[Lui:] Starting tonight right here in the NEWSROOM, we're profiling Latinos who overcame obstacles and shattered stereotypes to make some history. It's part of our new series, "Pioneros, Latino First." Our focus tonight on this Labor Day weekend is Hilda Solis, the nation's first Latino Labor secretary. She spoke with CNN's Brianna Keilar.
[Hilda Solis, U.s. Labor Secretary:] So help me God.
[Joe Biden, Vice President Of The United States:] God love you.
[Brianna Keilar, Cnn Correspondent:] Secretary, what do you think of where you are today?
[Solis:] It's amazing. Just really amazing to be here, to be seated as a cabinet member and the first Latina in the Obama administration. And it's a dream.
[Keilar:] When you received the call from, well, then President- elect Obama, what was your first thought knowing that this opportunity was open to you?
[Solis:] I was very proud. I mean, I think it's it was very unexpected. But our president is a very, very giving man. Very, very open, very much about bringing in diversity and coalescing with different people. So I think he took a lot of people by surprise.
[Keilar:] How important is it to have someone be the first so that it is it breaking a ceiling in a way? Is it breaking a barrier to make this more likely in the future?
[Solis:] I think it is. And all you have to do is look at the election that took place last year. Having the first African-American president in our lifetime, that's amazing. The fact that this is one of the most diverse cabinets that we've seen in the history of our presidencies is amazing to me. And I feel very honored to have colleagues like Hillary Clinton, who's a friend, to see Ken Salazar, former U.S. senator who is also a high-ranking Latino serving in the Department of Interior. To have people like Eric Holder, African-American serving as our attorney general, I mean, these are capable, talented and intelligent individuals so I feel I feel like, gee, what a wonderful opportunity to be able to serve as colleagues with them.
[Keilar:] There must have been a point in time, if you would share with us, when it was clear to you that it was harder because you are a Latina. Was there ever a time?
[Solis:] Certainly I know people have doubted my capability or my intelligence or, you know, what I bring to the table. And you often get tested in that way, and I think the first example that I often refer to is in high school. And the fact that my original high school counselor, not the one that encouraged me to go to college, the one that you get assigned by alphabet in high school actually had asked me, well, you know, Hilda, what are you going to do? You're in 11th grade. You have a year to go here. What are your career choices? And I said well, I don't know. Well, why don't you follow he tells me why don't you follow along with what your sister your older sister did and become a secretary. And that's what his sights were for me.
[Keilar:] You did become a secretary.
[Solis:] Surprisingly, a cabinet secretary.
[Keilar:] Not what he was suggesting.
[Solis:] Exactly. And the counselor who was saying that I should be a secretary actually told my mother that, well, you know, Miss Solis, your daughter isn't college material. So, I mean, that, to me, and my mother, I think, really just kind of made us want to work even harder and for her to support me more. So it meant more. It just created more internal energy on our parts to really do something that goes against the grain. And when I think about it now, I think about all those students that were told, oh, no. Here. Just do that. Just settle for that. You'll be fine. You'll make due. And I think, no, this has got to change. So one of the things I did after I did get admitted to the four- year college was to go back to my high school, and I recruited other students who had similar backgrounds, same grades and things like that and told them that they could go to college, too. That year we ended up recruiting about 25 students from that high school.
[Keilar:] When you look at your bio, there is this list of firsts for you. And I think the one that really sticks out is the first first is being the first person in your family. A large family, you have several siblings. The first person in your family to graduate college. How important was that, being the first in your family to graduate college?
[Solis:] It was very important, and I think it's important for other families to think about that, too. That in typically in our culture young women aren't always encouraged because many there aren't many people in the family that have gone on to college to share that experience and to encourage the parents to understand the importance and significance what that means. So it is important for that to kind of be a lesson for other people to know that it's possible to have changes like that coming maybe even influenced from outside sources like a high school counselor who happen to take an interest on what I was doing and thought I was capable of going to college.
[Keilar:] How hard is it right now to have this job that you have?
[Solis:] You know, we've inherited this very bad economic crisis which started officially December 2007. But I know in the community where I grew up and that I represented as a member of Congress, we were seeing high numbers of unemployment way before 2000. I could see figures going up high, always in the Hispanic community, the African- American community, disadvantaged where you saw people struggling.
[Keilar:] Is the Latino American experience in this recession different than the American experience of it?
[Solis:] It's harder, yes. They definitely have higher rates of unemployment. And we see that women, Latina women are the ones that are really bearing the brunt of this, because they are typically the ones that keep the household together. So they're tending to their children or having to work another or maybe two part-time jobs or minimum wage jobs, they are really feeling a lot of pressure. And I know and I know that and I see it. I see it in the faces when I go out to different communities whether it's San Antonio, Texas, East Los Angeles or Miami, Florida, or in New York or in Chicago. I was just, you know, visiting some places there, some work experience, job experience places there, and saw that there was a lot of there's a lot of concern and anxiety, but at the same time when I get to talk to people and explain what our programs are, there's a change in their attitude. And their eyes light up and they're looking to see how they can get engaged and take advantage of these programs. And so that's what I want to do. I want to inform people about opportunities that the Department of Labor can offer to them, and I want to do in a way that will impact the Hispanic community and other communities that are also in great need right now.
[Keilar:] As a member of President Obama's cabinet, what do you bring from your background that enlightens what you do as the secretary of Labor, that enlightens what you say when you are at that table near the Oval Office?
[Solis:] Well, I think about why I was why I was selected, and a lot of it has to do with, you know, your record. What have you done before in the past? What issues have you cared about? And those issues continue to be about working families, about continuing to help improve the quality of life for young children and for young adults, and for seniors to help our economy, you know, repair itself right now. All these things I have worked on throughout my 25 years of public service. And I feel like I've come full circle, so I have the confidence about knowing what I stand for and what voice I would like to project. And it's not Hilda Solis' voice. It's the voice of women. It's the voice of people wanting to see justice in the workplace, wanting to have equality of education opportunities, equal pay, and to see that we have more access for diverse communities. So when I speak, it isn't just Hilda, the Latina cabinet member, it's Hilda the person who's bringing these other experiences with her.
[Lui:] Join us every week at this time as we profile more Latino firsts. Next week, we talk live with Oscar Hijuelos, the author of "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" and the first Hispanic to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. And coming this October, an in-depth look at what it's like to be "Latino in America." Its coverage you'll only see on CNN. It was a tarrying scene on a school bus in Mississippi, but fast thinking by one of the students prevented a tragedy. And then later, this picture pretty much says it all. We'll explain how this car ended up in this house.