Black History Month Feature: Financial advisor paving the way for the next generation

  • Published
  • By Danielle Gregory
  • Tinker Public Affairs
Resourcefulness, responsiveness and integrity are the three main components that have gotten Latrice Vaughn, chief, financial advisor, where she is today. Those three little words, with such big meaning are words of advice and encouragement Ms. Vaughn wanted to share with those who look up to her and see what she has accomplished.
    "Ultimately, I give God all the credit for sustaining me all these years," she said. 
   Ms. Vaughn is at a high point in her career. She is at one of the highest ranks a civilian can accomplish at a Pay Band 3 or the equivalent of GS-15, at Tinker without going into a Senior Executive Service position. She is also the first African-American female civilian employee to reach this level at Tinker. 
   "I will never forget the day I was hired here at Tinker," Ms. Vaughn said. "There were all these people in a room wanting to be hired and by the end of the day they had let some of them go home. My name hadn't been called to be sent home, so I stayed until late that afternoon. They finally called me in and said, 'Well do you want to work?' I said yes. I was very nervous when I first started work. 
   "When I learned I would have to do briefings for a training position, I was so terrified. I had watched someone do a briefing and I saw how he got ripped to shreds and it scared me to death. So I decided to get into Toastmasters, which helped me overcome my fear of briefing. Whoever I was briefing, I knew they were just like me and just wanted their questions answered.
   " When Ms. Vaughn first began her journey at Tinker, 31 years ago as a GS-3 clerk/typist for Security Police she said it was on a completely different side of the base than where she is today. She mentioned she wasn't familiar with Bldg. 3001 or what went on in it until she came to work there in 1985. 
   Over the years Ms. Vaughn has held seven jobs here at Tinker. "The most fun job I've had was a voucher examiner," she said. "I had fun getting to interact with people everyday that were traveling and enjoyed meeting the different types of people that came through the office. 
   In her current position as chief, financial advisor, Ms. Vaughn said she enjoys getting to know how everything works. She said it's exciting to see the group commanders do what they can in their support of the warfighters. 
   Ms. Vaughn said her grandmother inspired her. When Ms. Vaughn started in Bldg. 3001 in a training position, her grandmother told her, "A GS-9 is about as high as blacks can get out there." Ms. Vaughn says she recalls thinking to herself, "Why; that isn't as high as I'm intending to go." Ever since then Ms. Vaughn was inspired to do better. 
   "I was inspired not to be limited by what my grandmother thought my limitations were," she stated. While climbing to the top Ms. Vaughn said the way she was able to balance a family and career was by prioritizing.
    "Some things I don't think I've balanced too well, I deal with what I need to deal with at the time," she said. "I prioritize based on the needs of my family, myself and the job." 
   The person who stood out to Ms. Vaughn was Altheda Anderson, who was over the Education and Training Partnership.
    "I really looked up to her, she was someone I admired," Ms. Vaughn said. "I remember I had my interview for my current job the same day as her funeral, I thought that she would be proud of me. She really paved the way for me; someone has to pave the way for us sometimes to get somewhere. I only hope I have paved the way for someone in the future. 
   "I remember hearing about Martin Luther King Jr.'s death. It was on my sister's birthday, we were having her party when we found out and we all had mixed emotions. My parents told us even though he was gone we had to carry on; someone had to pick up the stick and move forward. We've always been told not to let your circumstances define you. The things that happen to you in life don't define who you are. You determine what type of person you want to be. I remember very distinctively being told you cannot always control what happens to you but you can control how you react."