You Don't Need to Be a Big Firm to Do Big Work

One year ago, Vida was featured in WSDOT's Q2 2025 Diversity and Inclusive Contracting Report — and honestly, we never stopped to properly celebrate it. So here we are.

The recognition highlighted our role on the Cascadia High-Speed Rail and I-5 Program, one of the most ambitious infrastructure efforts in Pacific Northwest history — spanning Portland to Vancouver, B.C., crossing three jurisdictions with technology that doesn't yet exist in this region. Vida is one of just 16 small and disadvantaged firms on the integrated program team, leading communications and engagement strategy across the entire program. And a year later, we're still at the table, still doing the work. 

Our VP Mafe Cobaleda-Yglesias sums up the mission perfectly: "How can we make people feel that this Cascadia Program is really for everybody? How is this going to impact, for good, their lives?" Those questions are at the heart of everything we do — and they matter just as much on an international megaprogram as they do on any community campaign. 

We didn't get here by waiting for our turn. The visible wins — the features, the contracts, the recognition — are the surface. Underneath them is years of relationship-building, showing up to industry events, and leaning into programs like the WSDOT Capacity Building Mentorship Program long before there was a contract on the table. As our Founder and President Amalia Martino puts it: "You never enter a megaprogram on your own. It takes a lot of people to bring you to the table." 

If you're a small firm still wondering when it's your turn — the doors are open. Go to the events. Take the meetings. Do the work. 

Vida is proof you don't have to be big to do big work.

Read the full WSDOT report here