The James Lyons Kings Listen to this. He's got evidence and Steve Steve who is it? Brad Evans. He's got it again. Happy days ahead again. Bernie with a private Steve Zucka warning. He's an attacking threat Brad Evans. It's gonna be so weird. The party has started. Mani Morales. Assistant director of the Federal Employee Program at Regents Blue Shield is being honored as a community hero as part of the Behind the Shield series in partnership with Sounders FC.
Content series profiling both Sounders players and Regents employees celebrates the humans responsible for bringing both the Sounders and Regents brands to life. Each Regents community hero is honoured for their dedication to improving the health and wellness of the community's Regents serves.
Each Regents hero will be featured on the Sounders website and honoured at a select Sounders FC home match where they will be recognised pre-match, watch player warm-ups from field level and have an exclusive meet and greet with their behind the shield player after the game. Mani Morales, who joined Regents in 2011, leads the quality team for the Federal Employee Program at Regents. He's also a leader in diversity and inclusion at the company.
He serves as co-chair for the home of Latin Xs and Allies or all of a short Employee Resource Group where he played a key role in establishing an Employee Resource Group mentorship programme. In 2023 he won a Value and Ethics Award, one of the company's highest honours for his work promoting health equity, diversity and inclusion. Mani lives in Tacoma and is a first-generation Mexican-American. His parents emigrated for Mexico in 1980 and settled in Hood River, Oregon.
He grew up on a fruit farm overlooking the Columbia River Gorge and spent his childhood helping his parents during the Apple and Cherry Harvest. Mani, thanks for joining us. As we were getting familiar with your story, one of the things that really stuck out or shined through was that for your many roles at Regents is a passion for people and for giving back. Whenever I see that in people, that's one of the things that I value a lot in people.
Seeing that through your story was really cool to see. Let me ask, where does that come from? Have you always been that way? Did you have people that gave back to you? Where did that passion and commitment and the focus of? I'm going to be someone that gives back to my community. Where's that birth from? Thanks, Steve. First of all, thanks for having me. I'm kind of like, you guys are like celebrities, right?
I told my family I was here and they're like, oh man, so super excited to chat with you, Steve and Brad. I think it comes from my own experiences growing up to give you a little bit backstory. My family, my family, a parent who are Mexican, right? So they immigrated here in like 1980 as teenagers, like 16 and 17 years old. They came here, no community really here.
Latino community was really small in Oregon where we moved up and we really needed to create that community from the ground up, basically to adapt into society here. What I kind of saw in my parents is that like my mom, she's a super strong advocate, like at her work, making sure that people have the right benefits, people understand what they're doing as well. My dad is well leading. He works in the agriculture industry as well on the farm and he's a leader for a lot of the workers.
And I kind of saw them helping others and them creating that community, like what that does to help really improve the lives of others. So I think it really comes from my parents and my culture and I think that's what I like about regions and the sounders as well as like the commitment to community, right, into helping others out.
For me and my work, what we try to do is for the people in the state of Washington, we try to make sure that people get to their, people are able to schedule their appointments with their doctor, that people, certain groups that may need some extra financial help that they get that help so that they can go into the doctor and they can afford it. So that's kind of where it comes from. It's kind of my background, my experience is growing up.
Before we get to like the nitty-gritty questions, have you ever played soccer? Yes, I did actually. I grew up playing soccer all the way to like the seventh grade to junior high school. And I was a midfielder and then I went to goalie and then I stopped growing at some point so I didn't get any taller or any faster. So I stopped there. I stopped there really. It's super fun. My dad played it growing up and obviously we, when the US and Mexico play, it's kind of kind of torn.
Like who do we go for, the US or Mexico? But yeah, I have played soccer. It's great. It sounds like you know what it's like to be a part of a team and as well as your dad. So do you feel like those team values were passed down from your dad to you and now does it feel with regents and your other ventures that team kind of thought process goes into everything that you do? Yeah. I think, you know, Brad, that's really good.
I think one of the quotes that kind of stands out for me is like, you know, you go, I think it's like you go fast. If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together and that's the same time type of mentality, you know, especially, you know, you as, I think you were a captain right at some point of the team, like leading a team. You were only, you know, basically you're only successful as, you know, as everybody on the team working together, right?
So I think that's super, super important and it takes all of us to do a good job to make it successful. So, I mean, that's a great point. It kind of segues into you not just working at regents, but your other ventures. You want to talk about those with the, you know, your co leading the employee resource group at Regents for Latinx employees, which is really important and the acronym of Ola pops up. Yeah. Which is awesome. I love that.
What does that mean to you and kind of how did you get involved there? Yeah. No, thanks for asking. I think I, so I'm, I just turned 40. So I think I'm at like the middle of my career, or, you know, where I'm trying to find more connections of like, okay, what am I trying to do here? And basically what happened was during COVID, we went all into lockdown. I think a lot of us did and I had a lot more time to think about what I was doing.
And I felt like I was missing a connection of like myself at work and where I could like fully be myself. And that's where I saw an opportunity to join Ola, which is home of Latinx and the allies and it's an employee resource group here at Regents. We really focus on reading a community for us, making sure that, you know, we are focusing on personal and professional growth, mental health, making sure that we're involved in the community and helping out.
We're not just doing a job, you know, it's, it's a little bit more than that. And so I think that's super important to me. And that's kind of how I've gotten involved in some other areas as well through that.
And it's not only that, you know, your commitment goes even beyond that, you know, with, you know, volunteer with the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, which I think, you know, when I notes it says, no, it's really just giving guidance to students that are pursuing healthcare, which obviously is a field you know about and STEM careers as well. So you don't stop, you just keep going, so how did you get involved with that? Yeah, thanks.
Actually, it is through the employee resource group, OLA, that I got involved. They, you know, they said, so I grew up, so I went to college. I was in a STEM field in the, OLA, they sent out Washington State Opportunity Scholarship as one of our partner organizations similar to like the sounders we connected through them through that. And they sent out an ask asking for mentors. And I read about it. I'm like, wow, this is exactly what I experienced.
These are students that are come from, you know, the state of Washington that come from similar backgrounds that need some help in their career and transitioning from college, from school, into the work environment. And you know, things that we talk about are like, how do you write a resume? You know, how do you interview? What to expect that your first job? Like, there's no roadmap for this. So it's like, I'm there as kind of like their coach. So they're mentor to kind of helping them.
And you know, I know Steve, I know you coach that Bell of you. And I know that you let them to their first league title. And it's like, it's so rewarding seeing the students like the younger players succeed. Right. Yeah, I did. And we've both been on Brad's coaching now in high school. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we have ad groove. I think it's, yeah, it's a very, one of the more fulfilling things I've done like in my career. And it wasn't even me scoring the goals.
And it was just was actually watching them come together as a group. So yeah, that's a great point. It does, we all know. So what the founders and Ray Foundation, we know what play equity means, right? Can you touch on what health equity means in the community to you and maybe even specific to it doesn't even have to be specific to the Latinx population because I think it spans beyond that as well. Obviously, you're you're in Ola and that's kind of your lane. But what is health equity?
I think to me health equity select, there's like these predefined terms of what health equity means. And me, it's meeting where people where they are at. I think a lot of people start off, start off in different, I would say, you know, there's like a, it's almost like I would say characterized life as like, you know, some people start off closer to the goal than others, like kind of a different starting point.
And so it's really meeting people where they're at and making sure that everybody can get the assistance they need to, you know, to have a level playing field. So in some cases, what that means is in my job, you know, we offer incentives, we, you know, we give people rewards for going to the doctor for getting certain screenings done. And because otherwise they may not be able to afford it or, or maybe translating documents into other languages because they don't really understand, right?
And so it's making sure that we're meeting people where we're at, where they're at. Kind of what health equity means. I think that's powerful. Really cool. I didn't have to have met you to know, I can, we can tell this about you right away that what you're doing is coming from a pure place. Like you're not doing this. We don't, you don't get involved in stuff you're doing for accolades or for awards or recognition, but you are going to be honored. So we're going to give that to you anyway.
How does it feel to be honored as a community hero by Sounders FC? You know, I'm so humble, you know, I just came out of nowhere for me. It's super, super, I mean, I've listened to, I've read and I've listened to the stories that you guys have shared of some of the other heroes and amazing. And I'm just so lucky to be kind of alongside that. But I think it's really like, you know, I just think it's like, you know, like you said, I don't do it for the accolades.
I think my career has taken off as I've really gotten more invested in, you know, more, basically, or myself invested into the work that I do. And I think that just when you do that, when you focus on who you are and being yourself, I think that just, that just translates into other areas of your life.
And so I think I think that's kind of the, the positive that I've had overall is that, you know, just being myself, you know, doing this kind of like you said from the heart, like I'm not doing it for anything. I think that's become so valuable for my life lesson. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure you're super excited. We're stoked. What is the one thing you're most excited about being at the stadium and just being in front of the fans? Oh, so amazing.
So actually, I was at the game against the Timbers on last Saturday and it was insane. It was so loud. It was, I felt like, I feel like the founders, like the staff, the team, everybody in that arena is like locked in. They're so supportive. They're so great. My parents were there too. They were, you know, my siblings were there too and it was so loud. They have never experienced anything that loud. And I'll have to say my parents, my siblings, they're Portland Timbers fans, right?
And they're like, the Portland Timbers don't get as loud as the founders. And I was like, I know, it's so loud there. So it was awesome. I love it. It's great. Amazing. Well, looking forward to having you. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and hear about your story on this. And again, congrats on being, you know, it's not widely doing it but still congrats on being acknowledged and honored and long made you continue to do the good work, man. I appreciate it so much.
Thanks Steve. Thanks Brad. Alright, Christian Wal, I want to begin. I think a lot of people that follow your career, watch you see how close you are to your family. So if you can just speak to sort of like the role that your family's had in one, the player that you've developed into, but also that the person that you are, just sort of the importance of your family, the one for your life.
Yeah, well, number one, my parents have always been, well, they emphasize, you know, being a hard worker, right? And we kind of see that in my game, in Alex's game, right? The first characteristic that you think of from the role dawns is, you know, they bust their butt on the field, right? So that comes from the parents, right? You know, my parents didn't come here with much, right? They've had to work really hard to put a roof over our head and make the American dream come true.
They always emphasize, you know, being a hard worker in school. And then obviously that translates to soccer as well. So, you know, you could see it in the video, right? We talked about where they come from in humble beginnings and just remembering those characteristics as we grow as humans.
Yeah. I know where this answer is going to go, but I'm going to ask it anyway, because I can tell by the way you were talking there, but has your appreciation for your parents grown since you yourself now have become a father, a parent? Yeah, it's definitely grown. I mean, it's grown a whole lot, you know, it's a whole new appreciation for what they've done for my family and my brothers.
You know, the sacrifices they made to allow us to play the sport, allow us to live a humble, family-friendly life. You know, my dad used to work nights and he would literally go from work to, you know, the tournament where we'd have three games and, you know, he'd sleep in the car just so that we can, you know, play soccer and enjoy our weekend while he was also enjoying being able to watch his play. And so, you know, that's something that I want to be able to do, right?
Sacrifice for my daughter. And those are decisions that I'll have to make, but my appreciation has definitely grown from my family and my parents. And you know, we'll see that as I grow, I think, as, and as I age for my career, right? Like, health is at the end of the day, like one of the most important things. Yeah, yeah.
What types of traditions, I don't come from a family with a ton of traditions, so I don't if you do or don't, but if any, what type of traditions would you want to pass on to, onto your, onto your own kid and maybe traditions slash values as well that you were given? Yeah, values, culture, you know, one number one is speaking Spanish, right? That's something that I want my daughter to be able to, to be bilingual. That's something that we really emphasized.
That was really emphasized for us as kids. You know, we grew up speaking Spanish first, right? It was also, it happened to be because my parents only knew Spanish. And so we were kind of forced into that, but now I kind of want to force that to my daughter. You know, something that also comes to my attention is, you know, tamales during Christmas time, right? That is the best time to bring the family closer together. We bond over food.
You know, we, in the video, we make pubusas, but tamales is another, you know, thing that we like to, we Latinos like to do during Christmas time because it ends up bringing the family closer together. So, a couple things, for sure, that I want to do and, you know, there are other little things, values, you know, again, like hardworking, you know, not giving up things like that that my parents have always emphasized. Yeah, no, I love that.
Obviously, you know, last season you had a tough time, kind of your first time really having such a long spell away from the pitch, you know, through some of the, the injury situation you went through. Obviously, from experience as well knowing that, you know, in our sport, there's physical injuries, there's mental, part of it is what the mental battle. How would you say sort of your family as supported you through the more difficult times of your career, all right?
You can all see people around us when it's the great time scoring goals, making national team and things like that. But if you had to think of maybe some of the tougher times during your career, how would you speak to your family support during those moments? Well, number one, my family was always there, right? And almost there too much to a fault, right, at times because, you know, when you're dealing with concussion symptoms, it's how are you? How are you? Are you feeling any better?
Are you feeling any better? And there were times where, you know, I wasn't feeling any better, but I would have to like almost say, yeah, I'm feeling better. I'm feeling better. I'm almost there. And the reality was, you know, I was going through a really tough time where I wasn't getting any better. And that drained me, you know, it took the sport away from me. As you know, injuries can lead to depression and anxiety. And for me, that was the case, right?
I didn't know what's tomorrow was going to look like. I didn't know if I was going to step on to the field again the next that year. I didn't know if the symptoms were ever going to go away. And I kind of had to finally accept the fact that, look, I can't control some of these things. But, you know, what I can do is be honest with my family, you know, be honest with my wife, be honest with my parents, my brother, you know, my family, which is, you know, the sounders, the players, the staff.
Look, guys, I'm going through a hard time. You know, I have these symptoms. I'm sad all the time. I have anxiety. I can't be myself around you guys because my head hurts all the time. And you know, it was a reality check for me, right? That, you know, the sport can be taken away from you on an instance, right? One minute I was flying the next, you know, I'm dealing with headaches for six months, right?
And so, you know, it's something that brought me closer because I was able to be honest, you know, and reveal something that I was a little bit vulnerable with, right? I didn't want to express my feelings with my family. You know, that's something that we kind of don't do. And so then it was able to open up an avenue where I was able to kind of share how I was feeling and being able to kind of come together with the vulnerability.
Christian, I will say, for me, you know, since the day you came to the sounders, I've been a big fan as a player. I think as a person watching you grow here and I think some of the words you spoke there, you won't know now, but how many people that's going to help. It's tough because you know, going through my own situation when I did, you don't want to open up. You don't want to, even to yourself first and foremost. Right.
The fact that you know, you're able to verbalize that, are willing and open to share on a platform like this. I think first, kudos to you. And I think you're going to help a lot of people more than you know. And that's going to go beyond just football. So obviously, you're one of the biggest players we've had in the club history, but I think as a person as well, people look up to you. And so I think when I actually is able to open up and vulnerable, that's very important.
So I do want to take the time to make sure that that's acknowledge because it's not easy at all to even bring those words out. You kind of touched on this a little bit. So I want to end here with this question here. So I'll speak to your experience as sort of a first generation American. And then you saw you grew up in a house where espagnol was what was being pushed forward and things like that and some of the things you guys ate and that.
But just for you now being sort of the first generation American, talk to that experience and then we'll end there. Yeah. So look, we spoke Spanish coming in, right, my parents came to the United States not knowing a lick of English. You know, they found a way to manage, right? And then we grew up speaking Spanish and having the same culture, the values that the Hispanics bring, right? That didn't change, right? We were eating much like Guatemalans, El Salvadorians.
But then when we went to school, we had to kind of just and learn English. And that adjustment could be difficult for a lot. You know, bullying can happen, right? Oh, you have a funny accent, right? But and you have to get over that hump and you have to learn fast. And so that was an interesting curve, I think, for all three of us and all first generations, right? You know, you deal with a little bit of adversity in that. You aren't ahead of the curve by any means.
So it is an interesting time going into school and seeing how that translates. But you know, at the end of the day, what helped us so much was the sport, right? Being able to learn English, playing the sport that we love, being able to find a group of community that we are able to be appreciated for. And so, you know, yeah, thankful in the end to be able to play the sport even today and find my community.
But it was especially helpful growing up with not knowing the language and being able to find friends in a community that can rely on. We have really said, Christian, always appreciate your time, look to see your brother. I'm going to wish you the best in the playoffs coming up. We'll be there cheering you on. I appreciate you taking time to come on now. Appreciate it, Steve. Sir, thank you very much.