Howdy from Bed-Stuy!
I bet that wasn’t a sentence you were expecting to read anytime soon. And honest to God, it wasn’t something I’d foreseen myself a few months ago!
I did an IG story about a week ago declaring my departure from the high-rise in Hell’s Kitchen. Everything was going fine until I took up a job as a Volunteer Assistant at St. Francis College in November last year.
I took the job with the understanding that I’d be able to get lane space at 180 Remsen Street to teach private swimming lessons. My dream is to one day have my own team in Downtown Brooklyn, but there’s still a lot of work that must be done before I accomplish this.
After trying, and ultimately failing, to juggle my assistant job, with my volunteer assistant job, with starting my own swim business, it all became overwhelming to say the least! I’m not afraid of hard work, but there are only 24hrs per day and it isn’t realistic for me to juggle 2 different jobs while trying to start, and operate, my own business. So, I dropped the part-time assistant job and moved into my own temporary spot in Brooklyn.
Right now, I’m at an AirBNB. Moving on short notice (I only had a week) this was all I could find. And honestly, it’s fine. I have a bed, a shower, and all the things I need. My former roommate was lovely enough to offer me another month of staying in Hell’s Kitchen but I declined. I really need to be on my own to start building things from the ground up.
I wish I could’ve built this business a long time ago, but due to the restrictions of the pandemz and everything that has transpired these last 2 years, building my own swim business has been placed on hold.
While we’re back to basics, I’m really happy here in my new place. And while it certainly isn’t as luxurious as the multi-million dollar high-rise, I do feel at peace, and I do feel more at home here. Now is the time to start building. I’m enjoying the sovereignty I have over my own life. It is incredibly freeing, kind of scary, yet totally exciting.
I don’t have a green card (yet) but I have applied for one and I should hear back from them later this year. My current visa only allows me to work swim related jobs. So, it has been incredibly restricting and difficult getting everything off the ground. I don’t have the luxury of getting a regular 9-5 job and earning an income that a person with a college degree can, so I’ve had to make do with what I can.
Have you ever seen me complain about my immigration status? NO! Because that doesn’t solve anything. Complaining won’t pay my rent, nor will it pay my bills. That stuff must get taken care of regardless of my immigration status, and it has been taken care of with hard work and creativity.
It is kind of amazing that I live in New York City, don’t have a green card, and have still managed to find a way to stay out of debt. I live in the most expensive and exciting city in America, if not the world, and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished given the circumstances. Most people would’ve moved home by now but not me. I have a steely determination and a high work ethic that sees all my projects through.
Even when I was working as Barista at Starbucks, I always give everything I do my best effort. If you ever meet Amini Fonua, you’ll surely remember his work ethic! I knew I was capable of accomplishing much more, and I knew being a Strbks Barista wasn’t going to be forever, it was just a stepping-stone onward to greater things. All I needed was the time.
And now? The time is here! The time for me to build my swim team and collect checks and offer my expertise to young budding swimmers has arrived. I’m so incredibly grateful for my tenacity to stick around and be in the city throughout this entire ordeal.
The people who stayed in New York City throughout the pandemic, the ones who didn’t leave, and the ones who found a way to make it work without applying for Unemployment and food stamps, they’re the fucken real ones. They are the tough ones! They’re the ones that kept this city moving, that kept this city alive. I was a part of that. And when I look back and think about surviving the pandemz, I’m happy for being able to do so.
I don’t have the luxury of a family that I can fall back on during these tough times, but I created a surrogate family along the way.
Thank you to Jarrad, for always looking after me, and for allowing me to look after you in return. I’m sorry we couldn’t make it work, but I’ll always think of you fondly. The bond we share is incredibly special. I’ve learned so much from you, and I couldn’t have survived this without you.
Thank you to Shanta, for literally giving me a bed to sleep on when I broke up with my Jersey boyfriend 2 years ago. She took me in, no questions asked, and made me feel incredibly welcome in her home. A feeling that felt foreign to me at the time, for reasons I cannot get into.
I’m so incredibly lucky to have felt loved throughout with my actual family, who continued to call me multiple times a week to see if I was okay. We survived a pandemic, went to the Olympics, and lived through a volcanic eruption! You can’t say it hasn’t been an interesting 2 years.
It’s incredibly humbling to go from the pampered luxury living in a high-rise to an AirBNB in Bed-Stuy, but I like to think of myself as a pretty humble guy most of the time. And, just like my job at Starbucks, it’s a stepping-stone toward bigger and better things. I take the lessons from all these experiences and carry them forward into my business.
This AirBNB might be a shoe-box, but at least I can say with fullness in my heart that it is mine. I paid for it. I own it, albeit temporarily, and I feel a huge sense of gratitude for staying here. I slept 10 hours last night, better than I’ve slept in months. It’s stressful trying to be everybody’s everything, but now the only person I have to worry about is myself, my swimmers, and my business.
This is where I’m at in my life, and I’m neither embarrassed nor ashamed because I know where I’m going and I know what I’m doing. My path is full of purpose. I’m on an upward trajectory and I’m building something fulfilling that I hope to do for years to come.
Watch this space!