"I started to question my self-worth": A first-generation vet tech on belonging, access to care, and her journey through vet med

For Hispanic Heritage Month, dvm360 spoke with Melody Martínez, CVT, executive director of the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association. Drawing from a career that has spanned general practice, emergency medicine, and animal sanctuary work, Martínez reflects on her path through the profession and the challenges she encountered as a person of color and first-generation college student from a working-class background. In her discussion, Martínez speaks candidly about the systemic inequities she witnessed in practice, her love for animals, her experience with not always feeling seen or valued for the bicultural perspective she brings to the profession, and the rewarding moments that also helped shape each chapter in her career.

Partial transcript:

Martínez: This is what I say to most managers and practice owners: What does it take to keep your staff? Aside from seeing them as just a technician who provides X, Y, and Z, what's going to keep Melody interested, excited, and loyal to this practice and to this profession?

You [have] to look at that for every single individual who works there. What's going to keep them in their role? How do we start to expand your role or give you opportunities to grow and innovate within your role?

That's what I was looking for, and, unfortunately, it wasn't offered to me. [It was this] sort of cookie-cutter [way]—you have to be X, Y, [and] Z, [and] you have to have gone through this traditional route to be a veterinary technician. And if you didn't take that very traditional route, then what are you doing here?

That was the message I received, even if it wasn't explicitly said.... And so, I [thought], "I guess I don't belong here anymore. I [have to] go." That was really heartbreaking for me. That was a pivotal moment in vet med for me.

Transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.