059 | From The Bronx, For The Bronx feat. Anthony Perez

What drives a person to dedicate their life to public service? Join us as we uncover the remarkable journey of Anthony Perez, the Bronx Borough Commissioner for the New York City Department of Transportation. From his humble beginnings as a college intern to managing critical transportation projects in one of the busiest boroughs in New York City, Anthony's career offers a masterclass in perseverance and dedication. Discover how his formative years growing up in Marble Hill Houses fueled a lifelong commitment to improving his community and learn about the balance he strikes between immediate problem-solving and long-term strategic planning.

Anthony’s career path is a testament to the power of persistence and the importance of seizing opportunities. We explore the pivotal moments that shaped his trajectory, from obtaining a worker's permit at 14 to landing a position in the Francis Barton Library, and finally, navigating the Urban Fellows Program. Listen as Anthony recounts his rapid rise during the transition between mayoral administrations, advancing from an urban fellow to acting director of finance, and later deciding to immerse himself in a dual degree program at NYU. This episode is filled with valuable insights into the strategic moves and professional risks that can lead to significant career growth in public service.

Balancing professional ambitions with personal life is no small feat, and Anthony’s story exemplifies this delicate dance. From spearheading voter registration drives with the Bronx Democratic County Committee to addressing infrastructure needs in public parks, Anthony’s work has had a tangible impact on the Bronx community. We also delve into his thoughts on the influence of urban planning legend Robert Moses and the importance of community engagement in modern governance. Tune in for an inspiring conversation that highlights the profound impact one dedicated individual can make in their community, all while maintaining a strong commitment to family and personal values.

Disclaimer:

The thoughts, views, and opinions expressed on Career Cheat Code are those of the individual guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the host, affiliated organizations & employers. This podcast is intended for informational and inspirational purposes, highlighting the guests and their unique career journeys. We hope these stories inspire you to chase your purpose, define success on your own terms & take the next step in your career.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And she was soon to be evicted from her home because
a subsidy program that she wasenrolled in had eclipsed and she
needed to figure out a way tonow continue paying her rent.
And back then there was a thingcalled the Green Book and it was
a physical little phone bookalmost, but for government
offices, and so I went throughthat and I called every single

(00:22):
housing agency there was in thatbook, went through that and I
called every single housingagency there was in that book
and I was able to help herenroll in a new program to
finish paying her rent and makeher ends meet.
And she called the next day andshe was crying and bawling and
she was like you saved my life.
I would have been homeless ifit wasn't for you.
I don't know what I was goingto do and I was just like what

(00:43):
I'm, like a college kid who'sjust interning for the summer,
and I just made some phone callsand I was able to change
someone's life or make them feellike I did, and that to me was
like all right, this is what Iwant to do for the rest of my
life.
I want to help people and Iwant to make their lives better.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Welcome to Career Cheat Code.
In this podcast, you'll hearhow everyday people impact the
world through their careers.
Learn about their journey,career hacks and obstacles along
the way.
Whether you're already havingthe impact you want or are
searching for it, this is thepodcast for you.
So, anthony, welcome to theshow.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
No, I appreciate you, man.
I know it's been a long timecoming with you.

(01:19):
You are the second half of adynamic power couple that has
graced the show so far, so I'mvery excited to really have you
here and talk about all thegreat things that you're doing.
We've been working on this forquite some time, but your career
continues to evolve and moveand you continue to do
remarkable things, so I'mexcited to show the world a
little bit about it.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Thank you for having me, man.
It's been a long time coming,but happy to make it work and
things go in their sequence fora reason Absolutely so.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Let's dive right in, man.
Let's tell the world what it isyou do for a living.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Sure, so I'm the Bronx Borough Commissioner for
the New York City Department ofTransportation, so I'm basically
the face of the agency when itcomes to all Bronx
transportation projects oroperations.
So DOT we manage streetrepaving, sidewalks,
streetlights, traffic signals,crosswalks, public plazas, 794

(02:13):
bridges.
It's a lot of the public spacein New York City and it's my
privilege to be the head of theunit that oversees all the Bronx
operations.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
So what does that mean for you?
So when you walk in on Mondaymorning, what does your day
actually look like and how doyou plan out your week?
And what does it actuallyentail to be the Bronx Borough
Commissioner?

Speaker 1 (02:30):
That's a good question.
People say this all the time,but it really is true Every
single day is totally different.
Every single week is totallydifferent.
My wife and I actually juststarted doing our Sunday family
meeting where right afterbreakfast, we go over our
schedule for the week, justbecause, particularly with this
job, it's one of those thingsyou have to plan around or plan
through as well.
So sometimes the week willinclude several community board

(02:54):
meetings in the evenings orpresentations to neighborhood
associations.
Sometimes that'll include timeswhere I have to be downtown in
Manhattan later in the afternoonand we have to figure out what
that means, or even earlymorning, because you know I have
the privilege of taking mydaughter to daycare every day in
the morning and if I have to besomewhere earlier that day, we
have to switch.

(03:15):
I'll say you know what, I'llpick her up today and you drop
her off.
But when it comes to every day,it's like a lot of time to
start with a text from electedofficials saying, hey, there's a
traffic light that's notworking in my district, can you
fix this?
Or someone saying, hey, there'sa pothole or a manhole or a
crosswalk that seems to be openas a safety hazard, and
sometimes it's meeting withdifferent stakeholders, like a

(03:39):
business improvement district ora business in the Bronx having
issues with something happeningin their street.
So every single day isdifferent and it's just trying
to stay on top of it all.
It's a high volume, fast pacedwork environment and all you can
do is just do whatever you canfor that day and whatever you

(03:59):
couldn't do that day, you tryagain tomorrow Got it.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
So you're basically like the bridge between what's
happening on the ground, whetherit's short-term things like a
pothole or like larger stakeprojects, like a renovation of a
bridge or of an entire streetthat needs to be closed for a
couple of months, like thebridge between what the
community hears and learns andcommunicates into the agency and
vice versa.

(04:22):
Is that generally the goalthere?

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, that's a pretty quick way to put it all
together.
A lot of the things that we dothat will have the most reason
to have a public-facing role isfor what we call street
improvement projects, which webasically do maybe nine to 10
per year and they're almostsimilar to a capital project, a
construction project that thecity does, but we're able to be
more flexible with these becausewe use expense dollars.
So we go in there, make streetimprovements using paint and

(04:50):
plastic and rubber, and we'll beable to redesign a public space
and make it safer for peopleacross the street or for
children to go to school.
And so whenever we do that,there is, by design, a drawn out
process.
We meet with the electedofficials, we meet with the
local stakeholders.
We meet with the localstakeholders, we meet with a
community board, do apresentation, and it takes a
while.
But it's one of those thingswhere it's like you want to move

(05:10):
as fast as you can but as slowas you have to, because part of
that process is doing that workand you can't do it without it,
and so it's like it's myprivilege to get to do that, you
know, to be able to tell people.
Here's the problem.
Here's our idea how to fix it.
Let's work together to get tothat finish line.
I love it.

(05:36):
Okay, so is this what you alwayswanted to do for a living in
public service?
I think I found that opportunitythrough working directly in
government.
My career has just led me tothis point now where I'm here,
but I think it is one of thosethings where, like I said, the
sequence of life just leads youto certain places, and sometimes
it's by plan and sometimes it'sjust because you got there.

(05:57):
And it's one of those thingswhere I feel like I'm at the
right place, because it mergesall of my different interests
and the history that I've beenable to build through my career
trajectory, like working withdifferent businesses, working
with different branches ofgovernment, just thinking out of
the box and figuring out issues.
And particularly what I lovemost about it is the physical
aspect of it.
You can have a physicaltestament to your work when you

(06:22):
see the design changes and whenyou can actually point to data
showing that something is safeor that there are less crashes,
that it's helping people crossthe street faster or easier by
including a concrete pedestrianisland and thinking about how
many feet per second does anelderly person need to cross a
super extended crosswalk?

(06:43):
These things are things you canactually quantify and say like
I actually made my communitybetter in some small, particular
, tangible way.
I love that.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Tell me where were you born, where were you raised,
what was your upbringing like?

Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah, born and raised in the Bronx, still live in the
Bronx.
I'm a Bronx boy through andthrough.
You know I was born at ahospital, 188th and the Grand
Concourse Union Hospital, whichis now a more community center,
I think, through a lack offunding, which in and of itself
is an interesting story.
There too, I went to PS9, ms118, dewey Clinton High School, to
all public schools.
My family, I grew up in asingle parent household.

(07:19):
My mother's a Dominican womanwho immigrated in the 80s and
raised my brother and I byherself and you know I think
that played a big role into mycareer path as well.
Just thinking that, you know wegrew up in public housing.
We grew up in NYCHA, at MarbleHill Houses.
You know that we couldn'tafford a car, so we took the
train and the bus everywhere.

(07:39):
Public transportation Imentioned we went to public
schools, that we were on publicbenefits.
So when you think about it, thisconcept of a government, this
social contract of you know,like having a safety net and
taking care of people, itprovided me an education, a roof
over my head, a way to getaround, a way to put food on the

(08:00):
table, and so in so many waysfor me and it might sound corny,
but it's true, it's me being inpublic service and being in
government is a way to put foodon the table, and so in so many
ways for me and it might soundcorny, but it's true, it's me
being in public service andbeing in government is a way for
me to pay that back.
It's the idea that governmentand the city gave so much to me,
so the least that I could do isgive something back to my
community in return.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
That's amazing.
So, you know, and I thinkthat's a great perspective,
right, because being of thecommunity, from the community,
right, like you also are able tobridge back to now, provide and
bring that voice into the roomand bring that perspective right
, like you're not just talkingat someone that has this role
but has never lived it.
You literally have walked inpeople's shoes, right, so, like
it's amazing to be able to be ina role where you can actually,

(08:41):
you know, be the voice for thecommunity that you grew up and
know.
Tell me more about when youwere in high school, right, did
you have a sense that you, like,were you always aware of that
government kind of intersectionin your life and how you can
actually do good withingovernment, or where did that
come from?

Speaker 1 (08:59):
That's a good question.
You know, I think when I was inhigh school I really wasn't as
focused on what I was going tobe doing.
I knew that I was going to goto college and figure it out.
I think that it was in collegethat I really started to figure
out what I was good at and whatI could offer.
And it's funny because it wasanother one of those things that
it was kind of a happenstance,you know it was.
I got to college.

(09:20):
I went to Union College of Escharacter in new york.
While I was there, I think Iwas as one of those freshmen,
like welcome orientations, wewere all hanging out meeting
each other and I had mentionedmy name, anthony perez, but uh,
then people kept calling my lastname, which, like a weird thing
, you know, in in new york cityeveryone just calls you by your
first name.
But when you go to thesecolleges you know in different
parts primarily white collegesuh, I'll call you by your last

(09:44):
name.
So perez, perez, perez, peoplewere calling me and then
somebody said, oh, perez, forprez, you should run for class
president and I it was like afunny thing and I was like, oh,
you know what I might do that,and I actually ran for class
president.
That was the slogan perez forprez.
I had it on stickers, on flyers, everywhere.
I knocked on every singlefreshman uh dorm door, uh, and

(10:04):
met every single freshman dormdoor and met every single one of
them and got elected, and thenthat became like one of my
passion things.
You know, obviously, when yougo to college, you go there to
learn and get an education inthe classroom, but for me, I
think what I got most out of mycollege experience was being
part of student government, was,you know, being part of all
these different clubs to figureout how to get things done, and

(10:26):
particularly too, I think, whenI was up in Union College.
It's connected to New York.
It's a town that is known asthe city that used to light the
world.
General Electric was basedthere in the earlier part of the
19th century or the 20thcentury and then, I think in the
60s or 70s, ge left and wentdown south.
It's cheaper and easier tomaintain a headquarters down

(10:48):
there and the city basicallylost its primary source of
income.
And so now you see a bunch ofhouses that are abandoned, that
were quickly built with poormaterials.
There isn't as much of a taxbase.
The schools are deteriorating,the streets are deteriorating,
and I say that because I coulddraw many parallels to my
experience in the Bronx offeeling like my community was

(11:12):
under-resourced, and so I foundthat connection there.
When I was at Union, we starteda club called the Union
Schenectady Alliance, becauseUnion College was ranked number
two in the nation for having theworst relationship with its
community by Princeton Review atthat point Number one was
Trinity College, and so wewanted to find ways to improve

(11:33):
that connection so that itdidn't feel like it was just a
beautiful campus with big wallsseparating itself from the city
that it's within.
And we found ways to create,like we did, something called
the Taste of Schenectady or Fallfor Schenectady.
That was the other one.
We brought local businesses tocampus to give out food and have
students learn about what's inthe community.
And then we would do likementorships with the local high

(11:56):
schools and partnering volunteerevents to clean up different
parks.
And when I was graduating, afterdoing all that government work,
student government work andalso working in the community so
much, I was starting to plantroots there almost.
And I was working.
I was an intern at a districtattorney's office.
I had another internship whereI also worked for a local
nonprofit, and so they wereoffering me jobs to stick around

(12:18):
and be there.
But for me I realized, well,wait, I'm from a community that
needs me too.
I realized, well, wait, I'mfrom a community that needs me
too.
So for me it was important forme to come back home to the
Bronx to bring back what I hadlearned and what I had built and
figure out how I could plant myroots back to where they
started and give back to my owncommunity.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
Wow, so remind me what was your major in college.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Political science, political science, and that's
particularly because I thoughtat one point that I wanted to
eventually uh, become a lawyer.
Growing up in my household mymom would always joke you know,
it's like you got to be a lawyer.
You talk so damn much, and Ithink it's one of those things
where it's also um, particularly, I think in immigrant families.
You know there are certainprofessions that are just like
the marquee routes.

(13:01):
You know, you either become alawyer or you become a doctor,
uh, and it's one of those one,two, three, four, five
particular choices.
They don't say, hey, you'regoing to be a zoologist, or you
know, you're going to be amarine biologist, it's going to
be a lawyer, a doctor, and I'vealways been queasy whenever I
see blood or anything like that.
So I was like, all right, Iguess you're going to be a
lawyer then.

(13:21):
So political science was justone of those degrees that you
could pursue and then flip thatinto pre-law.
So that's why I initially choseit.
But I think I've always beeninterested in, like I mentioned,
just the concept of whatgovernment is, and then learning
more about that and how itworks just intrigued me and
worked out.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Got it.
That makes a lot of sense.
Which also which also makessense why you had, you know, an
internship in the districtattorney's office and why, in
your mind, that was the pathright and you know.
That's actually part of thereason why we started this
entire show is to highlight thatyou can be so much more than
you know a lawyer, or evenwithin being a lawyer, you can
be in so many differentindustries and so many different

(14:00):
things.
Right.
But like you can be the BronxBorough Commissioner, right.
And like you didn't I'm sureyou didn't know that was a job
when you were in Schenectady,right In college, right.
So this just opens a window ofopportunities and possibilities.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, and that actually would lead me even
further down this path.
You know, just again, just bygoing by the traditional paths
and routes that are promoted assometimes the only way or the
best way.
One of those pieces of advicewas, if you want to go to law
school after college, you shouldhave a really good internship
your junior summer so that whenyou're applying you have that on

(14:35):
your resume.
And so one of those things thatI looked up was to get an
internship in a legislativeoffice, so that junior summer I
wanted to find an internship ingovernment in my community.
That would prepare me at somepoint for the prospective legal
career that I thought that Iwould have.
So what I did was I actuallylooked up all the elected

(14:58):
offices, all the legislativeoffices that are in government,
the ones that are particularlyin the Bronx.
I sorted them by distance andthen basically created a map for
myself, because I was going tofind an internship that summer,
and so I went to the first oneand I was like, hey, my name is
Anthony Perez, I'm a junior incollege, this is my resume, I'd
love to intern for you for free,and that was my plan to do that

(15:20):
all throughout.
And the first office that Ishowed up to was right on
Burnside near the GrandConcourse and it was a council
member, fernando Cabrera'soffice.
I walk in there.
I did exactly what I just saidand they called me back when I
was getting back in the cargoing to the next office and
they're like actually come back,meet the chief of staff.
It worked out and I got theinternship that summer and I was

(15:41):
ready to go to every otheroffice.
I have my resume printed like50 copies but it worked out that
my first stop was the one thatworked out for me.
But when I was doing that I wasalso directly put into doing
constituent services andmanaging cases.
So when an everyday New Yorkermight call and say, hey, I'm
having issues with my rent orI'm having issues with my

(16:01):
electricity, or what can mycouncil member do for this or
for that?
I'm having issues with my rentor I'm having issues with my
electricity, or what can mycouncil member do for this or
for that.
And there was one particularperson who I called and she was
soon to be evicted from her homebecause a subsidy program that
she was enrolled in had eclipsedand she needed to figure out a
way to now continue paying herrent.
And back then there was a thingcalled the green book and it

(16:22):
was a physical little phone bookalmost, but for government
offices.
And so I went through that andI called every single housing
agency there was in that bookand I was able to help her
enroll in a new program tofinish paying her rent and make
her ends meet.
And she called the next day andshe was crying and bawling and

(16:42):
she was like you saved my life.
I would have been homeless ifit.
You saved my life.
I would have been homeless ifit wasn't for you.
I don't know what I was goingto do and I was just like what
I'm like a college kid who'sjust interning for the summer,
and I just made some phone callsand I was able to change
someone's life or make them feellike I did, and that, to me,
was like this is what I want todo for the rest of my life.
I want to help people and Iwant to make their lives better,

(17:05):
and I realized that I didn'tneed to do that with a law
degree either.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Absolutely, I love that.
And I think you said a fewthings in there, right, like one
the determination and foresightto print out a bunch of resumes
, not email them.
Print out a bunch of resumes andhave a plan to go to different
offices with physical copiesthat in itself is a lot of
initiative, especially for acollege student.
Right, that's not the norm, butyou saw something as an

(17:28):
opportunity and said you knowwhat?
I need?
A good experience and I need tomake an impression, so let me
go do this.
Then you were placed into thisinternship and instead of just
having something that is justfor your resume sake and for the
sake of saying you did it, youreally took it seriously and
you're able to really bringyourself, bring your experiences
, bring your community-drivenmindset to actually impact

(17:51):
people's lives.
So you know, it's remarkablefor me to hear that you went
into this mostly as a resumebuilder that can get you to law
school.
And then you get there and itlike completely changes your
perspective on things and you'relike you know what.
I could actually do somethingin this area to help people, and
that's great.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, no, I think that's what you know, that
particularly that perseverancepart, something that I think
resonates with me and it's oneof the things that I think is a
constant throughout mytrajectory so far is that, you
know, I may not be the smartest,I may not be the best or in
certain areas, but I will not beout hustled, that's guaranteed,
you know, and that's one thingthat I've always had.
When I turned 14 and I went andgot my worker's permit as soon

(18:31):
as I turned 14 and I was likeI'm going to get a job.
And I walked up and downFordham, tremont, burnside and I
went on every single storefrontit was a 99 cent store or a
restaurant and I was like I wantto work, what can I do?
And I found a job working atthe library, at the Francis
Barton Library, right in frontof BCC on University, and that

(18:52):
was like that's how I got myfirst job was again that kind of
perseverance.
When I wanted this internship,I was like you know what?
I'm gonna go out there today,I'm finding an internship.
And when I was almost ready tograduate, similarly, I had
printed and drafted a coverletter and a resume and I did
the same thing where I was likeI'm going to find a job in one
of these government offices andI did that for every single

(19:14):
government office in the Bronx.
So that's like threecongressional office, five state
Senate offices, 12 assemblyoffices, nine city council
offices offices, 12 assemblyoffices, nine city council
offices, and I was literally atmy desk folding these into a
triple fold and putting them inenvelopes when I got the email
that I got into the UrbanFellows Program which was my

(19:36):
entry into government.
It's almost like Teach forAmerica but for government,
where you get placed in afellowship and placed at an
agency for nine months toobviously give back in public
service but also get your entryinto this career path.
But one way or another I wasgoing to find that job.
It happened to me that I got itthrough the fellowship.
But if I didn't get thatfellowship, one of those letters

(19:56):
was going to be read and I wasgoing to find a way in.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
That makes sense.
So you apply for thisfellowship and still continue
your job search, in case youweren't accepted into the
program.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
Oh, and still continue to job search in case
you weren't like accepted intothe program and of course you
got to have backup plans, plan C, plan.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
D, plan E.
I love it.
I love it.
So tell me more about yourexperience with this fellowship.
Where were you actually placedand what was that experience
like?

Speaker 1 (20:15):
I still credit so much to that program for my
career path you know I mentionedit's like the easiest way that
I explain is like Teach forAmerica, because everyone knows
about that educationalfellowship.
Twenty five people get aroundtwenty five every year get
picked across the nation tostart their careers in city
government and the idea is thatthere needs to be a more

(20:36):
structured pipeline into thosecareer paths so that folks
aren't necessarily going just tomed school or to law school or
elsewhere, but finding otherways to get into government and
to give back to theircommunities.
And so each of those peoplegets placed at a senior level
position in city government fornine months, for a paid position
, and they're able to learn at avery high pace in a senior

(20:58):
level to, you know, really gettheir feet wet.
And again, it's a pipelinebecause these are folks who may
have otherwise gone into otherfields, who were already
excelling, whether througheducation or through
extracurricular activities, andit's a great way to really bring
good people into good positions.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
So what was your actual like how long is about a
year, right?
So, or like nine months or soof the fellowship, yeah, it's
nine months.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
So I was playing at the Mayor's Fund to Advance New
York City, which is the city'spublic-private partnership
nonprofit.
It's a way to bring in privatesupport through corporation
philanthropy and also workingdirectly with community-based
organizations but pairing themwith agencies and their programs
and initiatives.
I loved it because even thatparticular role was able to give

(21:47):
me like a 30,000-foot view ofhow government works, because I
was able to work with so manydifferent agencies.
You know I was able to workwith educational programs and
after-school programs andalternative to incarceration
programs and working withseniors and veterans and it was
like, oh, look at all thedifferent cool things the
government can do.
And even, just as a concept,the idea that government cannot

(22:09):
do everything by itself andarguably should not do
everything by itself, that thereare better ways to get things
done with other partners,whether it be working, I
mentioned, with acommunity-based organization
that has that grassroots support, that has that credibility on
the ground, or working withpeople in the private sector who
have that expertise that canmove more nimbly and have the
resources to do so.

(22:30):
But government gives you theability to reach people in the
masses, particularly in New YorkCity.
If you just think about thevolume.
There's 8.5 million people,there's 1.1 million students.
Just think about thatparticular piece by itself.
We have a department, theDepartment of Education, that
has a direct connection with 1.1million families, that with one

(22:51):
email can reach that manypeople.
That's something that a privatecompany would die for.
That kind of access, that kindof reach.
But that's one thing whereevery different component or
stakeholder has a differentthing that they bring to the
table.
And so being at the table fromthe government perspective, I
think is a really cool aspect tobe able to think about, like
how can we solve this problemand what can I do to be able to

(23:13):
do?

Speaker 2 (23:14):
my part Absolutely.
And you know just in you knowthis sounds like.
Very early in your career youwere able to see how government
can actually have impact indifferent ways, how it
intersects with the privatesector, how it can have direct
impact on communities sector,how it can have direct impact on
communities.
And that's a lot of exposurefor someone coming straight out
of college, right?
Because on one end you grew upin New York City and you at

(23:36):
least were aware of governmentinterventions that played a role
in your life.
But now being on the other endand seeing how well, sometimes
it's not just government,sometimes it's government and
foundations, government and acorporation and just seeing how
that works and then applyingthat to your knowledge going
forward, it seems like a lot ofreally interesting exposure.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
Already on, yeah, and I think it's just finding ways
to think outside the box tosolve a problem that there isn't
just one path or one solutionor one cookie cutter approach.
I think about even the.
It's kind of simple, but it waswhat worked for me, or what
resonated with me at that pointwas, you know, one of the first

(24:14):
initiatives that I was tasked towork on was helping expand
summer youth employment serviceSYEP that give a work experience
to young adults in New YorkCity starting at the age of 14
up to 24, gives them a summerjob.
And at that point there were110,000 young New Yorkers who

(24:34):
were applying for this programbut there was only enough
funding to give 30,000 of themjobs.
So you know, over 80,000 peoplewere disappointed in their
families and who needed thatincome, who needed that
experience, who needed thatactivity in the summer to avoid
summer learning loss whenthey're not in school.
And I was tasked to help findways to help increase the

(24:55):
funding.
And so we found differentfoundations and grants and so
forth of fundraisers to supportthat program.
But one thing that resonatedwith me was I was working with
this one person who worked atthe Department of Youth and
Community Development and one ofthe solutions that he had was
trying to figure out, well, whatif we, you know, reduce some of

(25:16):
the hours or change around howwe do the pay structure, and if
we like tweak all thesedifferent components in the
formula, we're able to increasethe number of participants by
like 30%.
And that just like blew me away, like I was like what you could
do, that Like you can just likeredesign how a program is
structured and you're able toincrease its reach and impact.

(25:38):
And I was like that's cool,that I want to do that.
You know, I want to figure out.
It's not just all right, here'sa problem.
I mentioned 110,000 applicants,30,000 spots, x amount of
dollars.
What's the other side of theequation?
The simplicity is raise moremoney or get less applicants,
but there's way more ways toreally get in there and make

(26:00):
tweaks to it.
And I think that kind of likeit, almost it made the world so
much more three dimensional tome.
You know, it's not just blackand white or two-dimensional in
that way and I was like that's,it gave me a new perspective in
terms of how I can have my rolein trying to solve society's
problems.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Absolutely.
Wow, that's a great again.
Just exposure early on, right?
So, like now, I'm sure youcarry, if not that exact
solution, right, but just thethought of thinking outside the
box to solve some of theseproblems, and as a former SYEP
graduate, I appreciate thatthere are people in government
that are trying to solve theseproblems in unique ways given

(26:39):
constrained resources.
Right, like taxpayer dollarsonly go so far.
So thinking about ways to thinkoutside the box and to provide
opportunity to more families isremarkable.
Tell me about how you were ableto position yourself because
you stayed at the Mayor's Fundbeyond your fellowship, right?
So tell me how that transitionhappened.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Yeah, so you know, by design the program was almost
like a matchmaking service.
We started with a booklet thatlisted about 60 different
positions at different cityagencies.
It was just a paragraph aboutwhat the agency did and what the
role would be, and then wepicked from that booklet which
spaces we wanted to apply for,and that was all done in a span

(27:18):
of a week.
So we basically did 25interviews in one week, four to
five interviews per day, andthen you ranked where you felt
you were the best fit, and thenthe people interviewing also
ranked the folks that they hadmet with, and so from the get-go
we had each ranked each otherat the top, and so we knew it
was a good match in terms ofwhat I had to offer and what the

(27:39):
work they needed.
So at the end of the fellowshipit was more so.
It was like a contractextension.
It was just like, hey, let'smake this official.
This worked out so far.
I think there's more work to bedone.
It worked out well for me aswell, because of the timing in
that administration.
It was Bloomberg's third term.
It was his 10th, 11th and 12thyear in office, and so I was

(28:01):
working with seasoned governmentveterans who had been doing it
for at least a decade or more.
It was like a well-oiledmachine At that point.
It was also a mayoraltransition.
There was an election that year.
That's when Mayor Bill deBlasio was elected, and I think
a lot of folks who were in thosepositions either stayed within
the Bloomberg world or went towork at his foundation or went

(28:22):
to work at his corporation orfound jobs elsewhere.
I think a lot of times,obviously, in a more practical
sense, folks don't want to beleft flat footed in a change of
leadership, where you may beleft without a job.
But I was in a flexibleposition because I was so young.
You know I could take a risk.
You know I was.
I just had my first apartment.
All I had to figure out was howto pay 800 bucks that month.

(28:43):
As long as I could do that, youknow I could take some risks.
So I was able to stick aroundand it worked out well too,
because towards the end, thefinal months and a year of that
administration, folks, therewere vacancies that were coming
up and I had to step into someroles in an acting position.
So for a while I was actingdirector of finance and I was

(29:04):
like 24 years old managing like$60 million in philanthropic
funds and I had to figure outhow to do Excel formulas.
I had to figure out what thehell it meant when someone asked
for a no-cost budget extension,and those are things that you
learn on the job, trial by fire.
I think in an ideal scenarioyou probably learn it much
earlier on in an educationalsetting, like at a master's

(29:26):
degree, but it was like amaster's degree in real time.
You figure it out as it wentbecause there was no other
choice.
I took advantage of thatbecause I learned everything
that I had to do.
I had to figure out how toonboard a new employee, how to
do their HR, what COBRA meantwhen it meant for health
insurance, and these are thingsthat I just had to figure out
how to step into.

(29:46):
And that was a really biglearning experience for me and,
I think, really trained mealmost like a bootcamp to just
figure it out which makes sense.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
right, and especially being so young and being tasked
with so much, and figuring outhow to actually use that to your
advantage.
Right, like you could have alsojumped ship, but you saw an
opportunity there.
You're like, you're right, allthe senior folks are going to
leave.
This creates a gap within ourorganization.
How can I bring my best selfand actually get through some of
this right, which led to youbasically having like three or

(30:16):
four different roles withinthree years in that organization
?
Right, and being able to, like,continuously progress your
career accelerated right, in anaccelerated way that you would
not have had that opportunityanywhere else at that time.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Right that you would not have had that opportunity
anywhere else at that time.
Right.
And as it relates to the themeof this podcast, career Cheat
Code that's one of the thingsthat I leverage as well when it
comes to how my professionalcareer trajectory is being
reflected.
So on my resume I break downparticularly the mayor's fund
track all the way down, so I putthe organization and then I

(30:55):
list those four or five rolesand the time span that it shows,
because it shows thatprogression.
I came in as an urban fellow,which is basically a glorified
internship, and then I was aprogram associate, then I was a
manager of special programs,then I was the associate
director of special programs,then I was the acting director
of finance and that shows howquickly I was able to do that,
because I think that's somethingthat's helpful for a
prospective interviewer who'slooking at the resume to see

(31:16):
like, oh look, this dude likerose up quickly and did a bunch
of different roles and figuredit out.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Absolutely, you want to tell that story.
It definitely tells a lot aboutyou.
If someone is just reading yourresume, at the very least
sparks curiosity, like how wereyou able to, like get four roles
in three years?
Like what were you?
This guy must be remarkable,right.
And it sparks the conversation.
And then it leaves the windowopen for you to be able to
explain well, this is whathappened, right, like we were at
a point where we needed a lotof things and I was able to step

(31:43):
into that.
So you know, I appreciate thatyou did that.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
I was gonna say you.
Part of the beauty there, too,is just like it's being in the
right place at the right timetoo.
You know some of it.
Like I mentioned, it happenedthat I graduated college towards
the end of a 12 year mayoraladministration.
That was a once in a lifetimething too, or to some extent,
because, you know, the thirdterm was extended temporarily

(32:06):
and then rescinded almost.
So it just happened to work outthat I was there at that time
and I just leveraged it in thatway.
So it's not even just like.
I don't want to belittle someof the path that I took, but I'm
just saying some of it is justworking hard and perseverance,
and some of it is just takingthe cards that you're dealt and
playing them Right, and I thinkother folks can definitely find
whatever that window ofopportunity is within their

(32:28):
press right.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
So there are federal government administrations,
state government administrations, city government
administrations that will havethat transition period.
And how do you strategicallyplace yourself to be able to be
either part of that or be therethrough some of that and, as you
said, just position yourself toactually undertake more, learn
quickly and provide more valueto the organization?

(32:51):
So you know, I think, whilethat was unique to you, I think
those opportunities will come upagain, as terms are limited for
elected officials generally.
Tell me about the moment whenyou realized you wanted to
actually, or you were ready to,leave the Mayor's Fund after a
couple of years.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah, you know, that's actually interesting how
it all played out there too.
For that I had actually left tostudy full-time when I started
a master's degree at NYU.
So I had applied and got into adual degree at NYU for Stern
and Wagner for a business degreeand a public administration

(33:29):
degree, stern and Wagner for abusiness degree and a public
administration degree.
I had done one semester while Iwas working and going to school
, but I felt like I wasn'tgiving enough of my time to
either one.
I felt like I was doingschoolwork at work and I was
doing work, work at school.
And so that's why I said youknow what?
This is just a good time for meto really focus on one thing

(33:52):
and figure out what the nextstep is.
Had already worked at least ayear and a half in this new
mayoral administration.
Things are going well.
I had helped like kind ofrebuild the office with a new
team or the leadership of a newexecutive director.
But I also wanted to learn more, figure out what was my next
step.
And that's why I was like youknow what I'm going to do a full
dive into grad school.
And that's when I left theMayor's Fund to really immerse

(34:15):
myself in that experience.
But even then, when I was atschool, the schedule didn't work
out for me that well, becausewhen you're taking three, four
classes a semester especially Iwas at NYU down in Manhattan and
I'm living in the Bronx I'd godowntown for a class at 9 am and
the next class not till like 2pm and the one after that it's
like a 630.

(34:35):
So what the hell am I doingbetween those hours?
You know, I was like at everycoffee shop and I was like
rereading every material that Icould at the library.
But I just I was so used to amuch more fast paced lifestyle
and being busier.
My first job out of college wasworking for the mayor's office
and I was doing all this worknonstop, and so the pace of just

(34:56):
a full-time student life wasdifficult for me to adjust to.
And then, as life happens, Igot a call to see if I was
interested in taking a dive intopolitics.
There was a change in leadershipat the Bronx Democratic Party
where the previous chair of theparty, carl Hastie, was named
Speaker of the Assembly and hedidn't want to do both roles, to

(35:17):
have that legislativeleadership position and the
political post.
So in that transition.
A new leader came in, marcosCrespo young guy.
He was, I think, 34, maybe 33when he got the position and he
wanted to refresh the office.
And he was like I want to findsomebody young, somebody fresh,
with a different perspective.
And somebody told me hey,there's a guy named Anthony that

(35:40):
was working at the mayor'soffice.
I think he's in school rightnow, but it might be good for
you to connect with him.
We had a really great interview.
We talked for a while aboutwhat it could look like, what it
really meant to really try newways to engage people in the
political process, to get peopleregistered to vote.
I ended up getting the job andso then I had left the mayor's

(36:00):
fund just to focus on gradschool, but then I was focused.
Then I got a different jobright afterwards.
It's not like I wanted to leavefor those different reasons.
It's just how the progressionhappened and opportunities come
up in different times and yougot to take count in terms of
the cards on the table at thatmoment.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Absolutely, and I appreciate that, right, because
I think sometimes it's easy forpeople to look at us and or look
at professionals that aresuccessful, like yourself, and
think about everything beinglinear, right, like oh, he
probably did this, then he didthat, then he did that, and
everything be strategicallyplanned, and sometimes that's
just not it, right.
Sometimes it's like I thought Iwas going to go to grad school.
Then you actually like pausegrad school for a long time,

(36:41):
right, like you like decidedthat.
Okay, you know what.
This is an interestingopportunity, that it makes sense
for me to actually do this, and, combined with, I'm actually
not even feeling the pace ofgrad school right now.
So you know the timing aligned,but you know, sometimes it's
not as thought out or not aslinear, and it's part of our
story.
So, you know, I appreciate yousharing that and even just

(37:02):
thinking about this being a.
This is a very importantposition going into the Bronx
Democratic Party.
That is a very pivotal postwithin politics in New York City
, right?
So can you also talk a littlebit about what that meant and
what you were actually taskedwith doing when you got there?

Speaker 1 (37:17):
Yeah, and again, everything in this story, or my
story, should be contextualizedwith the time.
And now, at this point in thetimeline, we're talking about
2015, 2016.
This was the big election withTrump and Hillary, and to be
involved in politics at thatpoint was huge to me.
That, you know.
A lot of folks got involved intheir own ways.

(37:38):
Some people, like, joined clubsor volunteered or, you know,
phone banked, but I was able tohelp professionally.
That was my day job from nineto five and obviously extended
into the evenings and theweekends.
Like, my job was how do we getmore Democrats elected and how
we, particularly in that year,get Hillary elected.

(38:00):
And that played a big role inhow I didn't finish my degree
either, because at that point atleast, what I told myself was
I'm going to take this fallsemester off because the
election's coming up in Novemberand I'm just going to fully
work on this.
And I thought that Hillary wasgoing to win.
I thought I was going to go toDC and I was going to work in

(38:21):
her administration or something,and that was the mindset then.
And then a different electionhappened afterwards and a
different task, and then I waslike, oh, I still haven't gone
back and after a while I waslike, do I have to go back?
Should I go back?
And I just never did becauselife just kept continuing moving
forward and I ended up indifferent jobs after that and
I'm in a place now where thingsare going well and I haven't

(38:45):
needed it yet.
Maybe I will at some point.
I haven't closed that dooreither, but again, just my story
has its own path and the worldhas its own path, and where you
are at that point in time willdetermine what your next step is
.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
Certainly.
That makes a lot of sense.
So, hillary did not win Spoileralert and you stayed within
this role, right?
So tell me what does it mean tobe in that role For people that
may not this role?
Right?
So tell me what does it mean tobe in that role, like tell for
people that may not be familiar?
Right, because I learned aboutthat type of role when I was at
the New York City EconomicDevelopment Corporation doing
government community relationswork.
I needed to understand what theheck you were doing.

(39:20):
So you know, and at that pointour paths had crossed in
different ways and we connectedgenerally around that time more.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
But tell me, tell me about kind of the importance of
that role, how you were able tobring some of those things that
you spoke about in the interviewto life over the next couple of
years.
Yeah, you know, in the Bronx inparticular, there's been the
political organization for theDemocratic Party is the Bronx
Democratic County Committee.
It's the actual campaignaccount that's registered with
the state of New York for theBoard of Elections and through
that instrument we're able topool resources to help elect

(39:57):
more Democrats, and through thatthere was the ability to have
full time staff as part of that.
And so what that looks like ona daily basis is voter
registration drives, it'sorganizing fundraisers for
different candidates, it'sdatabase management, it's
figuring out who are the moreengaged voters, it's looking at
what we call triple prime voters, people who have voted in at

(40:20):
least the last three electionsthat are there.
Those records are public in thesense that you can't see who
someone voted for, but you cansee whether they voted and you
can see what their voting recordwas in terms of attendance, and
you can use that in ways tofurther engage people, and I
think it's one of the thingsthat it's part of the cycle of
public service too, because youwant people to get engaged in

(40:42):
picking our city and state andnation's leaders, because those
leaders then have a direct rolein the policies and laws and
legislation that impact ourdaily lives.
So, you know, in terms of beingsomeone that came into this
career path through directgovernment service, the
political side of it isimportant too.
You know it's important to knowwho our leaders are, what their

(41:04):
mindset is and who are thepeople that they're going to
employ to help execute theirplans.
So for me, I think I alsoviewed it as a different
perspective, a differentstakeholder, as part of that
larger equation.
You know I had worked from thenonprofit side through the
Mayor's Fund, even though it waspart of government.
I had worked directly ingovernment since and city

(41:25):
council and now ininfrastructure and
transportation in my currentrole, and I wanted to also see
what it was like from thepolitical side of things, kind
of like on that side of thearena, and it's an ecosystem,
and so it's important to get alldifferent views, points that
are all attacking the samemission of like.
How do we help people at theend of the day, how do I help my
fellow Bronxites, my neighbors,my family and people that are

(41:47):
in similar situations.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Absolutely Okay.
So you were in that role forabout three years.
Right, tell me about what?
Because this sounds like areally exciting role and a
really unique opportunity tohave, as you said, a different
impact from a different lens.
At what point do you realizeyou know there's something out
there that I need to try, that'sdifferent.
Even at that point in yourcareer, I think you have

(42:10):
certainly shown a lot ofprogress in your life, right
From public housing and livingin the Bronx and different
socioeconomic status.
So, like now, being tasked withso much responsibility and
growing so much professionally,one could just stay there and
retire and your life is like agreat professional chapter.
So like, at what point do yourealize, all right, let me, let
me try another challenge, let metry something else.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
You know back to just contextualizing where I was at
that point.
You know, when I got hired.
This is like 2015,.
I'm 25 years old and I'm theexecutive director of the Bronx
Democratic Party.
It was humbling in that senseto be like, wow, it was a
privilege for me to be in thisrole and have these
responsibilities and get to workdirectly with all of our
borough's leaders, from theborough president to the
assembly members, the councilmembers and our judges and

(42:53):
everything else as well.
And I think that was part of ittoo, that I think I appreciate
the experience.
I went through it full throttle.
I worked late nights andweekends and I was always
available to learn and to forgedeeper relationships in the
industry as well.
But also, as it is by design,you know, I went through at
least three years of work there.
So that means that I had beenthrough an odd year election

(43:16):
year, an even year election year, and at that point that means I
had gone through the full cycleas well, because I had done a
presidential election, I haddone a city council election, I
had done a mayoral election, Ihad done a judicial election, I
had done even a district leaderelection as well.
So at that point I had gonethrough the full cycle where I

(43:36):
had already worked on all thesedifferent campaigns at all these
different levels.
And so after the three or fouryears you're kind of just
repeating the cycle, you'redoing the next mayoral election
and the next city councilelection.
So I felt like it was a goodpoint for me to switch over
because I had gotten thatexperience in those different
aspects.
But also for me, I feel like Ilike politics I studied

(43:58):
political science but more thananything, to me it's a means to
an end.
Ultimately, the political cycle.
The purpose is the policy is toget the right people in place
to do the work.
And sometimes people get lostin that, like there are people
and you know no shade to themand their industry.
But there are people who, likeare political consultants or
work on campaigns or do likefundraising and for them, like

(44:22):
the war is the result, like theylove that.
It's like oh, now I'm workingon this campaign, we're going to
kill our opponent, we're goingto win this election, and then
you work on the next campaignand the next candidate and it's
just a never ending cycle.
But I didn't want to get sowrapped into that, because I
wanted to do more of the workthat happens after the finish
line, what happens after theelection.
You know, how do we actuallyend up helping the people that

(44:44):
we said we'd help during thecampaign and execute on the
promises that were made in thosespeeches.
And that, to me, was moreinteresting in terms of what I
can contribute.
So for those three or fouryears I could say, well, I
helped elect good people thatrepresented my community.
But then I was like I want togo back directly into government
and figure out how am I part ofthat actual service, not just

(45:05):
helping the people that do theservice.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
That makes sense.
So what was your roleimmediately afterwards?

Speaker 1 (45:10):
So at that point again, just how time works.
That was the start of a newadministration at the city
council, where a new speaker waselected, corey Johnson, and I
had met him a couple of timesprior and I had already had
council experience.
My first internship was at thecity council many years prior,
so it was kind of like my returnback in there and I was able to

(45:32):
apply an interview for a job towork at the speaker's office,
working directly at the citycouncil, managing all the city's
like hundred billion dollarbudget and also working on

(45:53):
programs that are funded throughexpense and executing those
agencies and following up ondifferent issues.
So I was able to work moredirectly again into the type of
public service that it's more.
How is government directlytalking to new yorkers and
helping them in a more practicaland tangible way got it okay.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
You know, I think so far you have masterfully managed
your career right.
You have purposely, andsometimes just by virtue of
timing, found your way intodifferent roles, but all
impact-driven and all veryintentional about who you're
serving ultimately and who theend recipient is and ways to
make New York City better.

(46:29):
I think you have shown ways todo that in different arms of
government, which I reallyappreciate.
Right, because it's not justthe agencies, it's not just the
elected officials, it's not justthe mayor's fund.
It's like all of this has towork together and everyone has
to come together.
For us, as New Yorkers or ascitizens, to just see the impact
and to see our communities getbetter, to see you so craftfully

(46:52):
do that is.
You know.
I've told you this before, butyou know I'll just be in awe
when I watch you.
I'm like man you crushing itbro.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
I appreciate you and, by the way, that's my dog
reverse sneezing.
I have an English bulldog.
I don't know if you heard thatin the background.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
I didn't even know what a reverse sneeze is, bro.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
It sounds like snoring.
It's the weirdest thing ever.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
Hey, you know, you know, shout out, that's.
You know, this is a twofeatured podcast.
That's cool.
So we've had the whole familyat this point.
That's great.
That's great.
Basically, after your time withwith the speaker's office, you
ended up going back into anagency.
Tell me a little bit about thatrole, because I know it was
kind of also a good segue intowhere you are now.

(47:37):
But we'd love to hear aboutkind of your time within the
Department of Parks.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Yeah, so that's another one of those, you know,
kind of like storybook senseswhere things just worked out,
because you know, I mentionedhow I started in my career in
government through the UrbanFellows Program, but my actual
first job was actually at theParks Department, because the
Urban Fellows Program starts inthe fall, in September, but I
graduated college over in Maythat same year, so there were

(48:04):
several months of a gap before Istarted this fellowship and I
had to figure something out.
And one of my friends wasactually working at the Parks
Department and he had told meabout a job opening where I
worked as a summer mobile unitsupervisor.
So I basically managed a smallteam and we had these vans and
we drove around to differentparks and we opened up the van

(48:26):
and there were hula hoops andballs and a screen where you
play a Wii and it was just likea park event on wheels and so I
really love that job.
It was one of the funnest jobsI ever had, and I only did it
for that summer because Iimmediately went into the
Mayor's Fund through the UrbanFellow Program.
But when I was looking atdifferent agencies in terms of

(48:47):
what would be my next move, theParks Department was one that I
had my eyes on, because I alwayssaid, you know, if I ever
worked for an agency like Parksis definitely on the top of my
list.
It's just like you get todirectly help people.
I grew up, obviously, in NewYork City, in the Bronx.
You know.
Going to my parks in mycommunity were like my saving
grace, where I met friends,where I found things to do, I

(49:10):
got more connected to mycommunity and it helped my
community feel more like a homeand it was literally my first
job that paid me after collegeand so I had applied for a
position there, which was forthe borough commissioner
position, and I ended up beinghired as Manhattan borough
commissioner at Parks.
So I was in a similar role towhere I'm at now, but more

(49:30):
focused on the borough ofManhattan, so overseeing all the
park operations, from BatteryPark down at the bottom of the
island up to Inwood Hill Park atthe top of the island and
everything in between.
And I talk about how theprogression of the work going
from the mayor's fund intopolitics, into the council and
to now in this agency role, Ithink it's there is some linear

(49:52):
sense of me finding more waysfor me to have a more direct
role in the public service.
And so where, at the Mayor'sFund, I was supporting
partnerships and programs thatalready existed.
Then, when I was at theDemocratic Party, I was helping
candidates who would thenadvance some of these different

(50:13):
bills or programs orimprovements to society as we
saw them.
And then I worked at thecouncil where we're actually
passing the bills to put theminto writing and make them
actually happen.
And then I worked at an agencywhere it's like, now that these
things are billed, that arealready legislation, that are
already funded, how do weactually make them happen?
How do we actually serve thepublic in that way?
And again, also doing it in arole where it's directly related

(50:35):
to infrastructure and tangibleimprovements, like I can say,
like I was part of rebuildingthat part, you know, from the
design stage through theprocurement to the actual
construction, to the ribboncutting and to now seeing kids
playing down that slide andusing that water fountain.
Like that is an actual physicalthing that I can touch and say
I had a role in and and again,to me it's always purpose role

(50:56):
in, and again, to me it's alwayspurpose-driven.
To me it's like why do I dopublic service, why work in
government or why do what I dotoday?
It's one of those words.
I flip it back and I think,like why am I waking up today?
I would love to sleep in, Iwould love to just stay in my
sweatpants and chill on thecouch.
But why am I going to get upearly in the morning and leave

(51:17):
my daughter and my wife andleave the house?
Why am I going to put on thatsuit and that tie?
It's because I can justify itto myself, because I made an
improvement in somebody's lifein some way in the community,
and to me that's what makes itworth it.
To me it's like you know, thereason why I'm making these
sacrifices is because it's worthit that I get to help somebody,
and then even more so when Ican point to it and say, look,

(51:39):
that's why I did it.
I was part of that.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Certainly Do you have a.
I know they're all like yourbabies, but do you have a
project that you're like superproud of, that you walk past, or
that you see that may not evenstill be completed, that you're
like man?
I played an integral role inthat, in that project there?

Speaker 1 (52:03):
My wife Julissa like man, I played an integral role
in that, in that project there.
My wife jelisa, who youmentioned, she's been on this uh
podcast.
She's one of your original uhguests.
You know, I I kill her to death.
We're in the car because I'mpointing out every little thing
where I'm like, oh, see thatlight right there, that was
broken.
We were able to get that fixedin two days and it was an issue.
Or like there's a pothole whereI'm like, yeah, right there,
there was an issue because therewas a water line that was
broken and we want to get itdone.
And the smallest things to meare what I focus on, like when
I'm just walking around, I'mlooking up, I'm seeing where the
wires are connected to, I'mseeing whether the street light

(52:25):
is working as I'm walking downthe street.
You know, to me it all relatesback to the personal.
When I see like a sidewalkthat's cracked, I think about me
and my daughter and her in thestroller and how that makes it
difficult to walk through.
When I think about longdistances and a crosswalk, I

(52:46):
think about my mother who'sstarting to age and she's
getting to retirement age.
She's having difficulty withher knees.
Can she make it across this ina safe, timely manner, or would
she have difficulty or be indanger?
My grandmother was killed in atraffic violence.
She was.
She was run over by a car.
My cousin, david Fernandez, waskilled two years ago crossing
the street, actually juststanding in the corner in a car
crashed into each other andkilled him there.

(53:07):
And so being able to have somerole in making these streets
safer so that we don't haveanother situation where a
grandmother like mine or acousin like mine gets killed, or
I think about prospectivelylike to make it easier for my
child or for my mother totraverse their own communities
that, to me, are the small winsthat make the bigger picture all
worth it.
And I'll walk down the street.

(53:27):
I'm like you know what?
Hey, I was part of rebuildingthat crosswalk, so now it makes
it easier for those kids to getto that school, and that, to me,
is like there's no oneparticular project.
But it's those small things.
It's fixing that light, it'sfixing that crosswalk, fixing
that sidewalk, and those are thewins that are worth it all.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
No, and that's great, right, because that's how you
contextualize the impact, right,and like, really like bring it
down to like safety and when youtalk about like you've lost
family members to this right andlike, how do you make it safer
for other families?
How do you make it safer forother children?
So you know, it's just.
I just appreciate yourintentionality in your career so
far to make sure that you havean impact in everything you do

(54:02):
and a ripple effect that goesfrom there.
One of the things that I'm veryclear on is we don't have to
sacrifice doing good for doingwell, right?
So growing up, it was eitheryou're going to work in like
finance or lawyer or doctor andmake money, or you're going to
be broke and do really goodthings, potentially Like.

(54:23):
That's not the case.
We'd love to hear aboutgenerally how much money people
can make in this type of field,given your level of expertise at
this point, senior level,executive level position at an
agency.

Speaker 1 (54:34):
If you're, like at a commissioner level assistant,
deputy commissioner, all thosepositions you're already in a
bracket where usually it'sbetween like 150 to 250, I would
say, uh, you know the the mayorhimself, I think, makes like
245 by by the charter of newyork, like our constitution for
city of new york.
So usually the other positionsfall within that.

(54:56):
So you, so you're in that range.
But, like you said, I thinkit's something that is not chump
change either.
I think that you could probablyfind similar roles with similar
responsibilities and thesacrifices you have to make in
terms of time and commitment.
If you find something like thatin the private sector, it's
plausible that you would be paidmore depending on what industry
that it's in.
But I think that there'sadditional compensation on top

(55:19):
of that.
I mean there's obviously thepractical sense of working for a
city job.
You have the pension, you havethat kind of job security.
You can take a civil serviceexam to have that kind of
protection.
There are significant benefitsthat are tangible, that makes it
worthwhile to have the city job, that are not just reflected in
a digit that you can put on apiece of paper, but there's also
, like what I mentioned in termsof that purpose, that idea that

(55:41):
, like I get paid in, likeknowing that I help somebody,
you know.
So, when you think about again,why would I wake up in the
morning?
I don't know if I could do thesame thing if I was waking up to
make the partner at my firmmore money.
And I don't know if I could dothe same thing if I was waking
up to make the partner at myfirm more money.
And I don't know if I couldwake up tomorrow just to
increase the profit value of acompany that I work for.

(56:03):
And again, no shade to anyonethat works in the private sector
or does that, but just for me,I feel like I need that purpose,
in addition to the financialcompensation, to really make it
worthwhile for me?

Speaker 2 (56:15):
Are there any forms of media that could be books,
podcasts, newspapers, anythingthat you have read or that you
read consistently, that impactsyou personally or professionally
?

Speaker 1 (56:24):
Yeah, you know I I think in terms of media, I I
follow a lot of you knowdifferent inside baseball, like
government media firms, likecity and state.
I read all, all the the dailiesin New York.
I start my day that way, justlike I open up like 30 tabs and
read like every article there isabout New York City government,
particularly the Bronx,particularly transportation, and

(56:46):
I read through those on a dailybasis.
It's important for me to knowwhat's happening, to do my job
well and to know the changes intime.
In terms of books, I'm more ofan audible person.
I use the app and I get throughbooks on my commute, so I'll be
listening to something whileI'm getting through to where I'm
going.
In terms of a particular bookthat I would recommend, this is

(57:07):
going to be kind of low hangingfruit for people that are in the
government and urban planningindustry industry, but I think
it's worthwhile, given that thispodcast in particular is more
wide ranging people fromdifferent walks of life and
different jobs.
So it's important to highlightthis as a preeminent book to
look into.
But the Power Broker by RobertCarroll, and again, if you talk

(57:30):
to anyone that works ingovernment or public policy or
urban planning they'll be like.
Of course, you read the PowerBroker.
You have to read the PowerBroker.
It's one of those things whereit's like an intro into
government, but for those thatare not familiar with it, it
follows the life of Robert Moses, who was called the Power
Broker because he had all thesedifferent positions.
He was the head of the parksdepartment.
He was head of the cityplanning division.

(57:53):
He was part of the state'sparks department.
He worked under differentmayors and governors and was
able to use and leverage hisinfluence and connections to
advance his ideas and projects,and that led to the building of
most of our highways andparkways, a lot of our parkland
and how our city is built today.

(58:14):
Personally, I don't agree withall of his ideas and what he
pushed for in terms of whatresulted in them.
I think that we're an overlycar-centric city now because of
the way that we were built, andthere are certain things that,
for example, that he did wrong.
He built highways with tunnelsthat were shorter, just so
public buses couldn't go throughthem.

(58:34):
But, with that said, I thinkit's almost like a good playbook
to figure out how he did it,not what he did in terms of how
he was able to write those billsto benefit his mission, how he
was able to leverage the federalfunding to build those parkways
around the time when FDR andother presidents were putting

(58:56):
all this infrastructure fundingin place, how he was able to
even structure agencies to makethem more productive and get
more things done.
I think that's something that'sworthwhile to look at.
Again, you don't have to agreewith it, you don't have to like
him, but it's interesting to seehow it was done and it's almost
like a playbook in terms of howgovernment can be leveraged to
get the results.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
Okay, that makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, I mean, I actually heardthat as an audible.
It's like 24 hours worth oflistening.
So you know I completely get it.
But I, you know I do understandand I think it's really
important, especially if you'rein this work, because you
realize also how, in theimplementation, there was not
community engagement, there wasnot, there was intentionality
around excluding certain folksfrom some of these public assets
, right, so you know you canlearn from that and figure out

(59:43):
how to implement thingsdifferently in in this, in this
decade and I think I said in thebeginning, you know it's like,
uh, that's part of my daily job.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
Now, you know, I think when I when I talk about
that sunday meeting that I havewith my wife in terms of what my
week is like, I might have tosay oh well, sorry, but I have
three late nights this weekbecause I have to go to these
community boards and do thesepresentations, and it's time
away from my house, it's timeaway from my family, and
sometimes it's consensual,sometimes it's adversarial in
terms of the conversations thatwe're having at these meetings,

(01:00:11):
but the process is necessary forthe result.
You can't do it on your own.
You can't just hard hand demandthese things to happen, and if
you don't include the public andthe community in the process,
you end up with results thatdon't benefit everyone.
One of the things where myfavorite quote that I always say
is African proverb you know, ifyou want to go fast, you can go

(01:00:33):
alone, but if you want to, gofar, you have to go together.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Is there anything else we haven't discussed today
that the world should know about?
Anthony?

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
You know, I think, another part that we didn't
really touch as much throughoutthe interview, but I think I
probably highlighted itselfthroughout.
But you know, family to me isone of the most important things
.
It's one of the reasonsactually why I did my most
recent transition from ManhattanBorough Commissioner at Parks
to Bronx Borough Commissioner atDOT was particularly and
realistically, the proximity tomy home, the idea that, you know

(01:01:02):
, conceptually, I get to work onprojects that are directly in
the communities that I grew upin and was raised in, but also,
literally, that these are thestreets that I do live in right
now, that my office is 10minutes away.
You know, there were days where, when I was working in
Manhattan, I would have to leaveearlier than my daughter woke
up and I'd get back home whenshe was already back to sleep,

(01:01:23):
so I'd have a full day withoutseeing my daughter at all, and
those nights, those days, killedme, and so I was able to find a
way to to also balance out mypersonal life.
But that's an important thingabout your career too, and
especially as men, to say thattoo.
Life but that's an importantthing about your career too, and
especially as men, to say thattoo, that it's not just for

(01:01:43):
women to figure out how to beparents and be moms, but for men
to also be dads, to have thatas part of your job, so that
when I say I'm Anthony, I'mAnthony, I'm a father, I'm a
husband and I'm also theconcentration commission for the
Bronx.
But some of those titles aremore important as well, and I
think that's an important thingtoo, to balance out, that it's
not just how do I get thehighest ranking job or the
highest paying job, but it'slike how do I live a fuller self

(01:02:04):
of me?
And part of that is balancingyour personal life too.
So to me, I think, part of myfuller being is also being a
father and being a husband andfiguring out how that fits into
my professional life too.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
I love that and that's a great note to end on.
Thank you for joining us today.
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
Appreciate you, man.
Thanks for having me, and I'mhappy to be part of this
illustrious crew of guests thatyou've had so far.
Appreciate it, appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
If you did, and believe onInstagram and LinkedIn at Career
Cheat Code and tell us peopleor careers you would like to see
highlighted.
See you next week with somemore cheat codes Peace.