Episode 109: Struggling and thriving with dyslexia — with Angelica Goncalves

Angelica Goncalves is an adult who has lived with dyslexia all her life. She was diagnosed at the age of six. Growing up, people told her she would never succeed or achieve her goals, but with the support of her parents and constant determination, she proved those predictions wrong.

Born and raised in Canada, Angelica attended George Brown College and graduated in Architectural Technology. She worked in the retail/service industry for 13 years, was a personal trainer for 4 years, and currently works in the construction industry. She also hosts a podcast called “A Little Bit of Everything With Me!” Her goal is to show others with learning disabilities that they can achieve their goals too.

During this episode, Angelica shares her story of struggling, living and thriving with a learning disability, including:

• How she realized at a young age that she had a learning disability
• How her experiences at school hindered her rather than helped her
• How her parents helped her stay the course through her education
• How she finally found her way in the working world with careers that she is passionate about
• Why she created her podcast and how it helped her meet more people like herself

You can find out more about Angelica and her work on her official website, www.everythingwithange.com. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

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A full episode transcript is available below.

Carolyn: Today on Beyond 6 Seconds…

Angelica: Why are you gonna fail? You have already overcome every single obstacle which was completing elementary, completing high school. Everyone always told you you couldn’t do it. You can do it, just believe in yourself. And every time I would come home I remember from day 1 it’s like, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it. You’re just gonna do it, you’re gonna be fine, you’re gonna be fine, you’re gonna do it. It’s just repetitive and repetitive, but it’s easier said than done.

Carolyn: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds. The podcast that goes beyond the six-second first impression to share the extraordinary stories and achievements of everyday people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Carolyn: On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Angelica Goncalves. Angelica is an adult who has lived with dyslexia all her life. She was diagnosed at the age of 6. Growing up, people told her she would never succeed or achieve her goals, but with the support of her parents and constant determination, she proved those predictions wrong. With her podcast called “A Little Bit of Everything with Me,” Angelica is showing others with learning disabilities that they can achieve their goals too. Angelica, welcome to the podcast!

Angelica: Hi, thank you Carolyn for having me here.

Carolyn: Yeah, I’m excited to talk with you and listen to your story because you really have an amazing story of overcoming big obstacles. So to start out, from the beginning, how did you first realize that you had a learning disability?

Angelica: Well, it started off when I was entering grade 1. The time of your life where you are finishing off playing in the sandbox and learning colors and numbers, to kind of really starting to put sentences together, you are reading out loud, you have a small short little books that were probably like 20 pages with 3 chapters, you’re learning about math and you’re learning how to add bigger numbers, etc. etc. And I started, and it’s funny because it seems like I remember this like it just happened yesterday, it feels like it’s a traumatic memory but really it isn’t but it has been stuck to me, where I was told to speak out in front of the class because we were reading our books and I was asked to read out loud. So, when I started to read, first of all, I was shy, I say that I was because lately I’ve been overcoming a lot of obstacles to kind of get out of my comfort zone. I was very shy, very nervous and I couldn’t even read the 3 simple words that I had to pronounce. I was very nervous. I was just, you know, you hear all these kids before you reading sentences and putting the words together, but when it came to my turn, I was just like, I kinda just broke down, I just kept my mouth shut because I just didn’t know like, I would know the word “the” but I wouldn’t know what were the other words after. When it came to questions said in the class like, you know, there’s always that open discussion for kids like, well, what did we just read? Was it person A or was it person B? Like you know, they would ask these questions and I would never get the answer and sometimes when you are sitting even as an adult when you are taking night school, you are kind of just like, okay, yeah, the answer A, or B, or C whatever, but for me, I wasn’t even processing anything. I’m just like, what are these people talking about? It was just like I was in a different world. I started to kind of rethink things over. I never put my hand up because I was really shy. I was really embarrassed. I didn’t want to be that person of like, oh my gosh, I got the answer wrong and then people were gonna make fun of me, people with their kids are gonna make fun of me, but you know, I just felt like there was something that I couldn’t do what other kids could do and when it came to math and science and quizzes and spelling, I couldn’t do any of it. Like, you would ask me to spell the easiest four-letter word like ball, tall, you know, cat, it would be natural to me but when we came to learning bigger words like entrance, door opening, all together, I couldn’t. So, I would come home with grades that were not the norm for a kid at that age. So, over time, and thank goodness to my teacher, she noticed there was something wrong because comparing to the other kids, then you got gifted kids too, she knew there was something different about me and she pointed out to my mom because my mom obviously saw me after when I was older, said that she realized that you were a bit behind, you weren’t developing, it’s like I knew what to say when I was face to face to her, but then she noticed that when it was in a group, you get very nervous, you break down, but then also when you are one on one with her, then some of the words you couldn’t pronounce like you weren’t at par to the rest of the kids.

Carolyn: Oh, I see. So, it sounds like your teacher did pick up on this at a relatively early time in your schooling and then this was pretty early on I guess you mentioned like sort of right after you are playing in the sandbox so like, you know, kindergarten, first grade I guess one of the earliest times in school, what happened from there? Where there like special types of schooling or types of treatments or skill sets that they would sort of supplement your learning with or like what happened from there once your teacher talked to your mom and said, you know, I think she’s not developing in reading and other areas at the same pace as other kids?

Angelica: So, they had to go to the school board, so when they addressed it to the principal, the principal and other I guess you can say student teachers at that time, my mom was telling me and other teachers were kind of like, okay, well, we should send her to a specialist, get her checked out and then we will go to the school board and see what they can do because they weren’t sure. They don’t know if it was social anxiety. They weren’t sure if it’s ADHD. They don’t know if it was like everything that you can think of that could be a disability was they were trying to put up on me. Maybe she is not hearing right. Maybe she is, you know, maybe there is something wrong with her hearing or maybe it’s a speech thing like they just, they listed the whole things. My mom was telling me that throughout the six months it was very like, okay, so we have to go to one specialist. We have to get your ears checked. We have to get a speech test done. There was something in your brain so we had to get the test done on that. We had to pretty much every single thing I had to get checked out to make sure there was nothing else serious that was happening to me because at one point my mom told me that, hey, maybe she’s deaf like maybe she’s losing her hearing. Maybe she’s not hearing things that’s why she’s like so closed in and then they thought maybe I wasn’t seeing properly. So every single thing that you could think of I was put through. So then after the results were fine. I could hear, I could see, I could speak. Everything was great and I remember going through like this, I actually remember the speaking exams were they will lift a card and they will say, okay, what is this? Can you read this? Can you read this? Like it was just numerous of examinations, colors, numbers, etc. Everything was fine. Now, they couldn’t find what they could like what are we gonna do? Like if all her tests were fine like what else could you do really? So the school decided and they said, okay, let’s put her in a special needs class. Now, back in the day in the early 90s like your special needs class was mixed with people with physical disabilities and also learning disabilities. But they kind of wanted to see, okay, let’s see how she finishes off the year because this is probably early, they are still developing, kids will be fine, yada, yada like they usually say and about grade 3, that’s where it kinda got serious where I was able to communicate, I was able to read on my own but I wasn’t really grasping the information telling me because I’m a visual learner. So, if you give me a book with a bunch of words, it’s like I’m not going to really grasp the information. I’m not gonna be able to really tell you what I just learned and that’s what I struggle to this day like if I’m reading anything, anything really, if you think it’s a beautiful story that people say it’s a beautiful story, I won’t be able to grasp that first. I won’t be able to paint that picture that’s in my mind to really enjoy the book. I could read the words off the page, but if you are not really picturing that image then how enjoyable is it so much as reading a book with words.

Carolyn: Right.

Angelica: So, with that also they said, okay, now that they’ve gotten a bunch of, not a bunch but I’m saying like probably 10 students with learning disabilities throughout the grades, I guess these are implementing a program, they said okay, let them finish their work, every homeroom teacher that had a student with ESL because that’s they would call them, English as a Second Language. They would put them into little room so after you’ve given the assignment to your class, you send them downstairs to a room and then there will be an assistant to help you. But really this assistant, I didn’t find any use of it, because you’ve got so many other kids from different classes, different homerooms, different teachers have their different schedules throughout the day that if I’m learning let’s say science, this other child beside me would be learning about English and then the other one is learning about history, the other one is learning about geography and it’s just like, how can you teach somebody? And I remember there was only probably one teacher there for all the students and then you’ve got the other half of the room where you’ve got physical disabilities, right? So, it was kind of hard for you when you need to concentrate as it is because there’s so much happening and everyone is asking questions, everyone is trying to move back and forth, you’re better off being in your homeroom class where it’s so quiet and you can possibly have the teacher kind of stick with you for a bit while other students are working on their work.

Carolyn: Yeah.

Angelica: So, I kinda felt like there wasn’t enough resources. And then of course I would get retested again and my life was basically through elementary was from grade school, so grade 1 to 8, I’m not sure how it is in United States or other parts of the world, but in Canada you kind of are in elementary school from junior kindergarten all the way until grade 8. We don’t have a middle school unless you are part of a different system, so I was brought up in a Catholic system and that was their schooling and so as I’ve gone older, I realized that I’m not improving anything. That’s great — you’ve got separate classes for these kids but you are not teaching them anything! All you are doing is coming up and I would have a question like, well, I don’t understand what this paragraph is telling me because I have to summarize it for example. Or those book reports, I dreaded book reports because you were forced to read and you had to explain what happened in the story? What was the climax? What was this and what did you get out of it? What did this character happen? How did they develop? And I’m just like, for me it was so difficult. You are making me read these pages that for me it’s like, I really don’t know what happened to the boy that was growing up with his dad. I have no clue. I didn’t know what happen to the dog that ran away because I wasn’t really into reading like my brain couldn’t focus. And there wasn’t many programs. There was just, you were stuck in this classroom with everybody else from different classes, different ages and you’re kind of just sitting there and hoping that someone would kinda actually know what they are doing and kinda say, hey, okay so fractions, algebra, do not like that, okay teach me, teach me an easier method of how to do it, you know, like there was nothing of that. It’s like, okay, I know half and a half but how do we get to the half and half, if no one is telling me how to get to it, or you are just gonna tell me the answer, or just you know just simply you add that and at the bottom and that’s it. That’s how you get the answer. Well, no, okay, but tell me into detail, right? I have to be given detail directions. So, it’s like how do we build the house? You’re not gonna tell me just do the foundation and then we’re gonna add the floors and then boom, we have the roof and we have cut out windows and doors. This is not how it works.

Carolyn: Mm-hmm.

Angelica: You know, you gotta get the found…. you obviously gotta lay out the plan, do some surveying, you know, gotta do some measurements, okay, where we gonna put the foundation? Where is the property? The way I’m saying it because I went to school for it but you know, there’s more details to it. So, as I was growing up, it was really difficult and I always like thought that being in this class, it’s like you are away from everybody. I could remember peers through the door where you’re kind of like, oh, they are making fun of the kids that are in the classroom. It was one of those where, oh, the special ed kids, oh, you are so special, you are so special because all they can say is special, right? They really don’t know the meaning of it. Oh, ESL kids because they’re dumb. They are unintelligent and everything. You would hear that behind the doors when you are inside from the outside and it was just like, you know, you would go back to your homeroom and you would start let’s say your next subject which could be mathematics. If I had science in the morning and mathematics I have to go back to my homeroom and learn about whatever we are doing, and then I would be sent back downstairs again, wasting time getting down there, and it was a big school. It’s just like there was nothing really in structure and I finally realized when I was in grade 8, it was like well, these teachers, actually grade 7 because I ended up switching schools which made it kind of a bit of a difference, but grade 7 ending my school year in the city that, you know, I was there my whole entire life, teachers were not even teachers, they were volunteers like lunch monitors volunteers that they were like, okay, can we spare you like half an hour? And you can help in this classroom. They just do their work and that’s it. No, that’s not what we just do, we need someone that explain to us what I’m struggling with. I just didn’t like it at all. It felt like I couldn’t do anything. I felt useless. I felt helpless like, you know, my parents came here about 40 years ago, they immigrated and they were learning English themselves like I remember my mom since I was a child and I was from daycare to daycare she was learning English because she was given the opportunity where she immigrated. They were given free English classes and the childcare system was free for them. Because it’s like okay I was born here but they were still given these resources back in the day where you can learn English if you just immigrated and she was learning English because she had a University Spanish background. She was a University teacher, she also did nursing as well back home. So, I could imagine how she was just kind of like when I’m here, oh, I can teach myself English, no problem, go to the classes, take out the books, you’ll learn the verbs, the grammar, she’s still good at it until this day and I’m just like holy crap, but I can’t get to it, but at that time, I didn’t have anybody to tell me, okay, well, can someone help me with my homework? I didn’t have that. My dad was always working. My mom was learning English and she was also going to work at the same time. And I know it’s crucial for a lot of kids where they need that parent to say, okay, let’s do homework together. Let’s do this. I know she taught me math and she tried to teach me math, but also she knew how much I struggled because nothing will be retainable, but she did her best. But with everything else, it was kind of just like, my mom was like, I don’t remember this science class. I don’t remember learning about cells, that was like years ago, like I’m not gonna remember anything, and it would be like sorry kid like I got nothing for you. But she would try and buy CDs that will help kids kinda learn and develop certain areas of subjects.

Carolyn: Yeah.

Angelica: But it’s nothing what you’ve learned in school, so it was really hard. I’d be learning about other things, but it wasn’t pertaining to my curriculum year. And I would learn about American history because the CD was American made where from grades 3 to 6, you learn history, math, science, everything, but it was really different here. It was two different things but I enjoyed it. It helped me learn because it was visual. There were cartoons helping me, you know, let’s locate this, let’s talk about that and I used to watch The Magic School Bus a lot. I did learn a lot, but it wasn’t part of my curriculum schedules so it was difficult. And when we moved away from the city, I spent my grade 8 there, my last year, and I noticed that there were actually teachers that were specialized in ESL. There were teachers who are helping in special ed but then again it’s like they weren’t helping us and there was very few of us and different grade from different homerooms and we weren’t given the help that we needed. They may have helped me a little bit but I don’t remember because once I got into high school again you get that label it’s like that label sticks with you until the end of… okay you’re an ESL student you’re gonna have to take ESL English. And when I got into ESL English I’m just like, but I could have sworn I just did English since I was in grade 1,why am I I going back 8 years to learn ESL English, you know, so I had to change my courses. I talked to my counselor and it was like, oh, well, since you have ESL, well, there’s not much you can do. You can do applied, because here in Canada it’s like applied in university, so meaning if you take applied courses, you’re going to college. If you’re taking, unless you are a certain percentage in all your courses then you could go to university. But if you’re gonna take university it’s the university level way advanced, where you can go to university, apply to university, so that’s how it works here, and I would just take all my applied classes. I used to take chances and go into university classes and kinda see how it is. Because if I don’t try it, how am I supposed to know?

Carolyn: Right.

Angelica: So, I hated the label once again and it would be like the same thing all over again, where you were going into your different classes in high school and you were sent down to the ESL room which is 2 floors down at this time, not just one, but two floors down and it was near the cafeteria which is even worse because everyone likes to hang out there, and people were just, oh, look it’s the special kids because there’s always someone skipping in the hallways that will hang out there, someone in the cafeteria, it’s either lunch, whatever it is. You’re gonna be stuck there. There was a noise from the outside. The inside they mixed it up which I didn’t like. It was physical disabilities and then there was people with learning disabilities. I’m just like, is this system ever gonna change? I used to skip those classes. I was given a full like 45 minutes to an hour whatever it was of just ESL but for what? Like if you’re not gonna help me with my work then there’s no point.

Carolyn: Wow.

Angelica: And I used to fight for it and I used to tell my dad I used to breakdown a lot and there’s so much just like even my mom used to say this is ridiculous. It’s like why am I wasting my time? I should just be in my homeroom and just ask a friend for help if they wanna help me or ask a teacher for help. And I remember one of my math teachers he understood kind of the way the system works and he disagreed with it but you know, how nice he was to the point where he was just like, “listen I know you have troubles in math and you need this math because what you are going into in college you need to take math” and I’m like, “okay, but how can you help me?” He’s like “during your spares come and see me there’s always room for you here in this classroom. My kids are pretty good. I have a bunch of university classes I’m teaching and you can come in, they will usually do the work and that’s it and then let them be. And then I can help you during that spare time.”

Carolyn: Oh.

Angelica: So, I tried to, and he knew I was learning a lot. He knew I was trying so hard that it was just like at a point where I would re-take the exam, my midterms, but it’s like, okay, there’s clearly something that you are not grasping which is okay we’ve done everything but the fact that you showed effort I’m just gonna pass you.

Carolyn: Wow.

Angelica: And for the majority of my classes, that’s how it was because they kinda knew like, I could do something but then I couldn’t do the other thing. Once I got more advanced and after learning my brain processing after 3 months the next month we are just learning on the new different topic and it’s just you are confusing me already. So, throughout my elementary school years, I gravitated to sports and I always tried to be better at sports and I was in competition with myself with sports because maybe sports can get me somewhere. And during high school, instead of gravitating to sports, it was working my part-time job because I had to, but also I looked into arts and graphics and also art too is a big deal in my elementary years and I loved art and everything, but when I got into high school I said I’m not gonna get into sports, there’s too much competition especially in the area where I grew up in high school and I was just like, okay, let me just gravitate to art. Art’s gonna be my venue. Take photography, take graphics, take wood shop like let me see because since I was a kid, my dad being in the construction industry I’ve always gravitated to it. I had a passion for it. I like to see, we used to go look for a house, I loved taking a picture of the model homes and I used to take them home and I would get my sketch pad and kinda make modifications off of it. I used to just draw the existing part of the back of that model home picture that they give you in that brochure and I used to do interior designing. My mind was very creative so that was kinda like my outlet to get away from it all. But during high school it was just like what do I do? What do I do in this life? I go to the counselor and I say I wanna become an architect. Well, you can’t. Oh, really I can’t? Thanks. Great counselor, you know, what are you here for? And I just felt like everyone was just bringing me down. It’s like, can’t go to nursing because I’m not a fan of it. I can’t see blood, oh, no way. I cannot see someone cut open over someone in an emergency, I cannot like that’s not me. I don’t wanna get into math and science because it’s not for me. I can get into arts. I cannot go into sports because I kinda dropped that completely and I can’t do it. So, it’s like what do you do? What do you really do? And then when I got into a full-time job, that’s where I felt like, my part-time job during high school, I felt like I was accepted because you are in high school and it’s like the worst 4 years of your life, and going into part-time job, I felt that acceptance that like no one cares about you as in like your studies. They just care about you as a person and how well you work and that was my strong skill.

Carolyn: What was your part-time job at that time?

Angelica: I was at a retail hardware store. It was a Big Box Retailer and I figured I wanted to start working because there’s no way they are gonna put me in summer school because that’s gonna rip my hair out.

Carolyn: It’s been more the same probably that you’re already suffering through.

Angelica: Exactly. I needed to take a break, so I figured having a part-time job would be best. So, I applied to one of the Big Box Retailers, that was a hardware store where I live and it was like probably 10-minute drive from my parents. And I started and I felt really accepted. I worked with people who were actually 4 years older than me. And it was believe it or not, it was very masculine environment but for some reason I just blended right in and it was very nice to walk into a job that you felt accepted, opposed to be in school for 8 hours and you felt like you were just gonna fall apart because you are just like, well, since I’m not good at anything then what’s the point? There were so many times that I wanted to stop trying but my mom kept telling me you just have to do this. So I’m not sure if you are aware but I don’t know if it’s like this in US there’s two examinations they do, they call it EQAO testing. I don’t know the abbreviation or full thing of it but basically kinda gives the province that I live in and as a country as Canada how students are doing kind of evaluation of the kids if they are developing at par or if there is something we have to change the school system. So I took it in grade 3, I passed that. I was apparently on par but there’s some things obviously I have to work on which is math and science and English. But in grade 10 I failed it twice. So, I was just like okay this is weird and that’s what I kinda got concerned I got really anxious, I got really like stressed out like I’m gonna fail a grade, I’m gonna fail a grade like I don’t wanna do that. I don’t wanna be in the school for another year like I can’t be setback and they were given a chance for us to redo it again and what they gave me was which I wish they had this years ago was a computer that will speak to you, dictation of the material that you did on that exam. So instead of being a paper copy of the exam, it was actually computer copy and they hired somebody I guess the government does this where they bring in every student that’s using the computer, there will be an individual there beside them to help them kind of like, they are not gonna give you the answer because it’s a government test but they would give you like a guidance. So if I wasn’t understanding how to put this paragraph or list the commas and stuff it’s like she will try to read it to you because I had a female and she would say well like I’m reading in front of me I’m gonna just as an example she will say okay, “beyond 6 seconds, you think it needs a comma or do you need a period?” And then she will continue on reading it. So yeah it took longer for me to write the exam because we only have certain amount of time before they start collecting it but it really helped me kind of just like do the whole thing and then after that I ended up passing it just because I was given a computer and someone to assist me to help me through the whole process.

Carolyn: Wow. But this was not until high school it sounds like so you’ve already had all these years of the special class or the resource class, you had these resources but they really weren’t helpful at all. So it sounds like that way you were able to take the exam that it didn’t rely only on like reading comprehension, you had more of like oral and visual interactions. It sounds like that finally was something that was helpful to comprehend and take the exams.

Angelica: Yeah. So when I was in grade 11 and 12 which you have to really think about college admissions or university, it really kind of just like, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do? So, one of the guidance counselors, because we ended up getting another one, maybe because there was two, one was busy because during that time of the year between grade 11 and 12 you are kind of like okay you gotta make an appointment with a guidance counselor to kinda see if you are on the right track, yada yada, so the other one that was available to me was like, “okay, why don’t you become an architectural technologist if you wanna become an architect?” And I’m like, “okay, so what does that require?” She’s like “well you have all the courses that you require, you just need to do grade 12 physics because we don’t offer it to grade 11 so you can do it at this year then you can add it in the coop.” And I liked the idea she was giving me and I did take the grade 12 physics which I just passed it to be honest. And just to get into the college and I also took a coop so I can actually reassure myself that I’m able to do the job and when I went to my coop placement, I learned so much because I realized that it kinda painted the picture saying like, whatever you do in school they are not gonna really care as long as you know how to do the work, like it doesn’t matter if you get a 4.0 GPA, they just care you know how to do the job.

Carolyn: Yeah.

Angelica: Yeah, I could be good but also you’re gonna learn the ways they do because everyone does it differently. So, I liked that experience, I graduated, and going into college was just like, oh my god, what am I gonna expect? It’s like, it’s gonna be a whole new environment which I already knew. It’s gonna be different people. They already knew I was an ESL student with a learning disability so they did put me in ESL English. Now for college level ESL English it was like, you just came to the country on a student visa and you are learning English for the first time.

Carolyn: Oh, my god.

Angelica: So when I went there for the first two weeks, I was just like, I’m not doing this. So, I went back to the guidance counselor for my program and I said, can I drop this course and just go into regular English because then I have 3 years to do this program and just because of one course, I don’t wanna be setback or put on another one because I used to take 8 courses per semester which is so much for me. And I didn’t want to cut corners and I was still working my part-time job and so she was really nice. She’s like sure like they don’t really care. They are like, okay, yeah, you can do this. Yup. Okay, this is your new English class and that’s it. So that’s what happened. I enjoyed all my classes. I did enjoy, it was really hard of course no one really tells you that. It’s just that you’re gonna make so much money becoming an architectural technologist and I would never forget that day, the first Friday when I had my lecture class like you’re gonna make so much money, you’re gonna be contractors, you guys can do this, you guys can do that. All the job opportunities laying out for you like the red carpet and I’m thinking, okay. But one thing he also mentioned, well, this is shocking. There are more women in this program than ever before and I’m like, okay, cool. There’s more women in construction. It’s about freakin’ time because it’s been a battle for the past how many years now? And the biggest challenge with college is the English because we had to do thesis and essays and I’m not that writer. Math was another one. I actually failed math twice. I had to pay twice like it was just like, oh my god, I can’t believe this. And my math teacher, it all depends on the teacher because I could learn mechanical, HVAC because I had a great teacher. I could learn electrical because I had a great teacher. I can do plumbing which was more difficult than electrical but I could learn history of architecture because I had a great teacher. You give me an estimating class with the teacher who could not even speak English I’m not gonna learn. If you’re gonna teach me English, English is just for me in my brain it’s already set that I’m not gonna do well, which kinda sucks because it’s like you’re prone to it already. I’m gonna take this vitamins even though it takes like a couple months in our body to really make, you know, something out of it and see the results. But if you are always like oh I’m sick I need to take vitamin C, your body is prone to you okay you need to take vitamin C because you are sick. But does it do anything? We don’t know, right?

Carolyn: It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy kind of after a while.

Angelica: Yes. Yes. And working in groups was a bit difficult because when you’re assigned groups they don’t care who you get. They don’t know who you are and it’s like you gotta learn how to work together, right? And I was able to do the work but it’s just the basic English and Math and it’s funny because I could do my concrete class which was calculating but then I was working with materials measuring these type of aggregate with this and doing the calculations to make sure my concrete was gonna hold for the project that we were dealing with which was an underground parking, you know, it’s a lot of weight to it, so I was able to do it because I had a good teacher. So then I realized having a good teacher who can detailedly explain things and paint that picture for you and use slides is what’s gonna help me learn.

Carolyn: Yeah. And that makes sense and having these good teachers it sounds like not just the teacher who sticks to one way to learn and that’s like, here read this and write about this, it’s literally like bringing in those other elements like the kinesthetic where you can actually touch things and measure things or the visual were you can look at slides, and hear things, and it sounds like the good teachers were able to think a little more openly and creatively about how they delivered and taught information.

Angelica: Mm-hmm. Exactly. And that’s when I realized, okay, well having a good teacher is what’s gonna help me. Now, it was really hard. It was 8 courses per semester and I felt like I was gonna give up. My grades weren’t that great, I’m telling you. My grades weren’t that great. The passing mark for all my class was 60%. I would get a 60 between 60 or 65. My mom knew I was never gonna be an A+ student since day 1. All she knew that I was gonna be good in art, in sports, physical education, because I used to always come home with an A which was probably the first A you’ll ever see in my life. Geography grade 9 believe it or not, I did have, I made it to the honor list but it was just because I had a good teacher and I love geography and I got an award for it but then, you know, kinda told my mom like you’re not gonna see anymore because really geography that teacher I don’t know if he’s gonna teach the next one because you don’t get geography in grade 10, you’re getting history. So, my mom knew how much I struggled so much and how much it hurt me and how she knew like, oh, you work so much. Yeah, because I love where I’m working because I feel that acceptance but when I’m at school, I don’t get it. But when I was in college, I felt that acceptance because no one really cared what your background was. They are just there to get the job done and out the door because we are paying so many thousands of dollars just to get into a program to make something out of ourselves as a career. So for me I was just like, okay, I felt so drained and emotionally drained because after failing twice in math you’re just like what do I do? Like I can’t continue on like I’m hating this course. I’m hating this course. I’m hating it. What am I gonna do? Like I would think every single possibility, do I just drop out or do I do something else but what am I gonna do to get into business and do more math? Like what am I gonna do? What am I good at? Then I remember my mom she’s like, you’re kidding me right? And my mom is tough love because we come from that Latin background and she’s just like are you kidding me? You’re just gonna give up? She’s like, are you dumb? And it’s okay for her to say I’m dumb and stupid because that’s my mom, but she was just like are you stupid? You have one semester left. Because when we started the program believe it or not we had 1500 students. Towards the end, we only had like 300. They were dropping like flies. No one can handle the program.

Carolyn: Wow. But you were still there.

Angelica: And I was still there and I’m just like how am I gonna do this? I don’t know how to keep up. I feel like I was gonna drop everything because my lecture professor where we do all our big assignments and projects that we are given that’s like our free time, she’s like, “you haven’t been here” and I’m like, “yeah, because I’m working night shifts. Look if I don’t work at nights, if I don’t work my job, how am I supposed to go to school and pay my car? I wasn’t gonna take the bus because it cost me more and take me longer to get home.” And she’s just like, “well, you need to be here” and I’m like “well I do show up. I don’t show up at 8 o’clock, I’m gonna show up at like at 9 o’clock” because I said “I’m sorry. When I get home at 5 o’clock,” I said, “I take my little nap, I eat, I go to work from 10 o’clock all the way through 6 in the morning.”

Carolyn: Wow.

Angelica: And I’m still taking 40 hours, it was 44 hours a week of school. That’s a lot!

Carolyn: This is in college, right?

Angelica: This is college. Architectural technology. So whoever is listening whose got a kid who is considering it, you really got to consider. It’s either you work or you just focus on that school. But with my grades, I couldn’t become an architect so that’s another 10 years of my life added on to it.

Carolyn: Wow.

Angelica: And I felt like, why am I gonna spend all that money knowing that I struggled so much in college?

Carolyn: Absolutely.

Angelica: So my mom kinda kicked me in the behind and said, well, you need to stop this mentality because she says you need to think where we came from. She’s like, when I came here I didn’t know English. It’s courses; it’s watching Sesame Street, it’s watching TV with you, The Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune, me going to these classes, and she’s like, I’m older than you. That shouldn’t be an excuse. Yeah, you were born here but we didn’t teach you English. We taught you Spanish. But you were taught English when you got into the school, when you got into daycare, when you got into elementary like that’s where you learned the language. But she was kind of just making it seemed like, why are you gonna fail? You have already overcome every single obstacle which was completing elementary, completing high school. Everyone always told you you couldn’t do it, but why are we putting you in this mindset? You can do it, just believe in yourself. And every time I would come home I remember from day 1 it’s like, you can do it, you can do it, you can do it. You’re just gonna do it, you’re gonna be fine, you’re gonna be fine, you’re gonna do it. It’s just repetitive and repetitive but it’s easier said than done.

Carolyn: Yeah.

Angelica: I remember getting into arguments where it’s just like, “well, you don’t understand like how do you build a building and support everything and then just do this, you know, the math and everything and it’s just like why do we need the math? Don’t they put into the system and tell you how much weight you need to support certain beams and everything,” like I would freak out. And my mom was just like, “okay, but you just need to get this piece of paper. Why are you so angry about it? Like just get the passing mark” and I’m like “but I’m not gonna get the passing mark because I don’t feel like I can.” And she’s like “but you need to do it. If you don’t pass this obstacle, I don’t care what you do, she’s like I don’t care what you do after. I don’t care if you just gonna work in retail for the rest of your life. I don’t care if you’re gonna work in a factory. I don’t care if you get a big promotion or whatever it is. If you’re not gonna do architecture as long as you have that piece of paper as a fall back that’s all you need.”

Carolyn: Yeah. She really pushed you forward and kept you, you know, kept you when the times because I know, you know, when we were talking earlier you mentioned that, you know, through all those struggles you frequently felt like you wanted to give up especially when people were telling you that you couldn’t do it and it sounds like your mom was a good support in that way even if it was just like, you know, you gotta get back out there and you gotta finish like you’ve done, and reminding you like everything that you had overcome along the way and that you could continue to do that, it’s important.

Angelica: Yeah. And it was a lot of tough love but then once I finished it and now getting into the workplace, that’s a whole new different story because you’re like well do you disclose that you have a learning disability? Do you disclose it or not, because every single job I’ve had there’s some of them that have been good, some of them they were horrible, but then I used to be a manager. I didn’t think I was gonna become a manager. And I was managing in retail clothing store and hardware store and supply store, and then I managed a gym with people. I used my pass as a way when I’m going to train and on-board and develop my team. I used to always talk to them in a way where, okay, so this is how it works, you know, I’m gonna give you the tools that you need and I’m gonna try to support you as much as you can even though this is not your future, how can I help you to develop the skills that you need for your future job, your future career, for your school or whatever it is. I used to take what I’ve learned in the past to kinda change my training style on on-boarding in a different way so people can understand. I wanted to change things slowly which I have when I was given the opportunity no problem but also I didn’t want to be in retail for the rest of my life either because it’s emotionally draining as well. So I ended up going into personal training. I went back to school, who would have thought I was gonna go back to school? And I took an online course for personal training and nutrition. I took it through Miami Dade college because I like their intensive program, I was able to learn. I did take one here in Canada but the 3-day thing does not work. You can’t tell me you can become a trainer in 3 days and tell me that you’re gonna have a client with osteoporosis or whatever it is and you’re gonna help them. So I wanted extensive training so I took my money and put it in there and I did it. I actually got literally I think it was 4.0 GPA for my whole entire course and I was surprised because, you know, something that you love you will literally love it. You will literally take whatever it takes to put it out there and just be good at it. And once I did that, I did it for a couple of years. Had my own little small business and I used to train clients at home and then once I got emotionally drained by everything because of the schedule that I had that was intense that I always work 2 to 3 jobs all the time and finally I decided to do photography and I self-taught myself photography and I have a passion for that and then just recently 3 years ago, I did work for real estate agent that did not work out because he just didn’t know how to teach people. Like you wanna grow your business, learn how to teach people. And I would always get upset and I was like “mom I don’t know what to do.” My mom was like going through job like what am I gonna do? And my mom was just like, “well, if you don’t like it just leave. You know, just leave like what are you gonna do? If this guy is not gonna sit down with you and say, hey, I need to teach you how to do it then what’s the point? That’s ruining his business not yours. It’s literally his fault if he’s not gonna teach them how to on board properly, how to actually read through the contracts and fill them out.”

Carolyn: Yeah.

Angelica: And even though I disclosed that I had a learning disability, they were trying to run away from it but knowing I have rights as a worker being in Canada and as the disability, well, guess what, you’re gonna screw yourself which I managed to, you know, do extra things but other than that like I said you know what, this is a learning experience.

Carolyn: Yeah. Yeah.

Angelica: Just recently after that when I left that position, I ended up thinking, you know what, let me just go back to construction, let me just go back to it. After that real estate job, I applied to the company that I applied for when I finished college and I got the job. It was a hard company to get into. It’s really well known here in Canada in the construction industry. And I finally did it and I was just like holy crap I made it. I made it. I’m not doing what I’m doing as an architectural technologist which was fine, but the fact that my foot is in the door again, I felt so rewarded. I felt so great and I did disclose and I actually just disclose and I said listen even though I may have a learning disability, I can still create a spreadsheet, I can still create invoices, I can do whatever it takes because I have a creative side of me. I can still read drawings. I can do this. I can do that like it’s me trying to build that confidence because after so many years in retail management, you learn how to build that confidence because you led a team and now you’re kind of like. I used to hire people, I used to fire people and now it’s reversed. You kinda know how it works at this point, so having that confidence really helps me and when they called me a couple of months later, I was just like oh crap, so I did get the job. And once I stepped into it, I was looking into my career because I’m like I don’t think I can be a desk person, I’m more in the field. So, just recently I just completed my part 1 of health and safety which I didn’t expect I was gonna do it. And I was like really nervous because I’m like I feel like I’m given a second chance through this work and giving me the opportunity to do something and kinda change things and also kinda prove that as women here getting into construction but we are here because we like it. It’s we wanna make change and when I completed my health and safety part 1 which I still gotta do part 2 of this year of 2020 I kinda felt like a sense of accomplishment, a sense of like I made it. I’ve had 3 certificates underneath my belt plus I’ve got this one coming up, it’s just gonna be my other certificate. Now, I’m thinking maybe I should do my master’s in health and safety but that’s in the future. I shouldn’t get ahead of myself yet. I need to finish part 2 which is like the written component of file incident report and stuffs like that and that’s where I kinda was like I did it. I finally accepted the fact just recently that I have this learning disability, it’s a gift. It’s a gift that took me through a hell of a roller coaster ride. It took me through an emotional roller coaster. It took me through different opportunities of work and made me grow and made me breakdown the barriers of who I am as a person and kind of accepting it for what it is, because even though it took a hell of a time to get to where I need to be it’s more of an acceptance of like, I did it, and I really did it and I know my mom, my dad were always there for me. And I’m getting emotional because it’s like, if you see other kids who were going through this, I feel like I have a sense of like I need to help them because it’s not easy and also if the parents are not there to help them, it’s like what are they gonna do? Because I’ve gone through so much, and if it wasn’t for my parents it’s like what would I have done? I could have been like I don’t know, I could have been doing something that I really hate and now that I’m doing something that I love obviously you’re so, you know, trying to do the best you can, be the best you can be and have a future for yourself because you have that push, you have that support system. So I kinda feel like I have to share my story because we are just people, we are human, we make mistakes. We take on challenges. We take on risks. We do it all to see what works for us and for someone like me and for any other person out there who has a learning disability it’s like we can do it too. It’s just at a different pace, at a different way, we can still do it. You wanna become a nurse, be a nurse. It’s gonna be hard. You wanna become an architect, be an architect. If you wanna be a lawyer, be a lawyer. If you wanna become an actress, an actor, whatever you could do, you could be whatever you want. It’s just there’s gonna be always people that always gonna bring you down. People will always bully you, make fun of you, etc. But you kinda have to let your differences aside and have that support system. And my friends are super supportive like they know the condition that I had and everything and they just didn’t care. They just like me for the person for who I am and then as you get older you start to grow, you start to mature and everything so I felt like I’ve done it all and I’m just like, okay, now I need to go out there and share it with everybody else because you can help so many people, right? With what I have just accomplished. Now being in a company that you always dreamed of being and you’re finally there and you know, who would have thought? It’s like, what if I didn’t do this? What if I didn’t do that? What if I didn’t do this? It’s like when you meet that significant other, right? I’m married now and it’s like what happens if I didn’t do that, would I have met him? Probably not. It would have been somewhere else. And things happen for a reason. My parents always tell me things happen for a reason. Things happen for a reason. You are the one that dictates your life, but if you wanna take those risks, take those challenges do it. Everything is gonna be okay.

Carolyn: Wow. That is just so amazing and Angelica I really thank you for sharing your journey because it’s – we talk a lot you know about diversity and inclusion and a lot of times the phrase like representation matters comes up a lot, it’s like you have to see it to become it, and I think that the fact that you are willing to share your story and to inspire other people with learning disabilities to show them this example of you had a hard time, you had to struggle but you found what you needed to build those careers and have those experiences and find what you’re passionate about and what helped you to succeed. You were able to do it like fine, you know, may be the one traditional track of school that is prescribed to everybody wasn’t it but you found it through work which is amazing that you were able to thrive through your work and through those great teachers that you had for some of those topics and that you continued on and even those times that you felt like you wanted to give up, you didn’t and that’s the important part I think, you know, a lot of us can feel like we wanna give up but it’s just important that you just keep going and it’s wonderful that you had that support system but you are also right a lot of kids may not have supportive parents or maybe their parents are supportive but they literally are at a loss and have no idea what to do. How confusing that must be when the school and people are telling you like listen I don’t know what’s going on but congratulations on getting a job that you love at a great company and doing all of the things like starting your own business and pursuing all these different areas. I think it’s really wonderful. That is something that a lot of people dream of and some people just they don’t get there or takes them a very long time to get there. I think that’s a great example. So, tell me more about how you share your story and how you help support people with learning disabilities and inspire them to achieve their goals? I assume your podcast might be part of that.

Angelica: Yeah. So, when I was trying to go through my thoughts and kind of like okay how do I do this because like I wanna write a book that’s something in the future that I’m aiming towards. I wanna just speak around and be part of the organizations and stuff and really help parents and even help students or even adults because as adults we go through it so when I decided to do the podcast I said well, I’m shy I don’t spark up a conversation very easily. I said well maybe a podcast will be great. I listen to a podcast, I see the meaning behind it and I decided to kind of just like okay let’s start the podcast. Let’s just do it and see how it goes. So as I published episodes and I wanted to have guest on. So when you’re starting out with a podcast a lot of people don’t know it kinda takes a while to get off the ground if you’re not that A-star lister it’s like it’s really difficult for anybody but I kinda just wanted to try because I’m not putting any money into it. I was just like okay we will just give it a shot. I talked about my experience on learning disabilities and then I was trying to find groups that I could share my experiences and I found the I Dyslexia Group which is based out of I think Australia or UK. I don’t know how they approached me.

Carolyn: Oh!

Angelica: But they asked me if I wanted to join this group that they are trying to network with people like students, teachers and counselors and anybody involved with dyslexia or a learning disability and I got into the group. I kinda just, you know, share my stories through that, got to help a bit of people there and a couple of people who are listening to it and I do like kinda of a 4 part series because I go into detail with it and what I struggled and things that were given to me and stuff and from then on I kinda go into the Instagram pages and kinda see who is doing what. You gotta find the people to share this with and I’m very open about it now so it’s just made it a lot easier for me to really talk about it on the podcast and then when I go through guests, it’s like, oh, okay someone has learning disability and I found like 3 of them and you know, I interviewed them and we talked about it because everyone goes through different journey, goes through different struggle. Like one of them is now a VP of an insurance company in the United States and then there is another one in Nigeria who actually struggled a lot because back in the day in her time it was just people will just automatically kinda close you out like you have no right to even talk about it. It’s like no, your child needs to be removed, right? So her dad really helped her out to kinda stick by her studies because what else she gonna do and now she’s one of the ambassadors of Nigeria for the dyslexia community in her country and she’s got a radio show that she interview guest and creates awareness and she does a lot of stuff. And I met somebody a couple of weeks ago who had a mild autism Asperger’s syndrome and he was telling me his story and his job was like he works in television and he’s in the behind the scenes and his mom was very supportive and we kinda have the same story. And I use a podcast as a way to help people to obviously share their passions, their craft and what they are advocating for. I’m for it because I learned from those people. I learned different words through this people. I make new friends and I network and I’m one of those people that love to help because my dad is a huge, he has a huge heart. He likes to help people. So that’s where the helping comes in to me, like I will do whatever it takes just to help my friends with their businesses. I figured maybe the podcast is what’s gonna help me branch out and not to be too shy and just get out there, and when I started the podcast after 3 to 6 months, I said, well, with the balls going in that I’m getting these guests and I’m finding these people that are different in, you know, different walks of life who have gone through different struggles. Even if you are just a regular person what I mean regular person is just like you don’t have a learning disability, it’s like, okay, so they’ve gone through triumphs and they’ve gone through challenges and they take on risk with businesses and now they are here and they just want to share because that’s a journey, that’s a story and that’s what I like to hear. So with the podcast, I tried to make it a little bit of everything because that’s what it is, a little bit of everything and besides recapping reality TV and having a great time with co-hosts, but I also like to have guests who likes to talk about whatever they’ve got on their mind and what they wanna share and it was the podcast that I was able to connect to people and learn my story through my website with my short bio but also they are just like, oh, you know, I can connect somebody with you, you guys can probably perfectly mesh and stuff. And I’ve been getting into the community and reached out to my local I think it’s the National Dyslexia Community of Canada to kinda see what I can do as a role in volunteer and I reached out to my local one, you know, I’m there as a standby if they need they call themselves champion voices because they need someone to speak out to certain event or at a school, I can make myself available and talk out there but if things have been pretty slow and stuff and with the strike the teachers had recently, everything got canceled for the month of dyslexia month awareness, so you know, I’m trying to find other ways to do it because I wanted to start writing the book and kinda do it like a self-help to share my story into detail but also self-help like how could the parent be in the situation? How could they help the child. Like words of encouragement or something or learn how to use cue cards or sticky notes to help them remember certain things.

Carolyn: Oh, wow. That would be great.

Angelica: Yeah. And that’s why I’m trying to kind of come up with a system because when I took personal training, if it wasn’t for the medical… I think when you become a medical student, you have to buy this box of cue cards or parts of the body and they have that listed and color format. I used to buy those to help teach me. Yeah it was a great 200 dollars that I spent, but these cards really helped me, you know, identify what muscle groups I’m looking at, what part of the brain, even though I didn’t really need to know the part of the brain, but I could learn about the part of the brain, different colors. I used to buy a muscles coloring book and you choose the bigger muscles in one color and that’s gonna help tell me what bones are in here. Because like, when you’re a personal trainer, when people ask okay so what’s this? They’ll point to the shoulder, where your heart is. It’s like oh it’s the pectoral, oh, but then they’ll start okay what’s this thing, you know, the big part of my leg above the knee and you’re kind of like oh it’s your quads and you know, you need to kinda be on it. That’s why I was like if not, they’re not gonna buy anything off of you or they don’t want any packages from you, or they kinda self-doubt like, okay you don’t know what the muscles of your body are? And the exam that I took for that was really intense. It was just like, oh, here’s a blank body, list the muscle groups.

Carolyn: Wow.

Angelica: You’re kind of like, oh my god, so if it wasn’t for that little card thing, I would never have known where these muscles are, because I wanted to learn more about them and the veins. Because sometimes, you know, there are nervous system that we have and they interconnect to certain things and you just wanna look smart, you wanna sound like you know it. When I got that information I said okay I wanna implement that in the book so people can actually look for things like that. My mom used to use cue cards for mathematics. She actually used to write the mathematical equations from 1 to 8 so when I would wake up, it would be right in front of my eyes. Every time we would go to sleep, she will review it, so she will cover it up and say, okay, what is 3 times 3? What is 3 times 9? What is 9 times 2? What is this? And every night we will do it and every way, every morning I would see it in front of my face, which is one way she thought it could help me and it did a little bit. But when it got to the harder numbers, of course it was a lot difficult and she was already running out of room, so she actually used that technique and I used post it notes and stuff so I’m trying to find a system that, yeah, I can share my story, but hey, FYI as a parent, if your kid’s going through this, try to understand them, open their ears, give them a hug or something like I wanna provide something for the parent and for the child so it kinda goes hand in hand because with my experience, with my parents, it’s like my mom was the one that was helping me the most. Okay, you gotta work together, it’s like a team effort, so I’m trying to figure out how to do that in the book.

Carolyn: Wow. That’s incredible. I’m working in employee training, so a lot of the techniques that you talk about, it’s really a trainer’s mindset about, you know, how do you get people to really learn and retain knowledge? Because even when you are an adult and you are not in school anymore, you know, you still need to learn things on the job and a lot of times, you know, adults learn differently and you really need those different ways to engage people. It’s not just like reading about things but it’s trying out new equipment or just visually picturing where things are positioned. It’s like different types of techniques. So I think the tools that you’re putting together would absolutely be helpful to kids and even young adults with learning disabilities but I think all those techniques, they are really helpful for everyone. Like they are just good learning techniques, like those really good teachers were using that you had in your childhood. I think that’s great.

Angelica: And I also wanna do part of like the workforce, because I feel like people need to be educated. When you’ve got a perfectionist as a leader and you’ve got myself, we don’t really mesh together because the perfectionist wants everything done in one shot. Me, it takes probably 2 tries to get it done right. So, I feel like the perfectionist needs to kind of understand that people really make mistakes, because I find most perfectionists that I worked with, if you didn’t cut with the scissor straight, they don’t like that. If you told them once how to do it and then you kinda forgot about it, it’s like no I asked you a specific way. But it doesn’t stay in my brain. So it’s like a perfectionist and myself, we don’t really blend together. And it’s been difficult sometimes, because in my past it’s like, how do I adjust myself? But I can’t adjust myself. How am I supposed to adjust myself? If I adjust myself I can’t get any better. I’m just gonna get worse if I think about it. But a perfectionist who is already up there can make small adjustments to accept the fact that we need to find a way to make this work. So, with the workplace sometimes it’s a big struggle for most of us because really it’s like I need this paper done by 3 o’clock. Okay, you give me half an hour, it takes me to do an average paper an hour, an hour and a half or two, or this assignment or this report, whatever it is. It’s a constant thing where I wanna put in the book it’s like, how do we get the perfectionist to kind of work together with anybody, really?

Carolyn: Yeah. Perfectionism is kind of going out of vogue at least in business. It used to be more about like, you have to do things exactly the specific way that I tell you. That’s sort of an old management style, but at least here in the States I’m seeing as a manager you are a guide. Like there are certain targets you have to hit, but you have some ability to let people find their own way to hit those targets because, you know, otherwise why do you hire people? Like they need to bring their talents and what they know and what they can do to you and it’s not all about you as the perfectionist manager. So, hopefully that’s starting to ease a little bit.

Angelica: Yeah because there’s some, like I’ve had experiences where it’s like, especially some of these professionals who have been apparently in the industry for so long and it’s like, okay, well, I’m gonna teach you how to do this. Okay, cool. Well, this is what I do. This is my old draft. This is like a same copy you just got to follow it. Or I’ve gotten a 3-inch binder of training, and I’m like you’re kidding me, right? That’s it? You want me to read this binder? Well guess what, me reading it ain’t gonna help anything. I need visuals. I need someone to say, okay, so this is the sheet that we fill out. Believe it or not, this is how I need to be taught. This is where we need to put that full address as per government, not in short form, it has to be in full address to be valid on this piece of paper. You need to write the numbers in full not in short form or abbreviation, nothing, like it has to be full. This is where we fill out what the standards are where you can copy and paste in this folder. Like, and that’s how I taught my teams. I used to run a coop program at a gym that I was working at and I used to do the same thing. These kids were from private school. They were high up there but then I had kids who were from the YMCA who came from a different organization of like, I forgot what it was I think it was damaged backgrounds or families I forgot what the word was because it was years ago. So you got private school kids, you know, they think they are better. They were grade 9 thinking they were in grade 12, and then I had students from grade 12 trying to figure out what they wanna do in life. One group I got along with was the one in grade 12 trying to figure out what to do in life.

Carolyn: Yeah.

Angelica: And that grade 9 private school kids I said, I can’t. I’m glad that they were there for a shorter term but they just thought they were entitled to everything. They don’t know what it means to struggle. Meanwhile, these poor kids that I had in grade 12 they were just like, they came from troubled families and it’s just like, oh my gosh, I kept telling them like, it sucks what you’re going through. It really does for them, these troubled families, and they struggled through school and everything because of the environment that they were in, but it is just like, my encouragement to them was to just stay focused, and just keep doing it. You guys can do it. And that was my method. It was just kind of like, how do I wanna be taught the way I taught others?

Carolyn: Yeah, it’s fantastic. Wow. Well, you are doing a lot of really great work, with the outreach that you are doing to, you know, for people with learning disabilities to inspire them and encourage them to achieve their goals as well as just what you are doing in your day to day work any time that you are managing or training other people. I think all of those hard and difficult lessons that you learned from the resources that you didn’t have and understanding what helped you, I think is now helping everyone regardless of their background. So, I think that’s really incredible. Angelica thank you so much for sharing your story on my show. How can people get in touch with you if they wanna learn more about your podcast or the speaking that you do, what’s the best way for them to find you?

Angelica: So you can find me at everythingwithange.com. So, www.everythingwithange.com. You can find me on LinkedIn under Angelica Vallecillo. You can also head over to my Instagram which is @alittlebitofeverythingwithme, that’s the podcast and also Facebook @alittlebitofeverythingwithme.

Carolyn: Perfect. Thank you. And I will put links to those in the show notes so that people can get easy access to those links too. Very good.

Angelica: Okay.

Carolyn: Thanks so much Angelica for sharing your story and being a guest on my show. I was really encouraged and inspired to hear your story and good luck with all your work and good luck with your book. Absolutely, I will follow you to learn more news about that.

Angelica: Thank you so much. It’s been an honor. Thank you for this opportunity.

Carolyn: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help us spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend. Give us a shoutout on your social media or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of our episodes on our website and sign up for our free newsletter at www.beyond6seconds.com. Until next time.