Christina Tomlinson, Minister Counselor for Public Affairs for the U.S. State Department in Brussels, Belgium, came to speak at the BYU Political Science Public Affairs Lecture series on Thursday, March 1, 2018. She described her career path, beginning with growing up in Virginia, in the Mount Vernon Stake, and then through the State Department in Islamabad, Pakistan, Istanbul, Turkey, Budapest, Hungary, Guangzhou, China and Vientiane, Laos, finally landing in Brussels where she currently serves. She has worked with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary Condoleezza Rice, among many other U.S. Government officials and Presidents. She reminded us that the State Department was the first Department created by the U.S. Government, and that Thomas Jefferson was the first Secretary of State, from March 1790 through December 1793.
When Christina first began to apply for a job at the State Department, she searched until she found someone to take her call at the Department, and in that fateful conversation she told the State Department official: “I will go anywhere, and I speak Lao.” The only vacancy the State Department had at the time was in Laos. So, they hired her, and she went to the Embassy in Laos. Based on that experience, her advice is that there is no typical career path, and that success is based on three things: “Luck, Providence, and Hard Work.” All of those helped her get to the State Department. One of her mentors told her, “Find something you love to do and get someone to pay you to do it.” And so, she did. Of the Foreign Service Exam, she said, “Take it until you pass.” She advised that we “Take the hard job,” and she did, in Pakistan and other places, where she helped natives learn to love the United States.
Christina learned that public service is important and that it is an honor to serve—an honorable experience and interesting. Specific lessons she has learned during her career, include: Have a life outside of your career; Have a well-rounded life; Have something that you are passionate about (she likes to collect rugs); Volunteerism develops character; Living overseas teaches about what is important, such as, some countries restrict religious freedom. We have religious freedom in America and we should be grateful for it. Finally, she said that if you want to make a change in your life, don’t wait for the perfect opportunity or a “big” idea. Small ideas help us become what we need to be.
Thank you, Christina, for a wonderful presentation.