d'Lisa Davies
Los Angeles City
d’Lisa, recently retired as Captain I, LAFD after 31 years of service. She is the oldest of 8 children born in Tucson, Arizona. d’Lisa admits being an unequivocal tomboy, who would participate in any sport, at any time, against anyone from an early age. The love of volleyball, basketball and softball, was the motivation to coach throughout life. d’Lisa, also an Army veteran, mother of 1, Nana of 1 and auntie of “many!”
The first 22 years of the fire service were spent in the high incident areas, serving South Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights and Highland Park, representing many of the areas of Los Angeles where she grew up as a kid. d’Lisa then was asked by the Fire Chief to increase women and underrepresented community numbers when assigned to the Recruitment Unit. During that assignment, programs were successfully developed and included: the Mentoring program, Mock Oral Interview preparation, CPAT simulated practice and testing, military recruitment, the literature translation program and the high school outreach recruitment program. Other accomplishments included Recruitment Conferences/Expos of 2002, 2003, 2004 and the 25 Year Celebration of Women in the Fire Service.
d’Lisa continued her contributions through the Fire Chief's Inter-group Relations Committee, Terrorism Committee, Women's Focus groups, Public Service Officer (PSO) or voice of the department, Incident Management Team for the EOC and DOC and instructor for the Metro F.I.R.E. Academy.
In 2005, d’Lisa was again nominated by the Fire Chief to the California Professional Firefighter's (CPF-JAC) Committee to Recruit Women in the Fire Service. As a Commissioner, working with women throughout the state, provided a larger platform to continue recruitment of women and underrepresented communities into the fire service. d’Lisa provided the committee the framework and statistical successes for different aspects of recruitment for the military, mentoring and interview preparation. d’Lisa has put on interview preparation workshops for the JAC, the African American Museum and the Stentorian’s.
Promoted to Captain in 2009, d’Lisa was assigned to the Bureau of Fire Prevention and Safety, supervising the Legal Liaison Unit and the Environmental Unit/CUPA until retirement. d’Lisa is known for her organizational and leadership skills and is recognized nationally, especially State and Federal inter-agency interactions. In 2010, d’Lisa was inducted into the Ford Company, Southern California Freedom Sisters Traveling Museum.
What does d’Lisa claim as the motivation for success? My father taught us that “you can do anything you put your mind to do. There is no such thing as the word can’t in our family’s vocabulary. Stand up for injustice. Always leave everything you touch in better condition than you found it!”
Thoughts for the future – “I believe the founding group of ladies have laid significant framework for women in the future. I will pass my baton to the next generation of ladies coming into the fire service. I am proud and honored for the opportunity to contribute to the women’s commission!”