olotele fifteen years ago when I first
arrived in the United States from
Argentina doing what I'm doing right now
speaking in public in English was one of
my biggest fears accent ISM the
perception that certain accents are
inferior to others is very real in
today's world in fact even today I come
across people who mistakenly assume that
I am uneducated only because English
happens to be my second language so as a
newcomer as a newcomer I feared people
would not understand what I had to say
will not pay attention or even worse
would not take me seriously as a speaker
only because of my accent but then I
learned two words that cured my fears
two words that I treasure in my heart
two words that will help you overcome
your own fears next time you have to
give a presentation and those two words
are Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold
Schwarzenegger that's right because if
that man with that thick Austrian accent
who first conquer Hollywood and then we
come the Governor of California so can i
and so can you
for many years I've shared this story as
an icebreaker just for fun it was my own
way to encourage people to speak in
public even if they feel they don't
quite fit the mold the truth is we all
fit in Alan we feel inadequate one way
or another when facing an audience it
can be the way you sound the way you
look or something as simple as realizing
halfway through your speech that the
zipper is down but as I was getting
ready to deliver these TED talk I
started thinking about that Arnold
Schwarzenegger story in a very different
light and I asked myself why owners out
of all the people in the planet
Ravi video choose Arnold Schwarzenegger
as your pre-performance mental reference
because the truth is the Terminator and
I we don't have that much in common
he's from Europe I am from South America
he's an action movie star I don't even
watch action movies
he's a bodybuilding champion and to be
honest with you I can barely do 15
push-ups back-to-back so why on earth
did I choose Arnold Schwarzenegger in
the first place and so it hit me the
only reason why I chose Arnold
Schwarzenegger was because when I looked
around I couldn't see anyone like me on
stages like me in leading roles or like
me in leadership positions in general so
the question I have to answer was very
simple how to be what you can't see how
to be what you can't see in real life
how to be what you can't see even in
movies because let me tell you something
if you are in a movie and
you happen to be let's say a tornado you
can get to be any kind of tornado you
want to be you can even be a tornado
made out of sharks a sharknado but if
you're if they're if you're in a movie
and you are an immigrant latina like me
all you can aspire to be is a stripper a
maid uneme or if you're feeling extra
ambitious you can always be crowned the
next queen of a drug cartel jokes aside
when you don't see yourself fairly or
proportionately represented you
understand early on that you have two
choices moving forward choice number one
is to embrace what I call the emulator
mindset and the emulator mindset is a
fancy name for something we're very
familiar with which is to look around
see how everyone else like you is doing
and then setting your goals based on
someone else's past experience you are
setting your future prospects based on
someone else past results you want to
emulate their achievements and I am NOT
here to judge anyone's life choices you
can be perfectly happy embracing an
emulator mindset all your life if you
want to but here's the thing emulators
don't move the world forward they tend
to perpetuate the status quo and there
are moments in life when the status quo
is not enough you crave more so there's
another option and it is to embrace what
I call the pioneer spirit and this is
how it works again you look around you
see how everyone else like you is doing
and then you open yourself up to doing
some
and no one like you has done before
you open yourself up to the possibility
of believing in your vision even before
you have the results to validate it you
open yourself up to the possibility of
becoming a pioneer and because you
cannot see out there in the world what
you're looking for your guidance needs
to come from inside that's why every
pioneers
favorite mantra should always be inner
voice over outer noise inner voice over
outer noise because there are moments in
life when you have to take a leap of
faith step into the unknown and there to
be first there to be first in your
family there to be first in your school
there to be first in your community
because it doesn't matter how big or how
small that step you're taking is every
time you choose to pioneer you move the
world forward every time you choose to
pioneer you move the world forward
and this is a concept that is important
for everyone but it is particularly
relevant to people who are coming from
communities who have been treated as the
outsider only because of the way they
look they sound they prey or they love
and if you are listening to this and you
have the privilege of not having to ask
yourself if you should pioneer or not
use that privilege
for good be an ally be a part of the
solution not a part of the problem
that's something very important now I
want for all of us to take a minute and
think about our own lives our own
relationships and our own projects how
do you feel about them if you feel
uncomfortable about any of them pay
attention because this comfort is your
wake-up call
to pioneer this comfort is your wake-up
call to pioneer let me share a personal
experience with you when I was in my
early twenties I started my TV career in
local news and as an aspiring journalist
one of my biggest hopes was to share who
I was with the audience
in an authentic way but as a young
latina working on camera it soon became
very clear that the industry only had
two types of media personas I was able
to embody media persona number one was
the hyper sexualized latina the sexy
reporter who is usually assigned to
entertainment and weather and she's
expected to be sexy 24/7 even under
hurricane watch like the winds are
blowing from the south
that was not me I never understood this
mix of weather and seductiveness so so
all I was left with was with media
persona number two which is the news
anchor who reads the teleprompter with
deep boys and a robotic delivery or in
other news we want you to know that we
really don't speak like this serial life
when we're at home with our families so
I was not mere persona
number one the sexy reporter who is
unfairly put in a box and allowed only
to navigate shallow waters and I was not
media persona number two the former news
anchor who is also unfairly put in a box
and is expected to trade spontaneity for
credibility but it soon became so so
clear that if I had to move forward and
grow in local news I had to find a way
to mold myself to fitting one of these
two stereotypes somehow it was like I
had to erase the parts of my personality
that I liked the most
the part of my personality that make me
me and here's the problem I don't wanna
be I wanna be I wanna be me I don't
wanna be I wanna be I wanna be me and
just like that discomfort was my wake-up
call I want it to be what I could not
see in media and non-stereotypical
multi-dimensional latina so I quit my
job as news anchor and started producing
content independently and I credit that
decision to pioneer with everything that
happened next because to make you a long
story short we started a TV show humbly
in a local in a local market
out of a carpet warehouse which
eventually grew into a regional show a
nationally syndicated show and finally a
three-time Emmy award-winning show many
projects came after that but it all
started with a deliberate decision to
recalibrate our own belief system
because let me tell you something out
there is not a level playing field it is
not so in here you have to open yourself
to possibilities you've never considered
before and do yourself a favor don't pay
attention to stereotypes don't pay
attention to stereotypes because if you
think about it what is a stereotype a
stereotype is nothing but someone else's
idea about me or someone like me it is
not a fact it is only an idea but if we
mistakenly take that idea as a fact if
we believe that idea to be true
if we believe those low expectations
about us or people like us it becomes a
self-fulfilling prophecy
that's why pioneers are so important
because every time you pioneer you
expand what is possible not just for you
but for people like you your experience
is not only your experience it is a case
study the living proof of what's
possible for everyone else that will
come after you every time you pioneer
you move the world forward and before I
leave I have some amazing news to share
with you
there has never been a better time to be
a pioneer than right now technology has
enabled us to be connected all around
the planet in ways we have never been
before your story and your message as a
pioneer can travel to places you can't
even imagine do not underestimate the
power of your own story pioneers are not
extraordinary people veneers are
ordinary people who chose to see
themselves in the world in an
extraordinary way the world needs more
pioneers pioneers are the DNA moral
progress is made of from the civil
rights movement to the suffragettes and
from the LGBTQ fight for equality to the
amazing teenagers who are speaking up
for the planet every single shift in
human consciousness that has made this
world a better place started in the same
way with a group of pioneers who got
together to push an idea whose time had
come and that my dear amigos is the hell
of an idea worth spreading thank you so
much for your time
and thank you thank you
and thus my friend Arnold would say
hasta la vista baby