- My name is Milnalis Diese and I am 22 years old
and I was born and raised in the Bronx.
I wasn't the average kid,
my vision got really bad, really young.
I turned 16 and I go to the eye doctor
that appointment like changed my life completely.
And they told me the way your vision is
you have eye disease now
that it's gonna quadruple every three years,
they literally told me I would waste my mother's money
if I went to school
and I told my mother the same exact words that they told me,
and she just told me, you're fine,
you're gonna be good just go to school and do it.
So I went to school and I did everything.
And I actually, I graduated first in my class
while being blind.
My biggest inspiration is my mother.
And just when I think about like the things
that she went through
and how she grew up and she didn't have anything,
it makes me work so hard.
So I can give her everything and I know I will.
She raised a hustler
and I'm just very blessed to have the mother that I do.
My living situation right now.
I live with my mom and my two sisters
in a two bedroom apartment.
I've lived in this apartment for my entire life
and I'm 22 and nothing has changed.
It looks the complete same.
As fashion as I am,
I want the space to feel relaxed,
to feel like that sound. (sirens)
I don't want it like, and I can't escape it.
Cause I'm in New York city.
My brain, I feel like my brain has 800 tabs open
at the same exact time.
So since I'm always on go
and I'm always working on a project
or this or email or whatever,
I would like the space around me to just zen,
color cause obviously color but zen.
- Okay she is here, Milnalis hey
- No way. (audience clapping)
Are you serious right now?
- Hey, how are you?
- I am so good.
- I am so excited to finally meet you.
I have seriously, - Oh my God, oh really.
- Seriously been thinking about you,
let's start at your sight.
Let's start there.
- Okay yes, perfect.
So I've struggled with my sight, my entire life.
I've been living by for time.
And in August I was told by doctors
once again that if I didn't get a procedure done
by this year, I would be completely blind by 26
and I'm only 22 and I need my eyes to design.
So I went into panic mode
because I didn't have the means to pay for the surgery.
So I posted it on Instagram
and I don't have a big following,
but I posted it on Instagram with the hopes
that even if I get a $100,
we'll meet, like I'll figure something out,
like I'll make something happen.
So I posted it and the post did really well
and I didn't expect it to,
and in less than 48 hours, I received 5,600.
I only needed 5,000.
So that within itself allowed me to realize
that people believe in me, people believe in my story
and it taught me
that we're each other's greatest networking tool
and I can't get anywhere without other people.
So then I started that ignited me to start my company.
And I made my company, which is called see to see.
And it's a networking event company called
created to create,
because I believe that we all create something
and it can be artistic, it can be a spreadsheet,
but you're making something
and we need each other to create a better world so.
- Yeah, what I love is that when I hear a success story,
I'm just like, then I'm glad that person was brave enough
and had the hope enough to put it out there.
And yet the outcome to me is just proof in humanity.
And then what I love is that then that was your springboard
to start a business.
- So I've always my entire life.
My mother knows my sisters know.
I've always said that I was gonna be a designer
and I've always said I was gonna have my company.
I didn't know how, but it was gonna happen.
And I always say that is all over my Instagram,
my captions are, I don't know how, but it will everywhere.
So once that happened, it changed me.
And you can't just go through things like that in life
and not change, I'm very young,
but just battling that I can wake up one day
and I can't see anything.
When I draw for a living, it was a lot
and I didn't wanna open up to Instagram.
It was a lot for me to open up to Instagram
as a blogger, a mini blogger.
I was in shock,
when I had to, that was the only way
my insurance covered my surgery after I was blind.
So after I went fully blind, my insurance would pay it.
- That is a broken system. - Yes.
- And what I think also people want to hear is
that if you donate, it is not just money going into nowhere,
but it can actually help and fix
someone's very important challenges,
but the hope and the incentivization that you took that
and then built a business out of it.
So not only did it like support you,
but it catapulted you into the next chapter.
And I'm here to tell you,
some people don't recognize that change is necessary
and they can stay stuck.
So at your age to know that, that is incredible wisdom.
- Thank you.
- It's true.
- When I leave this earth,
I wanna know that I did everything
that I could to help others and I'm getting emotional.
- Oh my God, don't even get me started on your mom.
Okay, but I--
- I just wanna hope others you know so.
- I believe the meaning of life is
that we're here to take care each other.
- Yeah.
- So I totally subscribed to your thinking.
- Thank you.
- I love your story with your mom.
- Thank you.
- I love that you're so influenced
and you give her the credit
and that she inspires you to be who you are.
Tell me about the space that you live in currently
and have for your whole life.
- Literally my whole life.
So I was born in the Bronx
and I live in this space that I live in right now,
since the day I was born and it has not changed.
Yes, that is it.
It's the same, it's orange.
So it matches my aesthetic of my orange,
but then it has not changed.
My mom has run a daycare out of this apartment.
- And you live in this place with your mom
and your two sisters, which means the four of you.
I looked at your Pinterest inspirations.
- My life.
- And I loved your boards.
- Thank you.
- They really spoke to me.
I totally get your style.
And I also got the quotes that you sent in.
I've brought you into my home
because there was one in particular
that I pulled out and I put it on my mirror
in my little like bathroom closet area.
And it has really helped me in my life so much.
In return I wanted to actually give you this
because I went and researched.
So here is a quote that I made for you.
- No way, thank you so much.
- Yeah, read it out loud please.
- Okay.
Working hard for something
we don't care about is called stress.
Working hard for something we love is called passion.
- Isn't that great?
We all run around like chickens with our heads cut off,
sweating the small stuff,
freaking out about every little thing.
We also, get really freaked out about work stuff.
And we don't know when this is like,
we're doing this to ourselves and it's by choice.
And it's a dream and a goal we have,
or it's just something we have to do
because there's always gonna be that in work.
And I really wanted to do something special for you
that the whole family can enjoy.
And okay, so it's on the screen.
This was your living room.
- Yes, I've seen this a lot.
- All right, here we go.
Let's do it.
I said it was your living room.
- I know that is why I said wait.
- Okay good.
(audience cheering)
- No way, no way.
- Welcome home.
- Thank you.
- Come on in.
- This is crazy.
- Here go right over there to your new table.
- This is my table.
- That is your table.
- My grandfather made this table Dominican Republic.
- We were like not touching the table.
We're just gonna work around it
and we love it. - This is so cool.
- And it's an heirloom, it's your family.
And we added some new chairs - So cool.
- And those are a little flower home prints
over there of flowers, which I know you love.
This we got from an amazing Etsy vendor
and I took all of the colors from your Pinterest boards.
I noticed you loved green and reds,
which is an amazing color combination.
One of the things that I wanted to do,
was I changed the orange color and brought it into the couch
because I thought it would brighten and lighten the room
because there is the one window.
So you only have one light source.
We also wanted to do sort of a lightening of the floor
because that has such a tremendous effect.
And then we have this beautiful light
that's gonna come here.
I also took your quotes
and I put them at our amazing art department goddess,
her name is Sarah,
and she has a two month old baby right now.
And somehow she just makes miracles happen.
So her and I co conspired. - Thank you Sarah.
- And she made all of these herself
and there's some of your favorite quotes.
- Yeah I already know.
- And just sort of the plants
and just shift the chi a little bit
with light and living things.
- After 22 years, we're shifting the chi.
- That's also your TV console and we put new handles on it
so that you could have--
- This is it.
- Yeah, yeah. - This is so creepy.
We went into your home (laughs)
and took your furniture and speaking of this whole set
is gonna go from here in a track to storage,
go to your house, pick up the rest of your stuff.
Painters are gonna come in. - It's crazy.
- And paint the entire room this color--
- So no more orange walls.
- No more orange walls. - Praise God.
- Fresh curtains they're gonna hang everything
and do it exactly like this.
So you don't have to do a thing.
It'll just be a perfect seamless transfer.
- This is so cool, thank you.
- This segment for me
and getting to know you over these last few weeks was
so much more than about decor.
- Yeah.
- It's who you are as a person.
And those stories are really incentivizing
for us all to take the high road.
There's less traffic.
So I'm all about that.
- They're curling.
- And I just think that the way your mom raised you
to make you so brave and clear-headed
and smart and bold in a time,
that can be so confusing and overwhelming.
It's just, well, you've really inspired me.
- Thank you.
- If anyone is liking any aspect of this room,
you can go to our website and sort of take a look see
at what we did, but really we just wanted to say,
we think you're awesome.
- Thank you.
- Appreciate this.
- Oh my God I wish I could hug you so badly--
- Honestly me too but six feet.
- Thank you so much Milnalis for coming on the show.
Thank you for telling us your story.
Most of all, thank you for being you.
(upbeat music)