One Person Changed His Life…FOREVER!

Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse and trauma that some viewers may find difficult. Viewer discretion is advised.

In this episode of Unarmored Talk, I speak with Emilio Roman, a Marine Corps veteran, minister, entrepreneur, and author who grew up in Camden, New Jersey, surrounded by instability and hardship. Despite those early challenges—including a speech impediment and childhood trauma—Emilio built a life centered on faith, service, and helping others share their stories.

We discuss the power of mentorship, resilience, and how one teacher’s trust helped change the direction of his life. We also explore the importance of storytelling and how books and lived experiences can inspire the next generation.

Subscribe, share this episode with someone who needs encouragement, and leave a review with the mentor or moment that helped you find your voice.

Chapters

0:00 Removing The Armor With Emilio
 2:08 Camden Childhood Trauma And A Stutter
 4:58 The Teacher Who Gave Responsibility
 8:13 Why Stories And Books Change Lives
 10:27 Advice To His 18-Year-Old Self
 11:20 Born To Risk And What’s Next
 13:34 Staying Unarmored And Closing Blessing

Transcript

Removing The Armor With Emilio

Mario P. Fields 0:05

Born with potentially a hindrance to speak and more, and now look at my guest today. We're going to get into how he has endured some challenges in life. Welcome to Unarmored Talk, where we remove the armor, have real conversations, and strengthen how we think and respond to life. Today's guest is the Reverend Emilio Roman, a Marine Corps veteran, entrepreneur, and author. He helps people turn their experiences into powerful stories, but he wasn't always this way. Welcome to Unarmored Talk, Emilio.

Emilio Roman 0:42

Thank you, Mario. Thank you for that introduction. Uh, what an honor to be here. I love what you're doing and love your mission.

Mario P. Fields 0:51

Same here, same here. And it's an honor to have you on the show. Before we get in, jump right into the topic, everybody. Emilio, let's get it up front. How can people find you? I'd like to get that up front.

Emilio Roman 1:02

Yes, amen. And listen, uh, EmilioRoman.com uh or born to risk.com if you want to learn more about what we do as well.

Mario P. Fields 1:12

You guys hear that. Emilia, can you do me a favor before we jump in? Can you tell the listeners and viewers just a little bit about you?

Emilio Roman 1:18

Sure. I always tell people the reader's digest version, right? Uh, but I'm dating myself. Like, what's the reader's digest version? So uh as Mario uh how how he introduced me. I listen, um I'm I feel like I'm just uh a big kid right now. I just the way I grew up and my experiences in the city of Camden, New Jersey, and all of a sudden uh joined the Marine Corps, had some challenges, and today I love to help people. I love to help people with prayer, love to help people, uh, and veterans especially, uh, with many projects, which we'll dive into. But yeah, I just love to serve in many ways.

Camden Childhood Trauma And A Stutter

Mario P. Fields 1:57

And I can I can see it, and I can see it. You know, I'm I'm about as small as a kid, so we're good on that now. But but so let's get let's get right into it if we may. Very well spoken. Um, your public speaking skills in the virtual space and in person, dynamic. But it wasn't always that way. Talk to me about the challenges and then how did you endure the resilience and and more for the listeners and viewers?

Emilio Roman 2:26

Yeah, yeah. So I I grew up again, the the short version is I grew up in a city called Camden, New Jersey, uh, with a single mom. And so my mom did the best she could, right? Like many of us with what she had. And I grew up in an alcoholic family. Uh, so didn't have a dad, and you know, poor me, poor, you know, pour me a drink kind of thing. And so for for me, I saw things, I've experienced things that no child should have to go through. And just jumping right into it raw. You know, I got molested by by uncles at a young age. And these things happened to me, Mario. And as I got older, I really thought that they were dreams because I didn't want to deal with it. Growing up in a Latino household, I got goosebumps as I'm sharing this. Yeah. So growing up, school was a sanctuary for me. Sports was a sanctuary. I didn't want to come home to that mess. I didn't know what kind of situation my mom was gonna be in. I didn't know if I was, you know, stepdad, uh, just all of that. And I love my mom, right? So I'm not saying anything ill of her, but I grew up with this nervous and anxiety and this angst, and that's where I developed a speech impediment. So speaking wasn't my my strong suit, Mario. Uh, and I got left back in first grade because we moved around a lot.

Mario P. Fields 3:47

Wow, and it and and and thanks for removing your armor and and sharing that, Emilio. And and you know, and and I'm I I am honored that you would have the courage uh to be resilient through you know some of the traumas you experienced as a child. And was your first primary language a different language? Were or was it always English?

Emilio Roman 4:07

Yes, uh uh Spanish. So I'm I'm of Puerto Rican uh descent. So my mom, when she wanted stuff, uh you know, English, and I know all the cuss words, I speak it fluently. My mom was, you know, you know how it is growing up. Uh but yes, Spanish is is my primary language.

Mario P. Fields 4:25

Yeah, shout out to the shout out to my best friend is Puerto Rican, Puerto Rican, Virginia, Nigrone, Virginia. So I'll let her know that I gave her a shout out on the show. Um yeah, so so so now, you know, so now you you know you have you develop this speech impediment and you're you're going through the journey of school. At what point did you start to realize that this is not going to define you as Emilio Roman and you're going to get past it?

The Teacher Who Gave Responsibility

Emilio Roman 4:57

Wow. You know, uh as you're saying this, there was um a school teacher. You know, we all have that one person who defines us, Mr. George Cobert. He gave me a responsibility. Uh, this was a school called Piney Point Middle School, and I'm I'm getting emotional about it because you're just triggered. You know, I remember that during the time he would give us all like we all had meal tickets and for cafeteria, this was sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, and we would have to go up and get it punched, otherwise you didn't eat, like they were strict. So the kids in the school kept missing, and some people they didn't get to eat because they didn't have this meal ticket. My teacher, Mr. George Cobert, he said he's smart enough to designate one person. He gave me a responsibility. And this is where I'm going with this. He says, Emilio, I'm gonna give you an extra locker and I need you to collect this. So it was that here I am, young, seventh, eighth grade. He gave me a responsibility, and I would go and say, Mario, I need your meal ticket. So, right when in the cafeteria, I don't want you to lose it, Mario. And I would go around, I became that guy. I was like, hey guys, you better give him another ticket, you guys. And then every week, ready for this marijuana, every week, uh, I would have to put the tickets in, and then he would have some change for me. Like just a couple of like candy money, right? It was, and I looked forward to that. It just aired that reward, right? Reward had the responsibility, came with a reward. And I was just so touched by that that he believed enough in me, right? He believed he saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. And again, that was that that was a start where I started to think bigger about who I am and what I have to offer the world, and it came through service.

Mario P. Fields 6:50

That is Mr. Colbert.

Emilio Roman 6:52

Yeah, George Cobert, African-American brother. Uh, and I I try to find him. I I really did. I was like, I try to find him, I want to say thank you to him today, and I haven't been able to. If anybody knows, see Mr. George Cobert, uh, just give me give me some updates. I would love, love to thank that man.

Why Stories And Books Change Lives

Mario P. Fields 7:08

You know, Emilio, that this is personal to me listening to you because you know, my nonprofit still serving incorporated, going on eight years. That's what I do is create opportunities for the students in low-income and disadvantaged communities. And listeners and viewers, I hope you really listened to what he said is there are children that they're depending on adults to give them a chance to succeed. And all it takes is one. And look at what we have on this show. Thank you, Mr. Colbert. Wow, and you just inspired me to do more of my notes. This is powerful. You know, in the preamble of the constitution, there's a word called posterity, you know, what can be done for the future generations, and you are a definite product of that. And I, wow, that was powerful, and you didn't have to do that, you know. But you he believed in you, you gave it, it reciprocated. Now look, and so now let's move forward. You get into authorship, and I think you're in uh the Guinness Book of World Record. Can we talk a little bit about now how you're helping thousands of people take their unique experiences, archiving them for years to come through authorship?

Emilio Roman 8:31

Amen. And you know, you you mentioned posterity and and you mentioned what um what Mr. Cobra did for me. And what I see and what I've experienced is that one act of kindness, we never know where that one act of kindness is gonna take you. You and me, every day we have that opportunity, you know, to speak power or life into someone, yeah, and especially young men and women of an ethnic background, right, who come from these challenging areas. So when Mr. Cobra did that for me, and as I got older and I started to explore, and people gave me opportunities and I and I created those for others, I recognized that our story matters, right? Think about it. They talk about that books change people and people change the world. We have the Bible, we have the Quran, whatever the spiritual flavor is, but it's books through education that really moved the needle. And it was in that educational space that my life was impacted, regardless of my speech impediment, regardless of what was going on at home. I had people who believed in me, and that's all I needed. Maybe just one compliment. Mario, you're doing a good job. Yeah, most people can live for months with just one compliment.

Advice To His 18-Year-Old Self

Mario P. Fields 9:45

Yes, sir. Yeah, yeah. And it and I love how you referenced the the power of the Bible. Again, I know folks have said the Bible stands for basic instructions before leaving earth. Yes, yes, yes. But but but translating that to the power of archiving and and and authorship and believing um in yourself first and then in others. I would love to have you on the show forever because this is powerful. And you guys know in Armadalk, we don't rehearse this stuff, and this is this is one of the most emotional um episodes I've done in the past six years because it it ties into what I do every single day. Um looking back, if you had to look back and you were standing next to yourself uh when you were a teenager, let's say 18, what advice would you give yourself?

Emilio Roman 10:43

Continue trusting others. There's good in people, despite what you've been through, despite the trauma, the trials. There's people out there like a George Cobert. You know, they're out there. Not everyone uh is out to hurt you. But uh again, it takes community and it takes this information, it takes a podcast like unarmored to really let people know that this show shouldn't just be for adults, it should really be out for everyone to see. So if you're watching this, the advice is share this content out, right? Who is your George Colbert? Identify who's your George Colbert in your life because we all truly have one.

Mario P. Fields 11:20

Man, amen. And now what's next on the horizon? What is next for Emilio Roman? Talk to me about Born of Risk. Let's let's get that in there before we close this show.

Emilio Roman 11:30

Sure, my brother. Yeah, you know, we love, and to answer the question, um, we I love sharing the stories with people because what happens is again, stories are so powerful, they they define who we are. And so we have a Guinness World Record attempt in Philadelphia for those May 29th and May 30th. That's going down, that's going down in Philly. Uh, I'm I'm just uh a partner in that, and it I love it because can you imagine being a part of a Guinness World Record event? Like you're able to share that. That's just powerful. You and I are in the business of branding and sharing stories, so that's going on, and I would love, Mario, for you to be a part of our ultimate beach mastermind. I want to do something nice for you. We'll talk about that off the air. But that's our biggest event, born to risk. You see the banner behind me? That's you know, we wanted you in this book, but you were too busy, you were busy. But listen, the most important thing here, Mario, thank you for the for the time. Born to risk, we have the inaugural edition. 30 veterans pour their hearts out. And we've asked them all one question. And that was what's the greatest risk that you've ever experienced while in the military? And our beloved friend, right up on the banner, Sergeant Major Timothy O'Clay uh retired. Ooh, he's the one that that introduced us. And I'm grateful for that.

Mario P. Fields 12:46

Yeah, you guys got some powerful folks. And it I won't say, let me get rid of the word powerful, very inspirational. Uh T. O'Clay, Sergeant Major retired, and it and more that's Timothy. Let me get it right before he maybe do five. You know, you know, but this is great. This has been amazing. Everyone, lots of lessons in here. And um and so I appreciate you coming on the show. I appreciate what you're doing to make a positive impact on people. God bless you, man. And uh again, I am in your network forever, and I will continue to get my pom poms out and cheer for you and the team. Is that is that okay?

Emilio Roman 13:23

Hey, listen, me know it's mutual love, mutual respect. Um, love what you're doing. Again, you you are that George Cobra for someone, and I know that.

Staying Unarmored And Closing Blessing

Mario P. Fields 13:33

That's an honor. Well, everyone, again, until next time, thank you for your continued support. Please stay unarmored, stay authentic, and stay mentally fit. God bless you all. Thanks, Emilio.