Rose: When did you first learn about Virginia’s Extension Program?

Aisha Salazar: Probably in college actually, I went to Virginia Tech so I think I learned about it by my senior year or so and then in grad school I interviewed some of the extension agents out in Kansas.

K: What is your favorite part of the job so far? I know it’s your first day so this is an intentionally difficult question.

A: Meeting everybody.

K: What brought you to Extension?

A: I partnered with Extension a lot in my previous job and just really liked the outreach they have. The way that they work with volunteers and involvement in the community. I knew a lot of the staff in Fairfax and Arlington/Alexandria and just really appreciate what they did and the value of education and the importance of it in terms of empowering people to do better.

K: So, what is your greatest strength that you can offer Virginia Cooperative Extension?

A: I feel like I was asked this in the interview, so I should know this answer! I think maybe two things; knowledge of the area or partners (relationship building) and then creativity. Thinking of new ways to do some work.

K: Do you prefer to type your notes or have them handwritten?

A: Handwritten, and then sometimes I retype them if I really need them but usually just handwritten.

K: Is there a specific reason?

A: I feel like I take the information in better, it’s like that connection thing; hand to the notebook to the brain.

K: What is your favorite color and then why?

A: Blue, any blue. I am just fascinated by that color. I don’t know why. Everything I have at home is probably blue. Not the furniture, but decorative wise. It's the color of the ocean, the color of the sky, lots of things.

K: What is your favorite place to visit?

A: Ecuador because I have family there and it's just a really pretty country. I like going to Frederick Maryland, that’s kind of the spot that my husband and I go to. It has cute antique shops, and food, a lot of good breweries, that kind of thing. It's very quaint.

K: What is one place that you really want to visit?

A: I want to go to a lot of places. I’ll say Morocco. The food is supposed to be really good, it’s supposed to be really pretty, and different from some of the places I’ve been to.

K: If you could have absolutely any animal as a pet, what would you choose?

A: Ever since I was a kid I’ve always wanted a monkey. I think because we had a pet monkey, not a real one but like a pet stuffed monkey in kindergarten that we were able to take home so I think I’ve always had a fondness for them because of that. But I also like parakeets. So, if I get a pet, that's the one I would like to get right now.

K: If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

A: I would say sushi because that’s like a broad category for types of food.

K: What is another language you would want to learn?

A: I would probably learn Arabic. I took a class once and it was hard. And I didn’t have the right software on my computer to do it so… Chinese would be cool too I think.

I would like to thank Aisha for being such a great sport and putting up with my many ridiculous questions. Thank you, Caitlin, for supervising and additional commentary. Thank you, Hareg, for your hilarious input on the questions the day prior. I hope this interview entertains you readers, and drop by the Fairlington Center to meet these amazing people!

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