Vanessa Espinoza is the deputy fire chief at Hill Air Force Base. She's responsible for safeguarding a base comprising 28,700 personnel, 1420 facilities, and $9.1 billion in assets.

Espinoza won the Professional Achievement Award at the 2022 Women of Color STEM Conference for helping women in her field find tangible solutions to quality-of-life issues.

Among her many accomplishments, she wrote a diversity and inclusion strategic plan and a health guide on pre and post-pregnancy issues at work for female firefighters that was adopted by the Department of Defense. She has also written briefs for leaders impacting 15,000 firefighters.

"When I came up as a young Airman, there was not a strong platform for women in the fire department," Espinoza said in her acceptance speech. "I faced diversity with a resilient attitude, hard work, and never giving up on my goals to make a difference in my chosen field. My success is a direct result of true mentorship and I choose to use my platform by paying it forward and creating far-reaching diversity programs for the fire department enterprise and the Air Force."

Espinoza has trained 995 Airmen and earned her stripes as a master military training instructor. She leads 144 Airmen and civilians, overseeing a $1.4 million budget.

Espinoza is "actively involved with improving operations, processes, and overall life in general for every member of our community,” said Phillip G. Winkelmann, Command Sargeant., U.S. Air Force fire and emergency services career field manager.

Espinoza has created Facebook pages focused on women firefighters, and solved personal protective equipment sizing issues for 11,000 firefighters. She volunteers with military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and Hispanic nursing home residents, and also hosts fitness retreats.

Channeling lessons from her childhood, she mentors children in foster care, teaching them financial and life skills.