Five Under 35: Michelia Rivera-Acosta
Five Under 35: Michelia Rivera-Acosta
and last updated 2021-04-09 12:25:48-04
Staff Sergeant Michelia Rivera-Acosta, our fifth and final Five Under 35 honoree of 2021, is using her life experience to bridge the gap between the Malmstrom Air Force Base community and Great Falls, all while making people from all backgrounds feel welcome.
The 29-year-old is a munitions maintenance scheduler at Malmstrom. The road to her now decade-long career in the Air Force wasnât always obvious or easy.
âI was homeless for a couple months, I battled that for about six months and then my paternal grandfather took me in,â said Rivera-Acosta. Little did she know, her grandfather had a plan. He told her, â The way youâre going to pay me is by doing 18 push-ups, 38 sit-ups, and running a 16:20 mile , and Iâm like, OK, sure, and I did that. Little did I know, he actually talked to an Air Force recruiter prior to me coming and he sai