September 20, 2023 • 51 mins
Looking for a story of resilience, passion, and success? Join me as I sit down with Raul, an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and ex-Army medic and nurse, who turned his troubled childhood into a rich tapestry of experiences for his storytelling. We delve into Raul's past, his upbringing in an immigrant family, his time at a state-sanctioned correctional facility, and how these experiences fueled his journey towards becoming a successful filmmaker. His determination, innate toughness and the unwavering support from his parents led him to work with Netflix and Lowrider.
Raul and I explore deeper into his artistic passion and the importance of exploration in life. He opens up about a life-changing encounter in an ER where a doctor’s words sparked an epiphany, causing him to rethink his career path. We also discuss the power of storytelling and its ability to help people see themselves in the experiences of others. Raul then reflects on the cultural barriers he had to break and the significance of providing a range of experiences for his future children.
In our conversation, we discuss the importance of following your passion and the power it has on your life and the lives of others. We touch upon the significance of recognizing what makes you happy and how it can elevate your position in life. We then move on to Raul's current projects, including his campaigns to raise awareness about distracted driving and his philanthropic efforts in providing bug nets and insect repellent to those affected by malaria. This conversation with Raul is a testament to the power of resilience, passion, and the human capacity to transform adversity into a beacon of hope and inspiration. Tune in to hear his remarkable journey.
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Thank you for tuning in, and see you in the next episode!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
In a world where success often steals the
limelight, the stories thattruly inspire, that truly matter
, are left behind in the shadows.
I'm your host, Wesley Hamilton.
Welcome to the Out of theShadows podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What's up?
What's up everybody.
This is Wesley Hamilton.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Welcome to another episode of Out of the Shadows,
where we uncover incrediblestories about individuals who
have overcome challenges and nowliving their dreams.
I'm excited to be here with youtoday.
I'm excited to announce our newguest, a good friend of mine.
(00:53):
Raul Emmy Award-winningfilmmaker, former Army medic, er
nurse, has overcome a lot ofchallenges, came from a
different type of upbringing.
Now this guy is working withcompanies like Netflix and
(01:19):
Lowrider and working withsomebody like me.
I'm just really excited, raul,thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Thank you for having me, man.
I have a tremendous amount ofrespect for you.
I'm thankful to call you afriend and I'm thankful for this
opportunity as well, man.
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, so of course, you're an individual that is
always behind the scenes withthe work that you do.
Even with the work that you wasdoing before right Rather it
was in an Army or in an ER we'lltalk about that but it seems
like a lot of your work makes alarge impact, but it's always
behind the scenes.
Wow, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, I know, absolutely right there.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I want to bring that to light.
I want to bring your story justout of the shadows and let
people know who you are, whatyou represent and what you've
created just by pursuing yourpassion, even though you have
followed different paths so itdied right in.
Since you have had quite ajourney, from a troubled
(02:28):
childhood to being a successfulfilmmaker, can you share with us
a little bit about yourupbringing, what you're
comfortable with and then whenwas the turning point in your
life that made you pursue yourpassion into storytelling?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
A little bit about the beginning of it all, I guess
my childhood.
I come from an immigrant family.
My parents came here from Indiain the early 90s and from the
beginning it was kind of astruggle for them.
I don't think they quite knewwhat they were stepping into.
They didn't know how much wasstacked against them.
So because of that I grew upwithout a lot of supervision.
(03:07):
My dad had a lot of stress onhis plate and I'm at the point
in my life now where there's alot of things that I've forgiven
, that I can look back andunderstand.
This is why this happened.
But, as I say, without muchsupervision and a lot of
animosity at home.
It kind of led me to not toomuch money either.
(03:28):
We didn't have a whole lot ofthat.
It kind of led me to hang outwith one.
I felt ostracized.
When you go to school or whenyou go to these places full of a
lot of other kids, you see kidswho have things you don't have
and you see kids who appear tohave more than you have or might
be happier than you are.
So it was kind of always hardfor me to feel like I belong in
(03:52):
those groups or to those people.
My friends ended up becomingskateboarders, people that were
kind of involved in somenefarious things at an early age
.
And another component of that,too, is because I'm Indian.
There weren't a lot of Indiankids that I grew up with, so my
friends were like black kids,mexican kids, like all the
(04:13):
neighborhood kids, and I startedgetting into a lot of trouble
pretty early on.
I got expelled in middle school.
I got expelled twice from twodifferent schools and sent to an
alternative school and it wasjust and not that I was a bad
kid, I was just hyper man, I hadso much energy, I just wanted
to.
At that time it was causeproblems, but now that I'm older
(04:34):
I see a different side of it.
So, sent to two differentalternative schools, I ended up
going to this state sanctioncorrectional thing for maybe a
year and a half, so probablyfrom the time that I was 12, 13,
the time that I was 16, 17,.
I was around a rough, roughgroup of kids, so it kind of
(04:55):
made me kind of cold, you knowwhat I mean.
Like I walked with my chin up.
I wasn't really scared of muchbecause that's, you know, when
you're in these programs or onthese kids and these systems
sort of things.
That's kind of the mentalityyou develop when you're like yo,
I got to be tough, I got to bestrong, I can't be weakness,
because the second you showweakness you know you're at the
bottom of the pit, like it's notgoing to be too good for you.
(05:18):
So after finishing, you know,there was a point where I don't
really know where to go.
15 years old, I'm in this statecorrectional detention camp
thing and it's just chaos,constant chaos.
Kids are crazy.
A lot of them come from a lotrougher backgrounds than I do,
so I'm not even going to say Iwasn't involved in gangs.
(05:39):
I didn't.
I was a.
I was a grouper onskateboarders and stuff.
It's just like I'm not going tobe the situation that I was in
around kids that were in toughersituations than I was.
So I a lot of exposure to that.
But after being in thatsituation for about two years I
got spit back out into regularpublic high school and that's
(05:59):
that's kind of when I realized,like man, like you know that my
friends, the things that thatI'm around, like that, there's
no, there's no good, good resultthat comes from a lot of these
things.
Like you know, you get spitback out into regular public
high school and these kids aregoing off to college.
And my parents have been sosupportive the whole time not to
say that mine weren't, but itwas just different, you know.
And when I graduated highschool I just was like man, I
(06:25):
have to, I have to figuresomething out.
I can't, I can't just keephanging out and doing stupid
stuff, you know.
And so I decided to join thearmy and I saw I scored pretty
pretty high on the ASP becauseyou know I'm smart and they gave
me the choice to be a medic andit seemed kind of cool to me,
(06:46):
you know.
It seemed exciting, it seemedfun, it seemed, you know, just
like that sort of thing.
And I remember going throughmedic training the first time
that I realized, like man, it'smy job to take care of another
human being, like it's my job to, you know, show love and
compassion and kindness and bethere for someone when they're
facing a tragedy.
All that bitter, cold sort ofstuff that I had from my like
(07:12):
tumultuous childhood it kind ofjust dissipated right then and
there and I learned that, youknow, I was capable of loving
someone and taking care ofsomeone and doing good and it
really that was probably themoment in my life where it was
just like a switch that justjust clicked.
I was like man, I can take careof someone.
I can, I can help someone, andit feels great.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But that's a lot you know and I appreciate you being
very transparent and sharingthat, because you know people
don't understand the journey.
I read a lot and there's a bookby Napoleon Hill and it's a lot
of books by him, so I don'twant to get the wrong title, but
I just remember him emphasizing, you know, that a lot of
successful individuals, at leastaround when he was writing, had
(07:54):
, you know, trouble withchildhoods or you know, war or
some type of just you know, highschool dropouts and things like
that.
You know and level of adversitythat creates that resilience
for you.
And so what?
I think you know you wentthrough a journey and you know
most of us deal with thechildhood trauma and the, you
(08:15):
know the hate for our family andor not really so hate, but like
this, this, this.
Yeah, yeah yeah, it's somethingright because your parents,
angst, angst me.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
You're just upset, you're like man, you don't
understand right.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Like you know, it's kind of like as a baby you've
always clean.
So when you got to go and pushoff and you're not understanding
what that grind is, and me as afather, I understand it more
now.
But I think that that's youknow, that's, that's
understandable.
But the journey that you wenton after that you know going
through something.
So it's funny that you sharethat, because I went to job
(08:51):
course 16.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I was like I was in went to Utah.
You know I have been gettingkicked out of school and it is
that you know you have thislevel of trying to be
disciplined and do somethingdifferent.
But of course I messed up there, had to come back home and when
I came back home I went back toschool and it was like one, at
least for me.
(09:15):
You know the public schoolsthat we go to, at least in the
inner city.
They don't really bring youvalue.
So I'm grateful you graduatedand things like that.
But for me I had to leavebecause I'm like no, this ain't
for me and that's just becauseit really just yeah, it's like
you know you have more potentialthan what you're surrounded by,
(09:37):
and that's what I hear from you.
It's like no, you know, like Idon't consider myself being like
a person that was challengedwhen it came to education.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, no, never.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Like it's easy, man.
Yeah, so it's kind of like, butyou wanted more out of life,
you wanted to feel a purpose,right Like, and so you know you
make you make a great.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
You know you make a great.
You know you make a great,great point because I'll tell
you, because of all those thingsthat I went through as a kid, I
always felt like, man, there'ssomething wrong, Like I don't
know what it is, but I'm justoff a little bit.
And then I remember the firstday that I because I became a
nurse after, after going throughmedic training, and the first
day that I stepped into theemergency room and I was the
(10:22):
people that I was working withright Like their nurses, just
like me.
They're, they're successful,they have families.
I was the youngest one, they'reolder than me, and as soon as I
stepped into the emergency roomand I started talking to my
coworkers, I realized, man, thatthese fools all around me
they're just as fucking crazy asI am.
They have it's like.
It's like.
It's like once you, once youunderstand yourself, dude, once
(10:43):
you understand like this is,this is a level of stress or
this is a level of stimulationthat I need in my life to to be
happy, to enjoy things, itreally changes the way I think
you can approach your entirelife.
Because when I remember, when Istepped into the emergency room,
I just felt.
So I felt like man, I really dobelong somewhere, like I really
this is where I belong, like inthese kind of sort of high
(11:06):
stress environments.
Like I really feel close tothese people, that they
understand, and throughout myentire childhood, like I never,
I always felt like man.
Why the fuck am I so crazy?
Like what the hell is wrongwith me?
And it's just you know.
So I think you make a greatpoint there by saying that
you're, you're kind of yearningfor more when, when you're
younger and you, you're highenergy and you know, and so I'm
glad, I'm thankful for myselfand I'm thankful for you as well
(11:30):
, that we've kind of reachedthese points where we we can see
, okay, we do need more and wedo need kind of high stress,
high stimulating environments inorder to be happy.
It's just it's a double-edgedsword, you know, and it's
important to know that aboutyourself.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
No, it's definitely important.
I think you know people as theyfigure out, you know who they
are.
They can pursue their passionsand you know some people are
givers and some people are.
You know they have some peoplehave other traits, but I think
everybody that off came incontact with who has followed
their passions, are serving,they're doing the service in
(12:07):
some way and it's that thatfeeling that you receive by
doing more than what you're paidfor, more than doing the random
acts of kindness, you know,like the, because you know the
joy you receive organically justby doing good in a world is
fulfilling, right, like it's,like I want to do good and I
(12:31):
want to be better for myself,because it's not even how people
see it.
It's how I feel internally,like I wake up every day because
the feeling of doing good makesme want to keep doing it right,
100% yep.
But it goes like you said it's adouble-edged sword, because if
you wake up negative every day,right like you will be driven to
(12:52):
be negative like you will befueled by that negativity.
You know if it makes you feelgood.
Because if you, if you don'tknow what positivity and
goodness feel, that negativitymakes your heart sing.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Absolutely, and that's.
That's the thing where I, whatI've kind of come to realize is,
as a kid there was a lot ofnegative things I was involved
with because it gives you a rush, it makes you feel excited
Eric's side, you know it's butyou can do that.
You can have those same sort offeelings that push you forward
and you can do positive thingsand you can still experience a
(13:29):
rush.
You can still.
You can do crazy things thatare positive that then push you
in a in a good direction, ratherthan, you know, hold you back
or put you down and see how youmake a great point.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
No man, I appreciate you, you know sharing that and
so we lead into you know.
The next question is more, alot of people struggle with, you
know, finding their passion.
Some people are just stuck, youknow, based on their
circumstances, right, absolutelyLike outside of your
(14:05):
circumstances and getting into,like the serving field and
really helping individuals.
You know, of course now youknow that's not necessarily what
you're doing, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so like, even with youseeing those paths and really
finding service, like what, whatmade you get out of those
conditions right To actually nowgo with what you really feel
(14:28):
your cup of with, and that'slike creating stories and doing
the work.
So kind of share that.
Like what was that shift oflike leaving the ER?
Because when I met you you werestill doing?
nursing right yeah absolutely,but you were doing it on the
hustle on the side right.
So how did what sparked that?
You know?
Was it a story that someoneshared?
(14:49):
Was it a moment?
You know, because what I'mcatching is that there's moments
in your journey that plants aseed and make you feel belong,
like you belong in those spaces.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
So Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, that's a great questionthere's, you know, there's two
things.
I was actually going to applyto medical school.
That was my, my goal because Ididn't, I didn't believe at a
certain point in time in thepast.
I didn't believe, I didn'tbelieve that art had a place To
(15:21):
me.
It was all, it was all bullshit.
It was like who cares aboutbeing creative?
The world like it's, like massscience, like all those things
are what's important?
And I was working in the ER oneday and one of the doctors I
worked with he pulled me to theside and he's like dude, you
have an Emmy.
He's like you can, you don't,you don't have to do what I do
(15:42):
every day.
He's like I and I just kind ofblew my mind that a doctor would
tell me that, like you don'thave to do what I do every day
where I thought that that wasthe end for me, like that was
the goal.
And so I'm not going to lie.
I did some, did some research,you know, and then I looked at
the numbers and and I found theplace for art, I found a place
(16:03):
for creativity and it reallymade sense to me and I really
started to understand thatstorytelling, good storytelling,
creativity, art like thosethings all do have a place, and
and a very, very important place, you know, and when I saw the
numbers attached to that, I waslike, okay, all right, like I, I
(16:23):
might have to make an exit here, but there's also the.
The second piece of that is,you know, as exciting as the
emergency room was, and as asmuch of there was huge amounts
of gratification, you know,because you're really doing what
you can to help someone anddoing as much as you can to help
someone, and you're seeingpeople in vulnerable situations
(16:44):
and you're helping them feelcomfortable.
I mean, there's there's so manyamazing things about working in
the emergency room, and thething for me, though, was, at
the end of the day, it was stillbeing trapped in a cement
building with no windows for 12hours straight, and, as time
went on, that kind of started toget to me.
(17:06):
It's like I started to to feellike man.
I'm in this building for 12hours straight, I have no
sunlight, I have no like, and,and so I had to kind of do some
some uh digging within myselfand think about okay, well, you
know, why did I get into this inthe first place?
Why did I join the army?
What about it?
(17:27):
And I came to the realizationthat it's about exploration.
Like I really love exploring,right, I really like seeing,
trying to understand what lifeis and why it happens and what
other people do.
And and the army gave me that,the emergency room gave me that,
and I realized that filmmakinggives me that more than anything
.
I we, you know there I get toexperience so many different
(17:50):
things, like flying helicopters.
I get to go into these uhfabrication factories where
they're welding big structuresand like it's just this constant
, this constant exploration of,of life, and that's what really
keeps me going is just beingable to explore all the time.
The money I'm not going to let.
The money is great, but but ifit, if it weren't for that
(18:12):
exploration piece of it, I still, even if the money were great,
I don't think I could do it.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Oh, that you know.
I think that that's first ofall.
I think everybody should, youknow, want to have an
adventurous soul, absolutely.
I think after a few years of mejust exploring different places
around the world, I started tocall myself a student of life,
(18:37):
because I think it's soimportant to wake up every day,
and the thing is that you doplant seeds with inside of you,
like if you go, if you'regetting up every day and doing
the same thing and it's notfeeding you, right, like it's
not watering you, like it's notdoing anything, then, like you
said, you will be drained.
Um, and sometimes beingconfined around walls isn't
(19:00):
necessarily the best thing for alot of people, right?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Like there's no way that we're I mean, at the end of
the day, to some degree likewe're still animals, you know,
like we're still like as humanand as, as, as as much as we
like schedules and as much as welike you know, technology and
all this and that dude, thesunlight, good food, the like,
all that stuff, like we need it.
Man, you know you got to breakfree right.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
You know, and, of course, like for me, I think I
broke free once.
I was went through two years ofbedrest and having to be
confined by walls every day.
Like it was the same situation,just different in certain ways.
Um, but it.
Yeah, man, just thinking aboutyou know kind of how that that
(19:49):
allowed you to spearhead intosomething else and then again,
like having the joy to beadventurous and then sharing
those stories.
So it's not just the companiesand individuals that you're
working with, that sharingstories.
Now.
You get to share those storieswith your family and friends.
You get to allow them to knowexperiences, right, like I think
(20:09):
about when I get on a plane andgo overseas.
Yeah, that might have been anexperience for me, but when I go
and share that story, right.
Like now everybody else seesthem in that place because they
see themselves in me.
Right Like, that's the realcredibility for the people
you're connected to.
Like somebody has to plant aseed in a family or around your
(20:31):
circle, right Like?
And so, man, no, I love-.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So that's a you know.
You make such a good pointbecause for me, as a you know,
throughout my childhood thesituation that my parents were
in, you know, if kind of out offear and just trying to make
money, I guess it was hard Likewe didn't.
I didn't take any vacations asa kid.
I mean, I never went on onevacation, bro, ever.
(20:58):
And so I completely like I knowyou have a daughter, but for me
when I have kids, it's of suchan important piece to have seen
and done as much as I possiblycan so that when I do have kids
I have I can, you know, I cansay, hey, you can.
Oh, here, you can do this.
There's so much out there justwaiting for you.
(21:19):
Because it's one of the thingsthat and I'm not throwing shade
on my parents whatsoever theydid what they had to do and I
completely understand and forthe situation they were in, you
know, but those are some thingsthat I didn't have as a child
and I wanna be able to givethose to my children when I have
kids.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
And it's the generations right.
Like understanding differentgenerations and the times.
You know, that's what I alwayspay attention to when it comes
to my parents, like now I get toencourage my mom to use her
passport Right.
Like first I had to get her toget one right, like.
And now you know she's like, ohno, I wanna take a trip here
(21:58):
and I wanna do this, and but wenever would.
I never heard thoseconversations as a kid, you know
, and if I think I've seensomething on, you know, social
media one day and it was like,oh, as a kid, we went to
Mississippi every year.
We were doing that and that'sthe real thing.
Like, what we thought was atrip was like taking a road trip
to the same place, probablyevery year.
(22:20):
I think Texas was for us so,but it was either have family
there, a family reunion, but itwasn't like you got to go out
and explore.
It wasn't like, oh, we're gonnago to a national park this year
, right.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I think there's a lot of fear man.
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I don't quite understand that, oh, we know why
.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Yeah, okay, okay, okay, yeah, we do know why.
You're right, You're rightabout that.
You're right about that.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Oh, so just I had a, I had a.
I do a different podcast on thethird Sunday of every month is
called Sunday safe spaces, andso we, literally this past
Sunday, talked about accessoutdoors.
And we emphasize the barriersthat different cultures face
(23:10):
when it comes to exploration andunknown places.
So just kind of just sharingthat, because that's-.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
No, I yeah, and that's why I'm on my travel.
The reason why there's a lot ofthings that I didn't do or
didn't participate in is yeah,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Absolutely yeah.
You know you're not gonna gowhere.
You don't see enough peoplethat look like you, you're not
gonna go where-.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
You're not gonna go where you don't feel like you
belong.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Where you belong and at least back then you know
we're talking about our parentsand stuff.
It wasn't social media whereyou seen, it was magazines with
pictures and the pictures didn'tsay welcome.
It just said, hey, look atMontana, right, but you're like
Montana.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Who said you want to go to Montana.
And now, bro, now that you'vebeen I've been out to some of
these families, like you knowI'd go to Montana or shit I'm
like exactly right.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So that's the thing is like, you know, you're able
to explore the things that youunderstand in the places and so
being able to story, tell andthings.
So, no, all right, I love thatman, I love this conversation.
Thank you so much and before wetalk, you know, I know you
mentioned about the Emmy and soyeah, man, share that a little
bit, because I think that's aconnection that you and me have.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
But we didn't know right Like or at least I didn't
know from a different until Imet you and we started talking
about it.
But yeah, man, share that,because I think that's a pretty
dope connection.
So how did it start?
And then you know overall, man,how you feel about that man.
You know a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
You know you gotta get me, bro.
It's interesting, man, it's sothe way that it started.
I've always loved cars.
I mean, I still to this day Ilove cars.
Car was my first work and I,yeah, and I used to film a bunch
of clips of cars like riders,all kinds of stuff, and I did a
(24:56):
couple of clips of one of mybuddy, his paint shop, aaron,
one of a kind.
And before before any of thisstuff happened, before Netflix
came, before any of that stuff,I was just out there in the
streets filming low ridersbecause I thought they were cool
as fuck and, sure enough, likea lot of those videos got quite
a amount of views and, somehow,someway, the executive producer,
(25:18):
queer Eye, rachel, do youremember?
Remember, Rachel?
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
She stumbled.
She stumbled across one ofthese videos and I got a
Facebook message that said hey,I'm the executive producer of
Queer Eye.
We're gonna be in Kansas Cityand we love your work.
Do you want us to film for you?
Or we want you to film part ofan episode for us?
And I was like she's about toask me for my credit card number
.
Like this isn't real, this is ascam, like what the hell.
(25:45):
And so, but sure enough, I gaveher my email, she sent me the
paperwork and then they came andwe met and I worked on.
It's the sixth episode on thefourth season.
It's called Tale of TwoCultures.
It's about Deanna Munoz and herhusband's in it too, because he
does a whole lowrider thing andshout out to that team of arts
(26:06):
foundation.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You know, it's incredible what they're doing
and the amount of stuff they'vedone.
It's beautiful, is really whatit is.
They're empowering a lot ofyounger kids and showing them
what they're capable of, because, I mean, I remember from my
childhood some of the thingsthese kids are doing I would
have never had the courage to dobecause I didn't think that I
was capable of them, you know,and she's doing that for them.
(26:33):
She's putting these kids inthese positions and encouraging
them, empowering them, and Ithink that's so amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
But let's go, hey, you know what, but shout out to
you for that.
We just got to give you yourflowers for that, because
somehow your passion and thethings that you were pursuing
and already had love for alignsyou with working with the
individual.
True.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
And that's, you know, that's where sometimes people
are like, yo, you got an Emmy,yo, you got an Emmy.
And part of me feels like youknow, like I just happened to be
in the right place at the righttime, like, but and then I'm
like, well, is that?
Is that some imposter syndrome?
Like I don't know, but I'mthankful for it and it's helped
open.
I've told Rachel so many timesI've been like, hey, thank you
(27:15):
so much.
Like this, the fact that thisshow went on to get an Emmy and
I got to, you know, receive apart of that Like it's opened so
many doors for me.
I've met so many great peopleand I'm just, I'm so thankful
for it, cause I couldn't it'snot something that I ever
thought I was going to get, it'snot something I asked for.
It's like it's like the manupstairs was just just watching,
you know, like helping.
(27:36):
He's making plays for me andI'm thankful for that, you know.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
No, I mean literally, that's same as it happened with
me.
Didn't think it was a realthing.
I thought I was being scammed.
I was like, no, I can't be on aTV show.
You know, I'm like, do you knowmy backstory?
And I'm like, oh, y'all tryingto do some remodel, like I'm in
a wheelchair, like does thiswork?
Like it was a lot of questionsfor me and just, you know, they
(28:04):
did.
They came with open arms andyou know, and they made sure
that the people that you workedwith on your episode really like
even the filmmakers and peopleon the back end, they just had a
harder compassion for what youwere doing.
So, like for you it's a big.
So, like you got to probablysee the artists that came in and
did the mural.
Mural, yup, yup, yeah, you knowand like so to get those
(28:26):
individuals that really justalready aligned with what you do
and I've seen you do some otherwork with them recently.
Isn't it like with her husbandand with the low?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
rider.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Like, wasn't that?
Speaker 2 (28:37):
kind of like.
Yeah, so I did.
It's interesting I'm goodfriends with the art director of
Low Rider Magazine andEverybody, everybody don't say
that, right, Like you know,everybody say that.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
You know, it's just.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, man, it's a beautiful thing and once again,
it's just one of those thingswhere it's all out of love, like
it's truly like there's no,it's not like hey, can you get
me in this position or hey, canyou give me in that position.
It's just like we have love forthe same things and it's just,
it's amazing.
But I I was like hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this piece like
(29:15):
that I just want to do, just cuzI want to do it.
I was like you think low ridercould benefit from me?
He's like hell, yeah, like,throw it my way.
And you know, I got to, got todo a piece for for low rider
magazine and it was, it's just,it was great, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
No, I'm in.
The piece was beautiful and youknow, at least for me, you know
it's you saw it.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
You saw it.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I'm always gonna peep out your work, brother.
You're working is amazing Likeyou do have an eye to tell the
story, and that's what I liked.
It wasn't just about the car,it was about the passion behind
it.
It was about the unique youknow way that you know the end
of.
I can't think of his name.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Aaron Aaron.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah, like the way that he just did his work, the
craftsmanship Right like it.
So that's what you, you sharedand I was able to see, you know,
outside of their events andthings that they host, being
able to see his craftsmanshipand see why they align so well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you did thatright like and so you know.
So that storytelling isdefinitely like, just important.
(30:23):
So, say, we got somebody rightnow, because there are a lot of
people that are, you know, notonly trying to pursue their
passion and follow Whateverdreams that they have manifested
, but because they're stuck.
You know, like, you knew thatthe numbers were right, but you
(30:45):
also feel more joy in theexploration piece of pursuing
Filmmaking.
Somebody could literally be inthe best position in a career,
but their purpose and passion issomething that they do on the
side.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Right, like a hundred percent and maybe they're
waiting on the big break.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
But you had a big break and still had to find
something else to give you.
That you know.
Somebody else had to tell youlike you had a hymn.
You were still.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely man, Ilike what would you tell
somebody that is literally likeright there on the edge, but
they're doubting how much theycan do, you know, because of
(31:24):
maybe they're thinking aboutfinances, their thing about all
those things so like how doessomebody push themselves to
unleash that and pursue theirpassion?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
anyone that's done something that that's fairly
incredible.
I feel like they don't see howincredible it really is In their
own eyes.
So if you, if you're a personthat's on the verge of taking
the leap, you know, be honestwith yourself and look at the
things you've already done andrecognize how great they are and
(31:54):
how how far you you have pushedyourself and what you have done
, because you might you might beDiscrediting yourself.
So I would say that you know,take a look at the things you've
done in the past and realizethat those things you didn't do
them for no reason, and if theyare great things and that you
did have fun doing them and thatthey you know they are
(32:15):
extraordinary, than then youshould you'll continue to do
extraordinary things.
That that's a conversation thatI'd have with myself.
Really is like man, like Ididn't really like all this,
even the Emmy and Netflix andall this stuff.
Like I was just I didn'tunderstand that, how, how
extraordinary some of that stuffwas.
It didn't really compute myhead.
Like I was just kind of like,well, yeah, I did this, did this
(32:36):
thing, and so I guarantee youthere's people out there who are
about to take the leap thathave done some extraordinary
things, that that are looking atit the same way.
So I would say, like you know,give yourself your flowers and
take the leap.
That's, that's it.
Give yourself.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Your flowers and take the leap.
No, man, it's good.
So here's the here's the thingthat I've learned a long time
ago when it comes to that, and,of course, I've started to
follow my, my purpose.
Well, I started following it.
Okay, let me go back a littlebit.
The way I was that, in order tofigure out what your, your
(33:12):
purpose in life is, is toembrace the things that you're
passionate for.
And so, once you start tofollow your passion, you, you
get, you breathe.
Your purpose, right, like, andso For most people right, like,
(33:35):
most people have a passion forthings, but they don't find a
purpose in it because theyhaven't pursued that so much.
And I'm just giving you thisexample is that my whole life, I
just I just lived right like, Ifelt like I just existed and I
wasn't, I didn't have a passionfor it, I didn't have a passion
for anything.
I did a lot, you know, I did alot, but none of that, like,
(33:58):
fueled my soul, and it wasn'tuntil I got injured and Because
I had to deal with some, someadversity, I had to get
healthier and I had never, likeengaged in a healthy lifestyle.
And, as you know, like, nowthat you're doing it.
You find passion in that and asI was focused on getting
(34:19):
healthier, to just get off a bedrest, it became something I was
passionate about because Istarted to learn and educate
about the true meanings ofnutrition and activity.
Right, like I want to, but justactivity of moving your body.
Well, that, that became a truepassion that I wanted to do
(34:43):
daily.
I found joy in it.
There was nothing that you know, you didn't have to give me a
dollar to go after it, becauseit just fueled me.
Yep, and then I decided to takethe things that I was passionate
about and create something outof that.
Right.
So, disabled, but not really.
Yes, I was able to still do thethings I'm passionate about,
(35:08):
serve people from the thingsthat I'm passionate about and
fulfill my purpose.
And now the work that I donever feels like work,
absolutely, because things thatI'm passionate about Don't say
not mean and I'm not frustrated,overwhelmed and things like
that.
Yeah, yeah, but it doesn't makeit any different for me to wake
(35:33):
up every day and be like youknow what.
It's nothing for me to teach ahealthy lifestyle.
It's nothing for me to go andhelp somebody out at the gym for
an hour.
Why?
Because I'm going to that gymfor an hour, so we gotta go at
the same time.
We just gotta go at the sametime.
But because I'm so passionateabout this I can help somebody
(35:55):
and I can serve them withoutfeeling anything for it.
So it's kind of like for me.
I wanna use this quote that Ifound from like Oprah.
If anyone don't know Oprah,right.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
If you don't know Oprah like you don't need to be
watching.
Yeah, yeah, that's so crazy.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
But Oprah, the quote is passion is energy.
Feel the power that comes fromfocusing on what excites you.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Man you know what?
Speaker 1 (36:22):
I mean, like the next , that's what I just want people
to see.
It's like when you unleash yourpassion, you do fall into your
purpose, cause if you're excitedby those things that fuel you,
like you're gonna serve fromthose things.
So, like you were passionateabout the exploration tips, so
you decided to create thisbusiness and company out of
filmmaking and now do it all thetime and you're serving someone
(36:48):
, but in return you're beingserved.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
You make such a great point From the business side of
it, one I think.
Even I had a misconception,maybe two years ago, that, okay,
as a business owner, you know,think about money, go, your job
is to make money and your job isto make money, don't get me
wrong.
But real business, like it'swhen everybody in the equation
(37:12):
wins right, Like that's a gooddeal.
A real deal is when this persongets what they want.
You get what you want andeverybody's happy Like and
that's the thing that I think alot of people miss in terms of
pursuing their passions Like youhave to figure out a way to do
it in a way that everyone getswhat they want and so it's
(37:32):
possible.
It's a real thing.
I mean, both of us do it everyday, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
It's basically like, as I throw your cup, you're
feeling mine back, because ifI'm finding joy in doing these
things and it's elevating youand making you like, yeah, like
when you come and interview mefor something, like you love the
storytelling part, you lovelearning, but for me, I'm
enjoying the fact that I get totell the story, that it's gonna
(37:59):
be narrated in the best waypossible, right, because I got
somebody on the other end thatloves to do it.
We all in somewhere where, forexample, as a kid you know, you
did family pictures, right?
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
There's somebody that has the job and there's
somebody that is pursuing thepassion right Like, and so
you've had people snap, saycheese, get the little stuffed
animal.
Boom, boom, boom.
That's you right, but go home,they probably.
You know, I'm not gonna sayeverybody was that way, but
there wasn't as much excitementout of the same repetition.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Like the person just did the same repetition every
day, right, like in theexcitement of your.
You know pursuing your passionis that it changes.
You know you start to evolve,you elevate it's growth in it,
like the way that you helpsomebody today, you're gonna
elevate and learn from that soyou can do better tomorrow.
Right, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
And then I also I wanna say that you know well,
you and I both are fortunate tobe this way, where we kind of
live in this double-edged sword,where sometimes it's really
stressful, sometimes it's reallygood Both of us and plenty of
people out there, for whateverreason.
It's just how we're wired rightand it doesn't cause you hear
(39:16):
this all the time like you havepeople like David Goggins and
they're saying you know you needto run up a mile hail or you
need to do this and do that, andI think that it's unfortunate
that people don't take the timeto say hey, everyone has their
thing.
Just cause 10,000 hours ofstressful situations doesn't
(39:37):
make you happy doesn't mean thatthere's something wrong with
you.
For some people, thatrepetition of taking those
pictures every day that does itfor them and it makes them happy
and there's nothing wrong withthat.
Like that's I can't.
Part of the reason I can'tstand a lot of these
motivational people is causethey make it seem like you have
to climb Mount Everest, soyou're not a good person and
it's like no man.
(39:57):
Like there's people who dosimple jobs and they make them
so happy and that it's beautiful, it's a great thing, and it's
just important to recognize whatmakes you happy.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
So I like that you just emphasized on that.
And for me, a lot of times Itry to talk about the
entrepreneurship and theentrepreneurship side, you know,
because, again, it's all aboutwhat you love to do.
If you love the job an exampleis definitely just Sharon If you
love the job, it will come outin many ways.
(40:29):
Right Like you elevate in thatposition.
Right Like there's people thatstay in a certain position
because they've settled, but thelove and a passion for whatever
you do will help you elevate.
Right Like that's the rewardsthat you receive rather comes
from, like you know, a bettercontract or anything like that
(40:51):
is literally because you'redoing what you love every day
and a university is rewardingyou because you're following
your purpose and passion.
So I always try to tell peoplethat are even in a workforce
right now, like, just do, if youlove it, it's gonna, it shows,
it shows.
It shows all the care and thisempathy.
(41:12):
You know all of that compassion, right, but when you don't love
it, your energy pours out onsomeone else and that energy can
shift someone right, like itcan shift.
It's like if you didn't lovebeing a nurse, but you did, but
you didn't love being a nurse,you're like I'm just here for 12
hours.
No, I am.
(41:32):
That would not be a goodsituation, but there are, I mean
at least for I'm paralyzed.
I'm being around some people.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
There's people, there's nurses like that, bro,
I'm not gonna say there isn't,but it just makes it not good
for the coworkers, it makes itnot good for the patient, it
just ruins the whole thing, youknow.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Well, so that's the point.
When you follow your passion,the environment around you
speaks to you too.
Right Like, everyone knows.
Everyone starts, it becomesthat authentic type of love for
each other.
Right Like, and so it's anecosystem.
Right, and so it's eitherpositive energy creating an
(42:11):
ecosystem or it's negative.
So, no, some men you know, acouple other you know I think I
got one last question for you,but I have some man today was
like one of those days is likewhy we talk about passion to
throw out some quotes, and so Ifound, like this other one that
(42:32):
was from Nelson Mandela and itbasically says there is no
passion to be found playingsmall Instead of me, for there
is no passion to be foundplaying small instead of when
for a life that is less than theone you're capable of living.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Absolutely agree, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
And so I think having these conversations is
important for me, because thatquote yes, it is powerful.
There are a lot of people thatplay small because they don't
think that they can live adifferent life.
And so out of the shadows is soimportant for those like you
and me that have came and risenabove adversity from a crazy you
(43:19):
know, a significant level.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
We get to plant that seed into individuals that are
coming from those communitiesthat we come from, because now
it's like no, my story is justlike yours and you know just, it
was just a journey for me, youknow yeah, absolutely, man, and
as you make it once again, kindof like the point you made with
traveling, it's just anincredible feeling to be able to
(43:44):
do something great and givethose opportunities to people
that I know felt like, kind offelt like me growing up.
Just bring them up.
Bring them up, if you know, andpush them on.
Like you know, I hope some ofthese kids do more than I do and
I hope that I can, it can helpthem do that.
You know, it's really a great,great thing, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Hey, man, we have to be the change we wish to see in
the world and I'm always sayingthat through my program.
I'm like I started this program, I do the work I do, and the
only thing that excites me iswatching someone surpass me,
because it's just opening up thedoor, like what I'm where I'm
in right now.
I'm okay because I'm constantlyinvolved in other people and
(44:26):
I'm learning through the process, but it excites me every day to
watch someone else findsomething they're passionate
about and they like.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, you just see them go.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
And it's insane right .
So I guess my last question tokind of, you know, bring all
this together is any excitingprojects you know in your
pipeline that you would like toshare, or how do you plan on in
the next year, you know,continuing, you know, following
your passion, you know, and thenInspiring others just by doing
(44:59):
what you love to do.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Man.
There's two projects that I'mcurrently working on that I'm
extremely excited about.
One of them, we are workingwith Life Flight to do a series
of campaign videos fordistracted driving and that sort
of thing, and when we do theseshoots we get to fly in the
helicopters, the helicopterslanding.
It's just, it's exciting andthey're gonna.
So it's a series of fivedifferent short advertisements
(45:24):
that you know like I'm sureyou've seen like you know, don't
drink and drive, and that sortof thing come up on your
Facebook or Instagram.
We're doing pretty much that'sthat sort of thing, and they're
going to push these out to600,000 people.
So it's a super fun project.
It's good for the community andI'm very, very excited about
wrapping that up and finishingthat and I'm hoping that, like
(45:45):
you know, I'm scrolling throughInstagram one of these days and
I get one of the ads that we'recreating.
The second project we're workingwith this guy who owns an
insect propellant company.
It sounds so crazy, but he wasin the special operations side
of the military for like 20years and so he's been to like
Uganda, he's been to Guatemalaand all these places that
(46:07):
malaria like wreaks havoc on.
I mean, they completely destroysome of the societies and I
didn't know this, but insects,like, kill more people than any
other animal on the face of theearth, and so they do this thing
where they go to all around theworld, all these countries, and
they give them bug nets andthey give them insect propellant
and and the study.
It's crazy because they'relooking like to see 10 years
(46:28):
later.
Okay, school attendance hasgone up.
These kids are some of thesekids are graduating and they're
going on to do great things andwe're helping him with some of
those things and it's just acool.
I mean, I'm excited to travel,I'm excited to make an impact.
It's just a project that I'mvery, very, very excited about.
So those are.
Those are my two, yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
No man, I like that.
I like that Shout out to thoseprojects and shout out to just
telling us stories.
I mean, I think it's important.
We can't, you know, have enoughads to talk about.
Don't drink and drive yeah,because it's just a lot of
things that come with that.
I mean, spinal cord injury isone of those communities that
(47:10):
you know have embraced a lot ofpeople that have been victims to
drinking and driving or, youknow, or survivors to the
situation, however you look atit.
But yeah so just raising thatawareness is dope.
And again, maybe you'rethinking yourself, just the
passion that you even theexcitement for just telling
those stories.
Those are two different.
(47:30):
You know opportunities to learnand educate and then educate a
new audience.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
So exactly yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Outside of that, like you know, any personal things,
like you know, you said you liketo explore, decide to take any
trips for yourself.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
So man, you know, right now, right now it's all
work, man, it's all, it's allwork.
I think, hopefully, in about ayear or so I'll take some time
to myself, but right now, man,it's all work.
I mean, I'm thankful.
I'm thankful for it becauseit's, it's, it's there.
I'm not, I'm not, you know,going out and trying to find it.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
It's all in front of me, but you know, you know it's
all good, man, we're gonna find,we're gonna manifest
opportunity for you that takesyou out of the country somewhere
where at least you got two daysto breathe, pick back and have
a pina colada or something.
That's what we're gonnamanifest for you.
(48:28):
And so, yeah, man, we're gonnago ahead and wrap this up.
I did get a couple people Iwant to say Ro Shana, my brother
, that's my brother.
Okay, yeah, he's watching.
He had to let you know, youknow, he wrote for you, you know
.
So that's what's up.
Yeah, man, again, bro, thankyou for just getting on here and
(48:49):
chatting with me, taking timeto share your story.
Everybody, you know we'll makesure that we share, like the way
to, to reach role and things,but for the last few you know
minutes that were on here,please, just you know, share
your Instagram, share yourbusiness, right, like this is on
all my platforms.
So, rather than LinkedIn orYouTube, like let people know
(49:12):
your work and we'll be able toshare that even more as well.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
So, okay, so I got.
My Instagram is eat ravioli hasnothing to do with my business,
but it's just been like thatfor a while, so I'm not going to
change it.
My company is brickwork media.
We are an advertising agencythat's based on ROI.
So, for example, like with thisinsect repellent company where
(49:36):
we're helping change the worldby making sure that he sells the
amount of insect repellent thathe needs to sell to fulfill,
you know all the costs that weincur from traveling the world
and doing all these things andwe're really good at what we do.
We're probably the best aroundhere.
And if you have a business thatdoes, if you have a business
(49:57):
and you want to make more moneybut you also do something good
for the world, where you're guys, and we will make sure that you
care of you and we'll make sureyou make more money and help
more people out.
Oh that I told you, everyone canwin, bro, everyone can win.
That that's, that's ourbusiness.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
That is.
You know that.
That's how you're going.
Yeah, I know where to find aman with.
Definitely share it.
But you know your business,want to make some money and you
trying to change the world allof that together that gives me
excited man with.
Thank you for taking the timeto talk to me and I'm sure
everybody would love this.
Like, share, follow all of thatand we'll catch you on the next
(50:36):
episode.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Take care.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
As we conclude another inspiring episode, I
want to remind you that successisn't just about the spotlight.
It's also about the shadows.
It's about the struggles weconquer, the unseen battles we
fight and the silent victorieswe claim.
Hamilton and you've beenlistening to out of the shadows
podcast, where we illuminate thestories of often left untold.
(51:02):
Join me again next week as weventure back into the shadows
and bring another amazingindividual into the light until
the end.
Remember, no story is too smallto inspire.
Keep fighting, keep winning andstay out the shadows.
In a world where success often steals the
limelight, the stories thattruly inspire, that truly matter
, are left behind in the shadows.
I'm your host, Wesley Hamilton.
Welcome to the Out of theShadows podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What's up?
What's up everybody.
This is Wesley Hamilton.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Welcome to another episode of Out of the Shadows,
where we uncover incrediblestories about individuals who
have overcome challenges and nowliving their dreams.
I'm excited to be here with youtoday.
I'm excited to announce our newguest, a good friend of mine.
(00:53):
Raul Emmy Award-winningfilmmaker, former Army medic, er
nurse, has overcome a lot ofchallenges, came from a
different type of upbringing.
Now this guy is working withcompanies like Netflix and
(01:19):
Lowrider and working withsomebody like me.
I'm just really excited, raul,thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Thank you for having me, man.
I have a tremendous amount ofrespect for you.
I'm thankful to call you afriend and I'm thankful for this
opportunity as well, man.
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, so of course, you're an individual that is
always behind the scenes withthe work that you do.
Even with the work that you wasdoing before right Rather it
was in an Army or in an ER we'lltalk about that but it seems
like a lot of your work makes alarge impact, but it's always
behind the scenes.
Wow, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, I know, absolutely right there.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I want to bring that to light.
I want to bring your story justout of the shadows and let
people know who you are, whatyou represent and what you've
created just by pursuing yourpassion, even though you have
followed different paths so itdied right in.
Since you have had quite ajourney, from a troubled
(02:28):
childhood to being a successfulfilmmaker, can you share with us
a little bit about yourupbringing, what you're
comfortable with and then whenwas the turning point in your
life that made you pursue yourpassion into storytelling?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
A little bit about the beginning of it all, I guess
my childhood.
I come from an immigrant family.
My parents came here from Indiain the early 90s and from the
beginning it was kind of astruggle for them.
I don't think they quite knewwhat they were stepping into.
They didn't know how much wasstacked against them.
So because of that I grew upwithout a lot of supervision.
(03:07):
My dad had a lot of stress onhis plate and I'm at the point
in my life now where there's alot of things that I've forgiven
, that I can look back andunderstand.
This is why this happened.
But, as I say, without muchsupervision and a lot of
animosity at home.
It kind of led me to not toomuch money either.
(03:28):
We didn't have a whole lot ofthat.
It kind of led me to hang outwith one.
I felt ostracized.
When you go to school or whenyou go to these places full of a
lot of other kids, you see kidswho have things you don't have
and you see kids who appear tohave more than you have or might
be happier than you are.
So it was kind of always hardfor me to feel like I belong in
(03:52):
those groups or to those people.
My friends ended up becomingskateboarders, people that were
kind of involved in somenefarious things at an early age
.
And another component of that,too, is because I'm Indian.
There weren't a lot of Indiankids that I grew up with, so my
friends were like black kids,mexican kids, like all the
(04:13):
neighborhood kids, and I startedgetting into a lot of trouble
pretty early on.
I got expelled in middle school.
I got expelled twice from twodifferent schools and sent to an
alternative school and it wasjust and not that I was a bad
kid, I was just hyper man, I hadso much energy, I just wanted
to.
At that time it was causeproblems, but now that I'm older
(04:34):
I see a different side of it.
So, sent to two differentalternative schools, I ended up
going to this state sanctioncorrectional thing for maybe a
year and a half, so probablyfrom the time that I was 12, 13,
the time that I was 16, 17,.
I was around a rough, roughgroup of kids, so it kind of
(04:55):
made me kind of cold, you knowwhat I mean.
Like I walked with my chin up.
I wasn't really scared of muchbecause that's, you know, when
you're in these programs or onthese kids and these systems
sort of things.
That's kind of the mentalityyou develop when you're like yo,
I got to be tough, I got to bestrong, I can't be weakness,
because the second you showweakness you know you're at the
bottom of the pit, like it's notgoing to be too good for you.
(05:18):
So after finishing, you know,there was a point where I don't
really know where to go.
15 years old, I'm in this statecorrectional detention camp
thing and it's just chaos,constant chaos.
Kids are crazy.
A lot of them come from a lotrougher backgrounds than I do,
so I'm not even going to say Iwasn't involved in gangs.
(05:39):
I didn't.
I was a.
I was a grouper onskateboarders and stuff.
It's just like I'm not going tobe the situation that I was in
around kids that were in toughersituations than I was.
So I a lot of exposure to that.
But after being in thatsituation for about two years I
got spit back out into regularpublic high school and that's
(05:59):
that's kind of when I realized,like man, like you know that my
friends, the things that thatI'm around, like that, there's
no, there's no good, good resultthat comes from a lot of these
things.
Like you know, you get spitback out into regular public
high school and these kids aregoing off to college.
And my parents have been sosupportive the whole time not to
say that mine weren't, but itwas just different, you know.
And when I graduated highschool I just was like man, I
(06:25):
have to, I have to figuresomething out.
I can't, I can't just keephanging out and doing stupid
stuff, you know.
And so I decided to join thearmy and I saw I scored pretty
pretty high on the ASP becauseyou know I'm smart and they gave
me the choice to be a medic andit seemed kind of cool to me,
(06:46):
you know.
It seemed exciting, it seemedfun, it seemed, you know, just
like that sort of thing.
And I remember going throughmedic training the first time
that I realized, like man, it'smy job to take care of another
human being, like it's my job to, you know, show love and
compassion and kindness and bethere for someone when they're
facing a tragedy.
All that bitter, cold sort ofstuff that I had from my like
(07:12):
tumultuous childhood it kind ofjust dissipated right then and
there and I learned that, youknow, I was capable of loving
someone and taking care ofsomeone and doing good and it
really that was probably themoment in my life where it was
just like a switch that justjust clicked.
I was like man, I can take careof someone.
I can, I can help someone, andit feels great.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But that's a lot you know and I appreciate you being
very transparent and sharingthat, because you know people
don't understand the journey.
I read a lot and there's a bookby Napoleon Hill and it's a lot
of books by him, so I don'twant to get the wrong title, but
I just remember him emphasizing, you know, that a lot of
successful individuals, at leastaround when he was writing, had
(07:54):
, you know, trouble withchildhoods or you know, war or
some type of just you know, highschool dropouts and things like
that.
You know and level of adversitythat creates that resilience
for you.
And so what?
I think you know you wentthrough a journey and you know
most of us deal with thechildhood trauma and the, you
(08:15):
know the hate for our family andor not really so hate, but like
this, this, this.
Yeah, yeah yeah, it's somethingright because your parents,
angst, angst me.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
You're just upset, you're like man, you don't
understand right.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Like you know, it's kind of like as a baby you've
always clean.
So when you got to go and pushoff and you're not understanding
what that grind is, and me as afather, I understand it more
now.
But I think that that's youknow, that's, that's
understandable.
But the journey that you wenton after that you know going
through something.
So it's funny that you sharethat, because I went to job
(08:51):
course 16.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I was like I was in went to Utah.
You know I have been gettingkicked out of school and it is
that you know you have thislevel of trying to be
disciplined and do somethingdifferent.
But of course I messed up there, had to come back home and when
I came back home I went back toschool and it was like one, at
least for me.
(09:15):
You know the public schoolsthat we go to, at least in the
inner city.
They don't really bring youvalue.
So I'm grateful you graduatedand things like that.
But for me I had to leavebecause I'm like no, this ain't
for me and that's just becauseit really just yeah, it's like
you know you have more potentialthan what you're surrounded by,
(09:37):
and that's what I hear from you.
It's like no, you know, like Idon't consider myself being like
a person that was challengedwhen it came to education.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, no, never.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Like it's easy, man.
Yeah, so it's kind of like, butyou wanted more out of life,
you wanted to feel a purpose,right Like, and so you know you
make you make a great.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
You know you make a great.
You know you make a great,great point because I'll tell
you, because of all those thingsthat I went through as a kid, I
always felt like, man, there'ssomething wrong, Like I don't
know what it is, but I'm justoff a little bit.
And then I remember the firstday that I because I became a
nurse after, after going throughmedic training, and the first
day that I stepped into theemergency room and I was the
(10:22):
people that I was working withright Like their nurses, just
like me.
They're, they're successful,they have families.
I was the youngest one, they'reolder than me, and as soon as I
stepped into the emergency roomand I started talking to my
coworkers, I realized, man, thatthese fools all around me
they're just as fucking crazy asI am.
They have it's like.
It's like.
It's like once you, once youunderstand yourself, dude, once
(10:43):
you understand like this is,this is a level of stress or
this is a level of stimulationthat I need in my life to to be
happy, to enjoy things, itreally changes the way I think
you can approach your entirelife.
Because when I remember, when Istepped into the emergency room,
I just felt.
So I felt like man, I really dobelong somewhere, like I really
this is where I belong, like inthese kind of sort of high
(11:06):
stress environments.
Like I really feel close tothese people, that they
understand, and throughout myentire childhood, like I never,
I always felt like man.
Why the fuck am I so crazy?
Like what the hell is wrongwith me?
And it's just you know.
So I think you make a greatpoint there by saying that
you're, you're kind of yearningfor more when, when you're
younger and you, you're highenergy and you know, and so I'm
glad, I'm thankful for myselfand I'm thankful for you as well
(11:30):
, that we've kind of reachedthese points where we we can see
, okay, we do need more and wedo need kind of high stress,
high stimulating environments inorder to be happy.
It's just it's a double-edgedsword, you know, and it's
important to know that aboutyourself.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
No, it's definitely important.
I think you know people as theyfigure out, you know who they
are.
They can pursue their passionsand you know some people are
givers and some people are.
You know they have some peoplehave other traits, but I think
everybody that off came incontact with who has followed
their passions, are serving,they're doing the service in
(12:07):
some way and it's that thatfeeling that you receive by
doing more than what you're paidfor, more than doing the random
acts of kindness, you know,like the, because you know the
joy you receive organically justby doing good in a world is
fulfilling, right, like it's,like I want to do good and I
(12:31):
want to be better for myself,because it's not even how people
see it.
It's how I feel internally,like I wake up every day because
the feeling of doing good makesme want to keep doing it right,
100% yep.
But it goes like you said it's adouble-edged sword, because if
you wake up negative every day,right like you will be driven to
(12:52):
be negative like you will befueled by that negativity.
You know if it makes you feelgood.
Because if you, if you don'tknow what positivity and
goodness feel, that negativitymakes your heart sing.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Absolutely, and that's.
That's the thing where I, whatI've kind of come to realize is,
as a kid there was a lot ofnegative things I was involved
with because it gives you a rush, it makes you feel excited
Eric's side, you know it's butyou can do that.
You can have those same sort offeelings that push you forward
and you can do positive thingsand you can still experience a
(13:29):
rush.
You can still.
You can do crazy things thatare positive that then push you
in a in a good direction, ratherthan, you know, hold you back
or put you down and see how youmake a great point.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
No man, I appreciate you, you know sharing that and
so we lead into you know.
The next question is more, alot of people struggle with, you
know, finding their passion.
Some people are just stuck, youknow, based on their
circumstances, right, absolutelyLike outside of your
(14:05):
circumstances and getting into,like the serving field and
really helping individuals.
You know, of course now youknow that's not necessarily what
you're doing, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so like, even with youseeing those paths and really
finding service, like what, whatmade you get out of those
conditions right To actually nowgo with what you really feel
(14:28):
your cup of with, and that'slike creating stories and doing
the work.
So kind of share that.
Like what was that shift oflike leaving the ER?
Because when I met you you werestill doing?
nursing right yeah absolutely,but you were doing it on the
hustle on the side right.
So how did what sparked that?
You know?
Was it a story that someoneshared?
(14:49):
Was it a moment?
You know, because what I'mcatching is that there's moments
in your journey that plants aseed and make you feel belong,
like you belong in those spaces.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
So Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, that's a great questionthere's, you know, there's two
things.
I was actually going to applyto medical school.
That was my, my goal because Ididn't, I didn't believe at a
certain point in time in thepast.
I didn't believe, I didn'tbelieve that art had a place To
(15:21):
me.
It was all, it was all bullshit.
It was like who cares aboutbeing creative?
The world like it's, like massscience, like all those things
are what's important?
And I was working in the ER oneday and one of the doctors I
worked with he pulled me to theside and he's like dude, you
have an Emmy.
He's like you can, you don't,you don't have to do what I do
(15:42):
every day.
He's like I and I just kind ofblew my mind that a doctor would
tell me that, like you don'thave to do what I do every day
where I thought that that wasthe end for me, like that was
the goal.
And so I'm not going to lie.
I did some, did some research,you know, and then I looked at
the numbers and and I found theplace for art, I found a place
(16:03):
for creativity and it reallymade sense to me and I really
started to understand thatstorytelling, good storytelling,
creativity, art like thosethings all do have a place, and
and a very, very important place, you know, and when I saw the
numbers attached to that, I waslike, okay, all right, like I, I
(16:23):
might have to make an exit here, but there's also the.
The second piece of that is,you know, as exciting as the
emergency room was, and as asmuch of there was huge amounts
of gratification, you know,because you're really doing what
you can to help someone anddoing as much as you can to help
someone, and you're seeingpeople in vulnerable situations
(16:44):
and you're helping them feelcomfortable.
I mean, there's there's so manyamazing things about working in
the emergency room, and thething for me, though, was, at
the end of the day, it was stillbeing trapped in a cement
building with no windows for 12hours straight, and, as time
went on, that kind of started toget to me.
(17:06):
It's like I started to to feellike man.
I'm in this building for 12hours straight, I have no
sunlight, I have no like, and,and so I had to kind of do some
some uh digging within myselfand think about okay, well, you
know, why did I get into this inthe first place?
Why did I join the army?
What about it?
(17:27):
And I came to the realizationthat it's about exploration.
Like I really love exploring,right, I really like seeing,
trying to understand what lifeis and why it happens and what
other people do.
And and the army gave me that,the emergency room gave me that,
and I realized that filmmakinggives me that more than anything
.
I we, you know there I get toexperience so many different
(17:50):
things, like flying helicopters.
I get to go into these uhfabrication factories where
they're welding big structuresand like it's just this constant
, this constant exploration of,of life, and that's what really
keeps me going is just beingable to explore all the time.
The money I'm not going to let.
The money is great, but but ifit, if it weren't for that
(18:12):
exploration piece of it, I still, even if the money were great,
I don't think I could do it.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Oh, that you know.
I think that that's first ofall.
I think everybody should, youknow, want to have an
adventurous soul, absolutely.
I think after a few years of mejust exploring different places
around the world, I started tocall myself a student of life,
(18:37):
because I think it's soimportant to wake up every day,
and the thing is that you doplant seeds with inside of you,
like if you go, if you'regetting up every day and doing
the same thing and it's notfeeding you, right, like it's
not watering you, like it's notdoing anything, then, like you
said, you will be drained.
Um, and sometimes beingconfined around walls isn't
(19:00):
necessarily the best thing for alot of people, right?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Like there's no way that we're I mean, at the end of
the day, to some degree likewe're still animals, you know,
like we're still like as humanand as, as, as as much as we
like schedules and as much as welike you know, technology and
all this and that dude, thesunlight, good food, the like,
all that stuff, like we need it.
Man, you know you got to breakfree right.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
You know, and, of course, like for me, I think I
broke free once.
I was went through two years ofbedrest and having to be
confined by walls every day.
Like it was the same situation,just different in certain ways.
Um, but it.
Yeah, man, just thinking aboutyou know kind of how that that
(19:49):
allowed you to spearhead intosomething else and then again,
like having the joy to beadventurous and then sharing
those stories.
So it's not just the companiesand individuals that you're
working with, that sharingstories.
Now.
You get to share those storieswith your family and friends.
You get to allow them to knowexperiences, right, like I think
(20:09):
about when I get on a plane andgo overseas.
Yeah, that might have been anexperience for me, but when I go
and share that story, right.
Like now everybody else seesthem in that place because they
see themselves in me.
Right Like, that's the realcredibility for the people
you're connected to.
Like somebody has to plant aseed in a family or around your
(20:31):
circle, right Like?
And so, man, no, I love-.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So that's a you know.
You make such a good pointbecause for me, as a you know,
throughout my childhood thesituation that my parents were
in, you know, if kind of out offear and just trying to make
money, I guess it was hard Likewe didn't.
I didn't take any vacations asa kid.
I mean, I never went on onevacation, bro, ever.
(20:58):
And so I completely like I knowyou have a daughter, but for me
when I have kids, it's of suchan important piece to have seen
and done as much as I possiblycan so that when I do have kids
I have I can, you know, I cansay, hey, you can.
Oh, here, you can do this.
There's so much out there justwaiting for you.
(21:19):
Because it's one of the thingsthat and I'm not throwing shade
on my parents whatsoever theydid what they had to do and I
completely understand and forthe situation they were in, you
know, but those are some thingsthat I didn't have as a child
and I wanna be able to givethose to my children when I have
kids.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
And it's the generations right.
Like understanding differentgenerations and the times.
You know, that's what I alwayspay attention to when it comes
to my parents, like now I get toencourage my mom to use her
passport Right.
Like first I had to get her toget one right, like.
And now you know she's like, ohno, I wanna take a trip here
(21:58):
and I wanna do this, and but wenever would.
I never heard thoseconversations as a kid, you know
, and if I think I've seensomething on, you know, social
media one day and it was like,oh, as a kid, we went to
Mississippi every year.
We were doing that and that'sthe real thing.
Like, what we thought was atrip was like taking a road trip
to the same place, probablyevery year.
(22:20):
I think Texas was for us so,but it was either have family
there, a family reunion, but itwasn't like you got to go out
and explore.
It wasn't like, oh, we're gonnago to a national park this year
, right.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I think there's a lot of fear man.
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I don't quite understand that, oh, we know why
.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Yeah, okay, okay, okay, yeah, we do know why.
You're right, You're rightabout that.
You're right about that.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Oh, so just I had a, I had a.
I do a different podcast on thethird Sunday of every month is
called Sunday safe spaces, andso we, literally this past
Sunday, talked about accessoutdoors.
And we emphasize the barriersthat different cultures face
(23:10):
when it comes to exploration andunknown places.
So just kind of just sharingthat, because that's-.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
No, I yeah, and that's why I'm on my travel.
The reason why there's a lot ofthings that I didn't do or
didn't participate in is yeah,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Absolutely yeah.
You know you're not gonna gowhere.
You don't see enough peoplethat look like you, you're not
gonna go where-.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
You're not gonna go where you don't feel like you
belong.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Where you belong and at least back then you know
we're talking about our parentsand stuff.
It wasn't social media whereyou seen, it was magazines with
pictures and the pictures didn'tsay welcome.
It just said, hey, look atMontana, right, but you're like
Montana.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Who said you want to go to Montana.
And now, bro, now that you'vebeen I've been out to some of
these families, like you knowI'd go to Montana or shit I'm
like exactly right.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
So that's the thing is like, you know, you're able
to explore the things that youunderstand in the places and so
being able to story, tell andthings.
So, no, all right, I love thatman, I love this conversation.
Thank you so much and before wetalk, you know, I know you
mentioned about the Emmy and soyeah, man, share that a little
bit, because I think that's aconnection that you and me have.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
But we didn't know right Like or at least I didn't
know from a different until Imet you and we started talking
about it.
But yeah, man, share that,because I think that's a pretty
dope connection.
So how did it start?
And then you know overall, man,how you feel about that man.
You know a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
You know you gotta get me, bro.
It's interesting, man, it's sothe way that it started.
I've always loved cars.
I mean, I still to this day Ilove cars.
Car was my first work and I,yeah, and I used to film a bunch
of clips of cars like riders,all kinds of stuff, and I did a
(24:56):
couple of clips of one of mybuddy, his paint shop, aaron,
one of a kind.
And before before any of thisstuff happened, before Netflix
came, before any of that stuff,I was just out there in the
streets filming low ridersbecause I thought they were cool
as fuck and, sure enough, likea lot of those videos got quite
a amount of views and, somehow,someway, the executive producer,
(25:18):
queer Eye, rachel, do youremember?
Remember, Rachel?
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
She stumbled.
She stumbled across one ofthese videos and I got a
Facebook message that said hey,I'm the executive producer of
Queer Eye.
We're gonna be in Kansas Cityand we love your work.
Do you want us to film for you?
Or we want you to film part ofan episode for us?
And I was like she's about toask me for my credit card number
.
Like this isn't real, this is ascam, like what the hell.
(25:45):
And so, but sure enough, I gaveher my email, she sent me the
paperwork and then they came andwe met and I worked on.
It's the sixth episode on thefourth season.
It's called Tale of TwoCultures.
It's about Deanna Munoz and herhusband's in it too, because he
does a whole lowrider thing andshout out to that team of arts
(26:06):
foundation.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You know, it's incredible what they're doing
and the amount of stuff they'vedone.
It's beautiful, is really whatit is.
They're empowering a lot ofyounger kids and showing them
what they're capable of, because, I mean, I remember from my
childhood some of the thingsthese kids are doing I would
have never had the courage to dobecause I didn't think that I
was capable of them, you know,and she's doing that for them.
(26:33):
She's putting these kids inthese positions and encouraging
them, empowering them, and Ithink that's so amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
But let's go, hey, you know what, but shout out to
you for that.
We just got to give you yourflowers for that, because
somehow your passion and thethings that you were pursuing
and already had love for alignsyou with working with the
individual.
True.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
And that's, you know, that's where sometimes people
are like, yo, you got an Emmy,yo, you got an Emmy.
And part of me feels like youknow, like I just happened to be
in the right place at the righttime, like, but and then I'm
like, well, is that?
Is that some imposter syndrome?
Like I don't know, but I'mthankful for it and it's helped
open.
I've told Rachel so many timesI've been like, hey, thank you
(27:15):
so much.
Like this, the fact that thisshow went on to get an Emmy and
I got to, you know, receive apart of that Like it's opened so
many doors for me.
I've met so many great peopleand I'm just, I'm so thankful
for it, cause I couldn't it'snot something that I ever
thought I was going to get, it'snot something I asked for.
It's like it's like the manupstairs was just just watching,
you know, like helping.
(27:36):
He's making plays for me andI'm thankful for that, you know.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
No, I mean literally, that's same as it happened with
me.
Didn't think it was a realthing.
I thought I was being scammed.
I was like, no, I can't be on aTV show.
You know, I'm like, do you knowmy backstory?
And I'm like, oh, y'all tryingto do some remodel, like I'm in
a wheelchair, like does thiswork?
Like it was a lot of questionsfor me and just, you know, they
(28:04):
did.
They came with open arms andyou know, and they made sure
that the people that you workedwith on your episode really like
even the filmmakers and peopleon the back end, they just had a
harder compassion for what youwere doing.
So, like for you it's a big.
So, like you got to probablysee the artists that came in and
did the mural.
Mural, yup, yup, yeah, you knowand like so to get those
(28:26):
individuals that really justalready aligned with what you do
and I've seen you do some otherwork with them recently.
Isn't it like with her husbandand with the low?
Speaker 2 (28:36):
rider.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Like, wasn't that?
Speaker 2 (28:37):
kind of like.
Yeah, so I did.
It's interesting I'm goodfriends with the art director of
Low Rider Magazine andEverybody, everybody don't say
that, right, Like you know,everybody say that.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
You know, it's just.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah, man, it's a beautiful thing and once again,
it's just one of those thingswhere it's all out of love, like
it's truly like there's no,it's not like hey, can you get
me in this position or hey, canyou give me in that position.
It's just like we have love forthe same things and it's just,
it's amazing.
But I I was like hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this piece like
(29:15):
that I just want to do, just cuzI want to do it.
I was like you think low ridercould benefit from me?
He's like hell, yeah, like,throw it my way.
And you know, I got to, got todo a piece for for low rider
magazine and it was, it's just,it was great, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
No, I'm in.
The piece was beautiful and youknow, at least for me, you know
it's you saw it.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
You saw it.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
I'm always gonna peep out your work, brother.
You're working is amazing Likeyou do have an eye to tell the
story, and that's what I liked.
It wasn't just about the car,it was about the passion behind
it.
It was about the unique youknow way that you know the end
of.
I can't think of his name.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Aaron Aaron.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Yeah, like the way that he just did his work, the
craftsmanship Right like it.
So that's what you, you sharedand I was able to see, you know,
outside of their events andthings that they host, being
able to see his craftsmanshipand see why they align so well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you did thatright like and so you know.
So that storytelling isdefinitely like, just important.
(30:23):
So, say, we got somebody rightnow, because there are a lot of
people that are, you know, notonly trying to pursue their
passion and follow Whateverdreams that they have manifested
, but because they're stuck.
You know, like, you knew thatthe numbers were right, but you
(30:45):
also feel more joy in theexploration piece of pursuing
Filmmaking.
Somebody could literally be inthe best position in a career,
but their purpose and passion issomething that they do on the
side.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Right, like a hundred percent and maybe they're
waiting on the big break.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
But you had a big break and still had to find
something else to give you.
That you know.
Somebody else had to tell youlike you had a hymn.
You were still.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely man, Ilike what would you tell
somebody that is literally likeright there on the edge, but
they're doubting how much theycan do, you know, because of
(31:24):
maybe they're thinking aboutfinances, their thing about all
those things so like how doessomebody push themselves to
unleash that and pursue theirpassion?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
anyone that's done something that that's fairly
incredible.
I feel like they don't see howincredible it really is In their
own eyes.
So if you, if you're a personthat's on the verge of taking
the leap, you know, be honestwith yourself and look at the
things you've already done andrecognize how great they are and
(31:54):
how how far you you have pushedyourself and what you have done
, because you might you might beDiscrediting yourself.
So I would say that you know,take a look at the things you've
done in the past and realizethat those things you didn't do
them for no reason, and if theyare great things and that you
did have fun doing them and thatthey you know they are
(32:15):
extraordinary, than then youshould you'll continue to do
extraordinary things.
That that's a conversation thatI'd have with myself.
Really is like man, like Ididn't really like all this,
even the Emmy and Netflix andall this stuff.
Like I was just I didn'tunderstand that, how, how
extraordinary some of that stuffwas.
It didn't really compute myhead.
Like I was just kind of like,well, yeah, I did this, did this
(32:36):
thing, and so I guarantee youthere's people out there who are
about to take the leap thathave done some extraordinary
things, that that are looking atit the same way.
So I would say, like you know,give yourself your flowers and
take the leap.
That's, that's it.
Give yourself.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Your flowers and take the leap.
No, man, it's good.
So here's the here's the thingthat I've learned a long time
ago when it comes to that, and,of course, I've started to
follow my, my purpose.
Well, I started following it.
Okay, let me go back a littlebit.
The way I was that, in order tofigure out what your, your
(33:12):
purpose in life is, is toembrace the things that you're
passionate for.
And so, once you start tofollow your passion, you, you
get, you breathe.
Your purpose, right, like, andso For most people right, like,
(33:35):
most people have a passion forthings, but they don't find a
purpose in it because theyhaven't pursued that so much.
And I'm just giving you thisexample is that my whole life, I
just I just lived right like, Ifelt like I just existed and I
wasn't, I didn't have a passionfor it, I didn't have a passion
for anything.
I did a lot, you know, I did alot, but none of that, like,
(33:58):
fueled my soul, and it wasn'tuntil I got injured and Because
I had to deal with some, someadversity, I had to get
healthier and I had never, likeengaged in a healthy lifestyle.
And, as you know, like, nowthat you're doing it.
You find passion in that and asI was focused on getting
(34:19):
healthier, to just get off a bedrest, it became something I was
passionate about because Istarted to learn and educate
about the true meanings ofnutrition and activity.
Right, like I want to, but justactivity of moving your body.
Well, that, that became a truepassion that I wanted to do
(34:43):
daily.
I found joy in it.
There was nothing that you know, you didn't have to give me a
dollar to go after it, becauseit just fueled me.
Yep, and then I decided to takethe things that I was passionate
about and create something outof that.
Right.
So, disabled, but not really.
Yes, I was able to still do thethings I'm passionate about,
(35:08):
serve people from the thingsthat I'm passionate about and
fulfill my purpose.
And now the work that I donever feels like work,
absolutely, because things thatI'm passionate about Don't say
not mean and I'm not frustrated,overwhelmed and things like
that.
Yeah, yeah, but it doesn't makeit any different for me to wake
(35:33):
up every day and be like youknow what.
It's nothing for me to teach ahealthy lifestyle.
It's nothing for me to go andhelp somebody out at the gym for
an hour.
Why?
Because I'm going to that gymfor an hour, so we gotta go at
the same time.
We just gotta go at the sametime.
But because I'm so passionateabout this I can help somebody
(35:55):
and I can serve them withoutfeeling anything for it.
So it's kind of like for me.
I wanna use this quote that Ifound from like Oprah.
If anyone don't know Oprah,right.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
If you don't know Oprah like you don't need to be
watching.
Yeah, yeah, that's so crazy.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
But Oprah, the quote is passion is energy.
Feel the power that comes fromfocusing on what excites you.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Man you know what?
Speaker 1 (36:22):
I mean, like the next , that's what I just want people
to see.
It's like when you unleash yourpassion, you do fall into your
purpose, cause if you're excitedby those things that fuel you,
like you're gonna serve fromthose things.
So, like you were passionateabout the exploration tips, so
you decided to create thisbusiness and company out of
filmmaking and now do it all thetime and you're serving someone
(36:48):
, but in return you're beingserved.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
You make such a great point From the business side of
it, one I think.
Even I had a misconception,maybe two years ago, that, okay,
as a business owner, you know,think about money, go, your job
is to make money and your job isto make money, don't get me
wrong.
But real business, like it'swhen everybody in the equation
(37:12):
wins right, Like that's a gooddeal.
A real deal is when this persongets what they want.
You get what you want andeverybody's happy Like and
that's the thing that I think alot of people miss in terms of
pursuing their passions Like youhave to figure out a way to do
it in a way that everyone getswhat they want and so it's
(37:32):
possible.
It's a real thing.
I mean, both of us do it everyday, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
It's basically like, as I throw your cup, you're
feeling mine back, because ifI'm finding joy in doing these
things and it's elevating youand making you like, yeah, like
when you come and interview mefor something, like you love the
storytelling part, you lovelearning, but for me, I'm
enjoying the fact that I get totell the story, that it's gonna
(37:59):
be narrated in the best waypossible, right, because I got
somebody on the other end thatloves to do it.
We all in somewhere where, forexample, as a kid you know, you
did family pictures, right?
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
There's somebody that has the job and there's
somebody that is pursuing thepassion right Like, and so
you've had people snap, saycheese, get the little stuffed
animal.
Boom, boom, boom.
That's you right, but go home,they probably.
You know, I'm not gonna sayeverybody was that way, but
there wasn't as much excitementout of the same repetition.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Like the person just did the same repetition every
day, right, like in theexcitement of your.
You know pursuing your passionis that it changes.
You know you start to evolve,you elevate it's growth in it,
like the way that you helpsomebody today, you're gonna
elevate and learn from that soyou can do better tomorrow.
Right, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
And then I also I wanna say that you know well,
you and I both are fortunate tobe this way, where we kind of
live in this double-edged sword,where sometimes it's really
stressful, sometimes it's reallygood Both of us and plenty of
people out there, for whateverreason.
It's just how we're wired rightand it doesn't cause you hear
(39:16):
this all the time like you havepeople like David Goggins and
they're saying you know you needto run up a mile hail or you
need to do this and do that, andI think that it's unfortunate
that people don't take the timeto say hey, everyone has their
thing.
Just cause 10,000 hours ofstressful situations doesn't
(39:37):
make you happy doesn't mean thatthere's something wrong with
you.
For some people, thatrepetition of taking those
pictures every day that does itfor them and it makes them happy
and there's nothing wrong withthat.
Like that's I can't.
Part of the reason I can'tstand a lot of these
motivational people is causethey make it seem like you have
to climb Mount Everest, soyou're not a good person and
it's like no man.
(39:57):
Like there's people who dosimple jobs and they make them
so happy and that it's beautiful, it's a great thing, and it's
just important to recognize whatmakes you happy.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
So I like that you just emphasized on that.
And for me, a lot of times Itry to talk about the
entrepreneurship and theentrepreneurship side, you know,
because, again, it's all aboutwhat you love to do.
If you love the job an exampleis definitely just Sharon If you
love the job, it will come outin many ways.
(40:29):
Right Like you elevate in thatposition.
Right Like there's people thatstay in a certain position
because they've settled, but thelove and a passion for whatever
you do will help you elevate.
Right Like that's the rewardsthat you receive rather comes
from, like you know, a bettercontract or anything like that
(40:51):
is literally because you'redoing what you love every day
and a university is rewardingyou because you're following
your purpose and passion.
So I always try to tell peoplethat are even in a workforce
right now, like, just do, if youlove it, it's gonna, it shows,
it shows.
It shows all the care and thisempathy.
(41:12):
You know all of that compassion, right, but when you don't love
it, your energy pours out onsomeone else and that energy can
shift someone right, like itcan shift.
It's like if you didn't lovebeing a nurse, but you did, but
you didn't love being a nurse,you're like I'm just here for 12
hours.
No, I am.
(41:32):
That would not be a goodsituation, but there are, I mean
at least for I'm paralyzed.
I'm being around some people.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
There's people, there's nurses like that, bro,
I'm not gonna say there isn't,but it just makes it not good
for the coworkers, it makes itnot good for the patient, it
just ruins the whole thing, youknow.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Well, so that's the point.
When you follow your passion,the environment around you
speaks to you too.
Right Like, everyone knows.
Everyone starts, it becomesthat authentic type of love for
each other.
Right Like, and so it's anecosystem.
Right, and so it's eitherpositive energy creating an
(42:11):
ecosystem or it's negative.
So, no, some men you know, acouple other you know I think I
got one last question for you,but I have some man today was
like one of those days is likewhy we talk about passion to
throw out some quotes, and so Ifound, like this other one that
(42:32):
was from Nelson Mandela and itbasically says there is no
passion to be found playingsmall Instead of me, for there
is no passion to be foundplaying small instead of when
for a life that is less than theone you're capable of living.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Absolutely agree, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
And so I think having these conversations is
important for me, because thatquote yes, it is powerful.
There are a lot of people thatplay small because they don't
think that they can live adifferent life.
And so out of the shadows is soimportant for those like you
and me that have came and risenabove adversity from a crazy you
(43:19):
know, a significant level.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
We get to plant that seed into individuals that are
coming from those communitiesthat we come from, because now
it's like no, my story is justlike yours and you know just, it
was just a journey for me, youknow yeah, absolutely, man, and
as you make it once again, kindof like the point you made with
traveling, it's just anincredible feeling to be able to
(43:44):
do something great and givethose opportunities to people
that I know felt like, kind offelt like me growing up.
Just bring them up.
Bring them up, if you know, andpush them on.
Like you know, I hope some ofthese kids do more than I do and
I hope that I can, it can helpthem do that.
You know, it's really a great,great thing, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Hey, man, we have to be the change we wish to see in
the world and I'm always sayingthat through my program.
I'm like I started this program, I do the work I do, and the
only thing that excites me iswatching someone surpass me,
because it's just opening up thedoor, like what I'm where I'm
in right now.
I'm okay because I'm constantlyinvolved in other people and
(44:26):
I'm learning through the process, but it excites me every day to
watch someone else findsomething they're passionate
about and they like.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah, you just see them go.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
And it's insane right .
So I guess my last question tokind of, you know, bring all
this together is any excitingprojects you know in your
pipeline that you would like toshare, or how do you plan on in
the next year, you know,continuing, you know, following
your passion, you know, and thenInspiring others just by doing
(44:59):
what you love to do.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Man.
There's two projects that I'mcurrently working on that I'm
extremely excited about.
One of them, we are workingwith Life Flight to do a series
of campaign videos fordistracted driving and that sort
of thing, and when we do theseshoots we get to fly in the
helicopters, the helicopterslanding.
It's just, it's exciting andthey're gonna.
So it's a series of fivedifferent short advertisements
(45:24):
that you know like I'm sureyou've seen like you know, don't
drink and drive, and that sortof thing come up on your
Facebook or Instagram.
We're doing pretty much that'sthat sort of thing, and they're
going to push these out to600,000 people.
So it's a super fun project.
It's good for the community andI'm very, very excited about
wrapping that up and finishingthat and I'm hoping that, like
(45:45):
you know, I'm scrolling throughInstagram one of these days and
I get one of the ads that we'recreating.
The second project we're workingwith this guy who owns an
insect propellant company.
It sounds so crazy, but he wasin the special operations side
of the military for like 20years and so he's been to like
Uganda, he's been to Guatemalaand all these places that
(46:07):
malaria like wreaks havoc on.
I mean, they completely destroysome of the societies and I
didn't know this, but insects,like, kill more people than any
other animal on the face of theearth, and so they do this thing
where they go to all around theworld, all these countries, and
they give them bug nets andthey give them insect propellant
and and the study.
It's crazy because they'relooking like to see 10 years
(46:28):
later.
Okay, school attendance hasgone up.
These kids are some of thesekids are graduating and they're
going on to do great things andwe're helping him with some of
those things and it's just acool.
I mean, I'm excited to travel,I'm excited to make an impact.
It's just a project that I'mvery, very, very excited about.
So those are.
Those are my two, yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
No man, I like that.
I like that Shout out to thoseprojects and shout out to just
telling us stories.
I mean, I think it's important.
We can't, you know, have enoughads to talk about.
Don't drink and drive yeah,because it's just a lot of
things that come with that.
I mean, spinal cord injury isone of those communities that
(47:10):
you know have embraced a lot ofpeople that have been victims to
drinking and driving or, youknow, or survivors to the
situation, however you look atit.
But yeah so just raising thatawareness is dope.
And again, maybe you'rethinking yourself, just the
passion that you even theexcitement for just telling
those stories.
Those are two different.
(47:30):
You know opportunities to learnand educate and then educate a
new audience.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
So exactly yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Outside of that, like you know, any personal things,
like you know, you said you liketo explore, decide to take any
trips for yourself.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
So man, you know, right now, right now it's all
work, man, it's all, it's allwork.
I think, hopefully, in about ayear or so I'll take some time
to myself, but right now, man,it's all work.
I mean, I'm thankful.
I'm thankful for it becauseit's, it's, it's there.
I'm not, I'm not, you know,going out and trying to find it.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
It's all in front of me, but you know, you know it's
all good, man, we're gonna find,we're gonna manifest
opportunity for you that takesyou out of the country somewhere
where at least you got two daysto breathe, pick back and have
a pina colada or something.
That's what we're gonnamanifest for you.
(48:28):
And so, yeah, man, we're gonnago ahead and wrap this up.
I did get a couple people Iwant to say Ro Shana, my brother
, that's my brother.
Okay, yeah, he's watching.
He had to let you know, youknow, he wrote for you, you know
.
So that's what's up.
Yeah, man, again, bro, thankyou for just getting on here and
(48:49):
chatting with me, taking timeto share your story.
Everybody, you know we'll makesure that we share, like the way
to, to reach role and things,but for the last few you know
minutes that were on here,please, just you know, share
your Instagram, share yourbusiness, right, like this is on
all my platforms.
So, rather than LinkedIn orYouTube, like let people know
(49:12):
your work and we'll be able toshare that even more as well.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
So, okay, so I got.
My Instagram is eat ravioli hasnothing to do with my business,
but it's just been like thatfor a while, so I'm not going to
change it.
My company is brickwork media.
We are an advertising agencythat's based on ROI.
So, for example, like with thisinsect repellent company where
(49:36):
we're helping change the worldby making sure that he sells the
amount of insect repellent thathe needs to sell to fulfill,
you know all the costs that weincur from traveling the world
and doing all these things andwe're really good at what we do.
We're probably the best aroundhere.
And if you have a business thatdoes, if you have a business
(49:57):
and you want to make more moneybut you also do something good
for the world, where you're guys, and we will make sure that you
care of you and we'll make sureyou make more money and help
more people out.
Oh that I told you, everyone canwin, bro, everyone can win.
That that's, that's ourbusiness.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
That is.
You know that.
That's how you're going.
Yeah, I know where to find aman with.
Definitely share it.
But you know your business,want to make some money and you
trying to change the world allof that together that gives me
excited man with.
Thank you for taking the timeto talk to me and I'm sure
everybody would love this.
Like, share, follow all of thatand we'll catch you on the next
(50:36):
episode.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
Take care.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
As we conclude another inspiring episode, I
want to remind you that successisn't just about the spotlight.
It's also about the shadows.
It's about the struggles weconquer, the unseen battles we
fight and the silent victorieswe claim.
Hamilton and you've beenlistening to out of the shadows
podcast, where we illuminate thestories of often left untold.
(51:02):
Join me again next week as weventure back into the shadows
and bring another amazingindividual into the light until
the end.
Remember, no story is too smallto inspire.
Keep fighting, keep winning andstay out the shadows.
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