PLP 09 Profile: Jaime Areizaga

Name: Jaime Areizaga
Age: 39
Born: Grew up in Puerto Rico.
Current Digs: Live in Arlington County and work as White House Fellow to the Secretary of Treasury.
Occupation: Attorney & Army National Guard Officer
Favorite part about the job? Using in the public sector what I have learned in school, university, law school, life and in the private sector.
Your first job ever? Was a paperboy from 5th grade to junior year in high school.
Favorite book?  The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck.  The first two chapters (Discipline and Love) are superb!
Favorite movie?  A Place in the World (it is an Argentine movie about our search for our place in the world; for me, after living in a number of states and countries, that place is Virginia!)
Comfort food?  A good glass of red wine (Malbec or Chianti are preferred) with some good prosciutto, cheese, and olives (always in the company of loved ones).
What's in your car CD player right now (or favorites on your iPod)?  Listen to lively dancing music and romantic songs in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French from a variety of singers.  Favorite voices are Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, Danny Rivera and Marisa Monte.
Next journey?  Although I have been in Hong Kong, I look forward to visiting China.
Favorite Virginia vacation spot?  Monticello: the feeling of being at Monticello is an amazing experience in so many ways (the person, the history, the architect, the farmer, the politician, the thinker and the contradictions).
First political memory?  Being at the White House with President Reagan for the state visit of President Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador.
Whom do you admire and why?  Although I can say Colin Powell (he is the epitome of a modern-day leader), I must say Roberto Clemente (Pirates #21).  I admire how this poor black Puerto Rican excelled as a baseball player, led the way for Latino players in the Major Leagues, while always remembering the common people.  Indeed, he died on a humanitarian mission to Nicaragua after the 1972 earthquake.
Best advice you ever got?  Keep reaching for the stars, but keep your feet on the ground!
If you could have dinner with any one currently living, whom would it be and why?  President Barack Obama because he is leading our country in dealing with the most difficult domestic challenges since the Depression.
Describe a perfect day. One in which I can make our great Commonwealth, Nation and World a better place, i.e., every day is a perfect day!  Otherwise, try to miss one.
One thing most people might be surprised to learn about you?  I founded a baseball team for low-income Brazilian teenagers and ended up being the captain/pitcher of the team (although I was twice their age!).
Ambition, political or otherwise?  Other than being a good husband and a good father, I want to improve our society by serving in the executive or legislative branches of our Commonwealth or Nation.