kay, Grisel, let’s talk about where you’re from. I was born and raised in the island of Borinquen, which is actually Puerto Rico. I call it Borinquen because that’s the native name, the Taínos Indians. So that’s where I’m from, and my whole family is still there. I’m the only one to have left. I come from a very beautiful, very small village called Dorado. It’s on the North side of the island, on the Obeach. Everyone around us, our neighbors, everybody there, we considered our family. And everything that we had, we grew. Cows, cotton plantations, bananas, everything that we consumed was grown by us, or the neighbors. As a community, we were always together. What did your parents do for a living? My dad used to work for the electric company in the island. His job was always busy because this is a place were we have hurricanes coming every year. We get storms every year and the electricity goes out. We don’t really have insurance down there, so everybody helps each other after the hurricane sweep. My dad would go, in the middle of the night, in the middle of hurricanes, and make sure that the people from the island had electricity. And then my beautiful mother, a native, she actually only went to school until middle school, to the eighth grade. From there, she went to work for this factory that came to the island. And, of course, she raised all of us, her four daughters. How was life in the village? My childhood there was a very special one. I remember being very young, maybe five years old, and going with my dad to pick the beans from coffee trees, then coming home and roasting them on a big fire behind the house. It was my job to grind the coffee with my hands. And then, after that, I would go milk the goat. And we’d make fresh coffee with fresh cream. So, yes, growing up in the island was beautiful. And I owe everything I am today to my upbringing where the culture, and tradition, and community, and music, and food was so much a part of everyone’s life. What were you like as a kid? Oh, as a kid, in those early years, I was very shy. But, I’ve always had this thing, where I just love people, I love humans. And so, I was always involved in helping in any way that I could. Sometimes that was with the homeless, feeding them, and then when I was a teenager, I got really involved with helping to comfort people who had AIDS. That was back when people were so afraid of the disease, they thought it was contagious. So, I spent a lot of time at the orphanage to be there with these little kids that were just left in beds until they died. I was very committed to it. Instead of celebrating a holiday, I would go there to be with them, to hold the babies. So, as a child, I have always felt this incredible love for humans. I can’t express why, but I love people. I see so much beauty in others, so that’s all I did. And it was really hard for my family because they wanted me to spend time with them. But I wanted to be with the kids. Wow, that’s not the everyday teenage experience. What came next? Okay, let’s see, I was going to university, Sacred Heart University. I was studying for hotel administration. And I was also working at the Hard Rock Café, which had recently opened in Puerto Rico. You know, when you work at a bar there’s a lot of people that ask you for your phone number, so I made all of these little pieces of paper with fake phone numbers on them so I could be prepared. I didn’t want to hurt their feelings or make anyone upset, so I’d just say, “Sure, here you go.” So, I mean, you have to hustle a little bit when >> 36 | <strong>SLO</strong> <strong>LIFE</strong> MAGAZINE | AUG/SEP <strong>2021</strong>
AUG/SEP <strong>2021</strong> | <strong>SLO</strong> <strong>LIFE</strong> MAGAZINE | 37
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