Hilda Solis

My role was to bring about fairness in the workplace. All I did was implement the laws that were currently on the books.

We need women to go through apprentice programs. I've seen women who did, and who are now highly trained electricians and welders. These are jobs that women are capable of doing.

Young people need the hands-on training that comes with a summer job. They need to know how to dress for success and nail job interviews. But most of all, they need mentorship, guidance, and inspiration.

My parents raised me and my six siblings with little money... but lots of love.

I think President Obama wanted to have the right fit for his different cabinet positions, and I believe that experience is what mattered most to him. In my case, I have been working to improve the overall quality of life for working families for most of my adult life, and I think that experience resonated with the president.

My parents were both union members, and I grew up hearing how important it was to empower workers and have fair labor practices.

I saw the prospect of serving as labor secretary as a wonderful opportunity to further the policies that I have been fighting for my whole life, and I had to seize it.

I want companies who get federal contracts to hire more women and minorities from the local area.

Well, I'll tell you, one of things I'm proud of is for someone from Southern California, who didn't grow up around coal mines, I learned a lot that tragic day we lost twenty-nine miners at Upper Big Branch coal mine.

No one has the right to threaten the health, education, and well-being of children by involving them in illegal or inappropriate work.

In my teens, I worked as an aide in my community supervising and mentoring youth in various programs and delivering lunches to needy students.

I grew up in a modest neighborhood just outside of Los Angeles. It was an industrial community of blue-collar, working people... some of the hardest-working people I've ever met.