What If It Did Work?
What If It Did Work?
You Are Not Forgotten While You Grind
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You ever feel like you’re doing the work, taking the hits, and still nobody sees you? That’s where this conversation starts, with a challenge that lands hard: what if being “unknown” isn’t a curse, it’s training. We talk with author Arturo Cerna Jr about The Unknowns Rising, the hidden season that shapes leaders, and why the people the system overlooks can end up reshaping the system.
We get real about Latino entrepreneurship in America: millions of Latino-owned businesses, a huge economic upside, and the frustrating reality of permits, capital access, and closed-door networks. Arturo shares the personal side too, including career collapse, rejection, and the identity crisis that follows when the title disappears. From there, we dig into a deeper definition of wealth that has nothing to do with flexing and everything to do with service, community, and the kind of impact people remember.
We also go practical. AI comes up as a tool for builders, not a toy. If you’re stuck, we talk about using technology to sharpen clarity, map a business plan, and move from ideas to execution. Along the way we hit cultural questions, the “Latinx” label debate, why defining our own story matters, and why we believe Latino leadership at the highest levels, even a Latino president, is not a fantasy.
If you’re tired of waiting for the perfect moment, press play and take the next step. Subscribe, share this with someone in their grind season, and leave a review with the one takeaway you’re building on next.
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Cold Open And Big Question
SPEAKER_00I never told no one that my whole life I've been holding back every time I load my gun up, so I can shoot for the stall. I hear a voice like who do you think?
Meet Arturo And The Unknowns
SPEAKER_02Alright, everybody, another day, another dollar, another one of my favorite episodes, my favorite podcast because I'm biased. What if it did work? Holy smokes, man. All these episodes just keep the years keep on going, on and on. And I gotta tell you, it's it's tough going to Circuit City, Kmart, Sears going to all those electronic stores and hitting the play to get my numbers up. Well, I gotta say, another episode of What If It Did Work. Now, today's guest, this one's different. This one hits home, too. This one is for this the disruptors, the underdogs, the ones who feel like they've been overlooked, underestimated, and maybe even counted out. Holy smokes, sounds like this book was written for me many years ago. We've got Arturo Sernard Jr. in the house, author of The Unknowns Rising, a book that flips the script on success, wealth, and what it really means when God starts elevating a new class of leaders. We're talking about the rise of the unknowns, the people nobody saw coming, the ones not born into it, not handed it, but called into it. If you've ever felt like you're grinding in silence, if you've ever thought, when is it my turn? This episode might just be the wake-up call you're looking for. So buckle up because today we're asking the ultimate question. What if you are one of the unknowns rising? Brother, I am the unknown rising because every day and every way I get stronger and stronger. And I woke up today, God gave me, Jesus Christ gave me today, so I could be a better version of Omar Medrano than who he was yesterday. Welcome to the show, brother.
SPEAKER_01We need to just take this on the road. I'm gonna go back, listen to this, and then I'm gonna use that intro everywhere I go. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02Brother, it's I I gotta say, we were supposed to tape this last week, weren't we? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see, in my opinion, there are no coincidences. Things happen for a reason. Things happen because this is the holy week. This is the week. Yeah, this is the ultimate week. Because if it wasn't for this week, holy week for Christians, there would be no Navidad, there would be no Christmas. So thank you for being on the show on this holy Thursday. Hey, and I've got carte blanche, I know the producer. It helps. It's myself, man. So this this episode will be front-lit, man, because I love the book, I love the material, I love what you stand for, man.
SPEAKER_01Listen, I I I am on a mission, and uh everything that you said about this concept of the hidden season, and and when I look at just the world of Latinos right now, really globally, but just in America, where I call home, uh, I'm in the Midwest. I I I see the number of people that are hustling, they're working so hard. But there's this, I see a change, Omar. I I see like those individuals that have been born and shaped in the hidden place, the system wasn't built for them. It doesn't center them. And so therefore, it doesn't serve them, right? But I think from the margins, this new generation of leaders are going to emerge. Just by the numbers, five million Latinos are owning businesses. Those aren't just now sober partnerships, but they're hiring people. Like, oh my gosh, if they had the right tools to access capital, personal development, have a team around them. I mean, we could this is like a trillion dollar opportunity uh for for this nation if we can truly help the unknowns that are rising. And that's that's that's a once-in-a-generation type of change. So I'm excited, man. I'm excited to be here, passionate about this.
SPEAKER_02But brother, you and I were similar age. Man, growing up, academia didn't see that in us at all. In fact, growing up in Miami, people always think it's like Miami Vice, the pit bull. Man, growing up, it was super southern back in the 70s. And they put like every Latino in the dropout prevention. Uh, because you know, God, we're, you know, we're we're we're supposed to be gardeners, we're supposed to be mechanics, we're supposed to be nannies. The guy, my assistant principal, my junior high, middle school, I guess they call it these days, inspired me by telling me be a cold Dan Hell the day I graduated college. And he was right because I graduated in Louisiana where it never snows, and it never snowed for four years. But the day I graduated, it was snow flurries in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So Mr. Morris was correct, but yeah, dude, growing up, man, we had even just watching TV, it was only Ricardo Monteblon. I I I remember him on Fantasy Island, uh uh reruns of Chico and the Man with Freddie Prince Sr. Eric Estrada, and and then Martin Sheen and Raquel Welch had to change their names to because they looked white and to be white because the the doors were closed for us, man. The the you just open the door for people that are hungry, and man, they'll kick down that door.
Latinos Rising Outside The System
SPEAKER_01Feel that, man. I feel that passion. I feel I was I'm in Milwaukee. I'm wearing this hat because it's cold. It's it's cold in Milwaukee.
SPEAKER_02Wisconsin, yeah, brother. It's it's cold for you guys like nine months out of the year.
Using AI For Real Progress
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Yeah, gotten had to get used to that. You know, this Texas boy. But but I tell you, you know, I just looking at the world, um, I mean, you know, you know this, you you you've lived this life, like running being an entrepreneur and and betting on yourself is extremely difficult. It's not for the faint of heart. Um, and yet, you know, I I was I was listening to a story of a Latina here in Milwaukee, and she was so grateful because the Milwaukee County had some um grant that she applied for, got like$10,000 out of I don't know how many hundreds of people applied. And she was in tears talking at the kind of the Milwaukee County executive uh event. And and I was so deeply moved because it was that was just 10,000, right? That was invested, that she had to do so much work to, and and just was sharing about how hard it was just to get the permits and and just just to do the work. And I'm excited because there's now tools and I and people like you, Omar, people like me, that are telling a different message that is building the momentum to how to help individuals equip themselves. Because I believe even in the AI era, we don't even have to get into that, but I do believe it is a tool, right? I think some people are scared of the tech. We're seeing an adoption rate in Latinos that is like far higher than others. And I believe it's because of that passion, because they have been overlooked by systems in the past and they have the fire in them to push through the learning curve. That makes me excited.
SPEAKER_02AEI gets me excited because man, if I had that tool 20-something years ago when I started being an entrepreneur, man, instead I had to do mailers, I had to do guerrilla marketing, I had to give out my product for free, I had to go left and right, literally door to door, neighborhood to neighborhood, to for marketing. I even had to hold a sign out. I even got into a cup, an inflatable cup, to promote my business. And yet when I see people, they don't see it as a tool, but they see it as hey, let me build an action figure of myself. Let me okay, that's cute. Okay, well, okay, let me let me do a Christmas picture of myself. Okay, that's cute. You see all the capabilities, people. Why don't you get off your ass and use this to create a business plan, to create a marketing plan, to create a side hustle, to create an LLC to get out of the mess that you're in? Because right now, you know, people also you'll love they pray, they pray to God, they pray to Jesus Christ, and it's like, yes, we're giving you clarity. You have all the tools already inside you. Why when are you gonna start? Nobody's gonna come here to save you. You you you have to save yourself.
SPEAKER_01You know, I I think about and when I was uh writing the book that led us to us meeting, um, you know, I think I tell the story of my grandfather, um, Francisco, and and he he was a um farm worker, worked in the border on both sides. Um, and he had a family, my mom's side. He's my maternal grandfather, he's no longer with us, but he um was illiterate, didn't know how to read, never learned how to read, um, dealt big the trauma of his life and his journey, you know, the way he kind of coped with it was alcohol. So he struggled with it for many, many a year. Then he had this deep encounter, man, with with Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church. Um, deeply transformed him, like made him a completely new man. And he lived that that uh a lifestyle of service from then on. Um, but my grandmother would have to read him the Bible. And he would, he learned how to meditate, not just like read it, but really internalize it, because otherwise he couldn't, you know, he couldn't recall it. So there was this deep internal work that happened in him. And I just remember stories of his service when he passed. There were so many people from Mexico, Monterrey, and and places that came to his funeral in Laredo, because he he had touched so many lives. He lived a life of service and clarity in the latter part of his life that I think he left that um he left that legacy. And that's I I see as his as one of his grandsons to take that burden forward, right? So even though he never um learned to read, um, he had limitations, he he left this legacy, man, this clarity of purpose, this identity that sometimes, sometimes when you are seen and the system only serves you and benefits you, and you've got that privilege all of your life, you never build the internal clarity, man, to build value. And and what I've learned is this hidden season, you know, the biblical leadership types of the Josephs that get built in the pressure of prison, the pressure of like the hidden place, that's where the clarity deeply comes. And and I I think when you have a tool as powerful as AI, and like you said, you're just building action figures. That tells me you haven't had enough life struggle to develop deep clarity on purpose and value, right? But when you do, man, that that creates you're you're going to build something of value that employs people. Uh, and and that's what the unknowns rising for me, Omar, is. And I'll tell you one thing, another thing. My dad, uh, when my mom sent me a picture, they're in San Antonio. And when I wrote this book, you know, she sent me a picture of like, hey, your dad's like sitting down and and and Spanish is his broke language. The book is currently written just in English. Um, but he he was reading, he was in his little lean chair and he was reading the book. And I just had to post and say, like, the first entrepreneur, you know, reads the book of his son. And I was so moved, man. He was a he did so many things in life. He had was an entrepreneur at heart, had the language limitations, my dad, and but was a truck driver, electrician, like run his own little like food service truck thing. Um, just did so many things with skilled at so many things. Uh, and and now with those limitations, though, there was there was always a ceiling. Um, but he inspired his sons, the three of us, to go and pursue through education and become better. So that man, it it lights a fire like a rocket underneath me. And and it's almost like tools like AI just kind of light diffuse.
SPEAKER_02But you know what I find amazing out of everything you just said was your grandfather built a foundation. He didn't let limitations because everybody sees any little obstacle as not only as a limitation, but is like, screw it, I'm going home, can't do it. He couldn't read, so what? It was just an obstacle, a minor one that he it for some people a little a little one and be like, okay, uh that's it. I'm going to plant back to plan A. I I can't be on my own or whatnot. Your grandfather didn't do that, and then plus you spoke about his funeral, his his service had so many people in it. Yeah, to me, that's a person because you see, people have this warp thing that success is by a dollar sign, how much they have or whatnot. You can have 20 billion dollars and no one goes to your funeral. That's because you weren't living in service. Your grandfather lived in service, he helped out others, and that's why they all came to pay their respect. Yeah, because he was that pillar, he was that person. You know, he didn't have to read Zig Zig Ziggler to, you know, to hear the if you want to be successful, you have to help out others find their success.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and that's it, and that's that's right, man. He was Omar, he was a kind of builder, and and you know, my grandma uncles to tell me stories that even he understood the the power of community, right? Bringing people together. So if he would go to like a neighborhood in Mexico and there was not a place, like a local uh like place to gather and worship, right? To go pray uh through the Catholic uh faith, he would gather the men in the community. And he would be like, I'll buy you cervezas, right? I'll buy you, I'll bring you together, and then you all can like help, help use your your skill in construction. You're gonna build something for the community, have to gather. And and so that ability to compel people, inspire people, like he was leading teams, right? So he was living a different type of entrepreneurial gift. Um, it just developed and expressed in a different way that left a value in the communities that he touched. Um, so now I I I I'm really thinking through. So I've got I've got two kids, they're they're high school edge and um uh they're biracial. And and I I'm thinking through, I want to model for them this life of the servant leader. Um and and not that you're I I learned um I I learned the risk of just living kind of the American dream without the Latino values that my grandfather left me. And it was a life of hustle, right? You're pushing for the title, you want to be that CEO, and you're pushing yourself. I get it, lived it. And it's when when that collapsed for me, right, when that was taken away, I had to really grapple with like who am I? Because for me, in in all of that rejection, what you talked about, the imposter syndrome, all of that result of you know, Latinos, like you're not from here or from there, you don't belong anywhere. That those that messaging culturally, it hits it, it didn't, it does impact you, right? Well, it impacted me. And and have being a validator in my high school class and then graduating with honors from UT, you were always trying to prove something, right? You were doing it not because just it came naturally and there was skill definitely there. You were doing it because you felt like you had to, you have to validate yourself. And and when I hit that kind of career collapse, it really pushed me to get down to the roots and really unpack the onion. And like, who are you without the title? And and who are you when nobody's looking at you, who nobody wants to look at you, right? Because you you you're the embodiment of failure in in kind of a certain view in a lens. But it went back to my roots, went back to understanding who I am as an imager of Christ, right? So in this holy week, thinking about his example, having all authority, and he was a servant, a sacrificial lamb. He served and he built others and he left such a movement that that I really have to unpack that Omar. And and that that was like, what is the culture of what is what is the culture and the characteristics of this new generation of leaders? And I hope through the mission of speaking about this, one is that they know that they're hidden, but it doesn't mean they're forgotten. They're being prepared, and they're being prepared because the value they're going to create matters, and it matters deeply. And my hope is that my children, as they go on to be like leaders in their own world, that they will see that from their dad. That one, he didn't let failure just completely disrupt him and define him in the wrong way, but he could rise from the ashes and then be an encouragement to others from that story.
SPEAKER_02Arturo, I love the book, but I wanted to ask you this. Where did the idea of the unknowns rising where did it come from?
SPEAKER_01Well, it's a great question, man. So listen, I um I trace it back to my grandfather. I mentioned he had this encounter with God, right? Deep encounter, deep encounter to where it wasn't like I learned about God, but like it transformed his like makeup, right? From being like I depend on this substance being alcoholic to I'm completely rewired my appetites. Uh and so I had this, I came to Milwaukee uh for kind of a role of becoming a senior CEO in uh social enterprise work. But when three months after I came, man, I I gathered with other believers in Milwaukee, and they were there, it was right after COVID. So people were trying to figure out like, well, what's going on with the world? Like, is this the end of everything? What's going on? So we were still in that in that world, and people were doing everything to cope and in their own way. So I was with a group of believers worshiping and getting in God's presence. And very much like the accounts in scripture, like you hear about Daniel and others who met, met, had an encounter with this being, right? And and then met them. So I had this vision, Omar, and and this gathering. I'd been in a place of fasting. Um, and I don't do that all the time, but at that time I was like, hey, I read about this in scripture, I'm going to do this. And so I did that, and I had this vision, um, and it was vivid. It went like through me. I could, I could know it was, I know this isn't like just me. It wasn't the pizza I ate yesterday. I'm having this vision, and I saw this, this, I I saw the future. And it was this list of like the Forbes list of billionaires that began to shift and change in real time very, very quickly. And what struck me though was that the names on that list began to change to people that you would never believe were on that list. And almost like people were being like, Who are you? Like, how did this person end up on this list? And and this this massive thing, but it was also that there's scripture that speaks that God like takes the four and he lifts them up and he places them in places of nobility. That's one of the Psalms. And in that in that moment, that hit me. I guess the last thing I'd say I'd talk about in the book, it was that there was a new generation that God was saying, I'm doing a new thing in the earth, and I'm going to bring a new generation that is going to reshape the systems, the global systems of commerce and living and economic and et cetera. And um, they're going to be wired in a different way. They're going to be whole, uh, WHOLE, the whole in themselves from a new place. The only way I could, and I couldn't fully comprehend that. It took me uh nearly a year to fully comprehend that I had to go back to my journals and really destroy my grandfather. It was a time of exploration. Like, what do I do with this? Um, and it wasn't till I slowed down no more. Sometimes I think that what I learned is you're going so fast, you don't learn to slow down enough to hear the messages. But that the book was birthed out of that encounter. And so it what it did for me, it enabled me to find deep clarity, to hear the voice that wasn't just the cultural voices that had shaped me, but the the voice that comes from the voice that comes from heaven, the word that really defines who are you. That's where it came from.
SPEAKER_02Now I gotta ask, were you ever one of the unknowns yourself? And what did that season look like?
SPEAKER_01I was, man. I was. Uh so I think there was this ongoing struggle to um to be known. Um and to, you know, you if you look at my just my career, it was like trying to progress and take the new role. And I wanted to be in a role that I was a CEO and I had a voice that was globally influential. Um, and and that I could take something that was struggling, kind of the whole Steve Jobs type of story, right? Take something that was struggling and be the one that could take it somewhere. And so I took this role of this incredible organization and um did incredible things, raised over three million dollars, man, to bless people. I was trying to be like my grandfather, right? To to bless people through healthcare and mental health and young people. My entire career has been focused on young people and families, um, creating economic mobility and wealth to benefit them. Anyhow, I took this, I was there for uh five and a half years, led it for about three and a half uh solely, and um did incredible work. Again, we were reconstructing an old hospital building that had been around Milwaukee, it was the old Milwaukee hospital, had a ton of history near downtown, incredible work. Um, and at the same time, a lot of the stuff I'd inherited from moving, and I had mentors Omar that had told me the trend lines are negative, like you shouldn't take it. They actually told me my one of my closest mentors were from Texas. He said, I feel like if you take this, it's gonna be like the Alamo. Like you're going to you're gonna be in a fight that you won't be able to win, and you're gonna call for reinforcements and they're not gonna come. Um I chose to say like that could be true, but I believe like people will come, right? Uh now I've reflected on that uh on this end, but uh we we following kind of the the the change of the Trump administration, uh things for like nonprofits really, and I'm not making political statements, just reality, right? The the the tariffs and everything slowed down capital significantly. Uh and we had a lot of things that were um beginning to come due, like old uh bank lines and things that were ballooning into it. So in all of it, it was just a perfect storm and ways to try to make this thing work. It just didn't work. It all collapsed on me. And so the board, in their best judgment, said, You're not the guy. We're not gonna take that. And so I was found, I found myself out and I found myself uh with with a box, walked out of the back back door and told to told to leave. Couldn't talk to my staff, couldn't talk to the people I'd served for five and a half years. I was just out. And I got in my car and I called my wife and said, honey, it's over, it's done. And it's the first time in my life like that because I had visibility with the mayor, the governor. It was my name had started to mean something, I thought, Omar, right? And then all of a sudden, all of that just shut down. Um, no phone calls, you know, no meetings, uh, and just a ton of questions. And the hardest thing, honestly, for me was sitting with my kids uh who had accrued so many volunteer hours, again, in the same spirit of trying to be like the legacy of the grandfather and talking about the situation, trying to guard them from no not bitterness, and and at the same time understanding that those individuals that made that decision, they've made it in the in their judgment their best interest, right? I I don't like from that I get that. Um, but for me, I had to deal with that a new season of being unknown, unwanted, rejected, left to the side. And and in some ways, there was a part of a communication, it's just business. It's just business, right? And so I have to sit with that. Feeling forgotten, uh just tarnished. I guess the question was like, how do you get back from this? And and what what do you do? And again, who am I now? And that was a season, man. It was a season of being the unknown. Um and now looking back through the process, one of writing the book, um, you know, this this book, this book was a healing process for me. It was a healing journey of really looking back at my personal journals, unpacking my soul, my psyche, and then trying to hear the voice of the spirit, right? So, in all of that, I say I see it now as a gift, Omar. I think it's a gift that heaven gave me. And when I look at the lives of Biblical, of Joseph and Daniel, um, I I appreciate that moment more than you can ever imagine. I'm a new man now, and I'm grateful for that moment.
SPEAKER_02And you want to know something, Artuto? It wasn't like the Alamo. Because you were you're not Sam Bowie, you're not Davy Crockett, all those guys. There there was no plan B. There was no tomorrow. They all died. You didn't. To me, what I I I liken it as since you're uh a longhorn, it it's like losing in football to AM. Yes, it's a shocker, but you dust yourself off and you know you're not the stepchild like AM. You know, hey, let's learn from this, yeah, let's rise, let's m move on and hook them. And dude, everything happens for a reason, brother. I I was an entrepreneur for 20 years and and they took it all away from me. And it was just like, you know, when when when people when things like that happen, you have to ask yourself not why did this happen to me, but what can I learn from this? What what what is this is this creating a better me? And every time you have to see it as an opportunity, because you more than likely you wouldn't have written that book, brother. You wouldn't have been in service because you would have been focused only on being the CEO, correct?
SPEAKER_01I would not have yeah, I was thinking about this actually today, Omar. I I would never have written the book. It there was a set of events and circumstances that pushed me enough to really, really find that deep place. And and honestly, even the type of leader, it's it's helped me to identify and unpack like the set of situations and the context of decision making, even around that. And it helped me taught it also taught me how I was wired deep inside in a different way, in a way to try to protect my team and try to protect the staff and try to protect the people that had benefited from this very, very hard situation. And and I, you know, I wouldn't, I'm not the same guy because of the value of this journey. I would not make every decision the same, but I understand the intent behind every decision. So I I had to really redig the the emphasis because people were like, well, why did you do this or why that? Or why not this? And the bottom line was care for people. And and when you're when you're working in communities that have suffered for ages and been forgotten, been distraught, and people are easy to just, we're just gonna leave, right? We're just gonna leave them, like we're just gonna close a store and we're gonna go somewhere else. Um, and the impact that that has. And I I said in front of people, Omar, that were struggling in their finances, people that had jobs and still couldn't make ends meet. And and so the value of this type of entity being present, I understood that, but carry that burden. And I learned many things since then about how I would do it differently. But a hundred percent, a hundred percent, I would I treasure, I treasure that journey and I treasure the moment from that going forward because I found a voice I didn't know I had, and now I I see it. And it's almost it's it like the amount of writing and ideas and and uh the ability to do what I do now. I I there's this flow, I guess people call it the flow. There's this ability to get in flow. Um, and the other thing I'd really found out who were the truth, the true people that like I resonated with as well. So I found out the power of like community in a whole different way.
SPEAKER_02Now I'm here speaking with the man, the myth, the legend, Arturo Cerna, alumni of the illustrious University of Texas, Austin, the man the myth, the legend, and more important, the author of The Unknown's Rising. Now, this book, what I love about it, and let me tell you, when your publicist sent me the information, I'm like, oh shit. Another book about getting rich. But let me tell you, people, it's not, it's about becoming the person who is ready when opportunity meets calling.
SPEAKER_01Listen, man, I have a I have a friend of mine, she wrote the book, also uh a different book called Invisible Wealth. And uh Jennifer Wines, and she's worked with banking and different stuff, and she was like, There's this redefinition of wealth, and and so I believe the unknowns rising. When I when I talk about even the billionaire class, it's not quantified just by net worth. There is this capacity to add value to communities, employ entire families. It's kind of like uh like you're you're serving uh, you know, it's a beautiful life. You are serving others in your journey forward. And I again I I think we're sitting in a sleeping giant, Omar. The the Latinos and Latinas who are in this community, hopefully some of them are hearing this with you in your audience, that I think we're sitting in a sleeping giant. And um, and I believe that uh one, helping Latinos and Latinas in the Latinx community really get really grounded on what their future will hold, um, and equipping them right to understand the true value of what they bring. For one, you know, having the the blessing of speaking two languages in your brain capacity, your ability, your ability to analyze problems from that that that view. Me living early on in the border town, seeing the cultural dynamics in Mexico, seeing the culture dynamics in Texas and in between, it allows you to see worlds from a different perspective. You're a better problem solver. And then, last of all, when you think about AI and people are so afraid of this thing, uh, sometimes it allows you to look look at that issue even from a different perspective because you understand multiple languages, man. You're why your brain is wired differently, and I think you're gonna be a better builder with this type of tech.
SPEAKER_02I can tell you went to the university University of Texas with the word Latinx, man. What the hell is Latinx, dude? Be honest. Do you like that word when when people say we're Latinx?
SPEAKER_01That is not my preferred word. I just know some in the Latino community use it.
SPEAKER_02No, but that's not our our people. You know, I've never uh a true Latino will tell you it's just grammar, it's no exclusion, inclusion, whatnot. You're gonna laugh. The first time, it was like right when I got divorced, I was dating a woman. She had uh teenage kids, and it said, you know, we stand for all these things, and it says Latinx, and I and this isn't this is only 2020, man. So you're gonna laugh. This was I'm like, what and I wasn't, I didn't know what the hell, but I'm like, I'm like, excuse me, what's Latinx? Because you know, I was I was thinking it was like some edgy like rap group, like you know, manau or like one of those bands, and and the kid looks at me and she's like, It's you. I'm like, what do you mean? And she's like, You, you know, your people. I stand up for your people. I'm like, my people, who? And she's like, Latinx, and I'm like, and and she had to explain, um, and I'm like, no, I'm like, Latino means it could be one woman in a million men, and it's not excluding her, it's just grammar. We some words are feminine, some words are masculine, and I can't I can't explain it because I'm not a Spanish teacher, kid. But yeah, that was the first time, and every time I I hear that, and it's funny because you know, I I grew up with Cubans who are like always hardcore right wing, it doesn't matter. And I'll I'll post what do you guys think of of the word uh and people I grew up with?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I've seen it in allies and there's strong feelings, you know, on all fronts, but now yeah, I I I didn't know as much.
SPEAKER_02Trust me, brother. You're you're you're you're f your your family's like not like thinking, I'm like, thank god, man, they they're calling this Latinx now because you know we're we're hoping no man, that's something from the outside created.
SPEAKER_01Uh and it they so powerful that you say that from the outside created and to define it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Latinos did not create that word, brother. You and I both know that it's like yes, we create Hispanic, Latino, and I always love that article. Every election uh CNN has to define that you can be Latino nor Hispanic, or you can be his Hispanic, but not Latino, or you can be both, and it's like is this shit for real? So don't if not, don't feel like I'm like reading it and I'm like, you're shitting me all this time. I thought Guyana and I thought Brazil, I thought they're Hispanic. Are you telling me that they're not Naruba, that they're Latinos but not Hispanic, and then you can be from Spain and be Hispanic but not from Latin America? Wow, mind blowing. Thank you for the article. Thank you for the heads up.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Well, listen, I think, yeah, defining our own story is such a powerful vehicle to do that through all of this. You mentioned Cuba, so I'm actually want to hear what your connection to Cuba is because what one of the things that I'm excited about potentially, I've been to Cuba several times, know young people, no leaders in the country. And one of the my hopes and dreams would be to be able to equip leaders, um, cubanos that are wanting to like leverage journey. I I would love to do that.
SPEAKER_02My my daughters, Lauren and Mia, they're they're both only half Cuban, so they're only half perfect. And I I joke because they always say that cubanos always say that they're they're direct descendants of the royal family, all of them owned uh ranches in Cuba, and all of them had uh beachfront property in Valladero. It's like, yeah, but then how did communism happen if everybody's just a millionaire? So yeah, it's just one of those running jokes that other uh culturally we're we're all different, brother. Uh we just share a language. So whenever you read these articles like CNN, how do you win the Latin vote? You don't, man. So we all hate each other, we all love each other, we're all you know we're all competitive in soccer, we're all competitive in baseball, everything else. To me, it's like I I remember going to college and people like ah Mexican, and these were my fraternity brothers. I'm like, no, I'm Colombian. Like, oh, what's the difference? And then they would forget, oh hey, Cuban. I'm like, no, I'm not Cuban, I'm uh what's the same? What's it's the same, what's the difference? So I I told my wife at the time years later, I feel like going throughout Europe and somebody's like, hey, German, and like, no, I'm English. Ah, what's the difference? You're all the same, and but you know, because if nobody's the same, man. It's just a generalization, you know. It if if somebody's like, Well, Germans and English speak a different language, okay. Well, England, Ireland, and Scotland, they wouldn't say that they're the same.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think Omar, sometimes that's a platforming issue, too, right? Because if you don't see enough, enough, you know, platforms that release that uniqueness of the multicultural expression of the Latino community, then it's easy to just you know, broke, right?
SPEAKER_02But I brother back then too, there was only three people thought you're if I grew up in Texas, everybody would think I was a Tejano, right? That I that I was Mexican origin. If I'm in New York, more than likely people would think I was New York Rican. And here in South Florida, you know, somebody's like, Oh, you must be cubano, and it's like, no, well, you you do know that there Central in South America, there's there's plenty of other countries out there, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right on. And and so my minor at UT was Latin American studies, so I deep heart and passion to see that expression come forth, man. I I I just think this is the time uh for that to happen. And I I pray for the day that you know our children, like my kids, your daughters, can just find their voice and bring that flavor to the world, man, in their unique voice, in their unique way, and not have somebody else from the outside to find that for them.
SPEAKER_02Well, here, before we we go back to the book, I have to ask this question from one Latino to another. In our lifetime, do you see, do you think we'll see a Hispanic slash Latino president of the United States?
SPEAKER_01Dude, 100%.
SPEAKER_02It will happen. Yes. Because I I remember when we were like in in high school and college, and Bill Richardson was like our you know, mexicano, new Mexico governor uh on the cabinet, and and he ran like what two, three times. He was like the Kamala Harris. He came in like ninth place out of like 10 people.
SPEAKER_01No, I will. I think uh Omar, I think it's just a matter of birthright too, right? Like, I think over time that's just gonna it's just gonna happen. 100%. And I think as as more Latinos that the Gen Zers and others, because I think people define uh sometimes that like, yeah, you're hard workers, yeah, you're family-oriented, but you're like farm workers, construction workers, and that's it. You would define you to a slot and you're restaurant owners, right? You run restaurants, but the numbers are showing now that there's more young Latinos that are actually going into tech and going into just different fields, that I think is gonna it's just gonna change the narrative, it's gonna change the dynamic as as more of us take places of leadership, but then also we begin to lead differently. We begin to and when you're prepared in the hidden place, when you reach the prime time, my prayer and my hope is that we will lead differently, and that will benefit uh that will benefit our communities.
Faith Without Waiting For Rescue
SPEAKER_02Well, what made me cry, and this is out in public, you're gonna laugh, was when uh Pope Francis was announced as the the new Pope. I I remember I was volunteering at my kids' elementary school at the time, my my ex-wife and I, and she's like, What are you crying about? And I'm like, they just said the Hispanic is the Pope. He's the leader of one point one now, it's one point three, but like one point one billion Catholics. That's the CEO of the church. I'm like, that because you know, as a kid, I did shoot. I I never would, you know, if I I I told that to a teacher, they'd they'd probably send me to go drug testing. It's changing, Omar. It's changing. Brother, also, since it's Holy Week, what I love about your book, it's about faith and purpose.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that success isn't doesn't come passive. Because that's what a lot of people believe. A lot of people think God is Santa Claus, that Jesus Christ is Santa Claus. People felt that, you know, all if I pray for a million dollars, if I pray for a six-pack, if I pray to uh party with Hugh Hefner at the Playboy mansion, it it should all come about. And that's not that's that's not how it works, because that's that's what a lot of people believe. A lot of people didn't understand the secret manifestation. Once you know what you want, you have to earn it, you have to go for it. And I know that day, if I sat on my ass and I had a whole shopping list, and when Saint Peter would be like, Okay, well, we're thinking about letting you in, Omar. And I'm like, Yes, but I had this whole list. I had this whole list for Jesus and nothing happened. And he'd be like, Jesus gave you the power, he gave you the ability, he gave you the mental fortitude of being able to do that all on your own. And he gave you every single day to go out there and do that. You have to ask yourself, why didn't you? Now I know when the day comes, he's gonna be like, Holy smokes, you did so much with so little ability, man. You're you're mid at everything and you've accomplished so much. Well, we'll have to think about maybe a million years of purgatory for you. But let me tell you, you did an amazing job. And that's what what he's gonna tell me.
Don Quixote And Building Hope
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, listen, I think for me, I think about the kind of the original mandate in in the garden account. You know, go and take what is mine, take what I give the prototype. And because it is the story, right? They walk with him in the garden. They they were not distant, but they were walking with him, they were in relationship with him that defined them, and they go take this amazing prototype and go take it to the rest of the earth, the Great Commission, right? Post ascension, go to all nations, all tribes, you know, go into all the world, like replicate this goodness to all the world. And but I think that for me, Omar, the differentiator is that it's not like it's not the just like capitalistic culture that gets in you and you're like, I'm gonna go build all this stuff, all these treasures, but it's what you said, I think so well, the issue of fruit. Do you bear fruit in the likeness of him who made you? Right. So if you're in relationship and you're thinking about Holy Week, it it is if if you're an imager of the creator of God and Christ in you, the hope of glory, go produce fruit, man, that reflects him in the prototype. Make the earth better, take the raw materials and take your intellect and your likeness, commune with him, and then go build something like go, like go build the earth and make it better. And so I'm I I I want to do this, man. I have a heart for nations, I have a heart for young people. Um, and I I want to I want to give them hope. Actually, I was I was geeking out earlier today, uh listening to the Cervantes account of Don Quixote and and and really thinking through Holo Week all the parallels of that story of of the impossible dream, right? Of like believing people who are so traumatized that can't even consider there's a different reality that wasn't built for them by something else, by some other entity, right? Anyhow, I for me it it grounds beyond this story of like you can actually create hope and possibility for creatives, builders, entrepreneurs, and and this is the time to do it. I'm so grateful for channels like yours that are spreading spreading the news here. Because like again, I'll say I think so much as a father, so much motivates me to say, um, like I don't want my kids to look at the world and the chaos and the disruption and freeze and like do nothing but watch cat videos. Like, go build something that makes the world better. Does that make sense? I and and I'm I'm inspired because Jesus says he took he took the mandate of him and he became that sacrificial lamb, and he and it was hard and it was chaotic and it was like sacrificial, but he said because he saw the joy set before him, pass the cross, and he submitted to that journey of discipline, right? To the father. I want to live like that, Omar. I want to be that kind of leader.
SPEAKER_02All you have to do is decide, commit, and do it. And you know what? I I had a read Cervantes Don Quixote for Spanish at LSU. And many years later, because we we we're all under the assumption that he's batshit crazy, right? That he's he but as the older I get, he's he's the most successful person in the book, he's the happiest person in the book. Yes, he's chasing windmills, yes, he thinks Dulce, whatever her name was, was a super hot chick and that she came from Dulcinea was nobility, right? In his own mind, he was super happy. Yeah, he was he had a purpose, he had a mission. So to me, he wasn't crazy. The man was happy, he was successful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, because listen, and what what got me thinking is I was I was reading somebody's account on like just systems change, I think in education or something, and and how much it fails many of our children, uh, and especially black and brown children, right? It's just not working. Like, don't tell them, like, look at the stats and masks, it's failing like badly. And and and the concept of those who want to be reformers and disruptors and reinventors, you know, you get left out of the room sometimes. But sometimes, well, what I love about Jesus and his story is that he takes this his the view of the future, who he is, his plan, and he puts it in men and women, and it becomes like fire in your bones. And you're like, I can't like not do but go build something good. And the story of Don Quixote, right? All of those players around him who thought he was living crazy at first, at the end of his life, when he, you know, the mirror and the crushing, it was the Inquisition, right? Came that like by the law, like you were gonna do this as opposed to like the spirit, kind of those two dichotomies. Um, they came to him and they sang that song back to him because they were like, You changed my life. And I actually believe I can become something more now. And and I think that's the story, right? Like, I think that's the story of the unknown. That you're gonna take something that humanity wants, like, for example, uh a Hispanic president of America as an example, and say, Yeah, I totally see it. It will happen. It will happen. And my prayer is that when it does, it doesn't actually make things worse, but actually make things better because we're leading from a different compass. That's my hope, Omar.
SPEAKER_02That's an amazing hope, brother. That that's that's what I uh I love to hear, man. I I'd love that that's that's something that's optimism. Yeah, and the eternal optimist. We we all need to have that. And the one thing, too, that I loved about Jesus Christ, because everybody wants to portray him as this like whatever we we all want to put him in whatever image, whether he but the the one thing that people fail to realize is he knew we were all screw-ups. Yeah, he knew we were flawed, we're humans. He didn't go hang out in Rome with the Emperor. Right. He was he knew he was the king of kings, he didn't have to do that. He hung out with the most flawed people, he hung he hung out with with women, which at the time you don't hang out, you know, they were inferior, and he asked the person, the creator of Christianity, the founder, the Peter, the rock, a man that forsook him three times, and he told him he was gonna forsake him three times, and he had eleven flawed men and others help build his church and help spread the message all over the world, which uh uh ten out of the eleven apostles were brutally martyred, but they believed in that mission so much that they gave up their life for it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man. Yeah, and that and that's the message penetrating um for sure. And and I think that's the the the power of Holy Week is that it reminds us of that. Yeah, I was just writing recently this week about this, that even Judas as the betrayer, he washed his feet, he was present, right? He was there, and he understood all of that. And he looked at Peter and and and Peter in his passion, like like you will not wash my feet, Lord. And he was like, Like, if you if you you will have no part in me, Peter, unless I do the well then Lord, he washed my whole head, right? Wash my whole body. But he knew, like you said, the imperfection, but he didn't allow them to stay there. He called them into something greater, and after you know, he made them rise because think about it.
SPEAKER_02He made them rise when he came back from the when you know the resurrection, he was like, Oh Peter, I knew I told you you're gonna sell me out three times through you. He's like, he's like, I know you love me. Now let's go build this church.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, plain and simple. And I think I think you in some ways, Omar, you should tell your message. And I hope as I go about telling this message, we are uh we are messengers on his behalf, speaking the same message to imperfect people to say, I don't care if this is your seventh time and it hasn't worked out. You've got something in you that is dynamite, and you you you may just need the rocket fuel, or or maybe that tank is already full, but you need the catalyst to come under you and light that thing. And you know, hoolle, this astronomy major in BA, right? Like that rocket just went to the moon uh yesterday. That's amazing. So I I I feel like that's the journey that you and I are on, Omar. And and to see uh like a fire lit that transforms the future uh of so many people that have been told that they're they're overlooked, even not desired, but that they're actually chosen, right? To feel like a Peter, like I chose you, Christ, I choose you, Matthew, I choose you, and to to know that you're chosen, even when the systems of the world like don't want you and don't appreciate you, uh, but then you come back and you still create value and you still create purpose, even for those that betray you.
SPEAKER_02Man, golly, man, that's and the best part about any any journey, Arturo, is it there's no ending, but uh when things can are bleak, you can turn it around. Just think, brother. Under Pope Benedict, the Roman Catholic Church, articles upon articles, books upon books, the church is dying. The church is gonna be dead within who knows how many years. Now look at it. You there's all these articles, people are converting, people are going back to the church.
SPEAKER_01There's a massive resurgence, yeah.
SPEAKER_02One billion to now, like one point through almost one point four billion Catholics all over the world. I see all these reels of all these major cities. I see these stories that the Roman Catholic Church, which was never the majority in this country, is soon will soon be the the the number one church in this country, which is to me my mind blowing because I would I would be like, dude, you're smoking crack if somebody would have told me that ever in my life.
SPEAKER_01I think the headship, right, makes a difference who they see, right? I and but even young people, um, uh there's such an appetite for a spiritual journey. Um, and I see it in my kids, I see it in their generation, deep questions of the soul that are surfacing. And I think this this blending of the spiritual and um and the builder to build to improve humanity. I see it, man. It's it's it's I've saw it in the on the in the eyes and the lips of uh of kids that we were serving in Milwaukee because they've been failed by systems for so long. But they they want optimism, right? But they they don't just want the words, they want the mechanism to achieve it. And and I see it in my kids, and I I want I want to help them be builders of goodness, man. And and I am grateful for this journey, the spiritual awakening. I think there would be a third spiritual awakening uh around the globe, definitely in America. And I think you're what you're saying is a reflection of that, that things are beginning to change. People are beginning to come back into the faith community and ask deep questions about who am I, who is my neighbor, and what is my obligation. I think that's that trends positively if we if we steward it well.
SPEAKER_03Now, what's something in your incredible book that might make people uncomfortable? Oh man, that's a great question.
SPEAKER_01Um, I would I would I would maybe say one thing. I think because the the subtitle of the book, again, this is I'm I'm trying to be a good steward of what I saw, right? So people might say, hey, um, you're you're using the word, you know, when God unleash the new billionaire class. So that may people may say it's a and you're blending Christianity with like this prosperity gospel, but it's not. But it's not, but I write specifically about it, right? Like it's not this. Um, and but people at face value may feel like that's what it is. And I've had I've had uh um entrepreneurs who are uh you know of the faith, um, who after reading that they were like, man, it's totally not that. And I'm so grateful that you wrote it from this perspective of sacrifice and struggle. And you amplified the meaning of like what does it mean to be a truly wealthy person from different dimensions? And and and so yeah, I think that's that that might be one. That might be one that people might feel that's a struggle.
SPEAKER_02You know why I ask? Because growth comes from being uncomfortable, yeah. Yeah, it it it you need to it stirs up, it you need to fire inside you, you need to have this feeling of man, I'm sick and tired of this situation. And if this book doesn't make you want to get up, if this book isn't a rally cry, if this book doesn't want to make someone say, My time is now, now is the perfect time to change, and you know what, man? There ain't nothing gonna do it because God gave us all the tools that we need inside. There's no time to wait, there's no time. I I'm waiting. Someone that tells you, Oh, I'm waiting for the perfect opportunity. That's someone that has fear. Yeah, man, I'm waiting for the perfect time to dive off the diving board. I'm waiting for the perfect time. Just like what Nike, what Phil Knight always says, just do it.
SPEAKER_01Listen, man, I oh I love it. Love it. We're so in sync in that. This this book, very simply, because it came from from a vision of of the one, like the Lord, in some ways it's got an apostolic commission, right? It's he said, Come and follow me, Peter, and die to yourself. So it's not a comfortable book in that sense, right? Because it's not easy to respond to the call to to do something get beyond yourself requires you to die to self and become something better, right? Who who and that's buried. So I yeah, I agree with you. I I had an um 80-year-old believer write my prologue uh because um she my my foreword to the book because when she read it, she looked through the questions and she said, even as an 80-year-old believer, I find like the the I found like there was surgery happening in my life and in my heart, and I still have fight in me. And so when I read your book, she said, our like the questions were just one, challenging me deeply, but two, inviting me to even become newer, even at this age. And I said, You've got to write the forward to this book. I said, because that is incredibly true, and and it was encouraging me, encouraging to me to see that and to know that.
Where To Buy And Connect
SPEAKER_02Amen, brother. Now I know where to get the book, yeah, I know how to find you. Yes, we're friends on social media, man. So I know how to social media stalk you, I know where to purchase the book, I know you need to get on Audible because I I want to hear you read this book. I will do it. So I can download it, and yeah, I'm gonna buy it, I'm gonna buy two copies. Because you you weren't thinking it was just I I'm not like that. I'm not in scarcity. I'm gonna have to buy two books for my two daughters because it's that impactful. Awesome. Where do the people buy it? Where do they find you? And where do they just talk to you, man? And you're a person that's that's not you're you're not a false prophet, brother. You're not a guru, you're not gonna be like, pay me a thousand bucks. No, and I might tell you something.
SPEAKER_01No, my friend. I I I want to share my life with people and be be an encouragement to them. They can go to unknownsrising.com, Omar, and they they can take a they could take a free assessment to just say, like, hey, am I an unknown? Where am I at? So they can do that, they can find on the website, and then on Instagram at unknowns rising, they can follow me there and just stay with it, man. Stay on this journey. But uh, yeah, that's how they can find me, and I hope it's an encourage them when they do that.
What To Do Today
SPEAKER_02Amazing, brother. And one final question What if someone listening right now actually is one of the unknown rising? What do they need to do right now today?
SPEAKER_01Deep, thank you for that question. I would tell you get deeply clear about who you are in the eyes of the master. Listen to him and then go build what he's putting in you. That's what I would say. Do not give up, the best is yet to come.
SPEAKER_02Amen, brother. I know the best is yet to come for you. You have carte blanche. Whenever you want to promote, whenever you want to discuss anything, you want to be a guest, you know how to find me, brother. Yes, this book, you're gonna have to write a second, and then after that second book, we're Catholic, brother. There's a trinity. I I I'm I'm lacking that third. I need a third book. So now you will write the second and third book. Come on, and whenever you need anything, you know how to find me, brother.
SPEAKER_01Oh well, and I'm gonna be coming to Florida at some point soon, and I'm gonna look you up. We gotta spend some time together.
SPEAKER_02Perfect, brother. Because usually I'm social, like with my book and the podcasts and my videos, I'm socially awkward, but to you, I connect, so there's no social awkwardness. So anytime, brother, we'll have we'll we'll we'll we'll break bread together, man. Thank you for the the time. Thank you for taking an hour because you could have been doing anything else, man. You you could have been watching how LC is gonna be Texas this fall in football, brother. Alrighty, man. Thank you. Appreciate you.