Lillian Cruz

I think what made me so successful would be the fact that I am a genuine person. I'm honest, I'm genuine, I'm kind. I understand people. I understand people of all levels. Though I have my education and my background, I still can connect with any level, anybody. I can be able to speak with them and get them to speak to me and open up, because they see kindness in me, and they know I'm a genuine person. This is the way I am.

I think the greatest advice would be if you're gonna do a job, do it right the first time, so you don't have to do it again. So be thorough, very thorough in what you do. Do it correctly in the beginning, so that you don't have to go back and redo it.

Go in it with your heart, but also know when to step away. You can go in and really care about these families and care about helping them, but know when to step away, and know your boundaries as well, because you cannot give it all. This kind of work will burn you out. Be strong at what you do, and know your boundaries, and know that you cannot help everyone in the world. You can't. There's times that you won't be able to, and it's okay. Know when to take time out, know when to take vacations, because you're gonna need that. Trust me, you're gonna need it. You don't want to take that home. Know how to separate your job from home. That's very important.

The biggest barriers that we're having right now are the immigration statuses that we're going through right now. It's sad when you're trying to assist a family that ICE has just detained the husband, so you're trying to assist mama and the babies, because they still gotta eat, these are human beings, and it's a barrier when they're not getting any kind of help. It's very overwhelming with the immigration status that we're having right now with these immigrants. Another barrier is young adults that have criminal backgrounds. We're trying to get them back in the workforce, and they're sorry for what they've done, but they're very strong on that. So trying to get these people to live a normal life, that's another barrier. They're not very kind to people that have criminal backgrounds, especially even if it's a low one. And these kids could be young, 28, 22, 23. They want to turn their life around. So there's quite a few barrier areas you're going to run into when it comes to these social services fields, and those are my top priority, those are the top ones that I have right now.

I think the best thing is to be intelligent in what you do. Just know what you're doing. To be able to give good advice to others, you need to know what you're doing. So do it right, know what you're talking about. Be genuine with people. You know, it's so hard to find someone that's genuine. Just be genuine, be yourself. Just get the work done. Be honest. Integrity is so important these days. Just be a good person. Don't be someone that you're not. I always say, treat the janitor the same way you would treat the President of the United States of America. You treat them the same. If you take a position and you don't know what you're talking about, how are you going to lead a team if you do not know what you're doing? Study your career, your curriculum, study it well, but don't go and give false information. Know what you're doing and know what you're talking about.