- Going for your dreams is an integral part
of living a fulfilled life.
It's a super scary thing to do and not many of us do it,
let alone get the chance to do it.
But for those of us who do, and those of you who do,
sometimes even our families can be the least supportive.
(upbeat music)
- I'm Santa Sierra.
I'm a Dominican television writer.
- Hey, my name's Davi.
I came out to L.A. to pursue a creative career.
- My name's Helen, I'm from Los Angeles,
and I'm a photographer.
- I'm Shila, and I'm from Texas,
and I came out to L.A. to pursue my dream in entertainment.
- I'm originally from El Salvador.
I was born there.
And right now I'm the owner of Pechuga Vintage.
- A lot of times our latino families
come from a lot of different sorts of trauma,
whether that's dealing with trauma in their family
or dealing with trauma in the country that they come from,
they basically come with a lot of baggage.
A lot of our countries, if not all of them,
were colonized, so our ideas of what safety means
and what the word safety implies
sometimes keeps us from achieving a lot of our dreams.
It's important to break ancestral trauma
one link at a time.
You don't have to do something crazy
like move across the country or move to L.A.
Please don't move to L.A..
We have way too much traffic here.
But you can go for your dreams in small ways too.
You have access to something that a lot of people never had,
which is sitting right in front of you, the internet.
- I fell in love with television writing
when I was a teenager.
My mother, she saw that I was crazy
because I had a career.
I was a teacher.
Becoming a television writing meant quitting teaching,
having to move to a different state,
and basically starting over.
- Obviously, when I told my family I wanted to move
to L.A., they were sad, of course,
but ultimately very supportive.
- I started taking photos after my mom passed away
as a creative outlet.
If I had said that I was going to pursue
a full-time creative career like 10 years ago
when my mom was alive, I don't think I would be alive.
I think she would've murdered me
as a first-generation, that's not really something
that we're given an option of having or doing.
That's not a dream you're allowed to have.
- I grew up with a really close family,
so definitely it was hard for my mom and my dad,
but they've always been really supportive
of my dreams and pushing me to do stuff
that I've always wanted to do.
- My family was a little nervous.
My grandma, she was like,
"Are you sure that this is what you want?"
- I think some of the concerns that my family had
were of course, I was jumping into a creative field.
How am I going to support myself?
How am I going to make money?
- My parents definitely were concerned about me
going to L.A., but they believed in me.
My dad actually is from Iran,
and he came all the way to America to pursue his dream
and be an entrepreneur, so I feel like
his mindset really translated to me
and made me really driven and really try to do the thing.
- Actually, my family wasn't really concerned.
They were really supportive.
My mom has been my biggest fan, really,
since I was a kid.
As a matter of a fact, she was helping me out yesterday
organizing my inventory.
- I think it's difficult for someone who comes
from another country and comes here and works
super, super hard and essentially is like,
"I'm going to give my family this opportunity I never had."
And I think when we say, "Hey, I want to take photos
"for a living of people." all they see in their minds
is the starving artist.
- Well, now that I'm doing very well, she loves it.
I think at the beginning, I think that like any parent,
if you see your kid quitting everything,
of course there's gonna be some worries.
- They've always been supportive,
but now they understand clear what I'm trying to do.
A lot of the questions are less of
let me try to understand this, but more so, how can I help?
- But now, my father was very much on the side of
I just want to see you happy.
You have one life to live, and I support you 100%.
I called him, and he was in El Salvador, and I told him,
"Hey dad, here's what happening, and I know I've had a job
"pretty much since I was 16, but I'm gonna do this,
"and I'm gonna work for myself now."
And he was like,
"(foreign language), I'm so happy for you, yes."
- I feel like my advice for parents
that are concerned of their kids following their dreams is
to really just believe in their children.
- Be as supportive as possible, help them out.
If they have things that they need help with,
just lend a hand.
- There's always this thing with parenting
that people say, well, parents, we want our kids
to be better than us, but sometimes better than us
feels that they are becoming distant from us.
- If you're raising a strong, independent, loved,
and supported human, you have to trust
that you've endowed into them and given them
these concepts of who they are.
- My advice for people that are looking
to pursue their dreams is to just be persistent,
don't give up.
- There's not gonna be a perfect moment.
Perfection can't ever be achieved,
so with that being said, yes your first attempt
may be flawed, but it's better to have done it,
than to have never done it at all.
- Whatever it is that you do, you have to do it for you.
- First and foremost, do what you love,
do what you want to do, do what you're passionate towards.
Be patient with your family, be patient with your parents.
Support around you wants to know what you're doing.
- I think if you have a dream,
you're going to find your tribe.
And if you don't find that in your parents,
if you don't find that in your family,
you will find it amongst your fellow creatives.
You can go for your dreams, and don't let anybody
bring you down, even if it's your own family.
Do not give up on yourself.
We need you.
(foreign language)
(upbeat music)
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