Erica Rivera
ON THE ONE hand, the actions Erica Rivera takes could end up saving someone’s life.
On the other, she helps people fulfill their lives’ dreams: that of owning homes of their own.
Rivera, a lifelong Yuman, is a 911 dispatcher for the city of a Yuma and a licensed real estate agent for The Realty Agency in Yuma.
Rivera, who also has worked as a human resources specialist and contracts coordinator for the city, became an emergency dispatcher about 13 years ago.
“Whether it’s a call for a lost dog or a baby not breathing, you have to let the person on the other end of the call know that you’re there and you’re not letting go until help arrives,” she said. “No two calls are the same and you never know what’s on the other side of that phone ringing. You start each call with a blank mindset. It feels good at the end when you know that person is safe.
“Being a 911 emergency dispatcher can
Erica Rivera What is your favorite quote? “I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” –Sarah Williams, “Twilight Hours: A Legacy Of Verse”
be stressful, it can be heartbreaking, it can suck the life out of you. Being a 911 emergency dispatcher is also very rewarding and emotionally and mentally gratifying knowing you have saved the life of a person’s loved one. That in itself makes it worth the tears and the emotions worthwhile.”
She has also found plenty of rewards the past four years as a real estate agent, one of which is meeting people and
hearing their stories.
Rivera foresees the day she will have her own real estate brokerage and “continuing to build what I have already started to build.”
For now, she says, her most memorable professional moment has been earning a bachelor’s degree while holding down a full-time job and raising two daughters on her own. Besides doing all that, she started work as a student in the Certified Public Manager’s program through Arizona State University.
Outside of her responsibilities as a dispatcher and real estate agent, Rivera serves as president of the governing board of the Southwest Technical Education District of Yuma and has volunteered with a number of non profit organizations, among them Relay for Life.