From SPU to Google

Fabricio Turcios ’12 | Account Manager Google

Darnell Summers, 57, makes $7.25 an hour as a fry cook in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In early February 2014, he asked President Obama, “What can you and Congress do to help people in my situation survive?” on a live interactive video chat hosted by Google.

Darnell was one of thousands of Americans who submitted a question to #AskObama2014 on YouTube. Fabricio Turcios ’12 and his team at Google watched recording after recording and selected Darnell to query Obama in real time. “As you can imagine, choosing nine people to ask the president any question they’d like is not easy and a huge deal,” says Turcios, who majored in history and minored in women’s studies. “I love using technology as a bridge between people, especially for those who are often marginalized.”

Concern for the unrepresented is something Turcios witnessed in his Seattle Pacific professors. He took classes from Kim Segall, associate professor of English, whenever he could because she wove social justice issues into the curriculum. “She strategically tied feminism, faith, and culture together in a way that challenged students to think outside of the box,” Turcio says.

During and after his time at SPU, Turcios has sought mentors who are women and people of color, because he wants to learn from those who have “had to be the firsts in their fields, families, etc.”

While working at a Seattle start-up after graduating from SPU, Turcios was discovered by Google through one of his mentors. Turcios now works in New York City, where he is an account manager for one of Google’s top 20 clients.

“I love that I work for a company that allows anyone to have a voice, and in that way, it reminds me a lot of SPU.”