Jonna Mendez

Over time, the job, the work changed me entirely.

I discovered that my ambition receded and that my need for recognition disappeared.

I discovered that invisibility actually suited me.

I traveled all over the world.

I came back to the States and eventually was promoted to deputy chief of disguise and then to chief of disguise, where my duties included

managing a worldwide staff that was rather difficult to manage.

And I enjoyed the work very much.

After I retired, I hung a picture in my library, rather discreetly, a picture of that moment in the White House in the Oval Office.

And what you see in the picture is the semicircle, the group of men, the woman talking to the president,

And before the masks that I was wearing, before those masks were declassified, people would stop in and they'd look at that picture and they'd say, who's that?

Who is it?

Did you know her?

Who's that woman in that picture?

Was that a friend?

And I would say, well, yes, thank you.

I knew her very well.

I knew her very, very well.

We were really, really close.

Thank you.