WORKPLACE DIVERSITY : PROFILES :...

At the law firm where I was a summer associate, (she now works for a different law firm), on my third day of work, they took us to . . . listen to a presentation by different departments about their work. The man who was making the presentation from the tax department started talking about his work on behalf of Playboy . . . . He said Playboy had called him because they were having a problem with the IRS because the IRS wanted to re-classify some of their staff as employees and not independent contractors . . . .

He said: ‘Next week this other attorney and I are going to meet with four playmates.’ All the male associates raised their hands and said ‘I’ll go! I’ll go! I have some free time!’ Then he pulled out an envelope, whipped out a copy of the magazine, opened up the centerfold and said, “I was doing a little bit of light reading this morning to prepare myself for my meeting with Miss April. I was thinking about asking her questions like ‘What are your favorite hobbies?’ ”

I understood the meaning of the word objectification. . . . As I sat there, I felt like a collection of body parts. One of the male summer associates expressed some surprise (at my reaction). They just thought that it was all OK . . . .

At Oxford (where Sandoval was a Rhode’s Scholar) I remember talking to a young man . . . . He kept saying that it helps that you were a woman and a minority (to get the scholarship.) I said, if that was such a big factor in my getting it, why was I the first (Latina), in the more than 80-year history (of Rhodes scholarships) at that time? In our group of 32, there were only seven women. Out of the 32, I was the only Latina.

I’m originally from Boyle Heights. When I was in kindergarten and first grade, the principal had classified the entire school as “mentally retarded.” My parents, along with a coalition, had to fight to get that label removed. . . . My education has empowered me to learn things and empower myself. In Spanish, sobre vivir. It means to overcome.