Two Pittsburgh FBI employees make us Proud to Be From Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH — March is Women’s History Month, so the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office nominated two women for Proud to Be From Pittsburgh.

“I never thought that I would even qualify for a position such as this,” said Nicole Warner, Telecommunications Manager at the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office.

Warner is breaking barriers within the FBI. She is one of only three women working as a telecommunications manager across the country, and she’s right here in Pittsburgh.

Warner oversees the electronic technicians who install cameras and radio towers.

Though only 20 of them are women out of 560 nationwide positions, “Don’t let that discourage you. It can be done,” Warner said.

She worked hard to get where she is today. Warner has been with the FBI since 1999. Her love for technology and engineering started in high school.

“A lot of times when I talk to the youth I tell them what the requirements (are) while they’re in high school,” Warner said. “If I see a female, I kind of go up to them and I encourage them that they can do this.”

Supervisory Special Agent Rachel Wolford knew she wanted to be in law enforcement since she was a kid.

“I like to tell folks, you think you have to fit a mold to be in the FBI, but that’s not true,” Wolford said.

She knows that first hand, now as a supervisor of a special agent squad at the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office.

Wolford is one of 115 female agents and non-agents out of 316 people who work for the FBI in Pittsburgh and West Virginia. Though there’s only one woman on her squad, Wolford said the most recent group of special agents to come through were almost all women.

“I don’t want to be highlighted or recognized because I’m a woman. I also don’t want pushed aside because I’m a woman. I just want to do my job the best I can, just like anybody else,” Wolford said.

Proud to be from Pittsburgh: Mother’s clothing donation program helping hundreds of families