Speaker 1: 0:01

The Journey Talks podcast, your favorite podcast to reconnect with gratitude and inspiration, hosted by Jorge Gonzales. Welcome to Journey Talks podcast, your favorite podcast to reconnect with gratitude and inspiration. My name is Jorge Sallago Gonzales and I am your host. I am convinced that behind every gratitude story, there's an actual story waiting to be told. We are as humans. We share one thing in common, and that is the experience of being alive, and I'm convinced that when we create a space to share these stories, we actually remember the beauty that we share, and that is the gift of being alive, the experiences that we learn along the way, and the discovery of who we are. So I hope that this conversation gives you an opportunity to be reminded of the beautiful gift that you have and the opportunity to be true to yourself and, more importantly, that we share this experience together.

Speaker 1: 1:06

Like I said, some people in your life come here for a short period of time and others linger for a little longer. Who are the situations? What are the people? What are the stories that transformed our lives in such a way that allows for ourselves to discover who we are and be the best versions of ourselves? His guest is someone that I feel so fortunate and proud to call a friend and a brother. He is one of those people that truly embodies the definition of commitment, discipline, hard work and creativity. We've known each other since sixth grade, when we were in elementary school, and we've had been very fortunate. I've been very fortunate to call him a friend for gosh, I want to say probably over 30 years, and that is incredible.

Speaker 1: 1:59

He's kind, he's funny, he has a beautiful heart, he's an actor, he's a musician, he is a super down to earth kind of guy. He has had a long standing career in the industry and most of you know him as Chris Morales from the Netflix series Gentified, hentify, gentify and I am talking about no other than Carlos Santos. Carlos, welcome to Journey Talks podcast. How are you been?

Speaker 2: 2:33

Dude, great, we're having a great time starting off the year really well. Wow, 30 years. That's crazy. I know right, you're saying that it's wild, it's alive.

Speaker 1: 2:44

It's a lifetime. So what's going on with you lately, Carlos?

Speaker 2: 2:49

So I just got back from holiday break a little bit ago and, before the craziness ensues, I've just been, you know, to get taken care of a few things. I mean, it's never. I never have a specific schedule. As you know, as an actor you never really know what your year's going to be, or at least I've been doing it long enough not to plan. It's very impossible, it's nearly impossible to plan ahead, and every time somebody wants to come visit or future plans that are more than a month away, I'm like good luck, we'll see, because 99% of the time something's going to happen.

Speaker 2: 3:22

So I've kind of accepted that as my destiny, although the more I work now, the easier it is for me to kind of say no to things or, you know, have the opportunity to do things that are more personal or family oriented. That maybe in the past, when I was like, oh, I can't leave because otherwise, if I don't work, I don't eat, I feel like I'm starting to see that more as a priority. So that's fun, but still, you know, you can't like. You know, in the summer I could, you know, like, yeah, let's do something in the summer, like great, but there's a good chance I'm, you know, if I book something, then I'm going to be out for three months. And yeah, and that's always the best case scenario I feel like it's a running joke with my family. My family is always like, oh, I'm going to go visit, so you're probably going to book something. I'm like, yeah, please come and make plans, so that's exactly what it is.

Speaker 1: 4:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 4:13

So that I can book a show or a movie or something.

Speaker 1: 4:16

Yeah, but so you've done a couple of things and you know I'm so excited to have you in this podcast just because of the things that we can share together. Right, I have so many great memories of us when we were in middle school and in high school which I think we should name a few. Right, gosh, we went through middle school, those wonderful years of middle school together, and then in high school, I think we were able to connect not only through the friendship, but I think creativity and the arts brought us together. You know, I have vivid memories of you always having this inclination towards acting Comedy.

Speaker 2: 4:56

Yeah, comedy.

Speaker 1: 4:58

Yeah, you always had this element right. I have this vivid memory and I'm sure there's got to be a picture of that somewhere of you. You were like an elf or something.

Speaker 2: 5:10

I was an elf. I was a Christmas play for senior year, but I don't know if you remember this, okay, but I think the first time that I ever did actually did something where people were like, hey, because you know, I was let's, let's call it what it is I was, I was a geek, I was a nerd, I was not really very popular. I still was very much like focused on comedy. But you know, I don't know if that's changed with the culture, but when you're not the cool, you know, like I don't think I, I don't think I wouldn't say I had a bad time in school. I just know that when you're younger, when you were like in seventh, like seventh through probably ninth grade, people are trying to be so cool that they're afraid to be funny or they're afraid to show vulnerability. You know, that's part of like when you're growing up and I feel like in 10th grade I don't know if you remember, we did a play where I played the devil. Do you remember that? And I painted my face red and all that.

Speaker 2: 5:59

Yes, that's one of the first times where people are like, hey, wait a minute, this guy we formerly made fun of, thinking you know whatever, or he's not cool Cause I never really. That's the other thing, like I never really cared about being cool, I never really put a lot of stock into it. So I personally can take away that I never changed. But then in like around 10th grade people were like, oh, this guy's not so bad, and I think that kind of was a turning point for me in my in my high school years. But I feel like I was very single-mindedly focused on something happened around 13 or 14 or was like oh, comedy is definitely an opportunity as a, as a, as a means to like, as a, as a vocation. You know before that I was just doing things and trying to be funny but I didn't know what it was. And then Jim Carrey came along and I was like, oh my God, that's.

Speaker 1: 6:50

Yeah, it was Jim Carrey, right, right, but how interesting, carlos, that that you were able to sense that at such an early age, right, and I think I'm sure that a lot of people resonate with that. Like there's, there's some time and around the, the um t, those teenage years that you sort of like tap into a deeper self, sense of self-awareness or things that really resonate with you and things that you vibe with. You know, for me it was songwriting and and playing the guitar and learning how to, how to play the guitar and whatnot. And for you, you, all of a sudden, you saw Jim Carrey and I was like, way, I'm vibing with this. You know, um, do you remember, guys? There's so many memories, man, so I think we should, um, I want to, I want to mention this.

Speaker 1: 7:38

So when we were in high school, we sort of had like a bit of a I don't want to call a band, I mean, we had opportunities to play for the school and so we always put a like like I went to do, like we say, in Puerto Rico, right, and so you happen to be, uh, to play the drums. I remember, uh, you were taking lessons with Mr Lorette Daniel, is that right? And Miguel would play the guitar. He was way much of a guitar player than I am, because I think he still is a great guitar player and we will do stuff and and and. Then you have Hector in the back and other folks.

Speaker 2: 8:14

You were always looking for a reason to perform. That's the thing that our class right in the our school was not a an arts based school, but we definitely we grew a very, a very big group of us decided to make it into a performance thing. Any any reason to put a play on to do me would do anything. We would just jump at the chance.

Speaker 1: 8:35

That was like our remember the auditorium and we would. That was like our, our base ground. Man, you know it was awesome and so I have vivid memories of us going to rehearse with you, um, and Dorado, and you had at your dad's church, right and um, you had a stick shift car and, and I think I learned how to drive a stick shift with your car Wow, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 9:04

Because yeah, yeah, yeah, we. There's this, this long strip, this straight strip from Levy down to, like, the, like, um, the, the entrance of the of, of of Dorado town, and that was perfect for me to like learn how to shift gears and whatnot, and that was epic.

Speaker 2: 9:22

So you officially learned in my, in your car, like that was too afraid to let me let me use his car.

Speaker 1: 9:29

So I was like, screw it, I'm not, I want to learn, you know, and so correct me if I'm wrong. Was it your car or was it Roberto's car? When we were seniors in high school that we went to Culebra and we use I think it was Roberto's car, but it was so packed that when we his car was also a shifting, a shift stick gear car, and so when we were trying to to shift gears, it was so hard because actually someone we were so full and so packing the car that Roberto will put the clutch in, but somebody next to him was the one changing gears. That's how packed the car was. You know it was. It was crazy, and I have this crazy memory of a moment where I completely lost my composure with you when we were performing in front of our whole class, right.

Speaker 2: 10:20

Being a rendition of that thing you do.

Speaker 1: 10:24

Yes, what a great movie, right, we were so hyped about that movie.

Speaker 2: 10:28

We were so hyped about that movie, we wanted to perform the song, that thing you do. For all of you who don't know, it's a movie Tom Hanks played, I think one of the first movies that he directed, that he did under his production company. That thing you do came out in the mid-nineties but like it's like a Beatlesque band Rise to Fame and Rise and Fall to Fame, but anyway, that song that actually became a bop. It actually like charted that thing you do, the song. So we were all about it and we wanted to perform. So we ended up doing it for a talent show or what I don't even remember.

Speaker 2: 11:00

Something like that it was an English week, or it was. You know how they had.

Speaker 1: 11:05

And I completely ruined it.

Speaker 2: 11:07

And I think I was just not saying, I was just not. I guess I wasn't keeping beat and you just turned around and yelled at me Faster.

Speaker 1: 11:17

I was right in front of the whole crowd talking about being embarrassed and I feel so bad because I completely ruined it for you guys. My goodness, coming of age experiences man.

Speaker 2: 11:28

I guess we didn't rehearse enough to lock down what the tempo was going to be. I don't think it was supposed to be a fast.

Speaker 1: 11:37

No, but they were good times, man. It was so fun just to leave school or leave early and you know, do all the drive, which was I want to say maybe 30, 45 minutes to get to the spot, to the church and practice there, and it was just fun.

Speaker 1: 11:52

I think I have vivid memories of again getting to that stage of like independence. When you become like a teenager and you started, at least for me and my upbringing you know when your parents start to like letting go a little bit and you're on your own and whatnot. It was so good and it was so fun just to hang out. Those were good times.

Speaker 2: 12:12

Yeah, you know, it's always good when you can inherit a car because it's less. I think it's less stressful, or less what's not stressful, but there's just less responsibility because it's not like a brand new car or you're not like if I just it was easier for me to get a vehicle because my dad had upgraded and so I just got his old like stick shift Mazda 323, 86, mazda Great, I loved it. I loved it because I was able to go and do anything. I know what he. You know my parents weren't like concerned or worried about the car.

Speaker 1: 12:46

So do you remember? I also have memories when you started, when you were in New York and you were a VJ, that's right, you were working at me, trl. That was such a fun moment. I remember we were visiting New York and we were able to see you and you took us to the studio. That's when my brother-in-law met you and he was like this is the coolest guy ever. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 13:11

I remember that we have a picture of us in the office we do.

Speaker 1: 13:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you were at my wedding and we just have so many great memories. That was 15 years ago. Yeah, time does fly. Well, I know people are here just to listen to other things, not just you and I reminiscing our, our young years.

Speaker 2: 13:34

And you remember 2007? Oh my God, did you remember?

Speaker 1: 13:39

Well, so, carlos, this podcast is all about sharing stories of gratitude, and it's the gratitude that comes as a result of those moments that really transforms us right. Sometimes we meet people in our lives and we go through situations that they just become this, this crossroad in which we discover new aspects of ourselves, we discover that we do have strength that we never thought we could, or sometimes we go through really challenging things in which we have to make some space in order for things to settle in and to move forward. So I want to ask you what is gratitude for you and what is your relationship with it?

Speaker 2: 14:19

I think that I've I'm going to be very honest. I feel like again going back to To being younger and realizing that being popular was not it. I think I'm very blessed in that I've been able to kind of see things for what they are for the most part, I mean, I'm not I. I mean we all go through Things and we've all gone through a journey. I'm not the same person. I was 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago but I think it was very crucial for me growing up to to see what what things were as they were and to appreciate them. And that's definitely have to do with the upbringing aspect of it, and my parents were, I Think, were great in instilling that in me from the beginning. So I feel like that gave me the opportunity to dream, to, to be appreciative of what I did have.

Speaker 2: 15:10

I don't think I've ever really taken anything for granted my entire life and that's good. And I think that what that's done is a creative space for me not looking back right, because when you're young and you're starting out like the best thing you have, the best asset, is your ignorance to the world thing. You, if you want to do something, you just do it and you look back, you're like, like with the knowledge of an adult, like when you grow older, like, yeah, I would have never done that. That's crazy. But you know, one of the best things, I think the combination of ignorance and a sense of like, adventure and belief, I think, and faith. Mostly, I think that was a good combination and I honestly, like I've gone through some really bad times. I mean, it's been quite the journey personally, spiritually and in career-wise. But I feel like every time that I think, at the end of the day, I have taken the lessons I've. Every time something happens, whether it's good or bad, I I try to glean what the what the lesson is from that and I continue to apply and moving forward. So like, for example we were just talking about this a second I go like 2012 was one of the toughest years of my life.

Speaker 2: 16:22

A lot of bad things happened to me and Even when I was going through that, I knew I just had to survive the year. For you know, in my sense, like I really just needed to get through the year. But after 2012, what that, what that did? A lot of people call that dark night of the soul. I'm sure you've heard of that that was a dark night of the soul, like period of time for me, but what that ended up doing for me is giving me such a Release from From stress and anxiety that's unnecessary in my life.

Speaker 2: 16:54

So now when I look at things that are happening in my life, I go is it 2012? No, that we good, and a lot of people sometimes are like how are you so calm in the situation? I'm like, if you only understood, like what I went through, the amount of stress and anxiety and like Trauma, ish, things that happen to me and to come out on the other side in one piece, I think was such a powerful thing and I feel like that. In itself, I think the root of that is definitely Gratitude and I think it's a, it's a powerful combination of gratitude and faith that has Allow me to enjoy life and still feel like, even at my age, feel like anything is possible.

Speaker 2: 17:32

I feel like a lot of times when you're young and you get older, you get jaded, you go through a lot of bad things and then you kind of lose a spark. I'm not saying that I didn't. There were moments where you obviously you know that faith is tested and you do. You don't feel like you know that you are gonna do the things that you wanted to do, but, um, but I do feel like that's allowed me to have a child, like continue to have a child, like ah, and Wonder of the world and the things that are happening around me, and it's great because I feel like again, I don't think I don't know a lot of people that have this, and this year everybody should have this, as you shouldn't lose this kind of wonder and Outlook into the world, and so I'm just very lucky and blessed and and and just happy to be doing it.

Speaker 1: 18:21

Yeah, carlos, you said so much and you talked about the dark night of the soul. You talked about difficult years and you talked about faith and you talk about support and it's interesting, if you don't mind us, you know, spending a little bit more time there on packing this a little bit. Yeah, this, this whole concept of the dark night of the soul, I think it's interesting that you feel like you experience it at such an early age. You know 2012 for us was, you know, we were in our early 20s and that was early 30s, early 30s, me mad it.

Speaker 1: 18:54

Okay, so, even more. Okay, so that that makes more sense. Yeah, yeah, that makes more sense. You're absolutely right. And and so you know, as long as you I mean as long as you're comfortable, can you name perhaps an example? Or or expand a little bit about what was, what was the finding, what was the the lesson learn from that year, and and what things that you learn about yourself? What were the who were the angels were, what were the situations that now you feel like you're a better person, you know yourself better because of it?

Speaker 2: 19:31

I think I, I and I'm gonna tie this back to your question, but I'm gonna start by saying that when the pandemic started I Jokingly say, but it's kind of true when I, when I, when the pandemic started and we were doing, and during the lockdown, not very much had like shifted for me and it's because, again, like I Realize that in the past I had been in an emotional pandemic and I forgot, gone through the process of being isolated or locked down for whatever reason, so it was not new territory for me, which I think in a way helped me kind of process it 2020, I think, better, because I was like, hey, I remember you, I know is I know what this feels like. Again, 2012, because of 2012 I was able to have probably, you know, the most productive, emotional, you know emotionally productive years. 2020, I feel like that definitely tied to that. But I feel like I Think 2012 just kind of came due ahead because a lot of things over building up to me to up to that point, I was yes, I did have a mean career-wise, I was kind of hitting a block because I Realized that I wanted to focus on something else. I I ended up being a host, I did VJ, work for MTV, but I was a host for almost seven years. But that's not necessarily what I set out to do, and I'm only saying this because I found myself in a place where I was Allowing things in my life that were only good on paper.

Speaker 2: 21:07

A Lot of us go through these experiences where we're like we're at jobs that we hate, but because they're give you money or they give you status, you stay and I feel like I my story it's kind of a TED talk because, leading up to 2012, I was went towards the end of 20, 2009, 2010 I was still at MTV. I realized that I needed to leave, I needed to Be done, because I felt like I was stuck. And again I want to say this I know that this is. It was a. It was a great experience working for MTV 3 and it was a. You know, it definitely set me into a path, but I realized at a certain point I wasn't moving towards my goal. I was kind of like Going away from it and people were excited for me to continue on this other path. So I really what it was is I had to make a choice. I had to gamble on myself. I'm just giving you what led up to 2012, and so I basically quit Hosting. I quit. It called turkey.

Speaker 2: 22:14

What that man is that my representation wasn't really taking care of me. The that man is that I wasn't being sent out for anything, that wasn't hosting. So I was saying no to it was kind of a, you know, it was definitely Messing with my head, because this is where you, you know, you put your mouth where your mouth is for your money I don't know what the phrase is, but you get it for your money with your mouth is. I was willing to sacrifice my well-being for what I wanted to do, and so I was dating somebody that also, you know, I was in a relationship that necessarily wasn't as good as it seemed. It seemed like it was awesome, but it wasn't great. I was in a relationship with my agents, though, with an agency that was a top agency, but they necessarily weren't taking care of me. So what I realized is I've surrounded myself with things that that weren't as good as it seemed, and I think we all go through these moments.

Speaker 2: 23:03

Right prior to leaving, to coming back to LA, when I was in New York, I I think what happened is, when there was a recession, they stopped working on a lot of the shows that I was doing and for a hot second I was doing a comedy variety show. So I started with Meteorol and I ended up with I don't know if you remember it was Entertainment as a Second Language with Carlos Hentos. It was the first time where I was actually doing way more comedy than music. So it was basically like my SNL or my Chappelle show or my whatever. That only lasted for three months because the recession kind of hit pretty hard and so Biacom at that point started slashing budgets on everything. So it was the first time since I had started hosting where I was like oh, this is not what I want to do. I had a taste of the comedy aspect of it all and I was like, and when it was taken away I realized I couldn't just go back to tossing to a daddy Yankee music video which just wasn't as fulfilling because I touched it, I felt what that was.

Speaker 2: 24:06

So that began the process of me kind of transitioning away from that and like I remember telling myself or saying or praying or saying out loud like I would rather be broke because I was also under contract. So I was like I was stuck. So there was a good chunk of time where I wasn't doing anything and I couldn't because I was under contract. So I said I'd rather be broke than have the opportunity to do things than to be stuck in this contract where I was getting paid every week and that's also very hard for a lot of people to understand because I was getting a check every week for four years and people are like, well, that's the dream. And for me I realized that that was not the dream. So the opportunity presented itself, I left and I was literally. You know. The universe was like all right, there you go, you're gonna be broke.

Speaker 2: 24:45

So, leading up to 2012, when I moved, I moved back to LA in 2011, I still was with you know, it was still going through all these things and I feel like 2012 was a year where everything kind of just like broke, but it also broken a good way in terms of like I started off the year breaking up. I broke up with I was in a relationship and we ended the relationship. It was a long, you know. It was probably the closest thing I ever would have been to getting married to somebody. It ended badly, but in the opposite direction. I feel like I finally was able to like see things from what they were, and within a week, I was like, oh, this is, this is a good thing. In a week, I was like, oh, this is what's happening, I got a clean house. So I got rid of everybody, and so that was basically maybe February of 2012. I clean, I basically started from scratch and I just let go of my expectations, what I felt entitled to for working at MTV, or I basically just started from scratch, and so that was basically a 10 year journey for me, but it started that year. My dad passed away.

Speaker 2: 25:55

I was so broke I mean a lot of things that what I'm trying to say is like I was able to really focus on the faith and take everything one day at a time. I think that was one of the biggest lessons. It was I could only worry about things that were within my 24 hour period, and then, if I could survive that 24 hour period, then we would start over and over again, and so I think, along those lines, that was one of the biggest lessons that I learned was patience. I mean, it was an even bigger shift in terms of like really having faith, cause everybody says, oh, I got faith. Oh, we all got faith. But when it's really like right there in front of you, that's when you really put that to the test and I survived.

Speaker 2: 26:40

I mean, I'd go back to that year. It was just insane, but somehow I managed to make enough money to not be out in the streets and by the beginning of 2013, I have booked. You know, I feel like seven years. That was seven years. Seven days into the new year, I booked this commercial that basically ended up saving my life. I did a thing for Metro PCS, but going back to that, I felt like those were one of the biggest lessons for me. It was not even like a lesson, it was literally just having the experience and just being in those trenches that I was able to really take that with me, and these are things that now I always look back to whenever I'm in any situation that's not in a positive moment in my life. Right, right.

Speaker 1: 27:34

Thank you so much, carlos. You've been so vulnerable and honest. You know, I do have memories of us connecting every now and then over the years, and I do. I remember, I remember you, but that's why I mentioned your discipline and your commitment, right? I love the fact that you were so open to share that, to share the fact that you and let's be honest, right, things in paper sometimes look very nice, but when the soul, when the heart speaks louder and reminds you that sometimes those things that shine, at the end of the day, they're very shallow and they're empty, and sometimes we have to have the courage to say no, you know what, let me, it's hard.

Speaker 1: 28:18

I have to say goodbye to things that look very, they look very promising, but I have to be true to myself. Or, you know, I call that now self-love, you know, and I call that loud, I recognize that that's the language that I use now. Right, that self-love is to understand that when that, at the end of the day, honoring your truth and honoring what's really close to your soul or the true essence of who you are, Also it's scary.

Speaker 2: 28:48

It's scary because a lot of you know, because a lot of times people, or generally humans, tie their personalities to their things or tie their sense of self-worth into their jobs or into their relationships, into all these things. So like getting rid of those things is almost like getting rid of themselves. So I feel like I know it's not easy. So that's what I mean. That's why I think it's a turning point for everybody. When you get to those crossroads, I think that and I always you know what and I always, from that point on, I always find myself meeting people that are in similar situations, and then I just feel in my spirit to tell them that basically, like, if anything, so that they realize what the moment that they're in is so important.

Speaker 2: 29:33

I always say, I always feel like telling them like whatever decision you make is gonna affect the next 10 years of your life. And I feel like that is also one of the things that I took with me when I recognized that in people I wanna make sure that they know. I mean, if it works out organically, I'm not just running around telling people, yeah, but I feel it in my heart and it feels right. I definitely wanna make sure that they know, because I know what that is and I know what. And it is true, like you know, hentified. I got Hentified in 2019, and I literally in 2009, while I was still at MTV. That's when I made a decision that I needed to leave. It still took me because I was still in the contract, but I wrote down I have to be done with hosting, otherwise I'm gonna be in a prison of my own making.

Speaker 2: 30:19

And literally 10 years to the month I booked, hentified, like. These are things to me that mean a lot, because I know that nothing is wasted right, everything is gonna work how it's gonna work, and you know, it might be 10 years, it might be five years, it might be one year, but I feel like for me there are too many threads that have you know too many good things that have happened from bad things, or originally seemingly bad things, for me not to continue to have faith and to continue to believe in the great things that you know that life can have for you. That's awesome.

Speaker 1: 30:56

Can we, since you mentioned faith and I'm never shy away from saying what I study and talking about what I study you know, I did study music in the University of Puerto Rico. I have a bachelor's in humanities and music, but my master's is in theology. You know, and always, you and I were brought up at a school in an environment that was very religious right, but it's beautiful to see how all of us have had a chance to allow that to manifest in what it needs to be. You know, and I love the fact, actually I'm so grateful for my theological training because it gave me permission, it gave me the tools to really love myself enough to say well, this is what I'd learn because it's what I was exposed to, but here are other voices that also I find myself resonating with, and so it gives me new vocabulary, it allows me to access a new facet or a new aspect of myself.

Speaker 1: 31:57

What is the role of spirituality? Or how do you combine? Because I feel everything that you have shared so far? It's, in my opinion, the spiritual journey. You know, this process of self-discovery, the process of finding courage, the process of realizing who are the angels, the friends that come into your life, that really show up for you and remind you that you are surrounded by love, that you are important. How does spirituality, or your faith or faith, not your faith, faith? What is the relationship of that with your creativity?

Speaker 2: 32:41

My creativity, like I think my creativity, I would say, separate from what you just said creativity I think I've always said, even from the get from young, that I've always had that tied to my inner child. And so, even at 17 or 16, thinking to myself, I gotta nurture my inner child because that's the, for me, that's the biggest source and which is why, technically, to this day, children will look at me and be like wait, that's not wait a minute, that's two kids in a trench coat, that's not a real adult. So I still feel like I have a connection to that and so that makes me feel like, okay, so I haven't. It's almost like the Peter Pan thing, right, you grow up and then you forget who you are, what you wanted and you don't really, and then that's a job on its own to really nurture that and to keep that going as long as you get older. But anyway, in terms of my spirituality, I feel like I also have been blessed that my parents, my dad, was a pastor.

Speaker 2: 33:43

I grew up in church, but I really do feel, especially after I left Puerto Rico and I just was out in the real world, that I noticed that there's definitely a difference in the way certain people are brought up within religion and I feel like what I came to the conclusion is that my parents just show the practical use of growing up in church and not the protection of it. I feel like when I was younger obviously, when you're, especially in Puerto Rico, there's a bubble right and you feel like, I think, when you realize the bubble is the main problem right, a lot of people feel entitled to say things and do things that are not necessarily the best against other people, and I think it has to do with the fact that they don't realize that in their bubble this is a good, but outside of that bubble the rules don't apply and so people kind of bang against the wall when it comes to that. But I feel like for me, I was able to, as I left and as I was able to to have these experiences away from my family, I think I was able to really come to terms with what it really meant, and I always thought that religion was a tool as opposed to, again, an identity or a, I don't know. There's a huge difference with that, because what that did for me was that I was able to, not I was. It gave me the opportunity to not agree with the way certain people were treated and I was able to not throw the baby with the bathwater. You know, I think I existed in a place where I could be like, well, that's wrong, but I feel, like the people that are, you know, like it's not, you could argue.

Speaker 2: 35:21

I mean, this is obviously a very polarizing conversation about religion and the way that it affected people negatively, but I think for me, I didn't really have a crisis of faith as much because I never saw it as it was never part of my identity in the same way that I was telling you about like being tied to work or relationships and so, and also like so many wonderful things happen at key moments in my life that it was just very hard for me not to be like, well, this is crazy, you know, like this isn't real. Too many things happen in my life and that's part of you know, that's part of the testimony that I have, but too many magical things, if you want to call it, have happened in my life for me not to feel blessed and grateful for everything that's happened. But yeah, it's all kind of tied in that sense, because I think we also I forgot to mention, there's a lot of believe in myself. There was a lot of like unlimited belief in myself at a young age which led me to, you know, down the path of like single-mindedly going and doing everything and, just like you know, even if bad things happen, you're like, all right, well, we're going this way, I don't think, even at my worst, which is a blessing.

Speaker 2: 36:35

Again, I realize this is, looking back now truly is one of the biggest blessings I could have had as a human being, perceiving myself and my soul, perceiving that experience, and that there was never a time where I was like, well, I got to hang it up. I guess this is it. I've had moments of doubt, but I've never been at a point where I'm like I got to quit. This is, I got to go back to normal. Who did, I think? You know? So I think that probably is the concoction that's allowed me to really, just you know, have this long journey in terms of my life and my career, because I've been doing this for for a while 20 years, I think. 20 years, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: 37:21

You know, I have two takeaways from what you're saying. I love your reference to your inner child and that's something that it's. It's something that is kind of popular now, you know, connecting with your inner child but when in the 90s, are you kidding me? You're inner child, you kidding no, no. Yet connecting with your inner child, I think it's the closest things to your spirituality, you know. That's, that's where your true essence of who you are is just shining right. And then the other thing is because it's playful, you know, and Alan Watts talks, you know, live into your bliss or do what gives you bliss, and I believe in it, you know, just because it's not from the place, oh, forget about the world and just do whatever you had the heck you want. No, it's that when you are in alignment with your gifts and your, your essence and what you are here and meant to do for and meant to do, it's just, things work and you're not necessarily thinking, things are just flowing. You become like an instrument when you channel a certain kind of energy or something.

Speaker 2: 38:23

And you also don't have any expectations. I think a lot of people hurt themselves when they have, when they expect things to happen, or they don't trust the process, so I feel like that's also you putting yourself up for a lot of pain, right absolutely.

Speaker 1: 38:37

And the other thing, the other thing for me is like what your parents, what you were able to learn from your parents in terms of, like, the use of these tools. You know you said that religions, virtually, can be a tool and I, I, I agree with you wholeheartedly. You know, I had to learn that over the years, it was my training what taught me to look at it as a tool rather than the all being, you know, and I think that's a beautiful gift that your parents gave you. So kudos to them, especially your mom. Much love to your mama. She's awesome.

Speaker 1: 39:12

Okay, I think we need to talk about your realization of becoming an actor, because I think people need to hear. This transition of you going to Fresno's and having this, this moment of awakening, of discovering this, is what I need to do. I'm just gonna switch gears. I don't wanna tell a story, because it's your story, so why don't we talk a little bit about it? And because the question that I have for you is why do you do what you do? You know, so can you answer? Can you tell us about your journey that got you to Fresno's and why do you do what you do?

Speaker 2: 39:45

So, again, I think I've always been kind of a performer since, you know, at heart I can remember always trying to make somebody laugh. And I have this memory which is I don't know if I told you, but I think I remember the first time I that I remember making a joke. I was probably like five or six years old and my sisters were doing their science homework with their friends at home and then they were in the living room and I came down and they and one of the friends was like trying to be funny. He was like hey, carlitos, do you, you know, how many genes do you have? Genes obviously sounds different in Spanish, which is correlated. It was actually kind of proud about the fact. It was like a play on words, because Jenez sounded like something else. And I remember as a child going oh no, and I ran off and like I just remember like now, as an, I was like that's a lot of like layers for like a five or six year old to look at the word, to try to whatever, to get off from the fact that he can't answer the question with the word that sounds. So that is to say that I think that was always part of, you know, one of the things that I love.

Speaker 2: 40:57

But again, you know, growing up, especially in the 90s or especially, you know, without the world of YouTube and all these things that now I think are more prescient with my, my presentation of content or whatever, there was really no world to go and it was really hard for me to kind of just just come to terms with that because there was no like, oh, I'm gonna go to school for comedy. There was nothing, or at least I didn't know had I. I mean, I feel like I wouldn't change anything in my life. But I feel like if I was growing up here in the US and I would have known about the groundlings or UCB or second city, because UCB wasn't around, all these other like like improv schools or comedy that were actually like I probably would have just gone straight to that, but again, I wouldn't change anything because everything that's happened you know, going to Fresno was like the journey that I had to get to go on. I just remember being in high school and like also not coming to terms with the fact that I had no idea what I wanted to major in. There was just no desire for me to do anything else, which is kind of scary, right, because everybody's talking about oh, I'm gonna be a lawyer, I'm gonna be a doctor, I'm gonna be an engineer, and I'm like I don't like any of that, but I do remember. You know, the reason I got originally in computer engineering is because Hector, one of my good friends I was on a phone call with him. He was like, yeah, yeah, that's probably like that's one of the ones that give that pay the most money. And I was like cool and I for engineering computer engineering at the time. But I really my heart wasn't into it and I'm not a math person. So I just survived the.

Speaker 2: 42:25

My freshman year I was still in Puerto Rico, but I knew that I wanted to go on the exchange program. So I knew that I just needed to leave. That's one of the things too. Like I had no idea, I knew that it wasn't. I was focused on what was in front of me, and what was in front of me was like I wanted to go on the exchange program. I didn't know where I was gonna go and ended up in Fresno. When I say ended up, I ended up. I originally was planning to go to Florida and I ended up and they gave you five options. So my third choices were I didn't even do research on schools, I just knew I wanted to go to UCF or FIU because it was Florida, it was close enough, I was gonna go with Hector at the time. And then I got my third choice, which was Fresno, and I was like where, what? Again, these are like moments in life that are defining Like I wouldn't have it any other way. If I had the opportunity, I would still go to Fresno and have that experience.

Speaker 2: 43:16

While in Fresno I switched over to theater and it was all very. It was a beautiful transition because I was still. I think the biggest confirmation for me was that I, when I went to Fresno, I was like I was still under the impression that I was gonna come back and finish, right, it was the thing. It was like you have to have the real degree and then you can go out and do whatever you want, right. So I was under the impression that I was still gonna do computer engineering, that I was gonna go on the exchange program and then come back Puerto Rico and finish and all that.

Speaker 2: 43:51

But that first year the exchange program when I ended up happening, was I really kinda a lot of things happened that confirmed what I needed to do, which was very scary, which was turning my back on these expectations of people, that things that didn't go with me and are doing these things based out of fear or what I think I needed to do, and then just literally turning around and be like, no, I'm gonna go into theater. And again, also, when you're growing up, there's a lot of that pressure right when I was saying for young people, because I remember seeing how people regarded me differently, because when I said I was going to school for computer engineering, people were like ooh much respect. And immediately when I switch over to theater, people were like huh, what are you gonna teach? But the good thing is that I was again taking that thing from me, not caring about being cool. In middle school. I was like I don't care, I don't have to prove myself. That it was very liberating because I didn't have to prove anything to anybody, except maybe my family. My family was on board and that's all I needed. So I ended up at the.

Speaker 2: 44:56

It was two semesters in the exchange program and I ended up being in a musical at the end of the second semester. I was not a student, though I was in the exchange program and I wasn't in the theater department and I ended up being in a musical One of the teachers acting teachers, brad Myers. I remember I took an elective acting class in the first semester and he saw me there and he jumped me over to intermediate acting from like I went from like just like an elective or just athletes and people take the class, and then he saw All right, friends, we ran into some technical difficulties.

Speaker 1: 45:32

But, Carlos, you were just mentioning how your professor moved you from like what was like an entry level class and all of a sudden now you are ended up at a musical. Tell me a little bit more about it.

Speaker 2: 45:49

So those were the things that kind of set me on that path. These are things that, looking back, are like, just like foundationally, how I was able to confirm everything right, because we all have dreams and we all want to do certain things and sometimes when you get older, you realize that sometimes some things are just a pipe dream. Like I wanted to be in the NBA when I was 13. That was never going to happen, but I still thought I was. You know, when you're young, so like I think it was like for me when the you know, when the rubber meets the road, kind of situation where I was just kind of going with what was presented in front of me and that itself was Fresno, going to Fresno State, and just jumping in and not caring about, because I basically just took a bunch of electric classes that just took. I took singing, I took communication, I took nothing math related. I tried to take a math course but it took acting, I took singing, I took massage, I took everything that had nothing to do with my major. And actually what really did happen is my second semester. I tried to take a calculus class and I fought for it because I was like I was still under the impression that I was going back and I fought and I found they wouldn't want to do and I was like I need to, whatever. And I feel like I finally got it. I showed up the first day and I was like I can't, I, it gave me a panic attack and it's just one of the things where, like, my mom was very clutch and in that moment, because she said exactly what I needed to hear this was probably the beginning of the second semester and then I remember I was like under my bed, just like freaking out, and I called my mom because I was like I fought for this class but I cannot go back, I can't do it. And my mom was like what are you trying to do that? You're trying to. You just don't worry about it, just go into theater. This is what you've always wanted. Why? Because it was a relief, a release of like tension for me, because it is a scary thing, even if I didn't care about, it's still, like those expectations are just still imprinted upon you from just culture just growing up. So it was. It was such a important release for me to be like you're right. And I remember writing down I was like on this day I turned my back on math and I never went back to the class and I just focused on theater.

Speaker 2: 48:05

Maybe that led to me, you know, doing standup. I think the semester the year after I started doing, I took a standup class and that's how I got into standup and then eventually started doing improv. And by the end of my, when I graduated, the summer, after I graduated college, I did a summer art program for Second City. That's a very famous, that's an improv institution, a comedy institution, comedy, theater institution, and so I did a summer course there. And then that's how, when I moved to, by the time I moved to LA, I was in the conservatory for Second City and that just kind of began that new, you know, the new transition for me. This is all like.

Speaker 2: 48:49

That was such a significant year because, like in 2003, the beginning of 2003, it was like my last year of school and by the end of 2003, like 2004, I was already at LA TV. I had successfully graduated, moved, had my first standup credit on the TV show, I started working and then I got a hosting thing, which then led to that period of time where I was a host. But to me it was like just another confirmation that I was just moving towards my own goal, right, and so all these things kind of happen and I'm very, I have to say, I have a theory that I feel like when you're trying to do art related stuff, you should get something by the time you're 25, because those are the things that you kind of hang onto when, inevitably, things don't go your way. Those are the things you kind of like that's the touchstone by which you could be like no, I can make it.

Speaker 2: 49:41

This isn't a fluke. A lot of times I see a lot of my friends, colleagues in the community that I've never really gotten like a big break, and by the time they get into the 30s they get an existential crisis because they're like oh, that's when it hits you, right and then suddenly you're like I haven't booked anything and then so they start freaking out. But I truly believe that enough happened in my life where I was able to see things as they were and so I was able to cope with. It just made it a little bit easier for me to cope with all the not so great things that happened in my career, or the loals or the moments of inaction.

Speaker 1: 50:23

That's awesome. Thank you so much for sharing it. Just because whoever is listening, especially people that admire you and people that look up to you, it's interesting to remember that everybody has a journey, everybody has a story, right, and the truth is you have worked your rear off for 20 years and, yes, there's a lot of things that align for you and amen for all of those things. But you also work very, very hard, and so I appreciate how you, by sharing your story, hopefully you can empower young people out there to continue to believe in themselves, to continue to value what is important, which is the other day, follow your heart. There's something beautiful that happens in magical when you can be in tune with that right.

Speaker 2: 51:10

Yeah, I think that's sorry. Go ahead no no, go ahead.

Speaker 2: 51:14

No, I was going to say that that's one of the main things too. It's a version of paying it forward, because I did have those moments where somebody said something that really I just remembered something very impactful. That happened during my first semester at Fresno State. When I was doing, when I took the communication class, I had to. Part of the things that you had to do was go to a speech, speaking engagements and then writing like a review on it. And that semester they brought in a Mexican director, gregory Nava. He's done American me. He's done a bunch of like great movies, like seminal, like Latino movies in the 90s, like he's worked on.

Speaker 2: 52:01

So Gregory Nava was doing a speaking engagement at Fresno State, of all places, and I went to do it because I had to. I didn't was in like, and I can't remember anything that he said. But then at the end of the thing he had a Q and A and somebody asked if he had a backup plan or he had a, you know, and he said and this is not new, but for me I was just like this is exactly what I needed to hear and he was like, no, I know, you know he was talking about how he just went all in and he said if I have a backup, you know, if you have a backup plan, you will fail. And those words just punched me in the face so hard. Where I was like this is literally I was in the moment, the right time, at the right moment to hear the thing that I was literally going through.

Speaker 2: 52:46

So I do believe that it's important to talk about these things because you know somebody's, somebody needs, you know, I'm very happy that he was asked that question. I'm very glad that I haven't met him yet, but when I do I'll tell him that he was influential because that literally was one of the things among the getting the play and all that that I was like okay, by the time I, you know, those were all the things that were coming together for me to be like I don't need to worry about computer engineering because that's not what I want. I'm going to go into theater, even if people think I'm just going to be a teacher. Even if the odds are stacked against me, I believe in myself and I don't need to prove anything to anybody. So these are all things that I think are important to talk about as much as possible. Yes, so I do agree, it's great.

Speaker 1: 53:26

So, so. So now let's just piggyback on that and follow up on that. No, your roles have given you an opportunity to bring representation right. I mean, you and I have been in the United States now for almost 20 years and I've seen a change. I mean, I remember when I moved to Louisville Kentucky.

Speaker 1: 53:45

Louisville Kentucky was very different from the Louisville of today and I so I learned about the experience of being an immigrant. I learned what it was like to be removed from a position of privilege which I was completely ignorant about. You know, in Puerto Rico, I was speaking the language that everybody speaks the same culture and moving into a place that is different, that has different expectations, that the way you look has an impact in people. The opportunity that I had to learn from other people's stories and realize that my circumstances were different from others, it was very eye-opening, right. And so you have been living in LA and in California, like you have been exposed. You lived it yourself.

Speaker 1: 54:33

But fortunately, the roles that you've had, in my opinion, are giving you an opportunity to really advocate for many stories that for so long were silenced, right. What would you like to say? What are your thoughts around this opportunity that you've been given and the fact that you have a chance to really represent and show the beauty that all human beings can bring. That doesn't necessarily mean that all Latinos, latin Americans and Latinos and Latinx can provide to this country and our community is just this journey of the human journey. We all are migrants. We all are immigrants, we all deserve a better future and most of us are committed to making our lives better and our community is better. What would you like to say about that?

Speaker 2: 55:21

I'm going to say that I do agree that I'm going to touch on what you just said. Coming from Puerto Rico, we had a different upbringing. We came up in a place where we weren't really single-doubt because of our race or the way that we looked. I mean, there's definitely a lot of classism, so certain degree there's levels of racism that happen in Puerto Rico. But I believe that what that did for me and what that does for people, what I'm going to speak for myself is that I was able to grow up in a world where anything was possible.

Speaker 2: 55:58

A lot of times, kids grow up and they're immediately shown what they can't do. They're immediately shown, whether through the media or whether through their experiences at school or with their loved ones or the society in general. You grow up with limits already and that kind of builds up in your psyche and I think that that affects kids children in a way that's irreparable. So I feel like part of the reason why I was able to survive too, was that I didn't realize what it meant to feel that way until I was in college, and by that point I was already 18. So I was able to have a formal, which is to say, in lieu of having these experiences. I think representation is important because for a lot of people, that's all they have. I don't know how I would have grown up had I moved. There was a, I think my mom told me my mother that there was a time where she would have moved to Texas and I would have been a whole different experience for me. And do understand why representation is important, because when you're told that you can't do certain things or you're only certain types of people are allowed to have success, especially in Hollywood, I think you believe it. And if you believe it, then it's true. I mean, we're all, I think, capable of manifesting what we put under the world. So again, I realized that I'm lucky for not having to deal with that at a young age. It allowed me to flourish as a child and have all these magical ideas and hopes and dreams and adventures or whatever, and so so I'm coming to it in that perspective, like I know what the, you know what the mission is in terms of like continuing to work, and to me it's just like continuing to work.

Speaker 2: 57:53

I was, I've set this before. It's like representation is not just representation. I think what for me in Hollywood and for actors, minority actors, is just to have the opportunity. This is going to sound sarcastic, but I mean it. We just want the opportunity to be mediocre, and what I mean by that is that a lot of times there's a lot of pressure for people, for minorities, to lead certain things or to have certain things. I think if immediately doesn't work out, then it's just a bias confirmation of why they're not ready to be at the top of the whatever. There's only a few select people, and I do believe that that's not true inherently. So I feel like that's really the goal, the end goal, and we're making progress, we're definitely moving.

Speaker 2: 58:44

It's almost like you know, three steps forward, one step back. It's definitely way different, but for me it was just like again, you've heard me talk about my life. I've never kind of clued into that. I just I didn't even want to acknowledge that I had a disadvantage. I've never operated from that space. So for me it was always like putting my head down and trying to figure out how to get around the situation where you know how to take up space in a place where you're not supposed to. And so for me that's been the journey for me. But again I realized that that comes from, I think, having the blessing I'm not having to deal with that psychologically as a child, but again, confirmation and going back to it. In conclusion, representation is important in that regards because I feel like it really it really opens up opportunities for people, at least in Hollywood, but just in general. I think what we're trying to do here is free people, humans, from their shackles, whether they're manmade or they're self-made. We're just trying to, you know, to just raise everybody's vibrational frequency.

Speaker 1: 59:58

Right right, right right. I thank you so much for sharing that and for opening up, just because you know I work with children. I work with children. I feel so fortunate that I work with children and I see the importance of mindset and I see the importance of allowing and equipping human beings with the abilities to get to know themselves in such a way that you can see when that negative self-talk is coming and you are able to again. My language is access self-love, or turn it around, or have courage, or have bravery and remember who you are, or remembering your abilities and have the conviction that you can do it. These are things that when we are in positions of privilege, it's very easy to ignore, how easy it is to tap into it. But when we are not necessarily given the same opportunities or we are surrounded in environments that don't provide for those kinds of opportunities, it's important to remember that we all have been granted this gift and that it's a right for all human beings to become who they are supposed to, to live into their truth. So I love what you've been able to do through your characters and I love that people are hiring you. You know that you're booking, you know, besides the humor and all of that. I mean there's this edge to showcase what any human being can do when you center your attitude and your mindset in something positive. So thank you, thank you for doing that, and I hope that the people that are working with you, that you guys, can continue to put us in the forefront and to speak for those who are yet to come, that will continue to grant us with so many blessings and gifts.

Speaker 1: 1:01:52

You talked about fear. Any, any, any, any, any. Can you tell us a little bit briefly about your relationship with feel, how you handle fear? I've heard let me just say this, I think I've heard over this conversation that when fear creeps in, somehow you have this ability of not taking yourself too seriously and to access certain anchors that I've heard again in discovering your family, your convictions in yourself, but not but. Is there anything that you can add in terms of, like, how you handle fear, or what would you say to those who are listening?

Speaker 2: 1:02:31

I would say that I I approach I think I've categorically approached fear as a if we're talking about a fight or flight, I've always I feel like Any time that I've been in a situation where I'm paralyzed by fear. If it's something like, for example, just like career wise, or anything that's scared me in any personal, in any, I have tried to literally just jump off the cliff into it, because that's really what happens. It's a very much like. It's very similar to jumping off a high place. If you're jumping off a cliff, into water, whatever, if you think about it too much, you're not going to do it and, honestly, sometimes the only thing you have is to just Close your eyes and run and jump. I will not close your eyes because you might stumble, but you know what I mean like just leap, and I think my life has been that's a number of leaps Personal, spiritual, career wise. So that's what I tend to do. I tend to not want to sit, I guess, in the same way that I don't like I don't drink coffee because I hit I hit caffeine headaches. I don't like the feeling of fear and how it controls, I don't like the manipulation that fear and certain lower frequencies have on people, and so I tried to do the opposite. I tried to. You know, sometimes it's very easy, but sometimes the easiest things are the hardest things to do and I I feel like that's how I approach it, in spite of how I felt this is a good example.

Speaker 2: 1:04:12

So when I started doing stand up this is a quick one, but it just shows you, like, my mentality I was the first time I started opening I did like a club, like I was at a casino in Fresno State. I was doing I had just, I just had like five minutes of stand up and I was invited to do a weekend of shows and so I went on a Friday and I get up and it did okay, this is like a paying, you know crowd, just a bunch of drunk people at a casino, and it didn't go so well. And then I go back. I went back on Saturday and it didn't go so well and I was like, oh man, and then Sunday rolled around and I literally was in my car like I don't know if I can do this, this is not going great, and I was like not, dude, just you know, I found that moment of like the more scared I was of putting myself in that situation, the more I was like something at the kind of click in and just kind of push me forward within me, and what that ended up happening was something magical.

Speaker 2: 1:05:09

The reason it turned out that, the reason why I wasn't doing so great, is because the the MC, every time that he put me up he would say this guy's just starting out. He'd be, you know, like he set it up so that people are already like, hmm, this guy right. And I know this to be true because when I got there on Sunday I didn't realize I got there late. They were starting an hour earlier because it was Sunday, so instead of seven o'clock it was like a six o'clock show or whatever. So I got there at the time I thought it was, and so the show had already started.

Speaker 2: 1:05:40

But the main comedian that I was opening up for was like yeah, yeah, tell the MC to pull you like do your five minutes. So the MC didn't have time to make that introduction. He was just like in the middle of his thing and he's like all right, let's Carlos Santos. And I killed it. I killed with my five minutes, and it was such a moment of like.

Speaker 2: 1:05:58

Again, it was such a like an immediate confirmation of the. You know, these are the things that confirm the running into the show, running into the fire situation, because I, had I not done that, I would never learn that, or had that as a touchstone for me to look back to whenever I feel fear, whenever I'm in a situation where I'm paralyzed by something and it was such like, you know, it was amazing, and then I was like, oh he didn't, and then just connecting the dots. But sometimes these are the things that you kind of have to. You know, remember, just, these are the things that you, hopefully, you learn from, and so that's a good example of running into the fear, do it?

Speaker 1: 1:06:35

Face it for it, face front, all right. So just to bring this to some sort of closer, because I know we can be here for a long time and it's just fascinating and this is just an excuse to have you over again. What is a special quote, that or figure that has inspired you lately or throughout your life? You kind of talked about your families and that, but is there anything lately or something that you always put at the forefront? Actually, I think it's a perfect segue after fear. You know what is a special quote that has inspired you?

Speaker 2: 1:07:15

I mean, I kind of touched on it, I think. If I'm remembering, I think, gregorio, you know a thing was specifically. I think I retroactively answered that question, right, right.

Speaker 2: 1:07:23

You're right If I had a backup plan. That was such a similar moment for me. I at the sick. I don't.

Speaker 2: 1:07:30

I don't want to sound obnoxious, but I do remember writing this myself when I was 16, which was somehow I got into my head as I looked upon the possibilities and the thing about following my future. I remember writing a phrase and it was accept failures, reject defeat. And there's probably a more poetic version of somebody said, but in my mind that was what I was trying to process, and so by that I. That again was something that was so crucial for me, because a lot of times people equate failure with failure of a situation, with the failure of themselves. So I think I was able to kind of crystallize what my MO was going to be at 16 years. You know, I was like, okay, I'm going to probably fall on my butt and I'm going to screw up and that has nothing to do. I'm going to get up and I'm going to whatever.

Speaker 2: 1:08:32

So I feel like those four words really went a long way at the beginning of my career of just like, as I was turning into an adult, just accept failure and reject defeat. Which, again, what 16 year old is thinking these things. This is wild. So I'm just happy that I had that as a again, as a touchstone. That was that's an important phrase that I feel like I still to this day take, because it just eliminates all of that stress and anxiety you feel, or the paralyzing possibility, the possibility to be paralyzed by doing something that might not be great. You know, I think that's how I've been able to manage that. So I would say clutch things. That phrase, and Gregory and I was, if you have a backup plan, you would feel which is exactly what I needed to hear when I was in my sophomore year college Wonderful, wonderful.

Speaker 1: 1:09:25

Well, carlos, I think it goes without saying that I'm so eternally grateful for this time. You've been amazing. It's always fun to remember your journey and to share stories, and to share your stories with other people, hopefully, so they can feel inspired, right, and I hope that gratitude continues to accompany you in your journey. I think it's phenomenal. I like to look forward to seeing what's next for you. People check him out, of course it's of course, as Carlos. As his Instagram, of course it's Carlos, which makes so much sense. So I always like to ask my guests who should be a future guest here on Journey Talks podcast? Who would you recommend?

Speaker 2: 1:10:06

I'm going to ask you a question. I'm going to answer that with a question.

Speaker 1: 1:10:10

Do it.

Speaker 2: 1:10:11

Have you had a teacher? A teacher in this podcast, somebody that taught you in grade school, mid school, I have not, I have not, but I'm a, I am.

Speaker 1: 1:10:20

It's in the books for some people from seminary, but I think you, I love how you, I think you're going back into perhaps more of our younger years. Is that what you're referring to? Yeah, yeah, so let's let's think about it.

Speaker 2: 1:10:33

I think I can't tell you who, because you know every teacher has a different impact on each student, and so maybe, maybe, that would be a good that's a good one, carlos.

Speaker 1: 1:10:46

I love the spin that you brought into education. This is really nice. You know we take for granted teachers. Teachers have one of the most formative journeys and callings in in in society and cheer and shout out to all the teachers because they're phenomenal and they do make an impact in our lives so well. That being said, carlos, thank you for the amazing conversation. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I wish you nothing but the best. Um, I look forward to having you, I guess, uh, again in the future and um, take care, brother, this is, this is friends. This is Journey Talks podcast, your favorite podcast to reconnect with gratitude and inspiration. I look forward to seeing you next time. Take care. Thank you for listening. Make sure you like, follow and subscribe to our podcast, share your feedback, hit that notification bell and let's keep the conversation going.