Video Gallery

Dr. Biggers' Interview with Lilliana Vazquez

Go to Video Gallery Added Aug 28, 2019 •

Copy this URL:
Embed code:	<iframe class="edlio-embed-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="360" src="//www.scott.k12.ms.us/apps/embed/?v=222523" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Change dimensions

Go HD

Lilliana talks about her early school experience. Content from: https://vimeo.com/355596198

Show Transcript

So, talk to us about when you started school in your classrooms when I started school did not speak a word of English and I remember thinking that I was terrified and so scared I just felt different than the other kids in my program and I feel like I didn't have the same level of knowledge because I didn't speak Spanish to me my entire community of the Michael Myers everyone spoke Spanish in my house. I didn't get a chance to practice English until I went to school and that's really scary for me and it felt intimidating luckily kids are amazing and so and warm and just like pure love and I didn't feel judged by my classmates or my teachers they were incredible and they help me feel so comfortable with the fact that I only spoke Spanish when I started school how to be a little scary my mom was so scared to send me the school she said that the only thing I could say was my name is Liliana I needed to be able to use the bathroom that's it that is I couldn't introduce myself until someone that I love to color that I love to play or swing as a child to school in an environment that is foreign to them you're kind of taking your little baby and saying here world I hope that you take care of this person that's a thing about it is you guys are incredibly resilient and you're like amazing little sponges that can learn things so much faster than grown-ups you guys can learn a language that you have no knowledge of and no experience of in less than a few so I think my mom just had to trust in the fact that kids are really really smart and that my teachers wanted to take care of me and that my teachers wanted to help me and that my classmates wanted me to be a part of that community and she has a trust in them you know what she did she trusted them and here I am many many years later I speak English perfectly and people are always very very surprised to learn that English is my second language I think when I was younger I felt self-conscious that my English wasn't like perfect and it was and it's because I practice it at school but I started practicing at home and my Facebook English together my aunt's and I started speaking English 2 there's no trace of an accent and I also think that people are surprised because people have an idea of what it's like to have English be your second language they think you have to look a certain way or if they found us I just look like me and I'm bilingual I speak Spanish and I speak English in all different shapes sizes and packages and people have accents and that's a beautiful because it's a reminder of where they and I think that's one of the reasons my mom was really scared about me learning English in school is cuz she was really scared that maybe I would forget about where I came from connection to her car to my cousin's Orofino to my family because eLearning Glastron a different world you know being in America is really different than being in Mexico and there's Traditions that are different the language is different the culture is different but it was really important for me to learn English because education is the most importance of your life I cannot stress that enough and to be a great student at a school you got to have amazing reading skills amazing writing and you have to understand the language and I did that and that made her feel really real because she knew I was learning so that I can have a better future for myself but at the same time I still held so so strong to the values that make me so proud to be Mexican growing up in middle school high school fashion designer I realized I wanted to be in television think I wanted to be a Storyteller more then a reporter or journalist I just always really wanted to share cool talking on the phone to my friend for 2 hours at night or talking to my cousin's about a book that I read I always have been really interested in storytelling and I think that kind of High School in 1998 and I earned a full academic scholarship to college at George Washington University and I earned a scholarship because I studied and I did my homework and all I was focus on getting into college I knew that that was the one thing that I wanted to accomplish if I did nothing else I wanted to get into college and I wanted to graduate from college how is college life because you don't remember I grew up in a small town in Fort Worth and I went to school in Washington DC which is incredibly diverse City it's our cat there's politics around every corner people from all over the world in Washington DC and it was the best place that I could be for college because it opened my eyes to how big the world is and how much opportunity exists in this world for people so I was really scary to leave my family and go to college I was so ready for the adventure was International Business and Entrepreneurship because I had language skills I spoke a second language so I was doing business in South America or inspect I had a heads up on everybody else around me because I was bilingual so it drew me immediately to that major and an entrepreneurship and I think what people don't realize is so many tears to come here from another country are entrepreneurs to make something out of nothing they have to turn something that feels really really challenging and really difficult into an opportunity and at the core that is what an entrepreneur and I saw my mom and I saw my dad and I was like I want to do that to DC made me realize how much I loved the energy and the biggest city in the world is a New York city so I came to New York and I pursued a couple of different interest when I came here I work at a magazine and fashion I worked at an advertising agency experience is working as a Storyteller on NBC's The Today Show and Kane entertainment new show called access contributor for the Today Show so my job is to go until story is so fat to be a story about a middle school in Mississippi it could be about a fashion designer Dwayne Johnson The Rock's new movie I get to cover different topics but I really love to cover entertainment I love movies I love television I love actors and actresses and I love fashion so those are the stories that I get to tell on The Today Show alliterations amazing Today Show is an incredible opportunity to literally reach millions and millions of people every single day in their home so incredible opportunity to share stories that maybe don't get but I'm also going to the studio is an incredible honor everyday I knew many many years ago that that is a show that I wanted to work on I didn't think that I would ever have the opportunity because there really haven't been there's never been a Mexican American woman you can't be the one to do it Google is working hard in school and did you at the job yeah you know I think people sometimes forget that the most important part about being a Storyteller and being a journalist or a reporter or a news anchor that you see on TV the most important part of that job is to be a really good writer and you learn to write by reading and writing and doing that over and over and over again and reading book every minute that you have because it only does make you a better writer but it expands your Universe in a way that nothing else can like to travel to India so I can read about India and I can read a story about the culture and the people even if you can't travel to a far-off place or even if you can't be part of something because it feels so foreign you can get there with the books actually have a partnership with Kohl's I work with cold and I have a partnership with them called outfit bar so I go to Kohl's and I make 72 a hundred outfit and I merchandise I put it on the mannequins and you can actually go to Kohl's and Shop the looks that I create technically design them all together and that is an incredible feeling I love helping women dress better and finds their love for fashion I love the passion in your eyes when you talk it is just absolutely true I stand in Amherst Lee and thank you for the drink and if it if it weren't for your hard work in your determination you are so incredibly I just hope that I get to actually come and meet you one day and said I get to meet these kids because I can only imagine how brighter future is and how special they are and how much they have for learning so thank you for letting me do this world is supporting you guys and we love you and we are here for your support system and just think of us as your community your stay so I can we do we have some wonderful children they are very very very very smart everyone and then I will take your message and know that the any child in Stark County to be absolutely anything they want to be a dream for every one of our children thank you so much

Video Gallery

Dr. Biggers' Interview with Lilliana Vazquez

Popular Videos