Latest / Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors / From Military Brat to Beauty Educator

Transcript

From Military Brat to Beauty Educator · Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Elsa Barbie.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm Don Andrews.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: We have been friends since sixth grade.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Somewhere between a car wash job, a few questionable boy choices, and 40 years of friendship, we became the kind of people who always want to know what was really going on, including at work.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_03: Don spent 25 years as an employment lawyer digging into workplace drama from the inside out.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: I built a long career in the beauty industry as a brand educator with a few TV cameos sprinkled in for fun.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: We came up in very different industries, but we have the same passion: meeting new people and asking how they got their jobs, what they love, what they can't stand, and what happens behind closed doors.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: Every episode we talk to a new guest about their lived experience in the world of work.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: And because they're gonna stay anonymous, they can spill the truth without the fallout.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: We get into the choices they made, the tiny cruelties, the surprise kindnesses, and some of the moments that never make it into human resources reports.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: Equal Parks informative and titillating.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: This show serves up all the tea while honoring the incredible, complicated, often messy work people are doing across the industries and across the map.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: Let's get into it.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna pivot and we're gonna ask this guest the first question that we always ask.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: What was your first paying job?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: As a kid, I was working at the commissary in Guam, pulling pushing carts.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know how you they have carts and they leave it in the parking lot.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I did bagging.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little island called Guam Naval Station or Guam in a naval station commissary back in 1984.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, whoa.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm showing my age.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: But but being a Navy brat, I worked wherever we happen to be living.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we went all over the Pacific.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I had a paper route, I worked as catering banquets at Dragon Hill Lodge at the old Yong San, Korea.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's closed now.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then back groceries at each of the commissaries at each of those bases.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the famous Subic Bay Philippines before it closed.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: We were there before after Pinatubo eruption of the volcano.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we went, we were one of the first families to go back, but it closed nine months later.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then I ended up back at the commissary in Guam and during my senior year high school.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: But as I got into high college at the University of Guam, I did my first professional job with a paycheck and all.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: I was a radio DJ at an adult contemporary station.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Adult contemporary station at 19 years old.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds shady.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like Ingebert Humberting is what I'm playing.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: I had a club, I had a listener who kept every night because I was doing the midnight to 6 p.m.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: asking me, Could you play my favorite song?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Inkebert Humbertink.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that's the first introduction to Inkerbert.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: That yellow ribbon.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that was my first job.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that began my love of music, my love of MC.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's where the voice that you hear now, that Midwestern slash Californian, slash Asian accent comes out from.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I developed from that first job as a Dutch jockey from midnight to 6 p.m.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: And tell us what you do now.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say this during my Air Force career, I can say that I never really stopped DJing.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Did clubs, I did parties, I had military events, I did big events, RB nights, American.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: We had our own very American idol at the bases.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like the organizer of the MC.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I was already like leading and being in front of the of the microphone, sometimes on camera.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so also the Air Force taught me how to lead and to educate as I trained some of our airmen to different training missions and all that.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I already had that instilled in me as an educator.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And once I retired and started using my GI bill, I went to barber school.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then I went to esthetician school.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I went to massage school.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, what happened?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: COVID happened.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we lost a lot of educators because it was a hard time.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a big adjustment for a lot of schools.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Say, are we going to have school?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Can we have school?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Can we have a school safely?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So when I they one of my educators saw me as a student that I was already teaching other classmates, whatever whatever I learned.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I learned pretty fast.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And he thought on me because we had dropped a lot of educators from every field.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: People were just having a hard time, not going, not paying enough at the like all different schools.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: So they were lacking stu educators.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I they asked me, Hey, would you like to be an educator?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I go, Yeah, sure.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because at that time I was just writing off my GI Bill.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was retired.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was living going to school to school.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it was about time for me to get a job after about three years of being retired.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I became a barber educator for this big school here in California.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: So tell us about exactly what you do now.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: I do fashion shows, I do community events, I do so the community events means I work with different nonprofit organizations that have a homeless or challenge.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: We have another organization.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: We work with disability students or adults.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then of course we have the senior citizen living.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So what I do is I provide opportunities for the students to cut hair, provide a manicure, provide hand massage, or in fashion shows, we do make hair and makeup, all free of charge.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yet that seems to benefit the school that you work for.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I provide them outside where it's going to provide much needed services to the community that are have challenges within their lives.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so they get five, ten cuts in at a time in one day.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's more than they would get at back in the campus.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that teaches them how to sanitize, that teaches them how to reset for the next person waiting and feel that stress of people waiting.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because to be honest, a lot of the schools, you know, beauty school, they have one client, they have two clients, and then they're done for the rest of the day.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that is the opportunity we do with these events, but also fashion shows.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: You get to do models, you get to do meet photographers and nonprofit organizers and all that.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And with doing events for the students, it's them growing as a soon-to-be future professional.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And the and what their services provide to people maybe who've never had their haircut in a while, or never had anyone to talk to.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: How the gift of our services can mean the world to somebody for just a second, for a moment, for 30 minutes to an hour, that a lot of people that we don't think about, they not being seen, not being heard, not being touched or taken care of.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so these community services, whether it be haircutting or fashion shows, because not all fashion shows just regular fashion shows.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Fashion shows like nonprofit where they're fundraising for a good cause.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these are survivors too.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: We do go red, cancer survivors.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so having them being taken care of from our students, and the students see the impact of their smile.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And when you get a haircut, it changes the way you look, the way you feel.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that's two times fold for someone who is having a challenge in their life that is unfortunate, homeless, or surviving a disability or cancer or disease.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's the gift I try to give to the students.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: So where do you think this came from?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess my father.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: My father, he had an interesting life.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I wish one day I need to interview him because he's what push almost 80s years old, but came from this little island in the Philippines.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was at the top of he joined the Navy at the time when the they were letting Filipino nationals join the military at the time, like 60s, late 60s.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: He was always the top of his game.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: He was the smartest.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: He was the first non-a-college graduate and became a non- uh commissioned officer in the US Navy.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, how did you do that?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: He was just in front of people.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: He was a leader, he was this five-foot Filipino man with mustache, just like everybody else, smokes and drinks, with Filipino accent, looking at these commanders and other officers like four feet taller than him, or whatever, or four inches taller, or five.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he was always the lead, he was always the president of an organization, he was always the officer in charge, and so he also entertained.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: He was like an entertainer too.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Comedian, played the organ, played the guitar.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: He was like the life of the party, and I guess maybe I it rubbed off on me.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: What's the best part of your job?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: The best part.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it took me a while to really put that into words of like what is the best part?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: I would say watching students get really good at what they do.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see their cuts, their color, their makeup, their their eyelashes or waxing.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I see them on Instagram after they graduate and they get their license, and like, dang, that's a fire haircut.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, the lines are clean, and I see them getting clients and just making content.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then I feel like when I see them that they're doing so well after a year or two of graduating, I feel like, man, I was part of that journey.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the best part is watching these students grow and actually continue the trade.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so of course, the opposite is what's the hardest part about your job?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: The hardest part saying goodbye.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: I wear my heart in my sleeve.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very close to my family, very close to my friends who are around me.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And being a military brat and a veteran, our my friends and family are all over the world.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't get to see them as often, or I like get to see them on Facebook or Instagram, just a peek in their lives.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: But when you get close to students that are like your brother, like your sister, like your daughter, like your son, saying goodbye to them after the thousand hours.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the current state of our industry now, what would it be?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Can I get three wishes?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: You can have three.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, because the the industry needs a Costco size magic wand.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I believe.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: It can't be small, it gotta be big.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think it is in any field, especially California, especially in the town, the city that we live in, better pay, better benefits, better leadership development of educators.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because in the military, we once you get ranked up, when you rank up to the next rank, or you go into the position of leadership, the military is good at teaching these leaders how to be a leader, how to counsel, how to be a professional, what to say, what not to say, moral ethics of being a leader.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Your words mean something, you know what I'm saying?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: If it's mis misconstrued or it's taken differently differently, then it's your fault in a way as a leader.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to be careful with your choice of words and how you act and how you lead.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: I wish that in our, at least in our school, that was taken more serious.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because we lose a lot of people of because they don't know, they're not aware, they weren't taught how to be a leader or an educator, an educator that can take on challenges and situations.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: But also, there's a lot of us who love what we do.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm here because I love what I do, and because of the position where I'm at with being retired from the military and benefits.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: If it wasn't for that, I don't think I'd be here because it's not enough.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a business owner and I get it, and I'm in privy to some of that information about cost of employment, payroll to recruitment, but it's not enough.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's I know we're not alone, and to educate, you feel I think we're one of the lowest paid people with master's and degrees.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that's what we worry about as educators.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people of my coworkers, they were worrying about rent.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're worrying about if I pop this tire, I don't have enough money to fix the tire and pay my bills and eat.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the biggest three things better pay, better, better benefits, but also those who hear keep doing personal development.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: We all need it.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know how we are we learned that in college or we learned that in this one course or workshop five years ago.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to always we need to hear it.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: We need to practice it all the time to become better leaders all the time.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Personal development is my number three wish.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it seems like with the industry, with the beauty industry, are the educators taken right from working behind the chair?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right into now I'm responsible for teaching, how to bridge a program to come from a stylist to become a teacher.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And can you imagine there are some great stylists?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's great cosmetologists, there's great aestheticians, they're great in their field.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And they sometimes there's an admin side to to education.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hey man, you gotta check your email.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: So communication is a key that's lacking with with our educators.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: So there's an administration's work to being an educator, and some some educators that come here are they just coming straight from the salon.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a there's there is a technology portion of being organized, like your roster and who's who and putting in grades and all that.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's taught with us when you're a teacher, right?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're taught that to organize to your plan, your education plan, what you're gonna teach today.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: But some of these are just they don't even know how to turn on the computer sometimes.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or use the PowerPoint or create a PowerPoint.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: So let's get back to the special event part of what you do on a daily basis.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: You work with nonprofits, you work with corporations, fashion shows, San Diego Swim Week, TED Talks, things like that.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: In getting those type of companies to employ your group, what would be the hardest part about doing something like that?
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: They're not organized.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I've developed just because of my hard work, it's nothing special.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I just do my job to the best of the ability and provide, I do the mission, the duty is protect the students, number one, provide them the support, number two, and and number three, give them the opportunity to showcase their skill.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: But number four, create the vision for the organizers.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: How many clients do you need for hair makeup?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: What time are they gonna be there?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, is there parking?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna feed us?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're students.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: These are not licensed and licensed people that are making money already.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: These are students that uh$10 parking is a big to some people, but also timelines.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: My students, they're all like, I got a babysitter, someone's picking me up, something's dropping me off.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have to remind organizers, hey man, when I tell my when you tell me we need to be ready by five, I'm telling my students we need to be ready by five.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Not 6 p.m., 5 p.m.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: This is the juicy part.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: What's the wildest, weirdest, or un most unforgettable thing you've ever either witnessed at work or heard at work?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Many many months this educator would go in the parking lot with a student.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And period.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, quickie, BJ, I don't know, whatever.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: I've never seen it, I never witnessed it, but that was what was happening.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like a one-time thing.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this educator was actually a good educator.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was that it was she, I'm gonna say she.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: She was a great educator, and I guess Love was quirl, I don't know what happened.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: That that student said, Yeah, this is what's happening.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: That person, and sure enough, I came in the morning, lunchtime, that person was gone.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, it was during the day too.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: What are you guys doing during the day outside in the parking lot?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, I think that person this ruined their career or reputation for at least this end.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think she was here with us for three years, I think like that.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that that student too got allegations too, and so he had to also quit school too.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he was a Marine, Marines, man.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: Any other store, any other stories you have to share?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have a sad story.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: So let's see.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: We had a student who was probably in his 30s.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: He I've talked to him a couple of times, gave him some advice.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: He passed away here at our school.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: He had a heart attack in the in the boys' bathroom, and one of my educators was holding him.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was having a heart attack in overheating, his heart was giving out.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: They called the ambulance and he died in the ambulance on the way to the school, to the hospital.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: The saddest part is that everybody loved him.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody, he was such a good kid.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: He had some demons that I know of.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know all the details, but it hit me hard because he was trying, he was one of those guys that was trying to get his life together.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: It I think it was over drugs.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think he took so much drugs before that it just gave his body, body just gave up.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that hit hard.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And he was liked by a lot of students, he was loved by a lot of students, he was friendly to everybody, and he was one month away from graduating from college, from barber school.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I hit hard.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: It was very heavy for a long time.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're to a point where a couple months to two months after there was an esthetician.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Estheticians are some of them are very energy driven, energy sensitive.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: An esthetician came and said, There's a guy walking the hallways.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: I go, What?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he goes, he's tall, he's big, he looks Asian.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then so we have a picture of him in our barber room.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I said, Hey, is it that guy?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, that's him.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: He's right here at the door.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Wait.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sensitive to that, but he was like, she was like, because she was talking to me down the hall.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, she was a tall, he's like tall, look like he's like at least 5'11, 6'0.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And he's always walking down to this doorway, which is the barber room.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: So for a month or two, he stayed, and then he left.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then now there's no no indication of him now.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: So he left.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: Really quick, let's put your special event hat on.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I know you've done a lot of events around town, the city.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: Any crazy stories that you can share with us that have happened at any of those events?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um we went to another city to provide hair and makeup.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's the first time probably for our school to even do this, but it was like voluntole for me to go there.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I took 20 students to the city.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: I won't name because if I say it, they're gonna know.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it was supposed to be for a pageant fashion show, right?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going down this rabbit hole.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Look, and then, but it was part of another, another pageant.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna say the pageant because then it's gonna find out.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the pageant, we're part of this fashion show that was providing hair makeup, a whole team.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're the only ones doing that.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: But we're also part of this other organization that had a pageant at the same time, and these were women from all across the globe.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: When I say there is money into this production, you know how those LED screens were in the back?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: They had four or five of them on the stage.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: It looked like a almost like a Miss Universe pageant.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Each of the these ladies had costumes, for example, Miss Tumecula, Miss Venezuela, and they had different names and sashes and all that.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was not cheap.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: So going down, so they were the show before us and the show after us because they had two days of this stuff, and we're in between them with our little fashion show and all that.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: But looking down this rabbit hole.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I think it was money laundering.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was pay to play.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: So these ladies would pay, I don't know, for example, like$14,000 each.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: To pretend like they're in this pageant to get a crown and a sash.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, going down this rabbit hole, looking on their pages, Instagram, they're worldwide.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to say the ethnicity that I feel like, wow, it's like this this villain laundering conspiracy thing with another organization I can't name that had trafficking of human.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I like what the and it's worldwide.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is like almost every continent, they have this kind of organization where ladies were pay to play.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Southwest, like where'd you get that name from?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Miss Korea.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: And when they come out with a costume, it's like Korea, Miss Chile Vista, Cowboy, like that.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I felt like there were in so the reason why I thought, man, what's going on?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because they had the audience that's supposed to be there.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: We were half the audience, and everybody else was like, look like sugar daddies or people with money or people that just had money to burn.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think there was something like laundering going on.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: It I feel like it was like a half a million dollar production that was going on and these costumes.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we done our job, we got out real quick, we never went back to you.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, what's next for you?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I very I enjoy what I do right now.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very passionate.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I don't worry.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the kind of guy who will see things through, but I gotta be careful, obviously, because yes, I can do a lot of things for the company and a lot of things for a lot of people, but I gotta take care of myself too.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to make sure I have time to do my personal stuff, read a book, read books, watch movies, take care of my family.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I enjoy my I enjoy my time.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoy working with people, connecting people.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's fun and it's enjoying.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I like to see people's faces when they say, wow, this is great.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is fun, I could do this, and then they move on or get picked, or to do makeup or hair for other organizations without me.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: My next step is just enjoy life.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, maybe I want to own my own school.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'll try my hand.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still young enough to do it, but I think I probably got another 10-15 years of me.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then I want to retire and go home.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, just take it day by day, enjoy life, enjoy all the karm, the good karma that I'm providing for the students until it's not I'll stop when it's not having I'm not having fun anymore.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: Is there anything else that you want to leave our listeners with?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think the biggest lesson I've learned throughout this this really short career of mine that I just started, and what I've learned a lot is everybody is carrying something, and everybody has challenges.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I know personally I've had my days, but I always find that there are students that are really living hard in the challenges, and just to have them in school is a struggle for them.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I always rethink if I'm having a hard day, I gotta remember.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've had students who are homeless right now.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: They reached out, they're homeless right now, and they're still going to school.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: I've had educators homeless and still working.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: I learned to listen.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's hard for me.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a talker, I'm an Aries.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can find out a lot of things, what they're going through or what they're trying to experience.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times it's not personal.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: When they lash out or they say something to you or an educator.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the biggest thing is just to listen, to know that everybody is has challenges, and we all put this face when we come to school or when we go to events.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time we're okay, but when we go home, it's a whole different story.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I always try to understand that side that everybody may be going through some things and they're in school is probably their safe haven.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so I try to provide a great environment for students as much as I can.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that way when they come to school, they're in a safe place.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you everybody for listening to another episode of Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_03: And with that, we want to thank you for sharing your story with us.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: You've officially joined the ranks of the brave and the bold.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's it for this week's confession.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: We've laughed, cringed, and maybe questioned our own career choices.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_03: Big thanks to our anonymous guests for keeping it real and reminding us that behind every job title is a story worth telling.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: If you've got a workplace confession of your own, we're all ears.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: Hit us up at our email address.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: And don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: Your support helps us keep the secrets flowing.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, keep your badge clicked, your coffee strong, and your stories wild.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: This is Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors.