Becoming in Public — My Working Life Map

Preface: Learn in Public

Method, not a milestone. I work in the open—sharing frameworks, rough drafts, what failed and why—then iterating with feedback. The approach is inspired by Shawn “swyx” Wang’s Learn in Public; what follows is my reflection and how I’ve run with it.

Cuba: Beginnings

I grew up at the literal end of a dead-end street in Havana. Humble beginnings, tight community, and make-it-work ingenuity shaped how I see responsibility, family, and grit.

Clean Slate: Tradition

Every New Year’s Eve we burn a life-size mannequin to leave the bad behind and invite the new in clean. That ritual still guides how I reset goals, cut dead weight, and start fresh on purpose.

First Job: Stop & Shop

At 16 and 17 I went straight from school to shifts—bagging, stocking, covering where needed. It was my first education in pace, stamina, and showing up when you’re tired. I led our charity-donation drives because I wanted to help and because doing the best work available mattered to me. I wanted my parents to see their sacrifices turning into momentum.

Discipline and Traction

Heights were my biggest fear. At 18—270 pounds—I flew to Lodi, California, the only drop zone that would take me. Jumping anyway rewired what “impossible” meant. That’s the template: own the obstacle, do the reps, earn the freedom. Years later, Jocko Willink’s 2017 TEDx talk on Extreme Ownership gave me the language for what I’d already started doing.

Binghamton and Science

My first ambition was medicine. Biology hooked me on systems—feedback loops, causes and effects, and the levers you can pull to change outcomes. The curiosity never left; it just keeps finding new arenas.

Podiatry, Advocacy, APMSA

I pursued medicine to help people and found another calling in advocacy. As APMSA Legislative Liaison I contacted lawmakers, learned the mechanics of policy, and built the confidence to speak with decision-makers. It taught me that service scales when you pair compassion with structure.

Personal Development

I rebuilt from the inside out—gratitude, discipline, ownership, better questions.

• Louise Hay: language shapes identity; change the script, change the slope.
• Jim Rohn: don’t wish for easier; build capacity and standards that hold.
• Matthew McConaughey: be less impressed, more involved; action beats awe.

Service and Systems: Hot Tub Era

Back to hands-on work. I sold, scheduled, delivered, and fixed tough problems for high-value clients. I learned to tie service quality to revenue, document repeatable solutions, and carry myself with confidence in rooms where expectations and stakes were high.

Lovibond: Building the Machine

Technical Support became a revenue engine. I built the help center, dashboards, and governance that connected service, sales, and quality.

• 175+ help-center articles led to faster resolution and higher CSAT.
• Dashboards linked tickets to CRM opportunities and surfaced more than $100K in pipeline.
• Quality feedback loops accelerated product investigations and reduced repeat issues.

Family: My Why

My greatest win. Everything above is preparation for building a life my daughter can inherit with pride— skills, options, and a name that stands up.