Administrative Professionals Day 2026 is celebrated on Wednesday, April 22, to recognize the essential work of administrative staff, including secretaries, assistants, and support professionals. It is also celebrated all month in April. For our Administrative Professional Empowerment Series, Plan Dulce Hosts Michelle E. Zuñiga, PhD, AICP (she/her/hers) and Haydee Urita-Lopez (she/her/hers) interview Beatrice Pacheco (she/her/ella), Chief Clerk at the City of Los Angeles’ Planning Department.

Beatrice Pacheco is originally from East Los Angeles, California, and lived in the City of La Puente.

In 1984 Beatrice joined the Army and she became an Administrative Specialist, she left for her first permanent duty station at Fort Red Cloud in Uijeongbu, South Korea. After that tour of duty she was stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington state where she married and remained until 1987.

After her Army life she worked various clerical jobs at private companies and right before she joined the City of Los Angeles, she worked at one of the most rewarding jobs she’d had. It was with a glue factory in the City of Industry and was only 10 minutes away from home. This was a rewarding position because she learned how to purchase high dollar raw materials which were used to produce the glue sold to companies like Bear and Vista Paint. She also learned how to manage large amounts of inventory and how to supervise a warehouse. Knowing that she needed to provide for her son and herself, being a single parent, she decided to apply for the City of Los Angeles.

Beatrice applied for the City’s entry level position of Clerk Typist in 2000 and was hired joining the LAPD City Attorney Liaison Unit. They took in misdemeanor cases and assisted the public with their case status. She was promoted to Senior Administrative Clerk in 2001 with the Department of Building and Safety and then came to Planning on a promotion to Principal Clerk with the Records Management Unit of the Planning Department in 2007. Beatrice is still with the Planning Department and was promoted to Chief Clerk in 2014 which is her current position.

Beatrice considers herself fortunate enough to have a wonderful team in the Records unit and has created great relationships with their management staff and the office of the City Attorney’s office. This has been instrumental in her success as the Custodian of Records for the Department because she handles the Public Records Act Requests and Subpoenas that are served. As she looks towards retirement in a couple of years, she is so proud of those that she has mentored and who have been promoted to other positions. That has been one of her greatest accomplishments while working for the City of Los Angeles.

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Plan Dulce is a podcast by members of the ⁠⁠Latinos and Planning Division⁠ of the American Planning Association⁠. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only.

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This episode was conceived, written, and produced by Haydee Urita-Lopez (she/her/hers), Michelle E. Zuñiga, PhD, AICP (she/her/hers) and co-produced by Vidal F. Márquez (he/him).

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