SteelMaster’s “Stories of Service” series continues to highlight members of our team who have either served in the U.S. military or are a part of a military family. Part 3 of SteelMaster’s 11-part series of American stories features Desiree Lapid-Guiaman, accounting specialist…

Considering the rate at which Desiree Lapid-Guiaman rattles off numbers during a conversation, it is no wonder she enjoys working as an accounting specialist at SteelMaster Buildings.

It was April of 1999 when Desiree, then 20 years old, left her home in the Philippines and moved to California with her mother and two brothers, who were 18 and 19 years old. They reunited with her father and 21-year-old brother who had arrived a few months earlier, and settled in close to her mother’s relatives who had emigrated from the Philippines in years past.

“When we moved to California it sort of felt like coming home because of our extended family who were already living here,” remembers Desiree. “We were together every day in the Philippines, and life just wasn’t the same after they left.”

Within a few months, the landscape of her life shifted again when all three of her brothers joined the U.S. Navy, following in the footsteps of two of her uncle’s who had both retired from the Navy. “When they joined it was a bit of a shock because we are so close in age and had always been together, but it helped that I was living with my mom and dad and we were surrounded by our relatives,” says Desiree.

Then after September 11, 2001, Desiree and her family learned that one of her brothers was deployed to Afghanistan on what turned out to be one of the first ships sent to the area.  “I cried so much when I found out,” says Desiree. “We were all so scared, but thank goodness he made it through his six month deployment just fine and came back safe and sound.”

Also in 2001, Desiree joined her mother and father when they moved again, this time to Virginia Beach, VA, where her father’s family lives. In 2003, she joined SteelMaster Buildings as an accounting specialist and has two years left until she receives her bachelor’s degree in management from Old Dominion University in Norfolk.

“I am so thankful that I live in America and am proud of the work I do for SteelMaster,” says Desiree. “This country is the land of opportunity, and that is something that I will never take for granted. I’m also very proud of my brothers who are still in the Navy and serving this country that has given us so much.”

 

Part 2: Rob Poellnitz, vice president

Part 4: Emma Granada, international business development manager

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