Metro celebrates Women’s History Month: from chasing spies to Chief of Safety

Transportation isn’t a man’s world any longer –– if it ever had been at all. More and more, women are leading the charge when it comes to moving us around LA. This Women’s History Month, we’ll be sharing stories and tips from a few of our amazing female employees. Whether they’re improving our stations or they’re driving your bus, these women are responsible for making your trips safe, comfortable, and timely. Next up in our series –– Gina Osborn, Metro’s Chief of Safety. Keep reading to learn more about her perspective on leadership.  

“The biggest joke God played on my dad was to give him two daughters,” Gina Osborn told me. “He treated us and raised us as boys.”  

As a Marine and the son of an Army First Sergeant, Gina’s dad was “man’s man.”  He was honest, humble, and expected his girls to be responsible and accountable for their actions.  After he completed his service, he became a plumbing contractor and owned a junkyard in Tempe, Arizona.  

Every summer, Gina and her older sister helped their dad with his business. He always gave them two options. The first was to work outside in the yard, stacking bricks for a penny a brick. The second was to assist him with office work (in the air conditioning), which mostly consisted of typing letters to his friends and colleagues.  

The two girls always chose the first option. It could get to be over 100 degrees in the summer (which felt even hotter if you were working outside in the sun), but typing those letters (even if you were doing it in an air-conditioned office) was no cakewalk. Gina’s dad was very particular about grammar and punctuation and did not tolerate mistakes. And this was the typewriter era. The girls didn’t have the luxury of the ‘delete’ button. 

This kind of upbringing shaped Gina’s outlook on her future career. She believed that she could do or be anything, regardless of preconceived gender roles.  

Mission accomplished? We think so.   

Gina Osborn’s career trajectory covers the kind of territory that you often only run across in movies. While working her way through college  as a cocktail waitress, Gina was discussing her future plans with a guest, when she learned about careers in Army intelligence, Gina joined the Army and spent six years as a counterintelligence special agent –– yes, that meant chasing Cold War spies! This was followed by a 22-year stint in the FBI where she specialized in organized crime, counterterrorism and cyberwarfare. She rose to become the Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Cyber and Computer Forensics for FBI Los Angeles.  

In early 2022, Gina came to Metro to lead our safety and security efforts during one of the most challenging times in the agency’s history. “I got my Ph.D. in dealing leading through chaos, crisis and change here at Metro,” Gina told me. Yet the opportunity to serve riders and staff –– and to see her team’s hard work result in more riders using the system and fewer reported crimes –– makes her job endlessly rewarding.   

Gina shared that it’s natural to follow the examples of the people around us when we’re learning to become leaders. In her experience working in male-dominated fields, that often meant adopting conventionally “male” characteristics. But becoming an authentic leader, Osborn told me, isn’t about copying what your peer is doing. It’s about playing to your strengths.  

Watch the video to learn more.