I am the son of Cuban immigrants; I grew up in a typical immigrant home. My family fixed most things and threw away little. My grandfather would have been an engineer had family tragedy not intervened. Yet he never lost his interest in learning how things worked and in working to make them better. I was inspired by the many hours I spent watching him invent and create things from nothing. On the r
are occasion that we hired a repairman, I watched, intent to learn as much as I could. At my fundamental core, I am a serial tinkerer. I believe everything can be improved; my father, a straight thinker, has never shared my view. Childhood was a challenge because I saw the toys that he worked so hard to buy me, as a lesson that needed disassembly. Disassembling and reassembling my toys, to me, was playing. I have developed into an outside the box problem solver, adapting my skills from mechanical to practical. My parents never stopped me from living the American experience. Even though was raised Catholic, I was allowed to go with my friends to their religious activities. I experienced the Hebrew, Baptist, Methodist, and Lutheran, schools. It was the same with sports. I played baseball, football, and soccer, from elementary school through high school. Playing sports as a youth is a wonderful experience. I played for championship teams, as well as last place teams. I've carried a team, and a team has carried me. Learning how to win and lose with the same humility, is a valuable life lesson. After High School, I worked a variety of different jobs, construction, warehouse work, retail, upholstery, tow trucks, and tractor trailer. I was once licensed to drive anything from two wheels to 18 wheels, and armored track vehicles. I am proud to have served in the U.S. Army as a Field Artillery Forward Observer. I learned the strategies of battle from the command center to the foxhole. I am grateful to have been put in a position, to earn an Army
Achievement Medal. I was recalled to active duty, in support of Operation Desert Storm. It gave me the opportunity to earn a second Honorable Discharge, and a National Defense Service Medal. It also gave me the experience of going to the airport with family and loved ones, saying goodbye, and getting on an airplane alone, wondering if I would come back. Serving in the Army was an experience that changed my life perspective forever. The Soldiers Creed is forever in my soul:
• I am an American Soldier.
• I will always place the mission first.
• I will never accept defeat. I will never quit.
• I will never leave a fallen comrade.
• I am an expert, and I am a professional. After serving in the Army, I went to Tech School and ended up working for the engineering department of the oldest movie set lighting manufacturer in Hollywood. Among other responsibilities, I restored antique products. Through that work, I was educated in the history of theatrical lighting, from DC to AC. I built fourteen brand new carbon-arc lamps (from spare parts) that were used in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The company had not been able to make a brand-new functioning arc lamp over in twenty-five years. Because of my ability to repair any lighting system, I was recruited by the City of Santa Monica as a Junior Electrician/Lighting specialist. The oldest street lighting in Santa Monica was installed over 100 years ago, 5000 Volts AC, 6.6 amps, series to direct ground. Later, I went to work at Los Angeles Air Force Base as a Maintenance Electrician. While working at the Air Force Base, I bootstrapped my own electrical contracting business, which I operated for six years. When I decided to move to Las Vegas, I closed my business and was able to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 357, in Las Vegas. Without a formal electrical apprenticeship, I passed an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers District Nine Journeyman Wireman certification test and became a member of IBEW Local #357, as a Journeyman Wireman. It was the first time in my life that I was accepted into a labor union, and I continue to be a member in good standing. Las Vegas has been very good to me. I met my wife, Sherry in Las Vegas, we have been married for 9.5 years. Sherry studied accounting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. An Accountant and an Electrician make a very well-balanced relationship. Sherry is the one who always encouraged me not to quit on my first patent filing. I ran for Nevada State Assembly in 2016, there was an opportunity, and I accepted the challenge. Even though I lost, the experience, knowledge, and contacts I gained are immeasurable, and I continue to benefit from the many skills I gained. I chartered the Veterans Family Advisory Council, at the Las Vegas Veterans Hospital, and served for 2.5 years. I have been a lifetime blood donor, with 156 donations. I was selected as National Legislative Council Member, for the American Legion National Headquarters, representing Nevada Congressional District-One. I also volunteer as a Nevada Veterans Advocate, for the Nevada Department of Veteran Services. I hold two U.S. patents, and one Canadian patent, and I am the listed inventor on Sherry's patents in Taiwan, and China. We founded a Nevada LLC, and are currently bootstrapping a start-up, to launch a new niche product. Energy needs resistance to flow. I believe that if we are not getting resistance, it is because we are not moving forward, so I am always looking for the next challenge. I like the analogy of jeeping; the road is not always straight; sometimes, it seems that I am not traveling in the right direction; sometimes, there is no road, or there's a boulder in the road, and I need figure how to move forward, because if I continue moving in a forward direction, I will get to the end of the road, and then I go find the next road. My life experience gives me the ability to see the world through the perspective of a person who has experienced being:
• Latino/First Generation American.
• Veteran/Service-Disabled Veteran.
• Gainfully employed and chronically unemployed.
• Skilled and un-Skilled Labor.
• Union and non-Union.
• Labor and Management.
• Business Owner/Founder/Entrepreneur.
• Small Entity International Patent Holder.
• Democrat, Republican, and non-Partisan. My diverse life experiences give me an encompassing level of
empathy, understanding, and wisdom.
