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046 - The Land of Opportunity—and Oblivion: What America Misses About Immigrants
16 Plays1 month ago
In this soul-stirring episode of Vulnerability Muscle, host Reggie D. Ford sits down with Silvia Garcia-Romero, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Sentara Health, for a raw and revelatory conversation about immigration, identity, and inclusion. At just 10 years old, Silvia crossed the U.S.–Mexico border undocumented, guided only by faith, love, and the hope of family reunion. What unfolded afterward is a journey of resilience—growing up in a trailer with eight children, learning English as a second language, and rising above systemic barriers to become a powerful voice for equity in healthcare.
Silvia shares the unfiltered truth of what it means to navigate a country where language can be both a barrier and a weapon, and how moments of marginalization became fuel for her purpose-driven leadership. She offers moving reflections on childhood memories, the sacrifices of her parents, and the emotional toll of assimilation—revealing how her life’s hardships laid the groundwork for a mission that’s about more than a job title; it’s a calling.
Together, Reggie and Silvia confront societal misconceptions about DEI work, challenge xenophobic mindsets, and explore what it takes to humanize healthcare—one story, one conversation, one act of inclusion at a time.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking to understand the immigrant experience, the real meaning of vulnerability, and the transformative power of compassion.
Contact Information:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/silviagarciaromero/
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Transcript
The Overwhelm of Mental Chatter
00:00:00
Speaker
When I'm feeling overwhelmed, you know, um sitting down and just trying to quiet my mind because the over being feeling overwhelmed comes from our mind not stopping and all the thoughts and what if this and what if that and it just, it's this constant chatter and this constant you know, noise that makes us feel overwhelmed.
Introduction to 'Vulnerability Muscle' Podcast
00:00:24
Speaker
Welcome to Vulnerability Muscle, the inspiring podcast, challenging norms and helping you redefine vulnerability as a strength. I'm your host, Reggie D. Ford.
Exploring Mental Health and Personal Growth
00:00:35
Speaker
Each episode of Vulnerability Muscle dives into a variety of topics such as mental health, social issues and mindset shifts.
00:00:43
Speaker
We explore the power of vulnerability and fostering meaningful connections. healing, building resilience, and promoting personal growth. Sometimes these conversations are uncomfortable, but good workouts often are.
00:00:57
Speaker
So join us and flex that vulnerability muscle. Welcome to Vulnerability Muscle. I'm your host, Reggie D. Ford.
Sylvia's Journey to Healthcare Leadership
00:01:05
Speaker
And today i have just a phenomenal guest with me, Sylvia Garcia Romero, who is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Centara Health.
00:01:15
Speaker
uh since uh sylvia has been hasn't had an amazing journey that she shared with me a little bit but i'm excited to share that all with you but welcome sylvia are you i am doing great and thank you so much for having me i'm excited about our conversation today so thank you yes me too and just to highlight a little bit of what we're going to tap into ah Sylvia's journey from immigrating from Mexico at the age of 10 to becoming this leader in healthcare, care which is phenomenal.
What is Vulnerability?
00:01:47
Speaker
I'm so excited to hear what that journey has looked like. but But before we get into that, I have a segment that I call What Comes to Mind. And so you let me know the first thing you think of. Are ready?
00:01:59
Speaker
Yeah. What comes to mind when you hear the word vulnerability? Um... It's sharing our deepest, most personal fears, worries, concerns, um the things that we're afraid that people will judge us um on.
00:02:23
Speaker
And being vulnerable means being able to you know to to let others in into what's happening in your heart and mind that you're worried that you may be judged on.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah. Well, if, if those fears get big in this conversation, I hope that you feel empowered to let me know. We can stop, we can breathe, we can go take a walk. We can do whatever needed. So, um, you let me know, please. Okay.
00:02:51
Speaker
Will do. What do you do to center yourself or ground yourself if you're feeling overwhelmed or stressed?
Stress Management Techniques
00:03:00
Speaker
Um, I think there's different things. Um, You know, one of the first things that I try to do is. And I don't remember what book or what speaker or who um I took this this little nugget from.
00:03:20
Speaker
But, a you know, what's the worst that's going to happen? Put the worst situation out there that could possibly happen. And when you think about that, you know, a lot of times we take a situation and we think our world is going to collapse um if it doesn't go through or something goes wrong.
00:03:43
Speaker
And then when you really think about it, the worst thing that's going to happen is you're not going to meet a deadline. You are going to make a mistake. you are um going to have to pivot and do things differently.
00:03:58
Speaker
um You'll have to explain sometimes, you know, why the pivoting, why the changes. um so And even and and so I'm thinking kind of ah along the lines of work and professionalism, but even with the personal matter, like what's the worst thing that's going to happen?
00:04:15
Speaker
You know, the the person is going to get mad. um You know, you are going to have to talk about that topic that's uncomfortable, you know, and then something good is probably going to come out of it. So the worst that can happen is really not as bad as we tend to think it is.
00:04:34
Speaker
I love that. I think we do have a tendency to catastrophize things and take it to something that is is scarier than what reality will ultimately show us. And I like that. Do you do you write it down? Do you think about it in your head? How do you process that when when things are stressful?
00:04:53
Speaker
Um, Not really. i think what I have been doing lately that's helpful is meditation. And, you know, i'm I always thought meditation was fascinating and I always heard all the great things about meditation.
00:05:11
Speaker
And, you know, I'm a believer and so I pray and things like that. But I never sat down to just be quiet and just try to quiet my mind.
00:05:23
Speaker
And I, you know, absolutely love it. And I'm, I'm a newbie, I'm a beginner. So I don't, I probably don't, um you know, I just don't know much about it. But what I have experienced, and what I'm learning about it is just, um it's just a great way to, um to ease that stress into that feeling of overwhelm, or overwhelmingness.
00:05:50
Speaker
And, and You know we talked about me being an English language learner. So there's words that in English I still can't say. and I blame it on being an English language learner.
00:06:03
Speaker
And then also the fact that English is just a complicated language. yes yeah So I don't know if I said that right. But when I'm feeling overwhelmed, you know, um sitting down and just trying to quiet my mind, because the over being feeling overwhelmed comes from our mind not stopping and all the thoughts and what if this and what if that and it just It's this constant chatter and this constant, you know, noise that makes us feel overwhelmed.
00:06:35
Speaker
So if we can sit and quiet, you know, and and I kind of you said if I made a list or if I write things down, not really, you know, and as as I think about it.
00:06:46
Speaker
um And maybe you can give me some insights. Maybe that's something that helps you. But I know the things that work for me. So I know meditation works for me.
00:06:57
Speaker
um I try to do that most days early in the morning if I can. nice um Working out. I think you and I have talked before about just the, I mean, if I've had a long and hard day and there's a lot going on in my life, professionally, personally, i mean, I step a foot in in the gym and already i feel like I can leave everything else behind. And now is just about And people that don't work out as much or are kind of are trying to get into it but are not as religious about it, you know that's hard for them to to you know to understand. How do you you relax when you're out of breath and working out and pushing yourself to the limit, right?
00:07:48
Speaker
Right, right. But you do. Yeah. No, you do. And and it like it it's science behind it too, right? When when you... increase your heart rate, when you get your breath to move, like when you're moving like that, your body starts to pump all the the healthy and happy ah chemicals into our body, the serotonin, the oxy ah oxytocin and everything is just like it's it's flooding our bodies with good chemicals. And so it may not feel that way when you are trying to catch your breath for that first time, if you haven't done it in a while or ever.
00:08:21
Speaker
But if you stick with it, it definitely gives you those benefits to help you ah lift you up if you're feeling depressed or even calm you down if you're feeling too stressed. So I love that. I love that a lot.
00:08:33
Speaker
you What is one of your favorite childhood memories? Wow.
Family Memories and Cultural Reflections
00:08:40
Speaker
I love this question. you know, and it's it's um it's interesting because these are not.
00:08:49
Speaker
the questions that you asked yourself on a, on a regular basis. um So it's, it's going to make me really kind of think for a minute. So give me a moment. So the happiest childhood memories.
00:09:01
Speaker
Favorite, happy, however you want to describe it. Yeah.
00:09:07
Speaker
You know, I'd have to say it was, it was A happy place that I go back to more often than others um is when we had just moved here.
00:09:25
Speaker
um to the US. So my parents, my mom and my dad and my two youngest siblings. So i'm ah I'm one of five. i'm There's three girls, um women now, um three women, two two men. And so my brother is the oldest and I'm second and I'm the oldest of the of the girls, of the women.
00:09:49
Speaker
And so my dad and my mom came ahead um with my two youngest siblings. And then myself, my brother and my sister um came along six months later.
00:10:01
Speaker
And so for the first time ever since I can remember, we were all together um because my dad had been a migrant worker. And so from the time i before I was born. In fact, he was not home when i would but when my mom was pregnant with me or even maybe when I was born um because he would work, um you know, in do migrant work and then for most of the year and then he would come home to to Mexico to be with us for two to three months and then that that was the cycle.
00:10:37
Speaker
And so um I grew up like just looking forward to my dad coming to stay with us for a couple of months. And that was really happy times. And so that that's, you know, those those memories really stand out in my mind as well.
00:10:52
Speaker
But then when we were finally able to all come and to know that dad wasn't going to have to leave anymore, and that we were all going to be together, and that now we were in this country, that, you know, I always fantasized about that, you know, I heard about from my dad, and my dad would bring us you know, gifts and, you know, things that we didn't have in Mexico that I just thought were so amazing. So if he's bringing these, you know, wonderful gifts, you know, from the U.S., like, I wonder what, you know, how wonderful this country is. And, you know, I knew at a young age that most of the people in my community would, um you know, it would immigrate to the U.S. for work and better opportunities. So, you know, I had all these fantasies about what the U.S. would be like.
00:11:42
Speaker
And now we were here and we lived in a small two bedroom trailer. Um, and for the first couple of months, it was actually two families. My, you know, mom and dad with five kids, my aunt and my uncle with their three kids.
00:12:02
Speaker
So we were, we were all out in the living room on the couches on the floor. um and then eventually we, we got our own trailer and and my aunt and my, um,
00:12:13
Speaker
Uncle, you know, they they got theirs. um where'd you And where'd you live? This was in here in um Virginia in and not it's right outside of Harrisonburg, Virginia.
00:12:23
Speaker
And it's it's where I am today. So I drive by that trailer park every once in a while. And, you know, it's it's really neat to think back to how it all started. Yeah. but But I want to share with you, though, like some of the details of those memories. i want to hear some details. Yeah, because it's very specific. It's very specific. It's, you know, we're here. I know that this is going to be home um You know, we're getting to live with my aunt and my uncle. And so there's all you know, there's eight kids in the house. So it's fun for us kids.
00:13:02
Speaker
Right. um My mom and my aunt would be in the kitchen cooking. And, you know, when people think about memories, like that's one of the things, it's the smells and it's the smell, the smell of flour, tortillas, homemade flour, tortillas.
00:13:19
Speaker
Have you ever had home homemade flour tortillas? I have not. And I need some. i You need some. Oh, my gosh. If you, you know. you've had burritos and wraps and things like that. Those are cold, stale, old tortillas with chemicals. And they have been, you know, in a package for God knows how long. Well, when you make it fresh, you know, it's just, and my dad is such a good flour tortilla maker.
00:13:47
Speaker
And my aunt was too. And And they, my mom and my aunt would, you know, just, you would see the pile of tortillas, you know, flour tortillas. And, you know, as kids, we would go and just grab one, you know, hot off the um the the griddle where they would cook them.
00:14:04
Speaker
um And, you know, refried beans and, you know, so the food, the food and just us as kids playing around, having fun and the warmth, the warmth that, you know, it it was amazing.
00:14:19
Speaker
It was a trailer. It was not in the best conditions. we We didn't have much of anything, you know, couple old couches, you know, beds without frames. And, you know, and I didn't have a bed. That was my my parents, you know, my my mom and dad had a bedroom and then my aunt and my uncle had a bedroom.
00:14:38
Speaker
And then the us kids, we just slept, you know, on the floor, on the couch, wherever. Wow. um Yeah. But that's, you know, those those were happy, happy times and happy memories, despite, you know, you know, not having much.
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what you did have. with the community and that love and the family. And oh man, that sounds amazing. Like it sounds like a extended sleepover. I'm not gonna lie. And it was like, oh man, that would be like with some of the best people in the world. Like that sounds so cool.
00:15:14
Speaker
ah but also very challenging. Right. And you talked about how your dad was a away for most of the year and then would come back. And then there was a period in time you're 10 years old and you get the, the note, the news that you're moving to the States.
00:15:31
Speaker
Like what's going through a 10 year old's mind at that time. Can you put me back there? And like, what were your, I know you, there was some excitement where their fears, what was your mind doing at that time?
Emotional Transition to the US
00:15:43
Speaker
You know, it's it's hard to remember the specifics, but generally, um you know, because my mom and dad left six months earlier, so we stayed with my aunt for six months.
00:15:57
Speaker
And i just remember missing, you know, I miss my dad, but I miss my mom even more because she was the one that had been around. And I miss my little brother and my little sister. Like we had never been separated from them And so um so i you know i was sad and i was my aunt took great care of us. She was wonderful, um but I missed my family. So in those six months, my mom and dad would call us and we we didn't have a phone at our house. So we would go to a neighbor's house to talk with them.
00:16:32
Speaker
And yeah, we I mean, I was just waiting for them to say when you know when they would be able to um send for us, right? To have us be able to join them.
00:16:43
Speaker
And so what was going through my mind was just excitement because I would get to see my mom again. i would get to see my dad. I would get to see my so my sister and my little brother. And I would get to see this new country.
00:16:57
Speaker
um Now, there there was um sadness too, right? Because um i was leaving the place that I knew i was leaving the school that I knew i was leaving my neighborhood, my church, my community, and my grandparents, you know, I was leaving my grandparents. I, um was always closed with my grandparents, both maternal paternal, but even more so my, um, maternal grandparents, you know, um, growing up, um,
00:17:34
Speaker
My mom would have us go over the summer summertime when school was not in session and we stayed with my grandma for a week. And, you know, so I was used to spending time with them a lot. And it just it made me sad for me, but it made me sad for them.
00:17:51
Speaker
Yeah. um Like I just felt like we were abandoning them. Wow. Oh, wow. Did you ever get an opportunity to visit them or did they visit you ever?
00:18:05
Speaker
i um I bet people cry on this podcast all the time. Sometimes, sometimes, yeah. um So i got to see them several times. um What made it hard was that because I came into this country undocumented, um you know, I, like I mentioned to you, another conversation we had, you know, I i crossed the border. So I didn't have legal documentation. So it was in the nineties, right? So things were not as they are today.
00:18:42
Speaker
um so my parents would have not put us in harm's way if they knew that, um, our lives were a danger. i mean, there's always some worries and some concerns, but it,
00:18:59
Speaker
seemed pretty safe at the time. And um my grandfather, it was a group of us. So there were adults in the group. So I was joined by my brother, my sister, my uncle, who is just a little bit older than us, um a cousin, and then other people from our community um that were adults.
00:19:22
Speaker
And so my grandfather took us to the border. he We got on a bus and we went to the border Um, and then, you know, we, we spend the night in a hotel and then the next morning, um, we had these young men, you know, they couldn't have been any older than 14 or 16. I'm thinking really young, um, kids really, um who kind of led us, um, through this
00:19:53
Speaker
neighborhood through this, you know, little hill, like, um I remember, you know, just very vaguely, like, this was a neighborhood. And so there were homes and there were, you know, dogs out on the street. And so these, these kids are, you know, walking us across this neighborhood across this hill.
00:20:14
Speaker
And when we got um to this you know, kind of the bottom of the hill, there's, there's a fence and they told us that we needed to go under the fence. And that's, that's as far as these young, you know, boys would take us.
00:20:30
Speaker
They gave us instructions on what we had to do. So basically go under the fence. And then there were these set of stairs that we needed to go down this hill.
00:20:41
Speaker
And then we had to cross this road. And then there was this store, um some sort of convenience store, I guess, um that we were instructed to go into the store and don't look suspicious, you know, you know, ah pretend that you're shopping, pretend you're a shopper.
00:21:03
Speaker
And then i could not tell you who was in charge of knowing some of these details because I just followed, you know, my brother, I followed my my uncle, but Somewhere along the lines, we were supposed to, after pretending to shop around in this little store, we were supposed to come back out to the street and we were supposed to get in a taxi. I have no idea who knew what taxi you were supposed to get into.
00:21:33
Speaker
I just trusted um that, you know, someone else knew. And and I was, they probably assigned that to one of the adults. I have no idea. But we we got in this taxi and, you know, i I don't, you know, going back and thinking about it, I don't think I was scared. Like at my age, but i probably really didn't know all the horrible things that could go wrong. So I wasn't thinking we're going to get ah abducted or kidnapped or, you know, something, you know, these may not be the right people. This is that might not be the right taxi to get on. Like,
00:22:12
Speaker
I really just was excited to see my dad's face, right? Excited to see my dad. And I trusted that we were going to, cause that was the, that was the plan, right? You get on this taxi, they're going to drive you um to this hotel.
00:22:29
Speaker
And my dad was supposed to be there with my uncle. um And so that's what happened. We got to the hotel. We, got out of the taxi. We, you know, got to see my dad and my uncle. We, you know, took showers and dad had new clothes for us. We changed into some clean clothes.
00:22:49
Speaker
And then we got on that in that probably, i think, 80s Thunderbird with the fake leather seats that like get really hot and sweaty. And there's How many of us kids in the back? It's my brother, myself, my sister, my uncle and my cousin. So five kids in the backseat.
00:23:12
Speaker
um And then my my dad and my uncle, my dad was driving and my uncle, they they took turns. We drove all the way from the border to Virginia. Wow.
00:23:24
Speaker
Wow, wow, wow.
Crossing Borders: Childhood Journey and Challenges
00:23:25
Speaker
yeah that is that I mean, like such a phenomenal journey of resilience, of perseverance, of trusting and faith. Like you you, as a kid, I mean, you're trusting the adults around you, but but the adults, they they have faith that this process is going to work and that there is a better opportunity on the other side.
00:23:43
Speaker
And i mean, I'm imagining this is what your dad had to do every time he would go back and forth. Am I am i wrong in that? Yeah. So my dad for a long time had to cross the border.
00:23:54
Speaker
um And now he so so my story, you know, I always like to point out that I didn't walk for miles on end in a desert.
00:24:05
Speaker
Right. um I didn't swim across the river, you know, with the fear of of drowning um all the things that a lot of immigrants who cross the border um experience. And my dad experienced some of those things. He crossed the border and he would tell us stories of, you know, um experiencing, you know, fear, hunger, cold, you know, being cold, being, you know, hot, like all these different ah walking for for long distances.
00:24:36
Speaker
um You know, and and just how strenuous it was to to do that every single time that he had to cross the border. Now, eventually, my dad did um obtain legal status um through the Reagan administration in 87.
00:24:55
Speaker
um He was able, as ah as a migrant worker, he was able to to get a work permit, eventually a um resident ah Visa, you know, the the green card car that people talk about so much.
00:25:10
Speaker
um And then eventually became U.S. citizen. So when we joined, he had um he was already a U.S. citizen and had started the process for us to to obtain our legal status as well.
00:25:25
Speaker
OK, wow, wow. And, and so i there's so much to your backstory that I love to cover. And I want to, I want to get to kind of where you are now, but there is a period in time where you were in America, you didn't know the language and you were, you were thrust into education system. You were thrust into a neighborhood. Like, what was that like? And what was the challenge like growing up in that environment?
00:25:52
Speaker
Um, so, you know, i think just. My personality, um I think, you know, we we all experience things differently and I could see it in my own family.
00:26:07
Speaker
But I think I was always um of the the glass half full kind of person. Right. So even though school was hard um and i i I was always a good student. So I wasn't not necessarily the brightest or most intelligent or had the highest test scores, but I worked hard.
00:26:28
Speaker
Right. So I knew that going to school, even though I didn't speak the language, even though I didn't know the culture, everything was new. um My mindset was, I'm just going work hard and I'm going to do the very best I can. And I trusted, I trusted myself. And, you know, I need to also give credit to my parents because I had a ah good home environment. And so I felt like,
00:26:57
Speaker
um I come from a background and a culture where my parents didn't necessarily express their love through words. Right. um But their it was their actions and their belief in me was expressed through their actions.
00:27:15
Speaker
And, you know, key things and key words that they would say to me. Right. Said a lot more than what they were actually saying. Like, I know you're gonna, you know, go far. I know that you're going to succeed. And, you know, we're, we're here to help and to support. And we may not be able to do you know, X, you know, A, B, C, and D, but we can, we're here. And so it was always conveyed to me and, and their vision for us, right? Like we want you all to succeed. So, um,
00:27:53
Speaker
and all of that, I think helped me to face my new life here, um from a more optimistic standpoint.
00:28:05
Speaker
So I didn't focus on, you know, i have to learn a new language. It was more like exciting. I get to learn a new language. How cool is that? You know, when I, when I get to be bilingual, um,
00:28:22
Speaker
I also want to say that I was fortunate that I was 10 and not 13, 14 or 15, because I think 10 is still an age.
00:28:35
Speaker
And this is just me in personal experience. ive I have not done any research. I have not. But, um, it was still at an age where I felt like I picked it up pretty quickly. And cause you know, they say kids are are like sponges. They observe, absorb things and language people can, you immerse someone, you put someone in a situation where they fully emerge in the language and the culture and people pick it up.
00:29:06
Speaker
Yeah. And so I think, you know, I was very fortunate that I was younger and not older. And um that I believed in myself and that I trusted that I would become a bilingual person.
00:29:19
Speaker
yeah and um And I had, I also need to give credit to, um you know, a really wonderful um English as a second language teacher that I had, that my siblings had, that all the kids in the trailer park had at Lacey Spring Elementary School, Ms. Long. I mean, she was...
00:29:40
Speaker
um she made fun. um She made learning fun yeah and learning English fun. I still remember the songs and the books, like she would have us write these books, um like really simple books, like I want, and that was a way to to teach us these really simple phrases. But we, I had like,
00:30:03
Speaker
Dozens of these books I want, I like, you know, just just different books. And I still remember them. And she would. um What's the word like?
00:30:15
Speaker
Oh, goodness, I'm blanking out back in the day, back in the old days. ah because I'm in my 40s and people now would not understand, but, you know, because you kids use Chromebooks at school, but we used to do paper books and laminate them.
00:30:29
Speaker
She would laminate them and stick with them so we could keep it for forever. that's amazing. And we we draw, we draw, we, you know, I like flowers and it was a picture of me with flowers and, wow you know, its she just made learning so much fun. And um I felt, you know, teachers can really, i mean, i don't know that teachers get enough credit and I don't know that we recognize their value as much as we need to, but they can make such a powerful impact and influence in people's lives.
00:31:08
Speaker
So true. you Your journey has been full of so many loving and supportive people. I love what you were saying about your parents and how, they they didn't say i they were probably weren't saying i love you directly but they were showing it through their actions and they were showing it through other words and most importantly you felt it right because like a person could tell me i love you all day long and if i if it's not really being felt then then what is then that's you know not as it's not good and so um and i and you mentioned a ah learning
00:31:42
Speaker
ah English at a young age. And it reminded me of just this week, I had like went to an auto parts store to grab some stuff for my car. And I'm standing behind the line of somebody who I'm assuming is is Hispanic and having a hard time talking to the cashier.
00:32:01
Speaker
And it looks like they're both very frustrated. And he walks out of the the store and I get up to the line and the most infuriating thing was said by the cashier.
00:32:14
Speaker
He goes not to be a douche. And if you start a sentence like that, like whatever's coming on the other end of that is you being a douche. Right. But you're trying to excuse yourself from yeah being a douche.
00:32:27
Speaker
He goes, not to be a douche, but if you don't speak the language, why are you here? And I was like, are you serious right now? And I looked at him and I was like, no, I blow i don't even want to talk to you.
00:32:44
Speaker
Like, I don't want to talk to you. No, I don't want to like, because that, that type of mentality is where we get the, the xenophobia where we have like so much hate for others and not embracing the fact that, well, what if I learned his language? Like, like our, our country, we, we, like, I can't even say our country. America is,
00:33:07
Speaker
full of people who speak Spanish, full of people who speak a lot of different languages, and yet we only speak one. And in Europe, they look at us like you're so behind when it comes to languages and things like that. And so I just, I had to get that off my chest because it made me so mad the other day. And and I'm just thinking like this this man wants to fix his car, wants to fix a car or something.
00:33:31
Speaker
And yet he's having to deal with that type of mentality. and his and he's And he's bringing you business. Yeah. He's paying you for it. Right. And then I'm sure more people are going to come who won't be able to speak the language. And that's the attitude.
00:33:46
Speaker
Money's walking out of the door. Exactly. People fail to see um the market value, like the the opportunities, business opportunities, how you can market to different communities and populations.
00:33:59
Speaker
and get their business. And yeah people don't realize that. But going back to to the comment, um you know,
00:34:10
Speaker
and this is something that when I would hear people maybe in a more respectful way say, well, you know, how come or, you know, why do, why is it that some people are here for such a long time and they don't speak um the language. And, you know, you have to put yourself in in someone else's shoes.
00:34:36
Speaker
And what people often don't realize is that try learning another language when you have, you know, a full-time job, maybe two, because that's what you need to do to feed your family.
00:34:50
Speaker
You know, try um learning a new language when you have a family to care for. And you come home, you know, at six or seven at night to cook dinner, to feed your kids, to try to, um you know, to to provide for them so that they can go to school so that they can have a future.
00:35:09
Speaker
i mean, it's not it's not like people are just sitting around not wanting to learn the language. Like you have to ask yourself, you know, um you know, in in the in the case of my mom, you know, my mom.
00:35:23
Speaker
is not, she understands a lot of English, um but she can't speak it. um She can speak some. And I think when we're not around and she has to use her English, she uses it to the best of her ability, but, but she's by no means fluent, you know, right um she struggles. It's, you know, she's very limited in her English speaking abilities, but my mom has been working in a poultry processing plant Since, you know, after we came here, maybe for a couple of years, maybe it was until after she got her work permit. Maybe that's what the the waiting time was.
00:36:03
Speaker
But after that, she has been working till this day, works, you know, from 7 to 5 p.m., sometimes 8 because she stays overtime, um sometimes on Saturdays.
00:36:18
Speaker
um working in ah at a poultry processing plant, you know, would come home to, you know, clean the house, feed her kids. You know, she went to work where she worked with other Spanish speaking people.
00:36:33
Speaker
So that's still the the main language that she's she doesn't drive. She doesn't, you know, go anywhere else other than work, home and then some family gatherings.
00:36:45
Speaker
People are isolated. They're isolated and there's so many barriers to speaking the language that people just have no clue.
00:36:56
Speaker
They just assume you just don't want to learn or, you know, you're just, you know, no interest, no motivation, or you're just lazy or I don't know what what they think, but they don't really have a clue as to the many barriers that exist for people. Yeah.
00:37:15
Speaker
I love what you said about like like the like the community of of, you know, I work with people who speak Spanish. I go home, they speak in Spanish. And it reminded me, so I went from ah ah part of town where it was primarily black and, you know, low socioeconomic status and...
00:37:35
Speaker
I thought that was the world, right? That was the world for me at one point in time. And then i went to a private school where um in this in a part of a city called Bell Mead and Bell Mead folks, they worked and they lived and they were educated and they they they they were in that Bell Mead bubble, just like I was in my bubble, just like people are clustered, like you said, isolated in those bubbles.
00:37:59
Speaker
And if you can take a step back and realize that, okay, I go to work with people who are like me. I go grocery shopping with people who are like me. I come home. Like all those things in your life, it's the same thing that you're saying, right? It's the same. And so I was really attuned to that during the, i think, 2016 election.
00:38:23
Speaker
um I was working in in that Bell Me bubble and just the ways in which people would talk and communicate about other people outside of that bubble. I was like, you have no idea what other people are dealing with in life.
00:38:39
Speaker
It's because I can't fault you for that. and You haven't stepped outside of this, but like, like, let's be a little bit more compassionate and empathetic toward other people's experiences. And it just it it it highlights, you know, we this is why I love having conversations like this, because when we hear people's stories, we get to humanize them and then connect at ah on a deeper level.
00:39:00
Speaker
And i mean, your your story is absolutely phenomenal. And we just like touching the ice tip of the iceberg of it. You you mentioned earlier with with these teachers and and people that are poured into you, that allowed you to be ah ah college graduate. that I mean, like you've you've done you've done and become a lot of different things in your life. Can you take us through some of that evolution to getting to the place that you are now?
00:39:28
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um So, I mean, and don't know how far back you want me to go, but so, you know, I started fifth grade um here let's in the U.S. Let's talk about ah high school to college. Like like you were you were first generation, I'm assuming. First generation. First generation. Yeah.
00:39:49
Speaker
And so one of the the neat things, too, about my journey, Reggie, is that I was um getting ready. you know, as I got closer to graduating from high school, one of my fears was, am I going to have my legal status?
00:40:07
Speaker
Right. Because there's a lot that comes with being undocumented. Right. um you know, and and trying to to go to college. One, you know, just, you know, having to um not being eligible for any kind of assistance, not being eligible for in-state tuition. and And I don't stay as up to date now with kind of how it all works.
00:40:31
Speaker
But um I mean, it was, there's certainly um a lot more barriers for people wanting to get an education who were not born in the U S who don't have a legal status. So that was a concern for me. Luckily, luckily um you know, we were blessed to be able to get our legal status before I started college.
00:40:54
Speaker
So um I was, that was, that was huge. um And I was very thankful for that. So yeah. And then through, you know, high school, you know, i I like to talk a little bit about high school because you I didn't that this is one of the things as a bilingual, a bicultural person, um someone who is like trying to find their identity, you know, and as adults, we're always trying to understand our identity.
00:41:26
Speaker
But in high school, like, you know, that's identity is huge. And, you know, going to a school where that was primarily white, where there were maybe 20, 25 kids that were Hispanic, Latino.
00:41:46
Speaker
um It was just, I go back now in retrospect and think about what would it have been like if there were soccer games that I could go to, not football, because I didn't know anything about football.
00:42:02
Speaker
And not that I knew anything about soccer, because let's face it, let's face it, I am not a sports person.
00:42:13
Speaker
um But I grew up watching it. So even though I didn't get it, like, you know, I'll go to a soccer game and get all excited because it's the environment, it's the people, it's The vibes, it's it's everything.
00:42:28
Speaker
But i I don't think I once went to a football event at my high school. Yeah. um I went to prom because, i mean, you you you should go to prom, I guess. That was my thought process. Like I'm graduating from high school.
00:42:45
Speaker
You know, I had some close friends and and they were going to prom and, you know, I ended up going to prom, but they didn't play the music that danced to. Right.
00:42:55
Speaker
So there's all these cultural pieces that just kind of made me feel like I was robbed of a high school experience.
00:43:06
Speaker
Right. People say those are they're tough times, but they're also really great times. I mean, I'd like to think, i like to ask you, and i'm not supposed to be interviewing you, but just to kind of. No, please, this is conversation. Yeah, you can ask anything.
00:43:20
Speaker
Just to kind of get a sense of what your high school experience was about. Like, what do you think about, like, what comes to mind when you think about high school for you? Yeah, I think um culturally, i was probably in a similar boat where it wasn't tailored to things that I was used to or things that I felt necessarily comfortable with.
00:43:42
Speaker
um I didn't I I was one of in my in my graduating class. I was one of black or one of three black students. And so ah it was, yeah, that's crazy to even say out loud. That's crazy. um But, and and again, like I grew up in a totally different environment than that. And so um I think around the time though, you know, we're talking mid-1990s,
00:44:07
Speaker
ah You know, but right before I graduated in 2009 from high school. And so um there is a you know, people are starting to wear Jordans and people are listening to rap music. So like some of those things were starting to overlap a little bit.
00:44:21
Speaker
um But Even still, I think just just the ah overall feeling of it was a sense of isolation where it just, I wasn't, ah didn't feel like I could just relax. Like I feel like my nervous system was always firing. I was always on and, and um you know, guarded because of past experiences with certain certain classmates or certain people at the school and or in the community that ah could be very hurtful and harmful.
High School Experiences and Cultural Growth
00:44:51
Speaker
And so enjoyed, you said you never went to a football game. I was in all of them. I was playing football and that was one of the the greatest pastimes for me. um One of the best experiences of my high school career was was was football and Friday Night Lights. It was just, it was an amazing time with my brothers and we got out there and we whipped a lot of butt and we had fun. And so um i think, you know, having that part of you know, American culture being a part of just something that I was so passionate about was really fun.
00:45:26
Speaker
ah I'm glad you asked me this question. Well, I was curious and and see, i didn't know what you were going to say, but I was, um, it's interesting that you could relate to the fact that culturally it it wasn't necessarily ah culture that reflected your home culture, your community culture. Right. Yeah.
00:45:49
Speaker
Um, Yeah. I mean, yeah, it it was not definitely not the music that I would dance to. And so it it wasn't. So the social aspect. Right.
00:46:00
Speaker
yeah So yeah I saw school as like, you know, I enjoyed it too too some degree because, you know, I've always been like the good student. And like, I, you know, I appreciated the assignments and the projects and,
00:46:19
Speaker
um you know And and i to a degree, I had fun with that. right But the social aspect, you know the excitement over the games or the co-curricular activities, like even something like um you know theater. right I learned that I really loved and had so much fun with theater.
00:46:48
Speaker
um And it was through church and it was through a community. um It was a community. um like It was this grant, a community project, I should say. that was funded through a grant. It was a local university with the high schools and they partnered and it was, it was really um targeting Latino students um because the theater that we did and put together was bilingual and bicultural.
00:47:17
Speaker
It reflected our culture. It reflected our language. And I learned how much, um You know, it just felt natural to me. Like I had fun. I love being on stage. I love the acting. I love learning about acting because I never really had any um exposure to it.
00:47:38
Speaker
um But in retrospect, because I didn't have the sense of belonging that or the sense of of feeling a part of.
00:47:50
Speaker
Right. I never tried out for those things. and I should say i did finally, i think ah towards the later part of my high school years, I think after I had those experiences out in the community, it was like, oh, wow, like this is something that excites me. Let me try it out. And I finally did.
00:48:08
Speaker
But.
00:48:11
Speaker
Yeah, but but I didn't do it until I knew that I could do something like that. Like it it seemed like some of these things were just off limits or not for me or you know what i mean? so And so I kind of went through high school just thinking of it as I'm just here to take the classes.
00:48:31
Speaker
I'm just here to learn. And all this social stuff happening is not really for me. I don't really belong. I'm not really, you know, that kind of thing.
00:48:42
Speaker
Yeah, I wanna fast forward a little bit and and like the person that you are today, right? All these experiences that have shaped you, you are now the director of diversity and inclusion at a health system, at Centaur Health.
Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Healthcare
00:48:58
Speaker
And you have done a lot of work in leadership around and in the National Association of Latin Healthcare care Executives, right? Promoting cultural competency in healthcare. care So the things that you felt excluded from and the things that people may be physically and accessibly excluded from in healthcare, care you're working to help those issues.
00:49:21
Speaker
Can you speak a little bit about the work that you do there and the importance of that work? Absolutely. um And so it's it's neat that you asked me this question at this point because we've kind of talked through all the things that bring us to today and and why I do the work that I do and why it's not just a job for me. And it's not just like I will be advocating and promoting and um promoting understanding of differences, whatever kind of work I do.
00:49:56
Speaker
um Because, um as I told a friend, you know if you know, not long ago, it's not just a job or a title. um It's who I am at my core, right? um And part of it has been my experiences, but part of it has also been working in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion, right?
00:50:23
Speaker
Yeah. which, you know, today, you know, that there's a lot of, a lot of, um
00:50:34
Speaker
what's the, what's the best way to say this? um There's, there's an attack on this work, right? um And, and right now it's not the most popular field to be in. And, and, you know, we, we know what, what all um is happening with that, but For me, um you know, I'm proud of this work and i don't shy away from it because it's good work because it's it's about helping people, whether we're talking about patients, whether we're talking about um members, whether we're talking about communities, it's helping people access and navigate the
00:51:18
Speaker
healthcare and navigate and be able to get the care that they need, right? And so what a lot of times people don't understand is that it's everyone in our community. you know Every single person can probably has unique needs and unique preferences, unique beliefs and unique values um that all play a role in you know, how they experience healthcare and how they develop trust with their providers and how they want to be cared ah for. And, you know, it's it really is about understanding that each and every person that walks through a hospital or a clinic or a doctor's office um deserves to be treated with dignity.
00:52:15
Speaker
with compassion, with understanding, and that our goal in healthcare care should be to understand what that person, what that patient needs and how we can get them, how we can help them to get the best possible outcomes.
00:52:35
Speaker
um So sometimes that means language barriers. Sometimes that means, you know, people are from different cultures with different health beliefs. Right.
00:52:46
Speaker
They may be practicing nontraditional medicine outside. They may be, you know, bringing back ah from their home countries, bringing back, you know, ah medications or over the counter medicines or remedies or, you know, they may be going to different healers like it's having being able to understand um the diversity, you know, of our of our patients, of our communities.
00:53:14
Speaker
and being able to meet people where they are. Sometimes it's ah it's a disability. Sometimes it's issues around LGBTQ plus communities.
00:53:25
Speaker
Sometimes it's, you know, um the aging population. I mean, there's there're so much complexity in people.
00:53:36
Speaker
And in healthcare, care we need to understand and respond to that. Yeah. Oh, I love, I could listen to that all day long. And I think like, it it just, it sounds like the work that you all are doing as a organization and the passion and the ah purpose behind so much of what you do personally are very intertwined and also intertwined with just the overall ethos of, of DEI of diversity, equity, inclusion.
00:54:07
Speaker
I'm curious what your thoughts are. um Like what what are what are the misconceptions around diversity, equity, and inclusion? And why do you think there is an attack on it?
Why is DEI Important for Everyone?
00:54:19
Speaker
Yes. So the misconception that people often have is that um diversity, equity, and inclusion is only to serve, you know, ah minoritized populations. And a lot of times that's associated with Black and Brown, right?
00:54:35
Speaker
But when, you know, as I was mentioning, you know, when I talked to, um to diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals and practitioners, you know, we know that it's always been about everyone, right?
00:54:48
Speaker
Because every single person, you know, including white people, including people of higher economic, um you know, levels, at people who are abled, like there's still something that, not just something, many things that make you diverse and make you unique. And your role lived experiences. I mean, it it ties into the fact that we can't assume that all white people are the same.
00:55:20
Speaker
Even if it's all, you know, and I've given this example before, you put you you talk about a group of, you know, I don't know, 20 white women, you know, they're in their 30s, they all went to the same college.
00:55:35
Speaker
You know, there's a couple different things in common, you know, maybe they're of the same, you know, social economic background. Does it still mean that they are the same, that they believe the same, that their lived experiences are the same?
00:55:48
Speaker
Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And that goes that goes for a ah group of Black women or a group of Hispanic men, or you know even if they are in the same age group, even if if they share the same race, gender, um sexual orientation, they're still going to be a lot of things about each individual that makes them unique, different, whose experiences have shaped them, who they are, what they believe, what they value, how their perspective, you know, their perspective.
00:56:29
Speaker
And so that's what diversity, equity and inclusion is about, is about understanding that we bring that, we bring those experiences to the spaces where we live, work and play and understanding your experience and you understanding my experience is how we can have positive interactions and, and disagree on things still like it's not about agreement. Yeah.
00:56:57
Speaker
Yeah. respectly agree Respectfully. Yeah. That is totally fine. Yeah. Oh, that is so good. And I think like one thing that like stands out about that is, is how,
00:57:09
Speaker
Like even in amongst ah ah amongst a a group of perceived homogenous types of people, there are so many differences, right? So if you have an organization that is full of black people, full of white people, they are all very different and unique in themselves.
00:57:25
Speaker
And i think like you know i think we hear DEI now in kind of a ah euphemism of, like you say, like talking about people of color or Black people or this and or Hispanic people.
00:57:39
Speaker
When DEI, if you look at the labor statistics and the in the research, the number one beneficiary of DEI are white women. And then it's followed by Asian professionals, people who identify LGBTQ people.
00:57:55
Speaker
ah You have Hispanic women after that, Black men, people with disabilities, and then Black women. And so look, when you think of DEI, it's it's totally like the misconceptions are there and and and it's understood. And i hate that we um make assumptions of that in that way, but...
00:58:14
Speaker
ah When it comes down to it, it's about uplifting people. It's about inclusion, like you said. And honestly, when there's more research done that when we when we have diverse communities, when we have diverse workspaces, diverse schools, we get more creative ideas. We get more innovation. We get more productivity, profitability out of those situations, reduced turnover and just an overall better environment.
00:58:41
Speaker
when we start to include and treat people and celebrate people as if they matter. And so I love, absolutely love the work that you do. And I am championing you now until the end of time to continue to push because it's so necessary, especially in our health systems.
00:59:00
Speaker
Yeah. yeah So you were mentioning earlier something about just the gender differences and the things that come up around that for you. You want to speak to that?
00:59:11
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, of course. um I mean, i think, you know, gender was so deeply ingrained. You know, i my my background coming from a very small rural community in Mexico.
00:59:28
Speaker
um where gender roles were very clearly defined. You know, I grew up from a very young age, knowing that there were a lot of things that as a, as a girl, i couldn't do that the boys were allowed to do. Like the boys were allowed to go off and play, um you know, with their slingshots and they could be out on the street and they could do you know, all these things. And I, that, mean, I couldn't do that. Like I had to stay at home and we had, you know, the community where I lived was pretty safe, but even so for a little girl, young girl to be out there by herself, that was just out on the street, right. Was not acceptable.
01:00:12
Speaker
Um, you know, there, there were, um And, you know, people talk about the Latino culture have been a machismo, machismo being, you know, a thing. And and it it it is very much, you know, a thing. And um I saw it play out in my life, in my community in different ways.
01:00:35
Speaker
um But, you know, especially i think with how we as women, like my sisters and I, what we were allowed to do and not to do. And, you know, even when we were teenagers, right, we couldn't just go out, you know, to a dance or a party or anything like that. We always had to have chaperones, like, we had to go with my aunt, even if it was like, you know, quinceanera, right, like ah a party, it's it's a community, like everybody's coming together. But
01:01:09
Speaker
even if I was at an age where I could drive and I ah would, you know, say to my sisters, let's go to the quinceanera. Like that was not a thing. Like we had to have permission from my dad, you know, and, and it would need to be like my brother taking us, my aunt taking us like there, you know, and my brother's two years older than I am, but, but, but he men, you know, have a different role.
01:01:37
Speaker
Right. Um, and, and are seen as having, being more of an authority, authority figure in a household. Now, you know, there's, there's so much complexity to this topic because when we talk about, you know, we're in the 2020s now, right? So some things are changing, some things are evolving.
01:02:00
Speaker
We also, um, Latinos and, and, and I'll speak specifically about my Mexican background, uh, Mexican Americans and Mexicans that have, you know, moved to the U S there's that part of it to becoming a culture rated to American culture. Right.
01:02:18
Speaker
And so the, the way that we are raising our kids, right. As you know, my, my kids would be considered, I guess, second generation.
01:02:29
Speaker
um You know, my, my oldest son is 16, for example, he's not dating yet, but I can see him like dating and bringing, you know, his, you know, his girlfriend over and me wanting to meet her and things like that.
01:02:42
Speaker
Well, that was unheard of when I was a teenager. I was, um, as a girl or just in general, boys and girls, um, as a girl. um but also like my brother, like they wouldn't question him having a girlfriend, right. That would not be questioned. That's okay. That's acceptable.
01:03:02
Speaker
I would get in trouble if my parents knew that I had a boyfriend, right. I wasn't allowed to say that. I mean, I, i you know, I'd get in trouble if I would even say that. My brother was allowed to have a ah girlfriend, but even, you know, him bringing the his girlfriend to the house would probably still not be acceptable, right?
01:03:22
Speaker
um When we were growing up, um again, you know, things are changing. um But i you know, I started, you know, I had my first boyfriend when I was 17. And But my parents didn't know about it until I was 18 or 19.
01:03:41
Speaker
And I wasn't allowed to see him. i mean, of course, I'd sneak out and talk to him and things like that, right? I mean, all girls did. All girls they did.
01:03:51
Speaker
and And there's so much about this topic, Reggie, because the the the there's not many, i would say, I'm probably one of the very few girls my age from my generation, um cousins and friends from our small community back in Mexico that actually went off to, you know, went to college, graduated and became professionals so because, you know, they ended up eloping with their boyfriend and getting, you know, not necessarily married, sometimes married, but sometimes just eloping and living with their boyfriend because they
01:04:33
Speaker
they didn't have any freedom at home. Like they weren't even allowed to do, you know, there were so restricted in being able to go even to the mall, even to, you know, to um out for ice cream. Like there was so, um so many restrictions on what girls could and couldn't do that.
01:04:58
Speaker
I think a lot of times, you know, it led them to, you know, to, to, to find what they were missing, you know, in a relationship with the, with the man or, a you know, a young man.
01:05:12
Speaker
And then they, um you you know, they, they would end up, you know, getting married at a very young age, becoming pregnant, having children at a very young age. So there' there's a lot there to unpack.
01:05:25
Speaker
you I'm curious about one aspect of that. When you said like the male is the authority figure and that you couldn't do much without getting that approval. Did that show up in your professional life at all where you were replicating what was in the home in work?
Gender Roles in Professional Life
01:05:42
Speaker
Oh, oh, I am. I am 100 percent sure. that as much as I am aware of it and as much as I tried to mitigate because it was so inherent in me.
01:05:56
Speaker
and And so me and many Hispanic Latina women and women of other cultures where, again, the the male is the head of the household, the authority figure, and women as are seen as less than, right? not having the same rights, not having the same um abilities, not having you know the same everything.
01:06:22
Speaker
So I absolutely think that that shows up um in other aspects of my life, including my professionalism or in my professional life, I should say.
01:06:33
Speaker
and so there's this awareness of almost like like trying to to present myself as confident, as you know, sure of myself as, you know, um all the things that I think people might think I am not because I am a woman and because the image and because of all of these things that I grew up seeing how women couldn't.
01:07:01
Speaker
And so there is definitely something in me that is kind of constantly reminding me, um even when I don't realize it. Yeah.
01:07:11
Speaker
Even it's unconscious. If I pretend there's there's thousands of women behind me who grew up in that similar environment and feel that way when it comes to work, can you give them some uplifting words of encouragement, some affirmation, some confirmation of their belonging, ah that they matter, all of that, however you want to deliver that?
01:07:36
Speaker
Yeah. So I think one of the things that I would say is that Can you know i say in you to them? Say you. You. as as as a um As a woman who might have been raised in that kind of environment, in that kind of culture, um you know i want you to know that that was a long time ago.
01:08:01
Speaker
and I am very hopeful for the future. And I do believe that things are somewhat different now. Right. Things have changed. And that's why I am a professional in health care, because, you know, I you know, I earned this right. I worked for this.
01:08:20
Speaker
But also society is at least more open to having people, women in these kinds of positions. So things are getting better. Sometimes it feels like we're taking steps back.
01:08:34
Speaker
But overall, things have gotten better. And I would say um to you that, um you know, we need to, or you, or that you can ah work each and every day in each and every space where you show up um to have a little affirmation that you say to yourself that I matter, that my um my perspective is valuable, that I have talents and gifts that the world needs, that this space needs, and take that space, own that space with all the confidence, because, you know, what have you got to lose? You've got a lot more to lose.
01:09:20
Speaker
If you sit back and you, you know, you say, I don't, people are not going to value my perspective. People are not going to value what I have to share. People are not going to value what I have to bring.
01:09:32
Speaker
you have more to lose if you um you, know, if you settle into that mindset versus, and and it does take bravery. Like you do have to be brave because stereotypes exist because some people will not value, you know, what you have to say, but you have to believe that you have to say it, you have to own it, you have to, you know, take the space um and believe in yourself and hope that others will believe in you too. And if they don't, you know, that's their, that's their loss.
01:10:07
Speaker
But um you you have to take that step because you've got a lot more to lose if you don't. Powerful. I love it. Mic drop.
Encouragement for Immigrants and Personal Inspiration
01:10:20
Speaker
Before we wrap up, I have a segment that I call ah fill in a blank. So it's just simple fill in a blank. And it can be as short or as long as you like.
01:10:31
Speaker
And so the first one is vulnerability makes me feel blank.
01:10:40
Speaker
Human. I love that. Yes. Outside of work, I enjoy blank. ah Lifting.
01:10:54
Speaker
Lifting weight. Lifting weights. Yes. Weightlifting. Hiking, cooking, baking. I mean, there's a whole list, but ah weightlifting. Yeah.
01:11:06
Speaker
My biggest superpower is blank.
01:11:12
Speaker
Caring.
01:11:14
Speaker
genuinely Genuinely caring. If I could tell... a person who has immigrated to America, anything that would help them, it would be blank.
01:11:29
Speaker
Si se puede. Yes, you can. Yes, i love it. And when I need inspiration, i turn to
01:11:41
Speaker
my family.
01:11:45
Speaker
You have highlighted so much beauty in one journey of an immigrant story, like one immigrant story. and And again, just like we were saying, no homogenous group, like people are different and unique. And so that's not everybody's story, but your story is so beautiful and so unique. And I think more stories like yours need to be highlighted.
The Power of Storytelling and Connection
01:12:08
Speaker
And ah to show that you are a human and you at 10 years old and your parents at the time were people who were trying to have a better life.
01:12:19
Speaker
And the life that you're living now is like wildest dreams, right? Like I'm like, the fact that we're both sitting right here talking to each other right now with all the other alternative realities that could have happened is a miracle.
01:12:34
Speaker
And so with that, i'm deeply honored to be here with you today. Thank you. Thank you. And and i echo your your sentiment. It's really amazing. And all the, you know, the other stories that exist out there too, right? Of all the wonderful people. And, you know, we we just don't take the time often to it's interesting how we came across and and now here we are sharing our stories. And if we could do that more, right? um how How would that change our worldview?
01:13:09
Speaker
And how would we be able to connect with more more people at such a deep level? And we're so busy living our lives. We don't stop to, you know, to really get to know others outside of our circle. Right. And what a difference it makes.
01:13:28
Speaker
Yes, it does. It does. Are there any final thoughts, addition to that, that you want to share, leave the audience, leave somebody out there, say hello to somebody, anything like that that's on your heart?
01:13:41
Speaker
No, I just, I want to thank you for, um you know, for, for reaching out and for connecting with me and for bringing me on here to share my story. um I, I love the work that you're doing. I'm excited to continue to see all that you do. I mean, you're,
01:13:59
Speaker
seem to be everywhere and always, you know, different events and interviews and, you know, talking with different people. And I just, I, it's really exciting. And I love the positivity, um the encouragement, the motivation, the, um you know, that you provide to, to the people that follow you, the people that listen to your podcast.
01:14:21
Speaker
And I, I know you're changing people's lives and, That's really exciting. And as you said to me, I'm here to support you as well.
Embrace Vulnerability: Podcast Conclusion
01:14:31
Speaker
And let us go out there and support other people because everyone has has the potential and the ability to thrive, you know, if we can just find a way to support one another.
01:14:44
Speaker
Absolutely. I'm calling it. We're going to be on a stage together and we're going to change some lives together. I can see it happening. Yeah. Sylvia, and do you want to share any contact information or how people can learn more about the work that you're doing?
01:14:58
Speaker
and and Probably LinkedIn is where I share most of what I do um professionally. um Yeah, I would say that would be a way to connect with me.
01:15:11
Speaker
Absolutely. Yes. Sylvia, I appreciate you so much. With all the things that you could be doing, all the places you could be, i appreciate you being here with me embracing vulnerability.
01:15:22
Speaker
Thank you for having me. Thank you for joining us in another episode of Vulnerability Muscle. If you've enjoyed these conversations around vulnerability, please consider leaving a review.
01:15:33
Speaker
Your feedback not only motivates us to continue to do the work that we do, but it allows other people to witness the power of vulnerability. Share your thoughts. on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, or wherever you're listening from.
01:15:49
Speaker
And don't forget to spread the word. You can follow us at Vulnerability Muscle on Instagram and me personally at Reggie D. Ford across all platforms. Visit vulnerabilitymuscle.com for additional resources and support.
01:16:02
Speaker
And remember, embracing vulnerability is not a sign of weakness. It is the source of your greatest strength. Sometimes it's uncomfortable, but most workouts are. So keep flexing that vulnerability.