0:04

This is Raul Lopez , and you're listening to . How Do

0:06

you Save Success in Spanglish ? The

0:08

path to success isn't easy For

0:10

minorities and people of color . Many attempt to

0:12

join you with little to no guidance . Join

0:15

me as I sit down with individuals who share their

0:17

stories of perseverance so that together

0:19

we can learn how to save success in Spanglish

0:21

. What's

0:30

good me Hente ? Welcome back . This is Raul

0:33

, today's guest . I have a good

0:35

friend of mine , jose Vega . How's it going , jose hey

0:38

?

0:38

Good ho w you doing , Raul Doing alright .

0:40

Yeah , yeah , man , I know we're quite a few

0:42

hours away distance , so I really appreciate you taking the time to

0:44

meet with me . So

0:47

Jose Vega is a manufacturing manager

0:49

at Biogen , currently working on the only

0:51

FDA approved drug for Alzheimer's . He's

0:54

a Boston born and raised by

0:56

. Jose now lives in Switzerland as an expat . That's

0:59

quite a journey for people

1:01

, especially for Panamanian , to

1:04

have roots in Panama

1:06

, growth in Boston and

1:08

now living in Switzerland . So

1:11

I guess with all journeys this kind of started at the beginning

1:13

. Now tell me a little bit about growing

1:15

up in Boston .

1:17

Yeah , so I'm originally from like

1:19

from Boston , specifically Jamaica Plain , which

1:22

is , like I think at the time was like a half

1:24

and half like minority , latino , black

1:27

neighborhood , white neighborhood , right , you

1:29

visit JP today you see there's a big change

1:31

in gentrification . But

1:33

yeah , so I came from two immigrant parents from

1:36

Panama . So they made the journey

1:38

. My dad first came over in like 1968

1:42

, the first time , then went back to Panama and then

1:44

he finally moved full time with my mother in

1:46

like 1979 . Then

1:48

I had one older brother , so we lived

1:50

and grew up in the same house in Jamaica Plain . So

1:54

obviously , you know , coming back from Panama

1:56

, where they're from was a very , very small village called

1:59

Los Montes , literally like village right

2:01

, and you

2:03

know so my mom is one of 11

2:05

. And my dad is one of

2:07

12 , so I have a big , big family

2:10

on both sides . So I think

2:12

you know , I think you know they came . You

2:14

know my dad had the opportunity to come back in a day with

2:16

my aunt , was here , and before they were

2:18

, you know , easier to get visas . So you know she

2:20

went to my father and said , hey , do you want to come to the

2:22

US ? My dad was like , okay , sure

2:24

, why not . So he's one

2:26

of three from my dad's side that came to the

2:28

US and my mom is the only

2:30

one from her side that came to the US . So

2:34

you know , I think one of the things

2:36

that they stressed for me when I was

2:38

a kid , with education right , because my I

2:40

think my dad finished high school . He did high

2:42

school in the US at the old , like Boston , jamaica

2:45

Plain High School , which doesn't exist anymore . And

2:48

my mother has an interesting story because , like

2:50

I said , she was the eldest female

2:52

of her family , so she had

2:54

three younger sisters and two younger brothers

2:56

. So when she was 11

2:58

, my grandmother forced her out of middle school

3:00

but literally took her to school

3:03

. He didn't have the opportunity to study and

3:05

when teachers would come by looking for my mom , my

3:08

grandmother would tell her to go hide underneath

3:10

the bed , that she wasn't home . So

3:14

that for me , I think , was one of the things that kind of made

3:17

me focus on education , like saying , okay

3:19

, studying , you know my parents came

3:21

here not speaking English , to the US , I mean and

3:23

to just focus on school , so

3:26

to . So I was

3:28

really focused on school , right , so , like as a

3:30

an elementary school , I was like a Shreddy student

3:32

and I'll believe

3:34

it or not , got placed into like the advanced

3:37

working class program in the fourth

3:39

and fifth grade and

3:41

then the advanced working class program in the sixth grade

3:43

and

3:45

then I really had the chance in the fourth grade

3:47

. I think one of the things that kind of changed my life was

3:50

this program called stepping

3:52

stone . So basically what it is

3:54

. It's a 14 month

3:56

program for fifth and sixth graders

3:58

, so they basically after the school

4:00

season's over in the summertime they go to

4:03

school for six weeks and

4:05

then during the school year of the fifth

4:07

grade , sixth grade , you are six , really

4:09

mean you're going to school or you're

4:11

going to the program one day a week and on

4:13

Saturdays , and then after

4:16

the summer , the sixth grade , you know , you go

4:18

back for six more weeks and then you pull on quote graduate

4:20

.

4:20

Yeah , right , and

4:23

then this was fourth and fifth grade fourth , fifth

4:25

, fifth grade and sixth grade . Okay , it's like middle school

4:27

. So I finished

4:29

summer fifth grade and I finished the summer sixth

4:31

grade , nice , and it sounds similar to

4:33

the program I was in upper bomb , but we did

4:35

that from ninth , tenth and eleventh grade , where you

4:37

go to school . Here you were Saturdays and in the summer you

4:39

were doing summer classes on campus . I

4:42

mean , how did you guys find out about this

4:44

? So you know what got you in there .

4:46

Yeah , that's the thing . So elementary school , so again

4:48

. So I got into the advanced work class at the Hennigan

4:50

school . My teacher , miss

4:52

Matthews right , they

4:55

wanted to nominate students for the program

4:57

, right , so so with

4:59

. So basically the program is catered to like

5:01

kids in the city of Boston you know , normally

5:03

like from inner city youth , and

5:05

the teacher just nominated , like myself and some

5:07

other classmates of mine . So it was kind of

5:09

cool because , okay , it was like it's summer school but

5:11

it's with friends . Right . And

5:14

the funny story is that you have to do like an interview

5:17

, like an application and , like my parents didn't

5:19

know , boston , downtown Boston . So , bro , I

5:21

missed the interview .

5:24

And this was before GPS . So

5:27

you , you , you couldn't figure it out . You have to know where you're

5:29

going yeah .

5:29

So you know , I come back and my teacher said how'd everything go ? And

5:31

I'm like I didn't make it and she's like what ? So

5:34

she got on the phone right away , called the people

5:36

at Stepping Stone and said no , you really got to take

5:38

this kid . You know , I think this kid is the perfect

5:41

, you know , student that you want , and if it

5:43

wasn't for her , like you know , I wouldn't have gone to

5:45

that program . And maybe I'm not wearing him today because of her

5:47

.

5:47

Yeah , and is that program yeah

5:49

. Oh no , go ahead , I'll let you finish .

5:51

Yeah , I was going to say because that program really opened

5:53

the doors right , and I think one of

5:55

the things that's unique about this program is that you know

5:57

it prepares you for , like middle school , high school

5:59

. But it also has a strong connection with

6:01

the private schools in the greater

6:03

Boston area . So I remember

6:05

in the fourth grade you

6:08

know a school had come by to talk about

6:10

. It was like called the Roxbury Lions School and

6:13

I remember being there and

6:15

the school looked so cool . I was like you know , you're a young

6:17

kid going to city schools in Boston . You have no backyard

6:20

, no playground , right .

6:22

You probably have a basketball court . That's about it , yeah

6:24

.

6:26

And then I remember I remember being so

6:28

cool to go to that school , but it's a private school that costs money

6:30

, no chance right . And then here

6:32

comes Stepping Stone . I get in the program

6:35

and you know they help you with applications

6:37

to take out . I just the standard , okay

6:39

, let's go to the next public school . So with

6:41

them I was able to apply to Roxbury Latin and

6:43

get it on the full scholarship .

6:45

Nice , that's awesome . And

6:47

what was the difference ? You know

6:49

, for a lot of us we keep talking about going

6:52

to college and there's a big difference in lifestyle or whatever

6:54

, and just I can imagine

6:56

from being in public school to a private school , starting

6:58

at high school . You're starting it off there

7:00

. You know what was that transition like for you ?

7:03

Yeah , it's a little different , right ? The first time was all boys school

7:05

, right . So that's one big

7:07

change . But

7:11

I think what was unique about

7:13

it was the fact that , like okay , so I came from the city of Boston

7:15

, I was like a straight A student , a top

7:17

student , and then I come and all of a sudden , there's like all

7:20

these kids that are smarter than or at least I think

7:22

you know they come , they're great , show

7:24

that they were smarter than me . So going from like being

7:26

on the top of the class to now , all of a sudden , like being towards

7:28

like the middle , bottom third , was a big

7:30

but something different for me . I

7:32

wasn't used to that , right . I

7:34

haven't gotten straight A's my whole entire life . And

7:36

then here I am , I'm like okay , and I'm struggling a bit right . So

7:40

that was one of the big challenges there . The

7:42

school was very small too right , so I

7:45

think it was in our grade was like 40 kids

7:47

we started with .

7:48

Yeah , yeah , yeah yeah .

7:50

So very small . But I think it's good because you have , like , the student

7:52

to teacher ratio . You know a lot you read about this

7:55

city , the public school system nowadays right , when

7:57

you throw like 35 kids in the classroom with one

7:59

teacher and it's like , hey , good luck , survival of

8:01

the fittest , maybe one might get out of it , right

8:03

, Yep .

8:04

Yep , I

8:06

was going to say it's a school that

8:08

small , the personal

8:11

connection , the personal focus on each individual

8:13

student is a little bit better . When I got to my

8:15

school we were getting close to the end of my

8:18

senior year , when they're starting to get to

8:20

what they called accreditation

8:23

. They were checking the schools to

8:25

make sure that they're up to keep par . I remember

8:27

school was like , oh , we're going to put new blinds

8:29

. I'm like how's that going to help with the education ? That's

8:31

not doing anything . Then they

8:34

started mixing in some of the classes

8:36

. I was in my senior class and we had maybe like

8:38

25

8:40

, 30 kids . We were sharing 10

8:43

books . It's just

8:45

as binder , this book with a bunch of short

8:47

inversions of famous stories . It's

8:49

like 30 pages of Moby

8:52

Dick condensed . You know what I mean . It's

8:54

whatever . Half the pages are ripped out , they're

8:56

all scribbled up . But they started removing

8:58

the college classes

9:01

, the college training , and put everybody

9:03

mixed together in a way to balance

9:06

out everything . I don't know what the idea was

9:08

behind it , but they

9:10

had to lower everything to the

9:12

lowest common denominator . For

9:14

me I was barely doing any work and doing

9:17

really good in the class , just because they needed

9:19

to keep those grades up a lot , because they were going to lose

9:21

, which they did . They lost their accreditation . I

9:23

can imagine being in a school where you're one of 40

9:26

, you said 40 kids , right , 40 per class

9:28

, so like 275 in the end , the whole school

9:31

. Yeah , but 40 for the class . I can imagine

9:33

your class size of what ? 13

9:35

. 13 kids you know what I mean . They

9:37

knew exactly where you were struggling and that can help out . It's amazing

9:40

that you were able to get into the program . For

9:42

a lot of us , I think , we start dealing with that

9:44

when we get to college , where

9:46

that transition between I was a smart kid

9:48

in my school and now I'm not Did that

9:50

help you at all ? Did

9:52

the school help you prepare ?

9:56

Yeah , so maybe for me . Once I

9:58

got into the private school and I don't know if it was just

10:00

arrogance , but I knew that college

10:02

was the next step . Hey , it's a private school . The kids

10:04

that go to the school go on to Harvard , they

10:07

go on to Princeton , they go on to Yale , they

10:09

go do big , famous things , famous

10:14

kids of professionals and they

10:16

come to school there . I

10:19

knew that as long as I get through college

10:21

, it's going to be an option . Maybe

10:23

if I could go back and maybe

10:25

spend a little bit more time in the education

10:27

, I probably would have excelled at a higher

10:29

student , maybe gone to an Ivy League school . But

10:32

I think for me , knowing that I'm going to go to

10:34

college , that was always going to be something I was going to do . When

10:37

the applications came , I applied to like

10:40

10 schools 11 schools and I got into like eight of them

10:42

. I was like , okay , I'm going to continue , I'm going to

10:44

go somewhere . At the end it was the one that

10:46

gave the most money and like you know , boston . University

10:48

. It's very generous with their financial aid package . The first

10:51

year , yeah .

10:53

And so I mean it's funny you

10:55

say stuff like that because it's kind of a discussion of the father

10:57

I have with people , where you're

11:01

trying to balance off the . You

11:03

know I want my kid to kind of grow up , to kind of have the same kind

11:05

of somewhat inexperience that I had to understand

11:08

the struggle a little bit , just because not

11:10

to force them to struggle . But then you're also like

11:12

I'd rather my kid go to the school and come in

11:14

last place and still go to a good school than , you

11:17

know , being top 10 in school and maybe

11:20

they go to a good school . So you know , I can imagine

11:22

that thing . So when you started

11:24

and you got into the schools

11:26

you got into , you ended up deciding

11:28

on Boston University . How

11:31

was that transition ?

11:32

Yeah , so that was kind of like okay . So my older brother

11:34

, right , he was at BU at the time before me , so

11:37

he had been there like two years ahead of me and

11:40

so BU was also different

11:43

because , again , I went from a small

11:46

school of 275 students , right To

11:49

like a giant university of like 20,000 people , right . So

11:51

you know , you remember , like one of my things , like one of my first chemistry

11:53

classes , was like maybe 400 , 500 students , right . It

11:55

was like my entire you know , my entire old

11:57

, you know student

12:00

population all in one class , right so

12:04

, but the school had prepared me for that

12:06

. So , to be honest , like I think my first freshman

12:08

year , like it was I don't want to say it was easy

12:10

, but I had been prepared enough

12:13

to know what I had to study to

12:15

get the good grades . So I remember , like taking my first chemistry

12:18

class and the first chemistry test , right

12:20

, and I think it was like the third guy to walk

12:22

out the road and I'm like am I doing

12:24

something wrong ? Or maybe

12:27

, maybe not , but I'm like I'm pretty sure , like

12:29

this is correct . My hand in the paper . I leave

12:31

people looking at me like wow , this dude . And

12:34

yeah , sure , I get the exam back . And I think I got like a 96

12:36

. Right , so I was like I felt good about myself . Like

12:38

you know , it's like first test 96 , like okay , things are going to be good

12:41

. And then , and

12:43

then , yeah , got into some

12:46

you know some funny business . Let's say , right

12:48

, that's the focus . So then I thought like I got

12:50

overconfident thing like oh , university is going to be easy , going

12:52

to be a breeze , right . And then it started

12:54

to kick my ass . And then things

12:56

changed and I had a decision to make to be like , okay

12:58

, I need to continue and finish this and

13:00

I had the same exact experience

13:03

with my chemistry class , my first chemistry

13:05

exam .

13:05

I came out of that exam with like a 95

13:07

. And I was like and even all the people were like

13:09

, holy shit , I was smart . I was like , oh

13:12

shit , I got this , this is going to be easy

13:14

, this is going to be just like high school

13:16

. And then , like two , three weeks

13:18

later , each exam just started going less and

13:20

less and less and less . And then it was like

13:22

, oh shit , I'm going to probably get a

13:25

D in this class at the end of the semester

13:27

. So what helped you

13:29

kind of start transition working

13:32

and improving on that as you started going long ?

13:34

Yeah . So I think one of the things going back to my mother

13:36

, right , god bless her . So because

13:38

she didn't have the opportunity to go to

13:40

middle school , right ? So 11th grade

13:42

she was 11th , 5th grade probably she dropped out While

13:45

I was in high school , you know she wanted to get her GED

13:48

, general equivalency diploma

13:51

, basically the equivalent of a high school degree

13:53

right ? So I remember seeing her always

13:55

struggle right , she's learning English , struggling

13:57

to like , learn the topics , to get that test . I don't know how

13:59

many times she failed that exam . You know

14:02

she would cry at night , like you know , but she would never quit . She

14:04

would never quit . So I think having her there at

14:07

going to school at the same time with me was

14:09

always my motivation because I was like , man

14:12

, what I can't

14:14

quit ? Right , she's working a full-time job raising

14:16

two badass kids . Right , dealing

14:19

with my father cooking , cleaning , taking care of

14:21

the house , right , all the things that super moms do and

14:23

still trying to get her , you know , her high school degree

14:26

. And then when I got to

14:28

university , you know , she finally got

14:30

her GED and she didn't stop

14:32

there . She went on to want to get her bachelor's

14:34

from a Lezzi university . So

14:37

we're basically in college at the same time . So for me

14:39

, bro , there was no way I was going to quit , because

14:41

I couldn't let my mom down . You know everything she had

14:43

done to get me to where I was

14:45

. There was no way that I was going to . I was

14:47

going to fail . So I hit a rock

14:49

bottom point , but I was able to pick myself up and

14:51

finish .

14:53

And so we talk about rock bottom point in college

14:55

. We all kind of get to the not

14:57

all of us , but some of us get to the point where our grades

14:59

go bad . We end up getting an academic

15:01

probation . And I was on that probation

15:04

I think twice and

15:06

they told me if I get it one more time I'd be expelled

15:08

from the school . So I was like this close

15:10

to being kicked out of BU and

15:13

had to come out . What helped

15:15

change ? What did you have to

15:17

do to kind of pick yourself up from where you were

15:19

?

15:19

Yeah , exactly so when

15:22

I started at BU I hated writing , I hated English

15:24

. That was always my nemesis . So SAT score was like a 500

15:26

, but my math was like 750 . So

15:29

that always bounced out the rest . So

15:33

you know , and that's one of the things I mentioned , that like

15:35

the for me , I think , like the American

15:37

education system , are really a lot

15:39

for big profit corporations , right when

15:42

they really I remember stepping into the

15:44

new one .

15:44

They're technically nonprofit , but there's

15:46

a lot of money coming in here yeah .

15:49

So I remember sitting on my orientation and you know , some guy

15:51

walks into the room and he says , look to the

15:53

left , look to the right , four years from

15:55

now , one of you is not going to be here . And

15:58

that's like the opening message . So you're like , okay

16:00

, this is going to be

16:02

crazy , right . But then you go through it and then you start

16:04

to understand why . Because you know

16:06

, to get into the , the engineering

16:08

classes that were actual engineering classes

16:11

, like I liked those and I did well in them , Right

16:13

. But at the same time I had

16:15

to take , like physics to physics

16:17

, three calculus , three

16:20

differential equations . I'm like I don't

16:22

care what , how fast a neutron

16:24

and a proton move , I'm not going to go to work for

16:26

NASA , I'm not going to be a physics professor . So

16:28

why are you making me endure this ? So

16:30

I just lost interest in that . And

16:32

obviously , unfortunately for BU and many universities

16:35

, you have to meet these quote unquote core

16:37

classes to be able to find again

16:39

to the program .

16:40

Yeah , and it's very interesting . I

16:42

mean , that's a whole topic in of itself , but the it's

16:45

the same thing . We I was the pre-med

16:48

when I started and we

16:50

had the- same we had the same day meeting , except

16:52

instead of saying one person . He said half of y'all

16:54

will not be here by the end of the summer

16:56

, by the end of the year , you know what I mean . Next thing , you won't see anybody . So

16:59

remember my chemistry , chem 101 class

17:01

. We had the same like five , 600 kids and

17:04

it gets to about halfway through the semester they merged

17:07

all the class back into one because so many kids

17:09

have dropped out that you're back to about like

17:11

200 kids in their class

17:13

and of those , half of those

17:15

kids in the failing . So you're getting like 75%

17:18

failure rates on these , what

17:20

they called weed out class , pre-med med

17:23

school weed out classes . And I remember

17:25

reading an article a while back where they're talking about how

17:27

it's gotten so difficult to

17:29

pass those early classes that

17:31

there's a there's a high possibility

17:34

that we're losing potentially good

17:36

doctors from early

17:38

stages . You know , instead of giving an opportunity

17:41

to go up there . And I just remember , you know

17:43

, when we're doing all that stuff , I'm like what's

17:45

the point of this ? And then I get to like my junior

17:47

year and I'm getting A's and all my graduate level

17:49

classes . You know , like like nothing . You know what I

17:51

mean . And so there's a big change or whatever to

17:55

focus on . And so , once you started

17:57

losing interest , what brought you back up ?

18:00

Yep , so basically . So I'd

18:02

start off with like a you know 3.7 GPA

18:04

, then , like my second year was like a 1.0 . I

18:06

think I dropped two classes . I failed one class . And

18:09

I was at that moment where I said , okay , I know I

18:11

need to stay in school , right , thinking about my mom . And

18:13

I went to my advisor he's okay , we're going to put you in academic

18:16

probation . Talk to my friend

18:18

. Her name's Connie Phillips . She runs

18:20

the biomedical lab and clinical science

18:22

program at BU , which is like a fancy way of saying

18:24

biotech . So I remember

18:26

meeting with this woman , connie , and you know she explained

18:28

the program to me . So this is what in

18:30

2002 , 2003

18:33

, maybe , and it seemed interesting

18:35

, it was like science , math related right , Like

18:37

you know , medical terminology , purification

18:39

, cell culture , science based . So

18:41

I was always , like you know , that was always like the way

18:43

, the things I like to do . She

18:46

said hey so try it a couple classes , because I had to do a couple of

18:48

my courses to see and then apply , and

18:51

so I was always like I took like two classes , I did well in

18:53

them , got into the program , but

18:55

the one thing that happened is because all

18:58

my other classes didn't count

19:00

towards the degree , I had lost

19:02

pretty much like 28 credits , almost

19:04

like a full year , but

19:07

I didn't let that stop me , honestly , and

19:09

you know . So here I am thinking like all right , I'm going to be a

19:11

quote unquote super senior . But

19:14

be honest , doing the X here

19:16

is probably one of the best probably like the

19:18

second best decision in my life , right , you

19:20

know ? Because I was really then focused

19:22

in the classes . I enjoyed what I was doing . You

19:25

know I like to go to class . You know I was doing

19:27

well again . And one of the neat

19:29

things about this program , which is , again

19:31

, we can go off bar about this , but

19:33

you know , I think in universities they really teach

19:35

students like how to just take tests right , memorize

19:38

, memorize , be a test taker , that's it right , not really teach

19:40

you life skills . But this program

19:42

, in order to graduate , you had

19:44

to do an externship , meaning

19:47

you had to go work somewhere at

19:49

a company or you know , intern

19:51

somewhere , as some , you know department of science

19:54

, somewhere within the school , to get credit

19:56

. And that's how you get the life experience right

19:58

and that's how you get the real work experience and

20:01

that was one of the things that really helped propel me , you

20:03

know , to the next step of my career , in my life .

20:05

So nice , that's awesome , and so

20:08

obviously you did well there and

20:11

were able to graduate . Did

20:13

you start working right away or did you ?

20:15

Yep , yeah , so my

20:17

last year , basically I was doing an externship

20:20

for the whole year , right , so ? And then the cool thing was that

20:22

they graded you on a 4.0 scale . So I was

20:24

like 4.0 for 20 credits , nice Like that

20:26

.

20:26

You know things list .

20:27

Nice , nice . But

20:30

the thing is like that program . You know , in

20:32

that time in Boston , like 2004

20:35

, five , six , it was really like biotech

20:37

was just starting , it was in its infancy

20:40

and

20:42

I remember you know the woman having

20:44

Pani having lots of connections with the different

20:46

biotech companies , pharma companies in the area

20:48

that you

20:51

know part of it . Also , you have to like do a resume

20:53

writing with her . So you went to do a resume . She's like

20:55

, yeah , I'm going to screen some calls , I'm going to do this . So

20:57

he calls me . She's like , hey

20:59

, are they getting close to the graduation ? I'm

21:01

like , yeah . He's like , yeah , you

21:04

need to come in . We got to look for work . I'm

21:06

like , okay , okay , let's do this . But

21:09

when I met her , gave her my resume , she piqued

21:11

it around a bit , bro , literally like I

21:13

leave her office and

21:15

not even like five minutes by the time I get to my

21:17

car I already got two phone calls about

21:20

people like interested in my resume and I was like , okay

21:22

, that's cool , right . So then I was

21:24

like , okay , so work's going to happen . So

21:27

then I started to , you know , apply the positions

21:29

, go to job fairs , you know the old school job

21:31

fairs where all the companies come and

21:34

I really had , like you know , pharmacology , because my

21:37

externship was working for grad

21:39

students , helping grad students in the department of pharmacology

21:41

at BU . So it was kind of cool

21:43

. We were doing like they were doing like a testing

21:45

some drug on the relapse of cocaine addiction

21:47

. So we had to , like test rats

21:50

and , you know , perform surgeries

21:52

, juice them up with Coke

21:54

to the reaction . Pretty

21:56

messed up man .

21:57

But hey , you know we got to start something right , you

21:59

walk in the lab and there's just like EDM music and

22:01

all these rats there Actually

22:03

there was like two instances where I think please shut up because , like

22:05

some of my broken and cocaine- right .

22:08

Because I had to talk about this stuff .

22:11

I wouldn't doubt that . Yeah , but yeah .

22:13

But so yeah . So I got offered a job

22:16

as like an unpaid job at Biogen

22:18

. I think it was like their internship program like six months

22:20

Like yeah , but I think in that extra year

22:22

. I need to make some money , right , I

22:24

was like I went to school , I spent

22:26

this much , but so I went to

22:28

this job fair and then I changed my mentality and it was

22:30

like someone told me was like

22:32

, hey , you know what you should do , you should just really try

22:34

to get your foot in the door and then

22:36

things open up . So instead

22:39

of going specifically saying , hey , I wanted this type

22:41

of job , I was just like , hey , I'm looking , I'm

22:44

open to anything , I want to try something out

22:46

. Here's my resume . But they called me

22:48

up . So the manufacturing team at Biogen at

22:50

the time , you know , they were doing like a big hiring , right

22:52

. So I remember going in there one

22:54

day , like on the Friday , and

22:56

I was like , maybe I don't know like 40 people

22:58

, right , and like so it was a full day of

23:00

interviews . So , yeah

23:03

, I sat down with the different managers you know , did

23:05

a rotation , so that was on the Friday

23:07

. Then I think the following Sunday was

23:09

the graduation from BU and

23:12

then the week after they called me to offer me a job

23:14

.

23:14

Nice .

23:15

Biogen . So at that point I was like , okay

23:17

, they want to pay me this , okay , I'm going to take you . I

23:19

mean I got my foot in the door , let's

23:21

see where it takes me from there .

23:23

Yeah , and I think for a lot of students when they're

23:25

graduating , the common trope

23:28

is you know how can I get a job

23:30

? Because they're asking for experience , but I can't get a job

23:32

to gain that experience . And sometimes you just

23:34

got to take what you can get just to get yourself

23:36

in there . And so you started working

23:39

. How long after

23:41

you started working did you decide to go for your

23:43

master's ?

23:44

Yeah . So that was so funny because , you know , after

23:46

doing it , actually your school I was like , oh man , never going

23:49

to go back to school , right . So 2006

23:51

, I started at Biogen , 2007

23:54

, 2008 . But then around like 2009

23:56

, I got into like a leadership position , but it wasn't

23:58

like , it was like called a shift lead , right

24:00

. So basically I was like managing the team , organizing

24:03

, you know , organizing group , trying no-transcript

24:06

, you know , give them the direction for the day , the planning

24:08

, et cetera . But I really enjoyed that aspect

24:10

of work , right , teaching people . Because , you

24:12

know , going all the way back to my early life , right , with

24:15

stepping , some people were always there sacrificing

24:17

to teach me . So it was always my way to kind

24:20

of give back , right . So

24:22

then I said , okay , I don't want to do , maybe

24:24

I'll do a master's , but more towards like business operation

24:27

management . And I really like a sign because I was already in science

24:29

, right . So I had a batch of the science . So they didn't really

24:31

want a master's in science . So

24:33

then Harvard Extension , you know , offered a program

24:35

in management operations . So

24:38

in the evening time for working professionals . So

24:40

I said , hey , let me try it out , let me try a couple classes

24:42

. So I remember one of my buddies of mine . We

24:44

did it together . So we both said let's check it out . So we

24:46

did a couple classes and it

24:49

was really cool , right . It was really like a different way of

24:51

you know how businesses work

24:53

. Like you know , you study , like how

24:55

Southwest is so successful , how Starvus

24:57

was successful , you know the

25:00

different tips and tricks and how to be

25:02

a successful leader and that stuff

25:04

really . So I was able to apply some of that from

25:06

my day to day to my day to day job . You

25:08

know , really like you know , focusing on the fact that you

25:10

know I know it sounds crazy , but like

25:12

the best employees are the happiest , right

25:15

, simple concept , right , but for some reason , you

25:18

know it's hard to get there . So , yeah

25:20

, so I did the master's . It took like three years because

25:22

obviously it was no rush to do it . Biogen

25:24

also paid for like 80% of it , which is

25:26

also a nice perk from the job . So

25:29

I did that and got that in 2011

25:31

. But at

25:33

the same time , still , you know , working as a leader , working

25:35

as a shift lead and then eventually getting

25:38

into a full-time supervisor job .

25:41

And how difficult was it to balance working full-time and

25:43

going back to get your master's ?

25:45

Yeah , it was difficult because you know . But then again I think about

25:47

, like , what my mom did , what my dad did , right

25:50

, like so for me it's

25:52

like peanuts compared to what they had to do to struggle right

25:54

. But my bosses were super

25:56

flexible , right , so they understood

25:58

. So some days I would have to leave early . And then I had to

26:00

come in like on a different day to make up the hours . But

26:02

that's , you know . That's one thing that I credit Biogen that they

26:05

really focus not only on you

26:07

know patience , but also like their employees , right

26:09

. So it really comes to that

26:11

whole thing about like , hey , happy employees are the best employees

26:13

, because I'm like , hey , they're willing to

26:15

be flexible with me , then

26:18

I'm able to go above and

26:20

beyond to help them out . So there was challenges

26:22

, right , because some days you're working , you're tired . Then

26:25

you got to go sit in two classes for four hours at night , you

26:28

know you get out like a 1030 , then you have

26:30

to wake up the next day for work at 7am and I'm like , ah

26:33

, and then you got to your papers and your homework and

26:35

your work and all that stuff .

26:36

And so one of the big things I think for

26:38

you know , especially for me , that

26:43

kind of prevented me from jumping

26:45

into grad school was always my GPA . I

26:49

was really afraid my GPA was going to hinder me and I had no chance

26:52

, no hope in

26:54

getting anywhere . Did

26:56

you find that the issues you had in

26:59

undergrad kind of

27:01

gave you an obstacle when

27:03

getting into grad school ? No , no , no , because they were pretty flexible

27:06

.

27:06

honestly , I gave them my

27:08

transcripts and stuff . But I guess by the time I was done , when

27:10

I graduated senior year , super

27:12

senior year my GPA was above

27:15

. I think I got back to like a 3.0 . But

27:19

again , these executive MBA programs , executive master's

27:21

programs , executive master's programs really

27:23

don't not that GPA doesn't matter , it's like

27:25

it's like not the traditional masters

27:27

that you go Like when you're in undergrad and like again , you

27:29

need to high GPA . They really look for

27:31

people that are like it's a choice , right

27:33

, you choose to do a master's , right you choose

27:35

, you don't have to do it right . So I think they

27:38

see that and they understand that the majority of the people

27:40

in this program are full-time working professionals

27:42

.

27:44

Yeah , and that's you know . You see that a

27:46

lot more now .

27:47

I mean , mbas have become huge

27:49

money makers , as we talked about earlier

27:51

, for colleges .

27:52

You know I have people that go get

27:54

their masters , and when I was looking at masters

27:56

, you know there was programs that were like 40,000

27:58

for the two year programs and then

28:01

, like 10 years later , they're almost 200,000

28:03

for that same program . It's just gotten ridiculous

28:06

now . So , but so

28:08

you're starting to work . You got your master's . How did that ? How

28:10

did your master's help you

28:13

out in your career ?

28:14

Yeah , I think it really was like studying the operations of business

28:16

, right , how businesses work right , thinking

28:18

about like cost savings , change of improvement

28:20

. You know handling

28:22

people , difficult conversations , so

28:27

I think those learning , you know . So

28:29

some of the electors I took were like in the hospitality management , which

28:32

is kind of cool , something different , right . But

28:34

also then I did like a sports management class

28:36

, which is also neat . So it's really

28:39

just like taking the little things of each different

28:41

class and like applying them to my day to day , right . I

28:44

don't think that I don't . I'm

28:46

not saying that I needed the master's to

28:48

. You know , accelerate in my career by gen right . I

28:50

think I was already , you know , proven leader . You

28:52

know , people saw , you know that

28:55

I was dedicated to the job , that I had a good understanding

28:57

of how to do the operations . So

29:00

, but I figured out like , hey , it wouldn't hurt , right , a

29:03

master's never a bad thing to have , and if I can

29:05

have the opportunity to get it and if

29:07

my company's going to pay for it , then

29:09

, why not ?

29:10

So . So here

29:12

you are at Biogen , moving up within the company

29:14

, and then , obviously

29:17

, you get to Switzerland at some point . What

29:22

was that process ? What made

29:24

you decide to take an opportunity to go to Switzerland

29:26

?

29:26

Yeah , so

29:29

, yeah . So back in 2014

29:32

or 15 , right . So we

29:34

were making you know our manufacturing our drugs

29:36

in Cambridge , in Boston , right , and

29:38

the forties drug had a not so

29:40

good launch , so our production plan

29:42

forecast really shifted right . So we went

29:45

from like running a high throughput facility

29:47

to all of a sudden like probably

29:49

25% capacity . So obviously

29:51

for a big company in the city of Boston , cambridge area

29:53

, where real estate is expensive

29:55

, the company saw that they weren't going

29:57

to have any profit . Knowing that we also had

30:00

a similar site in North

30:02

Carolina in our RTP research triangle

30:04

part . So back

30:06

in , so they did a big ways of layoffs and

30:09

then , you know , they announced that they were going

30:11

to shut down the manufacturing site

30:14

in Cambridge but at the same time

30:16

, by Jen also announced that they were going to

30:18

invest on this 2.1 billion

30:20

dollar project , so

30:23

to help build this facility for Alzheimer's

30:25

, because we had a drug at the time that you know

30:27

the phase two data has shown really well . Everyone

30:29

was really optimistic about it . So

30:32

I remember , you know , the layoffs happened . It was tough , right

30:34

, you know , seeing some colleagues that I had been working there

30:36

for like seven or eight years . Some other guys are

30:38

15 , 25 years being let go . So

30:41

I went to my manager because

30:43

he was impacted , but

30:45

they made him like the director of the manufacturing

30:47

site in Switzerland because

30:49

he had already done something similar in

30:52

our Denmark site . And I

30:54

came to him and I'm like , hey , john , listen , how do I get

30:56

involved with this ? Right , like by Jen , right , I think

30:58

it's something about my family that we're very loyal

31:00

to companies . Right , like my , my mom

31:03

was a city of Boston employee for

31:05

25 years . My dad worked for Beth Israel

31:07

hospital for 30 something years . My

31:10

uncle works for stopping shop for almost

31:12

30 years , right . My cousin , he works

31:14

for children's hospital for like 17 years . I

31:17

have a two non-profits like 15 and 10 years

31:19

respectively , my aunt with Hilton . So

31:22

yeah , I think it's something that runs in the family

31:24

. Even a Panama same

31:26

thing , right . So you know

31:28

I like the job . You know I was like Okay , how

31:31

can I ? So going back to him I said hey , how

31:33

do I get involved ? So he gave me some tips . He said okay , because

31:35

our site was like a smaller scale manufacturing site

31:37

and the one they were going to build in Switzerland

31:39

was a large scale but , like you know , six like

31:41

18,500 liter vessels and

31:45

I think you guys don't know that's like 4000 gallons .

31:49

What's the conversion rate on that one ?

31:54

So um so then , he said okay . So at the time by Jen was

31:56

also struggling at the other site

31:58

so I had the opportunity to do to like

32:00

short term assignments , the

32:02

one in our Hillarod site in Denmark and

32:05

another one in our North Carolina

32:08

site . So for about seven months I was

32:10

still working for by Jen while the transition

32:12

of the , the shutting down of the site

32:14

, was happening . But I was able to get

32:16

that experience that I needed to get on to this project

32:19

. And then I think also , maybe , you know , the

32:21

manager at the time saw something in me , you

32:24

know , that that I could deliver

32:26

and I could be a big benefit

32:28

to this company in Switzerland , to

32:30

the , to the company with by Jen , but to the

32:32

facility in Switzerland . So

32:34

after seven months , like learning the large

32:37

scale stuff , the you know , I remember

32:39

he called me one day . He's like hey , jose , I posted

32:41

the job , you know , so go apply

32:43

for it . So

32:45

I applied for the job . You know we

32:47

had the interview and the interview was really like okay , before you leave that

32:49

place , go find this and this and this . I

32:53

kind of had a good feeling that I'm like Okay , I think this job

32:56

is going to be mine , right . Yeah sure enough

32:58

. You know , I was offered the job to work

33:00

on this and I was able to

33:02

get into this Jen manufacturing facility because it was going

33:04

to be one of the first fully automated

33:06

sites like in the world , not just for by

33:08

Jen . So

33:10

that was that was . That was exciting . So

33:13

, basically , because we closed our Cambridge

33:16

site , I had to move to North

33:18

Carolina research triangle

33:20

park . That was part of the gig , because I still although

33:22

I was working on the project . And Switzerland . I

33:26

would go to Switzerland , right , because you

33:28

know this is how it is right . There's no guarantees

33:30

in life , right . But you know , speaking

33:33

to him and seeing other people who

33:35

had gone through this process for , like the Denmark site , normally

33:38

the people who are involved in the beginning

33:40

, usually if they

33:42

want they can kind of get their way over there because

33:46

they have the knowledge , they had the experience right . So

33:49

it makes sense for someone like me to go over

33:51

there in the future . So going

33:53

back , so I'm in North Carolina for like seven or eight months I

33:56

think I moved right to Thanksgiving and

33:58

literally I think I spent like 35

34:00

days there in the seven months because part of the

34:03

project was to fly and check

34:05

out all the equipment that was being

34:07

built around the world , right , so we had like three

34:09

locations in the US . They were manufacturing stuff . So

34:11

even in Massachusetts I was able to do

34:13

a home trip there , like in

34:15

like Allentown

34:17

, pennsylvania , springfield , missouri

34:20

, you know , western mass

34:22

. Then we had a

34:24

company in Ireland building equipment

34:26

. So I got to go to Ireland , I got to go

34:29

to Germany , so it was pretty cool a lot of

34:31

traveling , but

34:33

it was just good to you know . But I had the

34:35

whole vision right . I'd seen like , okay , I know where this is and this

34:37

is and this is , and when it gets to site

34:39

, we got to put it together and operate

34:41

it . So after

34:44

I don't forget , the first time I went to Switzerland it

34:46

was after the Super Bowl the

34:48

pages come back against the Falcons . Right , I was in Florida

34:50

and my boss a week before is like

34:52

what are ? you doing next week ? I'm like , oh , I was going to Florida watching

34:54

football with friends . Hey , can you go to Switzerland ? I

34:57

was like , sure

34:59

, right , I jump on the plane and get

35:01

to Switzerland and then there I do the interviews

35:03

. And again the interviews are more like people

35:05

getting to know me , understand me who I am

35:07

, and then

35:10

so then they offered me the job . But

35:12

because you know we're talking earlier about you know , I

35:14

feel like I have reverse immigration here . Trying

35:16

to move to Switzerland , it took almost

35:19

like six months to get my

35:21

visa approved , because

35:23

Switzerland is one of those places where they have a lot of smart

35:25

people , right . So they're like why do we need someone

35:27

from the outside to come here when we have you

35:29

know , they're a hub of pharma

35:31

by the companies , right , and sure enough

35:33

, they have the people that can do the job . But

35:36

you know . so I had to go back and forth between the local

35:38

authorities , my job letters going

35:40

back and forth , to find , you know like , allow me to go there

35:42

. So yeah , in 2017

35:45

, I packed up my stuff from

35:47

North Carolina and I found

35:50

myself here in good old Switzerland

35:52

middle Europe , nice , and

35:54

it's funny you mentioned

35:56

it's .

35:57

It's kind of like a reverse

35:59

immigration story . You

36:02

know your parents coming into this country , trying

36:04

to come to America

36:06

, and then how you're going not necessarily

36:09

that you're giving up living in America

36:11

, but you know you're going for work in Switzerland

36:13

. You have to do all that stuff , but you deal with some of the same

36:15

issue you know , it's a culture

36:17

shock . It's a culture difference . There's

36:19

a language barrier , you know what were

36:21

some of those difficulties that you had going in there .

36:24

Yeah , I think , like you said , I think the biggest one was like the

36:26

language barrier , right . So work wise was fine

36:28

because the site was all English , so

36:30

we required everybody to speak English , right

36:32

. So we , so everybody who came , had to have a minimal proficient

36:35

English , so work was fine . That was not

36:37

the issue .

36:38

Classic American issue .

36:42

The issue was like , okay , trying to get around town

36:44

to make appointments to

36:46

you know , go to offices , or like every year I have to renew

36:48

my permit . Then you get the

36:50

letters in German and you're like I

36:52

don't know what this is . Google translate asking my friends

36:54

to spoke German . My Swiss friends , Nice

36:57

, right , so anytime , I had a good question . Some of the local

36:59

Swiss people was all you got to go do this , you got to go

37:01

do that , you got to go here , and

37:04

in the bigger cities people

37:06

speak English right . So like Burns

37:08

or those types of places , but like in the smaller

37:10

towns , like the smaller villages , you

37:13

know you ask someone like is that I can see English ? And

37:15

they're like no English . It's

37:17

like , okay , here we go . And then you kind of , you know , you

37:20

use hand gestures and you try to figure

37:22

out the common thing . And it's

37:24

worked so far . I've

37:26

been able to achieve a lot here on my own

37:28

At the same time , I'm also taking some German

37:30

classes too because , I appreciate the

37:33

country , giving me the opportunity to stay here , to work

37:35

here , so

37:37

I always find it that I don't

37:39

want to be one of those people that go like

37:41

you know , you hear the thing in the US

37:43

is like you go to America , the live American dream

37:45

, but then you don't want any . English . It's like what

37:48

you know , it's like at least the basic stuff

37:50

because , it might save your life one day , right , yeah ? So

37:53

I took some German classes , so I'm A1 certified

37:55

officially right . So I have two of those certificate

37:57

.

37:58

So you're a good steak sauce , though you're good

38:00

yeah exactly .

38:03

I didn't know what these levels were before , bro . Yeah , I

38:05

was like the US , like English is English . Yeah , and

38:07

here's A1 , a2 , b1 , a2 , b2 , a2

38:10

, and my quiet , now I understand

38:12

it's at different levels .

38:13

Nice , nice , and so it's

38:16

interesting . You're dealing with a language barrier

38:19

and I can imagine stuff like going to the doctors

38:21

, you feel so , you know

38:23

, like trying to deal with explaining things and hoping

38:25

that you're a doctor . And so another

38:28

, probably big thing is travel

38:31

. You know , your family is now

38:33

not even driving distance

38:35

, it's all oh

38:37

good , yeah , yeah .

38:38

So it's funny you mentioned that , because actually that's one of the reasons why

38:40

I came out here , because so my

38:42

parents , you know they so they

38:45

retired and moved back to Panama

38:47

10 years ago . So they left out

38:49

, they abandoned us that's

38:52

how I look at it , right , so

38:54

I always had to fly to go see them anyway

38:56

right . The boss and I would go

38:58

in the wintertime to Panama see some sons , see

39:00

my family . So that made it a little

39:02

bit easier , right , okay , I left my brother out , but

39:05

you know we have our different lives . You know leaving

39:07

the fraternity guys back their friends from high

39:09

school , but you know , the most important

39:11

thing was like my mom and dad , right , and I was like , okay

39:13

, here's an opportunity . You know Switzerland , obviously , it's a great

39:16

country , great economy , they make some decent

39:18

amount of money . Okay

39:20

, I still have to fly to see my parents . It's just gonna be

39:22

a little bit lucky . So

39:24

I think that was also one of the reasons that

39:26

I didn't really hesitate not to come

39:28

out here . I think had they still been in Boston

39:31

, that might've changed . That

39:33

would've been a little bit , maybe a bit more reluctant

39:35

to move out here , yeah . Since they were already , they had

39:37

pieced out . I was like , all right , let's check

39:39

it out . And doing those summer

39:42

stints in Denmark that I told you about at the beginning

39:44

also exposed me to that lifestyle

39:46

, like you know . So , based in Denmark

39:48

, but I was able to go to France , go to Sweden

39:50

, go to Germany , and that was

39:52

something that I always , you know , people

39:54

had told me , like a good family friend that said , hey , if you

39:56

have the opportunity to like work abroad as an expat

39:59

, your company will send you , do it . And

40:01

I was like , okay , this is the time right . I think you

40:03

know it's like 33 , I was like , let's do

40:05

it , let's go now . And it's

40:07

been an awesome experience , honestly , it's been really cool

40:09

to you know , to get to know

40:11

the areas , and what's neat about

40:14

it is that you know I don't get

40:16

to just go to the big cities , right , because you

40:18

know when people come to Europe they cram everything

40:20

. In 10 days we're gonna do Rome

40:22

, in Paris and London and , like you're just

40:25

exhausted right , so I have the benefit to be like you

40:27

know what I think . I'm gonna go check out this town for the weekend . And

40:29

just go hang out and then come back home . It's

40:31

pretty cool . That's one of the added benefits about being out

40:33

here .

40:34

Yeah , and it's . You also put

40:36

it at a good point where you , you know , someone

40:38

gave you advice . You know , if you have an opportunity to go and

40:40

live abroad , you know , take it . I

40:42

mean , I was . I didn't go abroad , but I moved from

40:44

Rhode Island to Texas

40:47

and I lived in . Texas for 12 years , which

40:49

does feel like a different country , yeah

40:51

, yeah , yeah , Compared to the Northeast

40:53

, but you know it's the

40:55

same thing . I was married and

40:57

I'm a kid . I took an opportunity

40:59

. My dad struggled with it more than

41:02

my mom . My mom was like if you're gonna be happy , you go do it . My

41:04

dad was like , are you sure he's just nervous being

41:06

a dad ? But after a while you get used to it and

41:08

it's all for the better . But you know

41:10

, what kind of advice would you give someone who

41:13

you know this is something they're interested in ?

41:15

you know , being able to live abroad and work abroad , I

41:18

think it's a great thing to do , whether you do it in

41:20

university , where you do it in , you know for

41:22

work , right . It really changes your

41:24

aspect of life , right ? So here I am , growing

41:26

up in the US , thinking like you know , America

41:29

number one . You know , the best country

41:31

ever , right ? I was a joke around coming here . You

41:33

know , telling the people right . And then you know , now you look at the

41:36

time , you see I think the timing couldn't have been any

41:38

better . Right To leave America when I left , to be here

41:40

. But really take the risk , right , I

41:42

think one of the things that okay , one

41:45

of the things that made it easier for me was that I

41:47

had a job . I don't think I would have just grabbed

41:50

my stuff and been like all right , let me go to

41:52

I don't know Sweden

41:55

, let me look for work . No , no , I think

41:57

that for me was too risky . But there are people that do

41:59

that and I credit them a lot for

42:02

taking that risk . I think for me , like , having the job

42:04

security was okay , I'm gonna have an income

42:06

, I'll figure out the rest . And

42:08

at the end of the day , if it doesn't work out , I always

42:10

knew that I could always come back to

42:12

Boston right . And you know

42:14

cause Boston's a big biotech hub . I have a

42:16

lot of co-workers and connections still with

42:18

people so that and . I think that's also

42:20

one of the things that puts me at ease , that like if I

42:22

ever were to get laid off . You know , hopefully

42:25

not , but find a job

42:27

wouldn't be that difficult

42:29

, right . Maybe not the same job I

42:32

have now , but hey , at least I would have

42:34

a job . And I have to struggle to be like , hey , am I gonna

42:36

be unemployed for two years ? Something like that

42:38

. And I think

42:40

that mentality also comes from

42:42

, like my parents , right , the jobs they did when

42:44

they first came to the US typical , like you know , cleaning

42:46

toilets , cleaning floors , you

42:48

know that type of stuff . So you

42:51

know those are tough jobs , right

42:53

, tough jobs that don't pay anything . Right , use

42:55

blood , sweat and tears . And when I look at

42:57

the work that I do , you know I'm very fortunate that

42:59

you know there's some days that , okay , it's tough , you know you

43:02

do some hand manual labor but

43:04

in the reality it's like peanuts

43:06

compared to what , like my dad did in the morning . You

43:08

know what my dad would have to do before going to school go

43:11

out into the woods and to the fields to get

43:13

, you know , to get the crops , to bring them back to my grandmother

43:15

so that she could prepare the food and then

43:17

them hiking to . You know , walking

43:19

45 minutes in the mud , kind of like a burning

43:21

man right now , right . You see , the people on the bottom stuck something

43:24

like that , like when it rains , they had mud to

43:26

their ankles and that was like my parents

43:28

, you know , no shoes , right , have to keep their shoes clean

43:31

, get to the school , wipe them off , put them on . So

43:33

those things keep me grounded and

43:36

really , you know , I'm just , I'm super

43:38

, super , wasn't

43:41

gonna say blessed to just be in this position that I am right

43:43

now . You know , I don't have and I

43:45

wouldn't change anything that

43:47

in my life . Maybe I give myself

43:49

some different advice growing up but

43:51

honestly , you make

43:53

mistakes . You learn from them . But

43:55

I am

43:57

where I am because of my parents . You

44:00

know the discipline and the behaviors

44:03

they taught me and my brother growing up . And

44:05

. I'm just like super fortunate to be here

44:07

, right . I really don't have much to complain about in this world , right

44:09

? Even when the things seem so low . You know

44:11

, I wake up every day with a smile , you know happy to

44:13

see what the day has remains a challenge .

44:16

Yeah , and I've always felt that

44:18

with like my parents . You

44:21

know , if you were to pay people based on how callous

44:24

they are and hard their hands on , our parents will be millionaires

44:26

, you know what I mean the amount of blood , sweat and

44:28

tears for the work

44:30

they did compared to , like you know , my

44:32

ass sitting in a air conditioned room

44:34

listening to YouTube while I work . You

44:36

know it's like it's a completely different

44:39

lifestyle . But

44:41

, you know , I really appreciate you taking the time to

44:43

talk to us . You know , I think it's

44:45

definitely gonna probably bring you back in some more

44:48

. I have some more of these little topical discussions

44:50

that we talked about earlier , but

44:52

thank you so much for being here , man .

44:55

I appreciate it , man , Anytime bro .

44:57

Yeah , and to everyone else listening

44:59

. Once again , thank you all for tuning

45:01

in . I do appreciate all the support

45:04

and hope you'll join me again next time as

45:06

we continue to learn how to say success in Spanish

45:08

.