00:00
I realized that um I became the woman that I was and had become
00:06
only the third Latino to win miss USA because of my mother,
00:15
Suzie, let's, let's begin the way we do with everyone, with
00:17
your, your name and uh nationality.
00:21
My name is Susie Castillo and I am Puerto Rican and Dominican
00:25
Now you were, you were born and raised in Massachusetts.
00:30
Take me back to your childhood, Suzie.
00:32
What, what, what can you tell me about your childhood?
00:34
Well, my childhood in, in Massachusetts was very unique.
00:38
Um And I say that because a lot of my cousins who are also Puerto
00:43
Rican and Dominican uh of Hispanic background um that grew
00:47
up around me were very, very Americanized.
00:49
But for my mother, it was very, my parents divorced when I was
00:53
And so I always say I'm 90% Puerto Rican, 10% Dominican because
00:57
I grew up with the Puerto Rican culture very much, you know
01:01
intertwined in my life.
01:03
And during the school year, I would be in Massachusetts with
01:07
all my American friends and, you know, playing in, in, in the
01:11
yard with them and on the street.
01:12
And then as soon as school was over my mother, I mean, when I
01:16
was seven years old would put me on a plane sometimes by myself
01:19
or with my older sister who was not much older.
01:21
She was just, I was seven, she was nine and put us on a plane would
01:24
strap us in because back then you could do that and she would
01:27
send me to Puerto Rico for the entire summer.
01:30
So it was a very unique upbringing because I had, I had the ability
01:35
to really know my culture and get to know where, you know, my
01:40
mom grew up and her 19 other siblings, you know, because it
01:44
was, I come from a very big family and this is just on my mother's
01:47
So it was, it was quite the unique upbringing and and I love
01:51
that I have that experience in my life.
01:53
And Spanish was my first language.
01:55
I learned English in school.
01:57
I was in bilingual classes till I was in fourth grade.
01:59
So it was, it was really cool.
02:02
I have that background.
02:04
It was important for her to pass that along to her, to her Children
02:09
Why, you know, passing, passing along the the Puerto Rican
02:13
culture was important to my mother because she said it was
02:18
That's deep down, even though we were born and raised in America
02:23
she's like you guys are Puerto Rican.
02:24
So you have to learn the language and you have to know about
02:28
the culture and, and where we grew up, you know, and it was,
02:31
it was something that was always so important to her and that's
02:34
why it's like, it didn't even matter.
02:35
And, and as a child, I remember not even crying when she would
02:37
put me on the plane by myself to send me off to Puerto Rico.
02:40
She just, she did it.
02:42
And it was, I had such fantastic fond memories of my summers
02:47
in Puerto Rico and playing in the same streets where my mom
02:50
used to play, you know, hopscotch and things like that with
02:53
her sister and her friends.
02:54
And it's a gift that was such a gift that my mom gave me.
02:58
And I'll never forget when I was about, I was a teenager, you
03:01
know, and as most teenagers do we, we bust our parents chops
03:04
And I was telling my mom who still to this day, I still only speak
03:07
Spanish with her and her English is very bad.
03:10
And I feel like it's a sacrifice that she made because she always
03:14
said I would say to her, I'm like, mommy, you know, we live,
03:17
we live in America said English is, is the common language
03:21
I'm like, you need to learn how to speak English better.
03:23
And she'd be like, and that's what she would say to me.
03:32
I'm like, oh my God, I can't win with this woman so fine Spanish
03:35
But I'm so grateful because now I can speak both languages
03:38
And I have cousins who, you know, my, my aunts and uncles were
03:42
just trying to get the other, I guess the other kids at school
03:49
or whatever, get them to, to fit in.
03:52
So they never taught them Spanish, they never taught them
03:54
about the culture except rice and beans and pork chops, fried
04:00
And now those cousins who can't speak a lick of Spanish are
04:05
you know, they're very regretful and they get angry at my
04:08
aunts and uncles for not teaching them the language.
04:12
Oh, it sounds like you and I grew up in the same household.
04:17
The exact same was true for us.
04:20
Seems to me like your mom has been a very important figure in
04:25
Talk to me about that.
04:26
I mean, my mom, she's an incredible woman.
04:30
I mean, she, you know, my, my father, unfortunately, uh, you
04:34
know, just left a letter on the kitchen table and left us.
04:39
You know, he left my mom with three young daughters.
04:43
My older sister was eight, my little sister was six months
04:46
old and there my mom was from one day to the next, a single mother
04:50
My grandmother had to move in to help her raise us.
04:53
My mom had to get a second job.
04:55
You know, she would have two jobs during the week and then on
04:57
the weekends have another job.
04:58
So, really, there, there was a time where she had three jobs
05:01
to put food on the table and, you know, it was very difficult
05:04
and for her, you know, for us she never let on that, maybe we
05:09
were going through a difficult time financially.
05:11
You know, I mean, there was always abundance, you know, in
05:13
our home and as a child, I never, I, I never experienced anything
05:18
other than that, you know, an abundance of love, an abundance
05:21
of support, very strict.
05:23
My mother was very strict but she had to be, you know, she was
05:27
in, she was a single mother and, and raising three young girls
05:31
you know, she was trying to protect us.
05:33
And even though at the time I didn't know, she always said to
05:36
me, you know, when you're older, you're gonna understand
05:38
exactly what I'm talking about and why I'm doing the things
05:42
And, you know, I was, I, it was something that I was like mom
05:46
but now, uh, I write her in a, she gets mother's day cards and
05:51
father's day cards and gifts from me and from my two sisters
05:55
as well because that's who she was and she deserves that.
05:57
And so much more she was her mom and she was her dad.
06:01
Do you remember if there ever was a time when it, it hit you?
06:05
And you realized what she had done.
06:09
You realized your sacrifice was there sort of in a, an epiphany
06:14
where it crystallized?
06:16
Um I, I guess if I had to choose a moment, I would say a very significant
06:22
moment where I really, really, truly realized how wonderful
06:28
Um was when I won miss USA because I don't wanna start to cry
06:35
Um I realized that um I became the woman that I was and had become
06:43
only the third Latino to win Miss USA because of my mother,
06:46
because of the way she raised me and because of the, which she
06:50
taught me about loyalty and about family and about being who
06:57
Not because not trying to fit in, you know, and, and trying
07:01
to fit a mold, but just being the greatest version of yourself
07:07
And by me doing that, which she taught me to do, I accomplished
07:13
something that when I was a child, I never, I mean, you know
07:16
as a, as a Latina you grew up watching um Miss and the Miss all
07:20
So that's like our royalty, right?
07:21
And as a kid, you're like, wow, and you look at these beautiful
07:24
women, Miss Venezuela with her beautiful long man, you know
07:27
and they're the ones that usually win Miss Uni and when I won
07:30
Miss USA, you know, they put us in alphabetical order every
07:33
time we do anything.
07:34
And Miss Venezuela was right behind me and I remember turning
07:37
around and looking at her and being like this, this is an amazing
07:41
thing for me to be here right now.
07:43
And the only reason I'm here is because of my mother and what
07:46
she taught me because I won that pageant, not because I had
07:50
long flowing hair, everybody had long flowing hair, everybody
07:53
had a beautiful gown on.
07:54
All of these girls are models and you know, they all were, were
07:57
they were all worthy of this crown.
07:59
And I truly believe that what set me apart from everyone else
08:03
was my culture, my culture and what my mom taught me and being
08:07
Puerto Rican and what she learned from her mother and, and
08:10
she, she passed on those things to me and that's why I won that
08:25
Did going into the Miss Usa pageant.
08:29
Did your mom give you any advice?
08:33
Was there a conversation that you recall a moment?
08:39
Oh God, I feel like there was so many or, or, or, or perhaps if
08:43
you can't recall it?
08:44
Do you recall your first conversation with your mom after
08:49
having been crowned?
08:52
Oh, man, after I was crowned Miss USA, my mother, when I saw
08:56
her face, she was like a ghost.
08:59
She wasn't crying but she was so pale and she was, you know,
09:04
I sense fear like she was scared or something.
09:06
Maybe it was just pure shock.
09:08
Um, she couldn't, you know, she couldn't believe it.
09:11
She couldn't, she couldn't, you know, because that's how
09:14
I felt the whole time too.
09:15
You know, it's like, of course I can accomplish.
09:17
I can, I always knew that I could accomplish anything that
09:21
You know, but when I would reach it, there was, there's, there's
09:25
a moment that you're always in shock.
09:28
It's like, oh my God, ok, this is what I wanted and then I accomplish
09:30
it and then it's here and you're like, oh my God.
09:33
Um But my mother was speechless.
09:35
I remember I was like, mommy, how do you feel?
09:37
And she was like, I don't know, she was just so shocked.
09:42
But, um you know, one of the moments I think my mom didn't have
09:46
to have a specific conversation with me when I was about to
09:52
embark, you know, on, on that challenge of, of becoming miss
09:56
USA because we have had so many moments growing up.
10:01
Um One that sticks out in my mind vividly is I was seven years
10:04
old and I used to be fascinated by the garbage truck.
10:09
But I was, I loved when we lived in, in the ghetto of this town
10:15
Methuen, Massachusetts.
10:15
It was the worst street, Tenny street in Methuen, Massachusetts
10:19
And people always think of Methuen and they're like, oh, it's
10:21
so like just blue collar, nice wholesome town.
10:24
I'm like, yeah, but have you gone to Tenny Street.
10:27
That's where I grew up, you know, and it was just in a low income
10:30
neighborhood and I live on the third floor of, uh, this apartment
10:35
building and we had a, there was a dumpster like in front of
10:39
I mean, that's, it's not, it wasn't a very good, you know, very
10:42
pretty place to, to grow up.
10:44
But there was a, there was this dumpster and every time the
10:47
garbage man would come, you know, the arms would lower.
10:49
And I loved how he pushed all the buttons.
10:51
And I was so fascinated.
10:52
And so when I would hear the beeping, the beep, beep, beep of
10:55
the garbage truck reversing, I would run to the living room
10:59
jump on the back of the couch and just like sit there and look
11:02
outside and be Mesmer.
11:03
And my mom was cooking in the kitchen.
11:05
And after I watched the, the garbage truck roll away, I ran
11:09
to the kitchen and I said, mommy, when I grew up, I want to be
11:14
the garbage truck driver.
11:15
That's what I want to do.
11:16
And she was like, when you grow up in Spanish, of course, when
11:21
you grow up, you could be whatever you want, whatever you want
11:25
And they were such simple words, but they were so powerful
11:28
because I, I believed my mother, you know, I'm like, this is
11:31
my mom, you know, I believe what she's saying and she mommy
11:34
said I can be anything I want.
11:36
And so no wonder when I was, you know, 14, I wanted to become
11:38
a pro professional model.
11:40
I went, I looked up, I went to Boston.
11:42
I remember 14 years old and I got a Boston phone book and I looked
11:47
under modeling agencies and I found myself an agency at 14
11:50
years old because my mom didn't know where to start with that
11:52
You know, I found myself a modeling agency and no wonder when
11:56
I, you know, later on when I decided to enter my first pageant
11:58
I entered and I won my first pageant, you know, and then I became
12:01
a USA and all these things.
12:04
Thank God, I didn't become a garbage truck driver.
12:09
I'm glad that the aspirations changed as I got older.
12:14
But, um, but that was my mom in a nutshell.
12:17
I mean, can you imagine if your daughter tells you that she
12:19
wants to become a garbage truck driver?
12:21
Most parents would be like, hm, how about a doctor?
12:25
How about something?
12:26
You know, how about the president of the United States?
12:28
You know, and my mom was like, you see me, huh?
12:32
I was like, awesome.
12:33
You know, she's beautiful.
12:40
You've obviously done a great job of picking moms.
12:43
I did, didn't, I thank God I did.
12:47
Yeah, I love, I love how she transitions into and then I became
12:55
Well, you know, when I decided to become a USA, I, it was something
12:59
I studied it like I was taking a test.
13:02
You know, I, I, when I set a goal, I accomplished that goal and
13:07
there's no doubt in my mind that I can't accomplish that goal
13:09
And that all goes back to that garbage truck story with my mom
13:12
You know, that's why, that's what gave me the confidence that
13:15
I have in life is my mom always supporting me and telling me
13:19
you could achieve anything you want to achieve.
13:21
And I'll never forget I was in San Antonio, Texas and it was
13:24
like week one of the Miss USA pageant.
13:28
And I, you know, I talk to my family every day on the phone and
13:31
my sister, my older sister, um Marel, she was on, I was on the
13:35
phone with her and she says, so who do you think you've been
13:38
Like you scoped out the competition?
13:39
Like who do you think is gonna win?
13:41
I'm almost like, girl, I'm like, I'm gonna win.
13:43
Who do I want my first runner up to be?
13:45
I don't know, maybe Miss Georgia, maybe, maybe South Carolina
13:47
She's pretty, I'm like, but I'm gonna win this thing.
13:50
This is why I'm here.
13:51
I'm like, I'm not here to be the first runner up or the second
13:54
You know, so you went in with that mindset from day one.
13:58
You have to, you know, there was no doubt I would look around
14:01
and be like, yup, you are all beautiful, but I am so sorry.
14:04
This is for me to win and that's so important in, in anything
14:09
that's competitive, so, so important.
14:13
I, I had a, a friend of mine years ago who, since, since passed
14:17
who interestingly enough was Mr Usa, a body builder.
14:21
And I asked him what it felt like to win the title, you know,
14:25
just, it's gonna be amazing to stand up there and, and, and
14:29
receive the title and said, you know, I had been through it
14:31
in my mind hundreds of times since I was a little boy that it
14:35
wasn't that big of a deal.
14:37
I done it in my mind a million times already.
14:40
Sort of the same thing.
14:41
Yeah, it is the same thing.
14:42
And I tell people often when people say, ask me the question
14:47
You know, that moment, that moment where they call out, you
14:50
know, Massachusetts as Miss Usa 2003, were you shocked?
14:53
And I said, no, I wasn't and it felt like deja vu for me because
14:58
I would lay in bed and visualize what it would feel like to stand
15:04
there on the stage and have, you know, the red lights of the
15:08
cameras, like looking at those things, looking at the audience
15:11
the audience cheering.
15:12
You know what that moment would feel like the weight of the
15:15
crown being placed on my head.
15:17
I used to visualize and I used to dream about that moment and
15:21
when it happened, it felt like deja vu, it felt like I had been
15:25
through that moment already.
15:27
It's very, and that's why one of the things that I that I talk
15:29
about in my book Confidence is Queen.
15:32
The advice that I give to kids is when you set a goal and you know
15:35
what it is that you want to accomplish, dream about it, lay
15:39
in bed for five minutes every morning before you get out of
15:41
bed and just dream about yourself in that moment, write down
15:44
your goals and read, read them, do something every day that's
15:47
gonna help you get a little step closer to your goal.
15:51
And when you get there, it's gonna feel like you've already
15:53
been there because that's the energy that you've been putting
15:55
out for so much time and it works.
15:58
It's the law of the universe.
16:03
You, you visualized yourself uh uh winning the pageant.
16:11
Did you ever imagine how many young Latinas you would motivate
16:15
and inspire by having accomplished that?
16:21
You know, it's funny because I always, I wanted to, I wanted
16:27
But then there was always just a little tiny hint that you're
16:29
like, OK, I'm gonna do my best, but I understand, you know,
16:31
this man, it may not happen, you know, I know I wanna win.
16:36
One of us has to win.
16:38
Um, but there was just that little in, tiny, little voice in
16:42
your head that says, oh, maybe not, you know, and I had no idea
16:47
that when I did finally accomplish that when I won it would
16:51
it would just open the door for so many Latinas to enter the
16:57
I mean, the next year in Massachusetts alone, there were more
17:01
Latinas that entered the Miss Massachusetts USA and Miss
17:04
Massachusetts Teen USA pageant.
17:06
Um, I still to this day get whether it's Facebook messages
17:10
or Twitter messages from Latinas all over who say, you know
17:14
I never thought that a Latina could win.
17:16
So I never, I never entered myself, even though it was something
17:19
that I always wanted to do.
17:20
I just, it was always the, you know, blue eyed blonde haired
17:23
girls that would win and it was never Latinos, but you winning
17:27
gives me hope, you know, and it shows me that it can be done.
17:31
And I was like, ah, to me that just, that's amazing.
17:35
That's more than I ever bargained for, for sure.
17:38
But what an honor to, to be able to inspire young Latinos to
17:43
follow their hearts, whether it's pageantry or not.
17:47
Well, I mean, I would imagine for every young Latina who saw
17:51
what you accomplished and was willing to go out and enter a
17:54
There have to be tens of thousands of others who simply see
18:00
themselves as the cool kid.
18:01
Now, you know, it doesn't have to be, you know, sort of certainly
18:05
what I grew up around, which is, you know, the blonde haired
18:07
blue white, all American girl being the cute one and, you
18:10
know, dark eyes and dark hair and, uh, that's no longer the
18:14
So I imagine you've, you've, you've touched so many young
18:18
girls much in the same way your mother managed to touch you
18:23
It's a, it's a beautiful thing.
18:25
It's a beautiful thing.
18:26
You've done so much.
18:28
I mean, in your, in your relatively short time on the planet
18:33
I mean, you've, uh, you know, film and TV, and, you know, uh
18:38
prestigious, uh, pageants.
18:41
What would you say you're the proudest of in terms of career
18:47
uh, in general, I guess the, what I'm, what I'm most proud
18:53
of even though I've only been in the entertainment industry
18:56
for, you know, 10 years.
18:58
Um I guess what I'm most proud of is that I'm the same human being
19:05
today that I was before I won miss USA even, you know, before
19:10
I worked at MTV, before anything before the films, before
19:16
Um I'm the same person, you know, and, um, I'm so glad I never
19:23
lost touch, although my mom would never allow, allow that
19:26
to happen, but she was always such a pillar of strength that
19:30
just kept everybody grounded, you know, but she's, um, she's
19:34
fantastic human being and, and being a good person is always
19:40
first and foremost in my life, no matter where I am.
19:44
And, uh, you know, that was something of course that I learned
19:49
Um, but that's, that's what I'm most proud of is that I can still
19:54
you know, I go back home and I still talk to my, you know, high
19:57
school friends and my childhood friends and my cousins and
20:01
it's, I'm the same Susie, same Susie, but with, you know, different
20:05
haircut, they see me on TV now, but I'm still the same human
20:10
And in this town where so many people you hear so many stories
20:15
of people being one way and then they come here and the industry
20:19
or the fame or the money changes them.
20:21
Um I've never understood why that is because if you trace back
20:27
your steps, it's who you were before that, that helped you
20:31
accomplish this greatness and, and helped you get to where
20:35
Why would you want to change that?
20:37
Why would you throw it away to do something else to be another
20:42
It doesn't make sense to me one last question in English and
20:46
then we'll switch to Spanish.
20:49
Was there ever a point as you were coming up?
20:51
Was there ever a point where you felt perhaps some pressure
20:56
to succeed in order to pay your mom back for all her hard work
21:01
Was there ever a moment where you said, you know, I need to make
21:03
something of myself in order to sort of validate my mother's
21:08
Can you speak to me about that?
21:11
Um, you know, I, I think that the whole reason that I've chosen
21:18
a career path, the career path that I have was because I wanted
21:27
I mean, from day one, I remember thinking when I was a kid, like
21:30
how can I make a lot of money so that I can retire?
21:33
Like as soon as I possibly can in her life, you know, um she's
21:37
worked really, really hard in her life.
21:40
And my ultimate dream, my biggest dream is to buy my mom a small
21:46
home with her own little land so she can retire and just get
21:51
her nails done every day.
21:52
I don't know, whatever she wants to do, she likes the garden
21:53
she can have her garden or whatever, she just deserves that
21:57
And that's, that's my dream.
21:58
You know, I've accomplished personally the things that I
22:00
wanted to do, work in this fantastic industry, you know, and
22:05
I'm able to do that and, and my dream now the goal is to, to do
22:10
that for my mother to take care of her.
22:13
You know, the way she took care of me and my sisters, those moments
22:17
of, of temptation, I mean, they're, they're, they're everywhere
22:22
in Des Moines, Iowa.
22:22
Where it, there, I can't imagine here.
22:24
Um, would you, would you hear the proverbial mom's voice in
22:30
the back of your head that people talk about it ever go on?
22:36
Does that happen as a parent?
22:39
Um, you know, I think, I think as a, as a parent you should know
22:44
that, that whatever you instilled in your Children, you just
22:47
have to hope that it's still there, that it's there because
22:50
I don't know that I ever heard my mom's voice, you know, like
22:53
honey, don't do that.
22:55
So it was more just the values and what she taught me growing
23:01
up, you know, as a young woman, when I got to those situations
23:05
in life, I knew what was right and what was wrong.
23:08
You know, I just had a good head on my shoulders like they say
23:12
and, you know, that head was on those shoulders the way it
23:15
was because of my mother and, and like I said, all those things
23:20
that she taught me, you know, about honesty and about loyalty
23:24
and, um, following your heart and doing what you truly want
23:27
and what's right for you.
23:29
You know, what's right for me may not be what's right for somebody
23:33
Um, but I'm, I feel so thankful that I've been able to make not
23:39
always the right decision, but for the most part, you know
23:42
the, the decision that I knew would help me move forward in
23:48
I can only imagine that going through a divorce being the child
23:53
of divorced parents or separated parents at six years old
23:56
has to be a very hard experience.
24:00
If you could speak to a child going through that.
24:05
Now, what would you say if you could speak to the six year old
24:10
version of you who I'm sure had her insecurities in her that
24:15
I'm sure every child goes through, what would you say to her
24:19
I, I would say that everything is gonna be ok and that it's not
24:26
your fault, whatever happened, I grew up always feeling that
24:31
if I was a better child, my father would come back into our lives
24:36
And that wasn't the case no matter how difficult and how hard
24:40
I worked at becoming a better Suzie.
24:44
Um, my father never came back and it wasn't, it's funny because
24:49
you know, now, and I'm in my early thirties and, and it wasn't
24:52
until a few years ago that I realized that I've always been
24:56
a perfectionist and I never knew where that came from.
25:00
And I started tracing back my steps, you know, and, and going
25:03
back to my childhood and I realized that it was because of that
25:07
I became a perfectionist when my father left and I don't know
25:11
what it is about Children that, you know, you think that you
25:14
can fix it and you have no idea what's going on I didn't know
25:17
what my dad, you know why that happened.
25:20
And, um, all I knew is that I wanted my dad back and I thought
25:25
well, if I, if I'm a good athlete and he sees how good of an athlete
25:28
I am, if I'm a good student and he sees that I get straight A's
25:32
he's gonna want to be a part of that.
25:33
He's gonna be a part of my life and that never happened.
25:37
And it was very difficult because it was like breaking up with
25:41
somebody that you love so dearly over and over and over again
25:44
because I would accomplish something fantastic and be like
25:47
dad, look at this and I thought that was gonna be the moment
25:50
that he would come back and of course it wasn't.
25:53
And I had so many of those moments throughout my life and um
25:57
and he never came back.
25:58
And so what I would tell my six year old self is that there's
26:08
no way you can understand what's happening in the lives of
26:10
adults, especially your parents in a situation like that
26:14
And so just be happy and do what you wanna do.
26:16
And if you're gonna work hard at something, work hard because
26:19
you want to do that and you know, in your heart, you feel like
26:22
this is something that you want to do, you know, don't do it
26:25
for anybody else except for you and, and be a kid and have fun
26:31
with your friends and, you know, I, of course I did all those
26:34
things but I still, you know, I feel like a big part of me did
26:37
it to get my dad back and, um, and I'll tell you, I mean, it's
26:43
it's, it's served me because I've been able to accomplish
26:48
So I don't regret going through what I went through.
26:51
Um, you know, I, I'm a firm believer that everything happens
26:54
Um And I've accomplished so much and I'm sure a lot of that had
27:00
to do, you know, because I was this perfectionist in training
27:03
from the moment I was six years old.
27:05
Um But at the same time, it's um emotionally and mentally,
27:12
it was so hard on me as a kid.
27:15
Um And so that's what I would tell myself is just to chill out
27:21
and have fun and be a kid and not think of those things because
27:24
I can't, I, it just, it wasn't my fault.
27:27
It's even, it's hard to even describe and put into words because
27:32
as an adult obviously, I know that it's never a kid's fault
27:36
why parents get divorced.
27:38
But when you're a kid, you just want to fix it.
27:42
You know, all you want is your mom or dad back.
27:45
And uh and, and it was difficult, it was difficult to live with
27:52
The advice that I would give to anyone who's coming to this
27:55
country as my mom did.
27:56
You know, and my father uh many years ago, um you know, they
28:00
they came with hopes and dreams of a better life and giving
28:03
their families and their Children a better life than, than
28:08
Um One thing I, when I look back that I notice is those who accomplish
28:13
greatness, work really, really hard.
28:16
And as Latinos I know there's no shortage of that.
28:19
We're very hard workers, we're hard working, we are, we're
28:22
just a hard working community.
28:24
Um But you can't give up.
28:27
I see people come, they give it a little bit of time and they
28:31
don't get there yet.
28:32
And so they give up and they go back or they're like, oh, well
28:35
well, this is, you know, they, they kind of throw their hands
28:36
up in the air and they think to themselves, this is all there
28:39
is for me and they lose a little bit of their soul, I think because
28:44
And so you just can't give up.
28:46
And as long as you keep believing in yourself and believing
28:49
that you can achieve a better life for yourself, for your Children
28:54
for your family, you can absolutely do that.
28:57
I mean, there's nowhere else to go.
28:58
If that's your only focus and any, any negativity that comes
29:02
your way, just put up blinders, have these blinders and, and
29:05
know your path and continue forward.
29:08
That's all you can do.
29:09
And, and believe me, I am living proof when I say that that absolutely
29:14
works and you will absolutely get there.
29:16
The journey will be different for all of us.
29:18
But you can, you can get there.
29:21
And if I did anybody can.
Series