Don't Do Nothing

[00:00:00] Aaron: Cuba to Miami, what’s that difference? Okay. What, what problems are you running into?

[00:00:02] Salma: Essay about lies. I decided to make Fidel Castro and the people of the government the lies.

[00:00:09] Aaron: So- How old

[00:00:09] Brad: were you when you did

[00:00:10] Salma: this? I was, like, seven or eight. My mom was able to provide for my family since she was 18.

[00:00:16] Salma: Crazy part is when she got in the border. Mm. Like, she’s still not able to tell that story without crying. Never seen a vending machine in my life.

[00:00:23] Brad: Mm-hmm.

[00:00:23] Salma: They don’t have those things in Cuba. And I was like, “Oh my God, there’s so much food inside of that thing.” Mm-hmm. Since I was a kid, I always wanted to be part of a group of people that had certain knowledge that I knew was not accessible to a regular person.

[00:00:38] Salma: And when I found Scientology, it is that knowledge, but it is accessible- Mm-hmm … to everybody.

[00:00:44] Aaron: Ladies and gentlemen, I have the famous Salma Atauri here on the show. This woman is… One, she’s Cuban, okay? So I grew up with so many Cubans, uh, and, and anyway, Cubans are amazing, so thank you for being here. Thank you for becoming [00:01:00] the, the best legal, uh, uh, person-

[00:01:02] Aaron: coming to the United States, which is incredible. I’m, you know, I’m happy the US allowed you to come when it did, even though they changed the law, but that’s a different story. Anyway, she- you came here at 13 years old, okay? That was 10 years ago. You are a artist, a fashion designer, a stylist, and over 100 million people have seen you styling, doing all the different things on social media, on Instagram, on TikTok, all these platforms, and of course you are a Scientologist.

[00:01:28] Salma: Yes.

[00:01:29] Aaron: So thank you so much for coming onto the show, Salma. We have so much to talk about.

[00:01:33] Salma: I know, we do. Yeah. Well, thank you guys for having me here. I’ve been, like, obsessing over the podcast for the last month. I, me and my fiance would always talk about how, like, “Oh, someone needs to do a Scientology podcast.

[00:01:46] Salma: Like, someone needs to talk about this stuff.” This is, like, the coolest place in the world. We call it Hogwarts, you know, like the Harry Potter. Yeah. Because you just get to there and you learn all this information, and you meet the coolest people in the world. So I always wanted something like this to [00:02:00] exist, and the fact that you guys are one of the first ones to do it, that is amazing, and thank you so much for what you guys do.

[00:02:06] Brad: Wow. Absolutely. What an acknowledgement. That’s amazing. That’s great. And the other parallel to Hogwarts, it’s also magic.

[00:02:11] Salma: That is true.

[00:02:12] Aaron: Ooh, yes.

[00:02:12] Salma: Ooh.

[00:02:13] Aaron: Very true.

[00:02:13] Brad: My wife and I have had that same conversation many times. Yes. Like, literally on repeat. We’re going

[00:02:18] Salma: to Hogwarts. Like-

[00:02:18] Brad: Yep …

[00:02:19] Salma: what else are you… Literally.

[00:02:21] Salma: Learning, learning the, the tricks of life, the magic of life- Yeah … and you apply these things and you’re like…

[00:02:26] Brad: Yeah.

[00:02:26] Salma: It’s insane. So yes, I’m very excited to talk about this. Out of all the things you said, the proudest one for me is being a Scientologist. Wow. That’s amazing. So I do love talking about this, and it is my favorite subject to talk about, so if I talk too much, please stop me.

[00:02:39] Aaron: We definitely will not stop you whatsoever. Impossible. For sure we won’t. Um, and what’s, what’s, uh, I guess a topic that is very interesting, right, is, you know, in order basically to, to come in Scientology, you kind of- Like, in Cuba, it’s not, there’s not a church down in Cuba.

[00:02:55] Salma: Nothing.

[00:02:55] Aaron: Okay? There’s not, that’s not a thing, like- Not even

[00:02:57] Salma: a book.

[00:02:57] Aaron: Yeah, I mean, Cuba, uh- Wait, wait,

[00:02:59] Brad: [00:03:00] not even a book?

[00:03:00] Salma: They are against anything that is positive or spreads a positive message or gives people any freedom of thought of any kind. Mm. There’s seven channels of television in Cuba.

[00:03:10] Brad: No

[00:03:11] Salma: way. And, and not a single of them are American. I didn’t grow up watching any American TV.

[00:03:16] Salma: Nothing. It’s prohibited. In fact, it’s so funny, uh, ’cause, uh, my fiance, he’s Russian, so I literally grew up watching the same cartoons his dad and his mom watched when they were kids, ’cause they only had seven channels. In Russia? Yes. So they put- Whoa … Russian cartoons in Cuba because, dude, they have seven channels.

[00:03:33] Salma: They have to repeat the same thing over and over. So that’s the cartoons that I grew up watching. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s bad.

[00:03:39] Aaron: So, so we wanna, so, so basically- That’s crazy … you know, in order to come into this journey, you have to come first to United States, right? Yes. Where, the land of freedom, the land of not just religious freedom- Yes

[00:03:49] Aaron: economic freedom, uh, a lot of freedoms that we have here that, uh, some people might take for granted. But-

[00:03:54] Brad: How did you make it go? All summed up in the word ‘Merica. ‘

[00:03:57] Aaron: Merica, exactly. Yes. To which Brad is, is a [00:04:00] perfect example. Born and raised,

[00:04:02] Salma: uh- Where were you born and raised?

[00:04:03] Brad: Uh, I was born in New Hampshire- Oh

[00:04:05] Brad: but I grew

[00:04:06] Salma: up

[00:04:06] Brad: in Florida, like 40 minutes north of here. That

[00:04:08] Salma: is funny, I lived in Boston for two years, very close to New Hampshire. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So you know, you know, we get

[00:04:13] Brad: it. Basically the same.

[00:04:14] Salma: It’s, it basically is the same.

[00:04:15] Brad: No, it’s, it’s, I mean-

[00:04:16] Salma: Yeah. That’s white people

[00:04:17] Brad: country.

[00:04:17] Salma: Yeah.

[00:04:18] Brad: S-

[00:04:18] Salma: North- I mean,

[00:04:18] Aaron: that’s like-

[00:04:19] Brad: Super.

[00:04:19] Brad: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s New England.

[00:04:20] Salma: New England.

[00:04:21] Brad: Yeah, yeah. It’s all good. New England. You’re in Miami, I’m Miami. There’s one, there’s one sports team for, like, 13 states, basically. It’s New England,

[00:04:26] Salma: kid.

[00:04:26] Brad: Yeah.

[00:04:27] Salma: Like… But anyways, how did I come to this country?

[00:04:29] Aaron: So yeah, how did you, how did you… What was the trip? You know, and, and I, I talked to a bunch of, like, Cubans in high school, and this, and they’ll talk about the boats, or they this, or whatever.

[00:04:38] Aaron: I don’t know how much is true, how much is fake, but, like, I feel like you’ll tell the truth.

[00:04:41] Salma: Oh, yeah,

[00:04:42] Aaron: 100%. So, so- I have to … how did you come over here? I

[00:04:45] Salma: signed a document.

[00:04:46] Aaron: Yeah.

[00:04:47] Salma: Yeah. So anyways, uh, my mom crossed the border. When I was eight years old, she made the decision to leave the country. Uh, she was doing some businesses in Cuba.

[00:04:57] Salma: They were going bad. Basically, in Cuba, in [00:05:00] order to survive, you have to go against the government. There are foods in Cuba- Mm … that are even illegal to buy.

[00:05:05] Brad: Food?

[00:05:05] Salma: So… Yes.

[00:05:06] Brad: What, like what? What’s an example? Hot

[00:05:07] Aaron: Dog.

[00:05:08] Salma: Um-

[00:05:08] Aaron: Nah,

[00:05:09] Salma: I’m joking. I’m joking. So, so listen to this. Okay, good. It is, it is like, I, I could get into this, like, crazy matrix of, like, how the system works, but basically in Cuba, you have a little, um, libreta, that’s what, how they call it.

[00:05:19] Salma: It’s a little notebook. Okay. Yeah. And in that notebook, they put the amount of food that you’re supposed to receive every month, but that is not enough. So people will literally starve if they only eat what they’re supposed to eat per that little book.

[00:05:32] Yeah.

[00:05:32] Salma: So people just have to go out there and find people that, like, have pigs in their house or cows and stuff like that, and they have to buy meat from these people.

[00:05:41] Salma: Mm. Which is something really funny about Cuba, is that killing a person gives you less years in jail, in, in jail than killing a cow. If you kill a cow in Cuba, you get 40 years in jail.

[00:05:52] Aaron: No.

[00:05:53] Salma: In jail. Yes. Yes. Like, that is a thing.

[00:05:55] Aaron: What?

[00:05:56] Salma: So you

[00:05:56] Aaron: can’t- What are you supposed to do with the cow, then? Massage it?

[00:05:58] Salma: I don’t know, man.

[00:05:59] Salma: It’s, uh, [00:06:00] everything’s owned by the government there, so you, whatever food that you buy- Oh, because it’s not your- … you have to buy it from the government.

[00:06:04] Aaron: What, what if it’s your cow? If you have a cow, can you

[00:06:06] Salma: have a cow? I mean, I d- I have never met anyone that had a cow.

[00:06:10] Aaron: Okay.

[00:06:10] Salma: Wow. People have pigs, but not cows.

[00:06:12] Salma: Huh. It’s, like, sacred because the, everything’s owned by the government. The, the tobacco industry, uh, all the nice things- Mm … all the nice Cuban products- Mm … are exported to other countries and is 100% owned by the government.

[00:06:25] Mm.

[00:06:25] Salma: Like, um, during the 19… When, whenever Fidel Castro took over, they took over all of the businesses that the Cuban people had, their farms, uh, their land, absolutely everything, and then everything became government’s ownership, so they could do as they please with that.

[00:06:40] Salma: Mm. They took ownership of islands and parts of Cuba, and Fidel Castro started to give parts of Cuba to other countries. It’s crazy, like a complete totalitarianism.

[00:06:50] Yeah.

[00:06:50] Salma: So anyways- buying certain foods is illegal because you can only buy the things that this little notebook has. Wow. So in order to make a [00:07:00] living in Cuba, you have to do illegal things, otherwise- Mm-hmm

[00:07:03] Salma: you would literally, like, starve. And my mom was getting tired of this because she was trying to do things the right way. My mom is one of the most ethical people I know. She’s the kindest, most amazing woman in the world, and she was just so tired of getting screwed over. Also, my mom was very advanced for Cuba.

[00:07:20] Salma: Like, she always had all these ideas and things that she wanted to do, and everyone would invalidate her like, “You’re crazy.” Yeah. “How are you gonna do that? You have a daughter. Like, that’s a crazy idea.” So naturally, when she said that she wanted to get out of Cuba, my grandmother was like, “You are crazy.” Mm.

[00:07:37] Salma: Like, “What are you gonna do? Blah, blah.” Anyways, my grandmother’s in the US now.

[00:07:43] Good.

[00:07:43] Salma: And she loves it. Uh, but she just, you know, decided after so many failures and so many setbacks that she had, she made the decision of coming to the United States, and she literally on her own, I am her only child, I don’t have any siblings-

[00:07:56] Mm, mm-hmm

[00:07:57] Salma: and, uh, on her own self-determinism, [00:08:00] she just decided to cross the border. She went to Guatemala. Back then Cubans could go to Guatemala with a Cuban passport- Mm … ’cause you’re not allowed to go to many countries if you have a Cuban passport. There’s only, like, a few. Mm. Russian is- Russia is one of them.

[00:08:14] Salma: Mm-hmm. Wow. And during this moment, Guatemala opened up, um, for you to travel there with a Cuban passport, and this was only like a two, three-month thing, so she had to act really quick.

[00:08:24] Wow.

[00:08:24] Salma: So she was like, “I’m getting out of here. I’m gone. I, I don’t care. My daughter’s not gonna grow up in this country.”

[00:08:31] Salma: And she would also see that I was kind of like a weird kid in school. Not weird, but for the, uh, the ideals of, of where I was raised and the education and the indoctrination in my country, I was weird, and I was starting to speak up because I, I talk. Yeah. And, you know, and when I th- and I have a, I have very strong opinions about the things that I think are just and right, and I would say those things, and the teachers wouldn’t like it.

[00:08:55] Salma: So she was like, “I have to get out of here.” Give

[00:08:57] Aaron: me an example. What did you say to your teacher?

[00:08:59] Salma: [00:09:00] So this is a very funny one. There was this one time they’d made kids do a, uh, like a essay about lice, like about the little insects- Lice on your- Oh, no … in your head. And I decided to make Fidel Castro and the people of the government the lies.

[00:09:18] Aaron: Wow.

[00:09:19] Salma: I used that analogy. Wait,

[00:09:21] Brad: how old were you when you did

[00:09:22] Salma: this? I was like… Oh my God, I was like seven or eight. Yes. So they were the lies. That’s incredible.

[00:09:28] Aaron: Political essayist. Yeah. Yeah. Salma, okay. Yeah.

[00:09:31] Salma: And you know, it was like a little, little innuendo. It was not- nothing’s direct-

[00:09:35] Uh-huh,

[00:09:35] Salma: uh-huh … but-

[00:09:35] Aaron: How could you do nothing direct?

[00:09:37] Aaron: Hold on. I’m sorry. I don’t, I don’t see how you could do

[00:09:40] Salma: indirect in an essay. It was, like, a little, like, you know. But you know, I was a kid and I was, I was, I was… I don’t know. I mean, I, I guess I knew things, you know?

[00:09:47] Aaron: Mm.

[00:09:47] Salma: Yeah. So the teachers saw that and they were like, “Oh no, you can’t be… Like, this is not good.

[00:09:51] Salma: You can’t say those things.” Yeah. And I was like, “Well, what’s wrong with it? It’s just, like, a story, you know? Like, I’m not being literal about anything.” And, and, well, anyways, [00:10:00] they didn’t talk about it after. Afterwards, they told my parents, and everyone in my family was laughing, but a little bit scared at the same time.

[00:10:07] Salma: Mm. Because there are very bad things that happen to people that do speak up. Oh, yeah. And that’s something else we can talk about, but to finish the story, my mom made the decision. She took her Cuban passport, she went to the embassy, applied for the visa. She got the visa, went to Guatemala, and all the way from Guatemala made her way to the Mexico border.

[00:10:24] Salma: Without you. You, you stayed in Cuba. Without me. Oh, okay. No, she would never put me- Oh. She would never jeopardize, like, no, no. She was like, “No, I’m doing this on my own.” But since they had this law, dry feet, what, how do you say it? Wet

[00:10:34] Aaron: foot, dry foot.

[00:10:34] Salma: Wet foot, dry foot. Yeah. I never say that in English.

[00:10:37] Brad: What is it en Español?

[00:10:38] Salma: Pie seco, pie mojado.

[00:10:39] Brad: Ah.

[00:10:40] Salma: So there was this law, so anyways, she crossed the border. She got here safely, thank God.

[00:10:45] Aaron: So you gotta, you, we could ex- you want me to explain the law or you wanna explain the law?

[00:10:48] Salma: You can

[00:10:49] Aaron: explain it. Okay. So wet foot, dry foot. Please, constitutional scholar

[00:10:51] Brad: Aaron.

[00:10:52] Aaron: Okay, so here’s, here’s the deal, and, and I, I don’t…

[00:10:55] Aaron: I did look this up law once, um, but we talked about it all the time. [00:11:00] Out of every country, okay, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Guatemala- Russia … Chile, Argentina, Uruguay- Any other country … anything South America, anything, uh, whatever, Somalia- Mm … of Africa, any, whatever, South Africa, again, any, any European cou- no matter where you are, you come to the US and if someone’s like, “Hey, I know you’re illegal here,” you get kicked out.

[00:11:18] Brad: Yeah.

[00:11:19] Aaron: In fact, uh, it happened, there was a big thing with Haiti with, like, the earthquake and different things that happened. Haitians were coming here-

[00:11:24] Mm-hmm …

[00:11:24] Aaron: and they were getting mass, like, deported. Deported. Like, get out. Like, you, you cannot stay in the United States-

[00:11:29] Salma: Yeah …

[00:11:30] Aaron: for, for no reason. For every country except one.

[00:11:34] Aaron: Which is Cuba.

[00:11:35] Brad: Wow.

[00:11:36] Aaron: Cuban, and I don’t know when that c- came, it came into law, but it’s been a lot, because I’ll tell you, in Miami, the reason there are so many Cubans in Miami and so many businesses- Yeah … Cuban businesses- Mm-hmm … in Miami, in my school it was, like, probably 50% Cuban and then, like- What? … 1% white and then 49%, like, the other South American countries.

[00:11:52] Aaron: It, it is like that. No, for real. Like- What? It is, yeah … like, it’s, in Miami it’s mostly Cubans. Yeah. Like, it’s a lot- Hmm … a lot of Cubans. It’s, it is. Because the [00:12:00] law is if your feet, you literally land, if you’re on the land of the land mass of the United States of America- Mm-hmm … not only can you stay, okay, if you’re Cuban, but you can, you get a working visa, you get a Social Security number.

[00:12:14] Aaron: I mean, you are, you become an American. Mm-hmm. You stay here for 10 years- You’re god … you, you, you’re, you’re literally, you’re good. Wow. Yeah. You’re, you are set. You become a US citizen, and- Yeah, within five years … full voting rights. I mean- Yeah … you are American, but if you’re Cuban, but just for Cuba.

[00:12:28] Yeah.

[00:12:29] Aaron: Um, and because maybe some of the things, of course the reasoning in this, we don’t need to get into it, but it’s wet foot, dry foot.

[00:12:34] Aaron: If y- Wow. But if you’re on the, if you’re on the shore and you’re on the beach and you’re about to, like, hit the thing-

[00:12:38] Salma: And they catch you back … they grab.

[00:12:40] Aaron: Yeah. They get your boat- Really? Mm-hmm. Yeah, they get your boat-

[00:12:41] Salma: Yeah … they will, they’ll

[00:12:42] Aaron: send you back.

[00:12:42] Brad: Unless you swim and you l- you touch land- But you have

[00:12:44] Salma: to touch

[00:12:44] Salma: they let you stay. Yeah, you have to, you have to hit the land. Wow. That’s why it’s named like that.

[00:12:48] Brad: Are there, are there, have there been, like, is there, the population of Cuba, has it declined-

[00:12:52] Salma: Oh my goodness … over the

[00:12:53] Brad: years?

[00:12:53] Salma: Of course. I mean, Cuba has one of the lowest natality rates in the world, if you look it up.[00:13:00]

[00:13:00] Salma: And funnily enough, it, they have, uh- Oh,

[00:13:02] Brad: I’m sorry, I missed something. Lowest what rate?

[00:13:04] Salma: Natality rate, like the people that are born there.

[00:13:06] Brad: Oh. Oh. Natality- Oh …

[00:13:07] Aaron: nation, the

[00:13:08] Brad: birth.

[00:13:09] Salma: Yeah. Yeah. Like- Yeah, yeah, yeah … people, I mean, it, it is a country that is extremely poor.

[00:13:13] Brad: Hmm.

[00:13:13] Salma: People there are not thinking about having a family.

[00:13:15] Salma: Like-

[00:13:15] Brad: Really?

[00:13:16] Salma: Yeah. No.

[00:13:16] Brad: Do a lot of people not have kids there?

[00:13:18] Salma: Uh, it’s not that, it’s that, I mean, so many people have immigrated, if you think about it. Like, I, I don’t know exactly what the percentages are, but most people from Cuba ha- same thing with Venezuela, most people have, they’re all over the country.

[00:13:31] Salma: You go to Russia, you’ll see Cubans. You go to Spain, you’ll see Cubans. You go to Miami, of course you’ll see Cubans. Uh-huh. Yeah. Mm-hmm. We’re, like, scattered all over the place. So anyways, my mom gets here. She takes- Hmm … advantage of the law, and within a year she’s able to claim me legally to the United States.

[00:13:47] Salma: Ooh. So that was within a year she starts all of the paperwork.

[00:13:50] Aaron: Uh, hold on. But how are you allowed to leave? ‘Cause Cuba doesn’t wanna leave, let you go. Yeah. Or they do,

[00:13:55] Salma: or what’s the deal? So the only way of, that you’re able to leave is if you had a spouse or if you had a [00:14:00] parent or your kids In the United States

[00:14:04] Aaron: In the US.

[00:14:04] Aaron: So did she have to sneak- And so Cuba listening, Cuba’s like, “Okay, fine. You can go with your mom.”

[00:14:06] Salma: Yeah.

[00:14:07] Aaron: Really?

[00:14:07] Salma: Yeah. Oh. That is the only way. So for example- Wow … if my mom, like, decided to marry Ame- an American while she was in Cuba, she could have gotten out of the country. Mm. That is the only way- Mm … that that is allowed.

[00:14:18] Salma: So I came fully legally to the United States, um, after probably four years of my mom being in this country. Everything was already, like, set, and I was able to come here. And not only me, dude, my mom literally claimed everybody else in my family. Like, the reason why everybody’s in here legally, she even claimed f- like, distant family members and friends.

[00:14:37] Salma: She, my mom is the most, like, giving person in the world, literally.

[00:14:40] Brad: Yeah.

[00:14:41] Salma: Um, everyone’s here because of my mom. Wow. So yeah, that’s the reason why I’m here.

[00:14:44] Brad: Did she have to, wh- when she left to go to Guatemala, was that pretty smooth or did she have to do it a little bit, like-

[00:14:51] Salma: No, that was smooth …

[00:14:51] Brad: hidden? It was

[00:14:52] Salma: smooth.

[00:14:52] Salma: The, the crazy part is when she got in the border. Mm. Like, she’s still not able to tell that story without cry- without crying. Like, she- [00:15:00] Wow … yeah. I mean, nothing bad happened to her, but she was at a border of death many times. They stop the buses with guns, and they ask you for money, and she’s a woman on her own.

[00:15:10] Mm.

[00:15:10] Salma: Like, she did this whole journey on, on her own. That takes some balls, you know? Yeah, that’s intense. She’s very brave, and the fact that she did that and she was able to, you know, succeed in this country and bring everybody else here is just, like, ins- I have a lot to look forward to in life. I’m like, she’s fully my example.

[00:15:27] Brad: Yeah. Wow, that’s so good.

[00:15:29] Salma: Thank you.

[00:15:30] Brad: Okay, so from Cu- like, you get to the US. Do you speak any English?

[00:15:36] Salma: No.

[00:15:37] Brad: So no English. Not at all.

[00:15:37] Salma: They don’t teach English there.

[00:15:38] Brad: Where did, where did you guys land? And then, like, what did, what did you do? You’re like, “Here I am in America. What now?”

[00:15:43] Salma: So it’s so funny, my first impression of the United States.

[00:15:47] Salma: People always ask me this question. I remember I got to… You know, when you come to a country for the first time, you have to go through customs and, like, blah blah blah, and those thing, and all these things. So I see this thing in the corner, and I’m like , [00:16:00] “What is that?” And my m- my mom’s like, “Oh, that’s called a vending machine.”

[00:16:03] Salma: Never seen a vending machine in my life. They don’t have those things in Cuba.

[00:16:07] Yeah.

[00:16:07] Salma: And I was like, “Oh my God, there’s so much food inside of that thing.”

[00:16:12] And I’m

[00:16:13] Salma: like, “Mom, how can I buy one of those? Can I have a dollar?” She’s like, “Yeah, of course, have a dollar.” And I’m like, “Oh my God, we’re rich.” So I- … I go to the vending machine, and I’m like, “I can pick anything I want?”

[00:16:26] Salma: I don’t know. It, it was just so- Mm-hmm … crazy to me, the fact that food was so accessible, and you could just get it from a machine, and nobody would break into that machine and steal it. Because if that was in Cuba- Yeah … for more than, like, literally two minutes, somebody would just break into it and steal, like, literally break through the glass and steal the food.

[00:16:43] Salma: Yeah. Like, I’ve never seen anything like that. I w- I remember as a kid going to the stores, and all the shelves would be empty There was nothing on the shelves. And the store would still be open, but there was like one or two things on the shelf. Yeah. So seeing food in a machine, and you could just get it for a dollar, [00:17:00] I, I just couldn’t believe it.

[00:17:01] Salma: That was one of the craziest things to me-

[00:17:03] Yeah …

[00:17:03] Salma: from that perspective. And then the food was, like, mind-blowing. I started to eat so much. I was like, “Ah, you’re telling me you can go to McDonald’s and refill the ketchup for free?” “You get Coca-Cola? Like, you mean if I buy it once, and then I don’t have to buy it again?

[00:17:20] Salma: I can just go and refill it?” And-

[00:17:22] Yeah …

[00:17:22] Salma: and, and the McDonald’s, it was like a dollar back then for, like, a McShakin’. And I was like, “Dude, this is crazy.” Yeah. Like, that was just the food. You can’t imagine everything else was like. Everything was mind-blowing to me, but the food was one of the biggest things because there’s such a scarcity of it in Cuba.

[00:17:38] Salma: Mm. And, you know, that’s a main thing you worry about, right? Like, in Cuba you’re not worried about, like, anything else. There was not even internet in Cuba when I lived there. So what was the thing that my parents were worrying about? What are we gonna cook tomorrow? What are we gonna have for food? We, we gotta go and hustle and get some food- Mm

[00:17:52] Salma: and see how we’re gonna feed the kids and, and how we’re gonna make this work, you know?

[00:17:56] Brad: Yeah.

[00:17:57] Salma: So that was insane to me when I saw that vending machine. [00:18:00]

[00:18:00] Brad: That’s hilarious. That’s great. So it’s just a constant, like, problem. Like, p- it must be, um… Like, if you think about it in the US, like, food is just kind of like a foregone conclusion for, for most people.

[00:18:10] Brad: Yeah. It’s like, okay, you got the food. N- that’s handled. But like-

[00:18:13] Aaron: Even if you’re broke.

[00:18:14] Salma: Oh, yeah …

[00:18:15] Aaron: I mean, we- next door

[00:18:16] Salma: is a food bank. The broke people eat more. I mean, like, yeah. I, I don’t know. I just- Mm-hmm … I just made that observation. Yeah, yeah. I, I noticed that.

[00:18:21] Brad: Yeah.

[00:18:21] Salma: They eat more.

[00:18:22] Brad: Yep,

[00:18:22] Salma: yep. Food.

[00:18:23] Brad: Yeah, it’s true.

[00:18:24] Brad: Well, you have food banks, you have food stamps, you have, like-

[00:18:26] Aaron: Yeah Soup kitchen.

[00:18:27] Brad: Soup kitchen, yeah. It’s just, like, food everywhere.

[00:18:30] Salma: Mm-hmm.

[00:18:31] Brad: Um, do… I’d have to imagine that in Cuba people, like, are… And I don’t mean this in a, like, in a mean way, but they’re probably just, they just get less done ’cause they’re always having to figure out, like, okay- Yeah

[00:18:42] Brad: how am I going to feed myself? 100%.

[00:18:44] Salma: It’s so funny. I think it’s, it’s, it’s like they… I mean, in Cuba there’s- nothing else to do. Like literally you have nothing to do. Imagine- Right … like a country where like there’s no TV, there’s no like internet, so like what do you do? [00:19:00] So, uh, I mean, for example, things that are, you know, just to give you another perspective on it, what that creates is that people become very resourceful, you know?

[00:19:09] Mm.

[00:19:10] Salma: Like, you will see we- like you go to Cuba and you see all these old cars and you’re like, like Americans are like, “Oh my God, the vintage cars. This is so nice.” Mm. I’m like, “No, no, no, no, no, these are not vintage cars. These are old cars that because of necessity-

[00:19:22] Yeah …

[00:19:23] Salma: had to be learned how to be kept for years because if this breaks, the taxi driver is not gonna eat tonight.”

[00:19:30] Salma: Mm. Like, you, you get what I’m saying. It’s not like this beautiful vintage paradise. It’s like people have become so resourceful. Mm. They, you learn how to use the same thing over and over and over. I remember my grandmother, like paper plates, she would wash the paper plates and put them. And I remember as a kid, I was always abundant despite of the…

[00:19:47] Salma: Like, my mindset was very abundant- Mm … despite of like my surroundings. And I would be like- Are you washing the, why are we, why do we wash the paper plates? This is so interesting, right? Like, like everything was preserved over and [00:20:00] over, so you really learn how to keep and t-take care of things and really- Yeah

[00:20:04] Salma: preserve things, but it’s, it’s born out of necessity. It’s not- Mm … born out of like, oh, this is vintage. Let me keep it because it’s nice and it’s gonna value it, and it’s gonna go up in price one day, and I’d like to collect these things.

[00:20:15] Brad: Yeah. And then sch- But- I wanna know about school. Like, did you- Mm. You get to America.

[00:20:20] Brad: Did you go into, like, a public school?

[00:20:22] Salma: Or- I did, I did.

[00:20:23] Brad: Yeah?

[00:20:23] Salma: Yeah. Yes.

[00:20:24] Brad: How was that?

[00:20:25] Aaron: Where,

[00:20:25] Salma: okay- So- What city?

[00:20:26] Aaron: Where, where did you arrive

[00:20:27] Salma: to? I was in Miami school. Uh, well, I went to Miami High for high school, and before that I was at Citrus Grove Middle School. Okay. It was just, like, the middle school there.

[00:20:35] Salma: So it was a huge shock for me to actually come to the US. S- One thing I would say though, I think my education in Cuba was better than the education in the United States. Oh. Huh. Yeah. That is the only thing I can say, yeah, it was, it was better. ‘Cause the thing is, my, that’s my case. This is not everybody, and here’s the reason why.

[00:20:53] Salma: My teachers were old. My teachers were, like, 80 years old.

[00:20:56] Mm-hmm.

[00:20:57] Salma: Yeah. So these people have been around, and they had very, like, [00:21:00] old-school methods of teaching, which actually worked. ‘Cause, you know, when they start rewriting education and do- Mm … they just ruin things, right? So they had the, like, OG legit, like, okay, here, here’s how you learn something.

[00:21:11] Salma: And I really liked my teachers. Mm. And they were really nice to me, at least. Like, you know, like, I don’t know, I just really loved going to school. In Cuba, that was the only thing about my life that I could not complain about, and the o- it was my stable, like, kind of my stability was going to school. And not even talking to the kids or anything, just going to school and learning was my- Mm

[00:21:32] Salma: favorite thing to do in the world.

[00:21:34] Brad: Wow.

[00:21:34] Salma: So that was the education there. When I came to the US-

[00:21:38] Aaron: So, so in, in, what about, ’cause I wanna talk about this, ’cause I’ll, we talk about this a lot, but one of the things that ruin people’s lives are drugs.

[00:21:44] Salma: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:45] Aaron: Right? Like, and I, and I grew up in Miami, and I went to middle school and high school in Miami, and, and we’ll get into that, but, like, what about Cuba?

[00:21:50] Aaron: Is there- Maybe we’re too broke to have

[00:21:52] Salma: drugs, right? Or what? There’s no, there’s- They’re too bro- I mean, they- Really? They, they probably, yeah. The thing is that-

[00:21:56] Wow. Whoa …

[00:21:57] Salma: and it’s so funny because the Cuban government [00:22:00] does smuggle, they do smuggle drugs- Mm-hmm … through Cuba. Hmm. But there is no drugs in Cuba, but people drink, dude.

[00:22:06] Salma: Like, I mean- Alcohol … you wanna see a worse drug than alcohol, you name it. It’s, uh, people drinking, um, idle- Los curdo, los curdo … lingering, like, like literally doing nothing the, the whole day.

[00:22:18] Brad: What does that mean?

[00:22:19] Aaron: The drunks.

[00:22:19] Salma: Curdo. Oh. Like a drunk, yeah. Like, like a drunkard, you know? But, um, I never saw, at least I didn’t see any drugs.

[00:22:26] Salma: I do know of like right now, after I left the country, there is a little bit more of access to it, but there are worse things than drugs in Cuba- Yeah … and I’ll tell you that, and that, that is illiteracy and the, the level of ignorance that people have in Cuba because of the indoctrination. And I, I s- as I said, I was lucky to have a good education.

[00:22:45] Salma: That was only two teachers out of probably the whole province where I lived that were good. Wow. That was my experience. Mm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Not everybody else’s. Like, I saw the other kids from other schools, from other classrooms, they were not the brightest kids. And it’s not because they didn’t [00:23:00] know or, or because they just, like, weren’t smart.

[00:23:03] Salma: It’s just they were taught things the wrong way.

[00:23:05] Brad: Yeah.

[00:23:06] Salma: And in Cuba it’s like, oh, that’s something, this is something I do have to make. Uh. It’s like, yeah, my teachers were good and they were good to me ’cause I was, I was smart and I was studious, but if you didn’t do good, they will hit you. Mm-hmm. And that’s a thing, like- Yeah

[00:23:20] Salma: this is nor- like, this is normal in Cuba. With

[00:23:23] Brad: a ruler or what?

[00:23:24] Salma: No, sometimes with a hand. Just with a hand. Whatever they would find. Sometimes I- Yeah … saw my tea- like, there was this one time she hit a kid with a chair.

[00:23:31] Aaron: Okay.

[00:23:32] Salma: She’s

[00:23:32] Aaron: 80 though, but a k-

[00:23:34] Salma: She has so much strength. An 80… It’s true. You have no idea.

[00:23:36] Salma: This woman has so m- she’s still alive. She’s still teaching.

[00:23:40] Aaron: Yeah.

[00:23:40] Salma: She’s probably like 80-something, like 90 almost. She’s still teaching. They- Oh my God … you know, very old school people, man. That’s, these are the methods of their grandparents. Still taking down kids with a

[00:23:49] Brad: chair to the head.

[00:23:50] Salma: I mean, that’s what people used to do back in…

[00:23:52] Salma: It’s crazy- Yeah … that it is normal and accepted, but this, this were, this is how they were taught, man. It’s crazy, wow. But the teacher didn’t hit

[00:23:58] Aaron: you ’cause you were, you were

[00:23:59] Salma: doing your homework. [00:24:00] No, I would, I would, I would do the things that they wanted me to do. I would… And I, and I did it not because they told me, I did it because I liked it, but I was one of the few people that actually liked it, you know?

[00:24:09] Salma: Mm-hmm. It was not everyone’s experience. You’re

[00:24:10] Brad: only rebellious in writing.

[00:24:12] Salma: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Then, yeah, exactly. In a very, you know, like fancy manner- Mm-hmm … with, with fancy words. But yeah.

[00:24:18] Brad: That’s the best way to be rebellious because it’s- Exactly … it’s almost like beyond reproach.

[00:24:22] Salma: Mm-hmm.

[00:24:22] Brad: It’s like you’re like-

[00:24:24] Salma: Yeah.

[00:24:25] Salma: Exactly.

[00:24:26] Brad: Yeah.

[00:24:26] Salma: And it’s funny, uh, in Cuba they started to imprison- That’s how

[00:24:29] Brad: I was as a kid.

[00:24:29] Salma: Yeah. Yeah. That’s so funny.

[00:24:30] Brad: Yeah, yeah.

[00:24:31] Salma: Yeah. Me too. So in Cuba, they started to imprison a lot of, uh… Well, the first thing Fidel did was get rid of the artists in Cuba. Mm-hmm. So he started to imprison- Oh, no … a lot of writers.

[00:24:39] Salma: Writers were number-one target. Of course, writers. Of course. Number-one target.

[00:24:42] Yeah.

[00:24:43] Salma: Writers, uh, musicians.

[00:24:45] Mm-hmm.

[00:24:45] Salma: Anybody- Mm-hmm … that could create art, uh, he totally got rid of them, and he only kept the ones that were willing to sing about communism and write about communism and- Huh … and, you know, just spread this idea of like, you know.

[00:24:58] Salma: That’s the, that’s the first [00:25:00] thing he did, so that was just really funny. There’s so many movies that depict this in a very visual way.

[00:25:05] Aaron: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:06] Salma: And it just sparks you. Do you have a favorite one that you think

[00:25:08] Aaron: is good?

[00:25:09] Salma: Uh, there is this one, I don’t remember the name of it. I saw it at the cinema one time.

[00:25:14] Salma: I’ll give you the name after. Okay. Maybe I will put it- It will come to my head. Okay. But that movie was shattering. Mm. I was, like, crying. And to know that the reality was even worse than what the movie shows, it’s just insane.

[00:25:26] Brad: Yeah.

[00:25:27] Salma: I think it was, like… It, it begins with I. I don’t know. Okay. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll…

[00:25:32] Salma: It will literally come to me in a few seconds.

[00:25:34] Brad: Okay. I dig it. Yeah. What… Is it real too that in America there’s- I wouldn’t say a lot of people, but there’s like a good chunk of the population that actually thinks that if the US were to become a communist country, things would be a lot better.

[00:25:51] Salma: Yes.

[00:25:51] Brad: There’s actually a good, like millions and millions of people- Yeah

[00:25:54] Brad: who think this. What would you say to them-

[00:25:57] Salma: Dude …

[00:25:57] Brad: from having grown up in a

[00:25:58] Salma: communist country? Are you [00:26:00] kidding me? First of all- … I mean, they have no idea what they’re talking about. They’re literally just repeating something that they were told in school.

[00:26:06] Brad: Mm.

[00:26:07] Salma: And the saddest part to me is that, uh, the people that are supposed to be the brightest of this earth, which are the students from Harvard, MIT, blah, blah, blah, I lived in Boston for two years, are the people that are being taught these bull-

[00:26:18] Mm.

[00:26:19] Salma: Mm-hmm. Like, these are the students that are being fed this propaganda. Mm. And there is a reason for that. I, I 100% believe this is being pushed for a specific reason by a very small amount of people that want people to be illiterate and to really think this way- Yeah … so they could have more power.

[00:26:34] Brad: Yeah.

[00:26:35] Salma: But if you wanna know how it is to grow up in a communist country, I suggest you just go to, to Cuba, you take a one-way flight there, and you just stay there, and you let me know how it feels to be without electricity for five days straight- Yeah … and not have hot water in your house. So, uh, it, to me is just like I could never, uh, agree to that because I experienced physically a, a complete, complete total reality [00:27:00] of what these people are saying.

[00:27:01] Salma: They have no reality on that. They’ve never been to the country. They’ve never read the actual history. They’re repeating something they’re being indoctrinated by a school system that doesn’t want them to be bright. Because anybody that would repeat these things, it’s just like, just come on, just go look at the country.

[00:27:18] Salma: Look, take a look at it. Walk through the streets of Havana. The buildings are falling apart.

[00:27:22] Mm.

[00:27:22] Salma: People are starving. People are skinny, that like, they, they’re not eating. Yeah, we’re very happy people, that is true. The Cuban people are so happy, but it’s kind of like a way to deal with, with what’s happening.

[00:27:33] Salma: We’re not… Like, in the bottom i- is that’s not true happiness, man. Yeah. True happiness is being able to speak, being able to get a good education, being able to put m- a meal on your table without having to worry about it, just the basic necessities of life, and you don’t have that in Cuba. And I, in fact, I, I’m willing and 100%, like, willing to say in here that they have broken most of the human rights.

[00:27:55] Brad: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:56] Salma: And they should be put in jail for it. Mm. And I, I [00:28:00] hope they do- Yeah … because it is a fact.

[00:28:02] Brad: Yeah. Wow.

[00:28:04] Aaron: Isn’t that where Guantanamo- Well, there we go. There’s a message … is that in, is that in Cuba?

[00:28:07] Salma: Yeah. That is- Is it? … is in Guantanamo, yeah.

[00:28:09] Aaron: Guantanamo, that’s where they torture people. Mm.

[00:28:11] Salma: Yeah.

[00:28:11] Aaron: They’re like, “Let’s go torture people.

[00:28:12] Aaron: We should just go to Cuba.” Mm-hmm. No, I mean, just to talk about- Oh, it’s true … human rights, like- It’s true. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it’s true … you know, I, I don’t think the US government is particularly good. I don’t think that’s a good, good practice. Yeah. But I’m just saying if they’re gonna go, they go to Cuba. So just- Yeah

[00:28:23] Aaron: as that saying something. Exactly. Fair enough. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, okay. So in fact, I will tell a story about Cuba real fast since we’re on the topic- Yes … and we’re talking.

[00:28:30] Ooh.

[00:28:30] Aaron: So I went to Cuba ’cause my mom, uh, her- What? … second husband was Cuban.

[00:28:34] Salma: No way.

[00:28:35] Aaron: Uh, and then actually her third husband too. So you got, you have a

[00:28:36] Salma: lot

[00:28:37] Aaron: of experience with Cuba.

[00:28:37] Aaron: I have a lot of experience. Wow. Uh, so yeah, I had a, a stepfather, Cuban, uh, Cuban stepfather twice.

[00:28:43] Salma: What?

[00:28:45] Aaron: So- When we went there, it was very, very interesting because there, we went to this incredible resort. It was beautiful, the beaches, the all you can eat food, this. And when you go in, [00:29:00] we had to actually hide someone, like under, that was Cuban, ’cause you have to show proof- Yep

[00:29:07] Aaron: that you are not Cuban-

[00:29:08] Salma: To enter …

[00:29:09] Aaron: to go into the resort. Yeah. To go to the hotel, it’s anyone except Cubans. Mm-hmm. So, so they were hidden. What? And there’s like pe- four people in the car, da, da. One person’s hiding.

[00:29:20] Brad: Mm. Because this person, like, lived

[00:29:21] Aaron: in the US- Because they’re Cuban … but they were

[00:29:22] Brad: Cuban?

[00:29:22] Salma: Yeah, and that’s illegal too.

[00:29:24] Salma: No, but no, but not in- The, the laws there make no sense. Like, I’m tell- you say that is illegal.

[00:29:27] Aaron: They’re not US. No, they were in Cuba, so we went to Cuba. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So again, my mom is married to a Cuban. Met up with them? Yeah, so we like picked up whoever it was, somebody- Oh … in, in, in the guy’s family, and then he came with us.

[00:29:37] Aaron: Oh. We had to hide him in the car- Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa … to sm- Yeah … like smuggle the guy into the resort. Where ya

[00:29:41] Salma: hiding? Where ya hiding him? Yeah, human trafficking,

[00:29:43] Aaron: man. Like, just under, I don’t know. We put like some stuff over. I forget. I was like, oh, and I’m like, you know, I don’t know. I was, must’ve been like 9 or 10.

[00:29:48] Aaron: In the, not in the trunk? And I’m like, “Okay, uh, just don’t talk.” Yeah, yeah. Like, take the passports. Here it is. Okay, you guys are all American. Thank you, go in. And then once you’re in, then there’s a f- you know, food everywhere. There, it’s just abundance.

[00:29:56] Salma: Mm-hmm.

[00:29:57] Aaron: It’s a resort, dude. Wow. All you can eat everything.

[00:29:59] Aaron: Yep. Pools, [00:30:00] the beaches are incredible.

[00:30:01] Salma: Insane.

[00:30:01] Aaron: Yeah. Like, Cubans aren’t allowed.

[00:30:04] Salma: Mm-hmm.

[00:30:04] Aaron: Not allowed.

[00:30:04] Salma: It’s only, it’s only for the tourists. It’s, it’s so funny- What? … ’cause my mom- You

[00:30:08] Aaron: can have the money, dude.

[00:30:09] Salma: Yeah. Wow. You can be rich. You can be rich. In Cuba. You, you’re, you ain’t going anywhere. So can’t come.

[00:30:13] Salma: Yeah, literally. My mom, uh, that’s what she did for a living. She was, uh, an entertainer. You know the people that like, like sing and do this- Mm-hmm … and get the people on stage and all of that? Mm-hmm. So she, that was the highest paying job-

[00:30:25] Brad: Mm …

[00:30:25] Salma: because it’s tourism. Cubans-

[00:30:26] Brad: At,

[00:30:27] Salma: at one of

[00:30:27] Brad: those places?

[00:30:28] Salma: Yes. Oh.

[00:30:28] Salma: Cubans, uh, the, the, the Cubans’ economy depends fully on other people coming to the country, it’s a fully tourism. So they, you know- Mm … they deck out the hotels, and they invest all of their money that they get in, in, in, you know, portraying this beautiful paradise island to tourists. Mm-hmm. And my mom was very smart.

[00:30:49] Salma: She was like, “Oh, this pays. I’m gonna do that.” I’m not- Mm … ’cause my grandmother was like, “Oh, you have to be a doctor, an attorney,” blah, blah, blah. She was like, dude, the d- I’m telling you, the doctor’s salary in Cuba is $15 a month. [00:31:00] If you’re an attorney, even worse. So my mom was like-

[00:31:03] Aaron: That’s five times minimum wage in Venezuela.

[00:31:05] Aaron: Yeah. That’s pretty good. What?

[00:31:06] Salma: Yeah. It’s crazy

[00:31:09] Aaron: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Venezuela, Mina- Mina- $3 a month? Correct. 2.40.

[00:31:13] Salma: Yeah.

[00:31:13] Aaron: 2.40.

[00:31:14] Salma: So my mom was smart. She was like, “Oh, damn, I’m gonna get into tourism.” Mm-hmm. So she did, and she worked at one of those hotels where there was no Cuban people allowed unless you were staff, you know?

[00:31:23] Salma: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But because of course.

[00:31:24] Brad: Yeah.

[00:31:25] Salma: But it is, it is a fact.

[00:31:27] Brad: Wow.

[00:31:28] Salma: Yes. She worked there- Wow … for, like, 15 years.

[00:31:31] Brad: Wow.

[00:31:32] Salma: And that was the only people that were actually making a li- Like, my mom was able to provide for my family since she was, uh, 18. Mm. She started to study, she finished her degree, and she started tourism as a career in Cuba.

[00:31:47] Salma: So she started to do this. And another very funny fact is that, like, you know, I, my, she was a single mom. Like, she was divorced from, uh, my dad since I was, like, one.

[00:31:55] Mm-hmm.

[00:31:55] Salma: So she provided for all my family. She was the breadwinner of, like, all the family, [00:32:00] and this job was able to provide for them because it was a- actually one of the highest paying jobs that you could do was working in tourism.

[00:32:06] Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. So, wow. Okay, so let’s, let’s go back to now US a little bit.

[00:32:11] Salma: Yes.

[00:32:11] Aaron: So when you went into school, Miami, so my, again, I was there, my high school, right, I graduated in 2008. Mm-hmm. So quite a bit, uh, um, before you, right? And- So how, what was school like? I mean, like how m- I just wanna know the drug thing.

[00:32:27] Salma: Yeah, yeah,

[00:32:27] Aaron: yeah. I haven’t been to my, like, the, my s- Of 10, 13 years after me, you went to, to high school, whatnot, and, and how was it, middle school, high school, growing up in Miami, Cuba to Miami? What’s the difference? Okay. What, what problems are you running into?

[00:32:38] Salma: Yes. So, well, the first problem I ran into naturally was the language.

[00:32:42] Salma: I was like, oh my God, I don’t even like English. I don’t wanna learn English. But anyways, uh, I think- By the way,

[00:32:47] Aaron: some people don’t, dude. Some people don’t. Oh, yeah, some people- No, the Cuba- Been here for like

[00:32:50] Salma: 20 years

[00:32:51] Aaron: Correct.

[00:32:51] Salma: Yeah, you don’t have to. And like- But I, I know some … they own businesses and everything, they don’t speak English.

[00:32:54] Salma: I know some here. Okay,

[00:32:55] Aaron: here, yeah, yeah.

[00:32:55] Salma: They are completely reluctant to learn a word of English. They’re like, “Oh, I get by.” But in Miami you can’t [00:33:00] get by like this. Correct. Yeah, yeah. ‘Cause here it’s much harder. ‘Cause everyone speaks Spanish. Yeah, yeah. Here it’s much harder. Here you wouldn’t survive. Yeah, yeah.

[00:33:03] Salma: Yeah. Like anywhere else in this country you wouldn’t survive. Mm-hmm. And people would be like, “What are you doing?” But in Miami it’s so accepted. You go to McDonald’s, they’re like, “allen.” You’re like, “What? English please.” But anyways, I got to school and I w- I was, it was shattering for me ’cause school was my favorite thing in the world, and the education here was like so bad.

[00:33:21] Salma: I was like, so I, first of all, I get to school and I go into this… The only thing I could do was math, ’cause you don’t, you don’t need to know English- Mm-hmm … to do math.

[00:33:30] Yeah,

[00:33:30] Salma: yeah. So I go into this, uh, this is in middle school, and there’s this math teacher, and he, he really liked me. He was like, “Oh my God, like you’re so smart.

[00:33:36] Salma: You’re a genius.” Like, “You’re doing things that people four grades, like, higher than you are doing.” Mm-hmm. And I’m like, “Dude, no,” I’m like, “I’m not a genius. This is what I was being taught in Cuba.”

[00:33:45] Yeah.

[00:33:45] Salma: And I saw kids using calculators and I was like, “Huh? We don’t use calculators in Cuba. You have to, you, you just know,” you know?

[00:33:53] Salma: You j- or you write it on a piece of paper, but- Yeah … but you just… You know, like everything in Cuba was way more advanced than the [00:34:00] things that they were teaching in the US. So for me, some classes that didn’t require any English were like pretty easy, but now when you went in into history and stuff like that, I was like, “Ugh, I don’t know what you’re saying.

[00:34:08] Salma: I’m so confused.” So at the beginning I wasn’t doing that good. And then I was like, you know what? I’m in school. It was, learning English for me was more of like a I don’t wanna do it than m- me not being able to learning. Mm. I was like, you know what? I changed my mind. I was like, you know what? I’m in school, and I’ve always been excellent in school.

[00:34:25] Salma: I’m just gonna be good again. So I just made that decision, and I did that during high school, and I just, I just literally went from like not paying attention, not caring because I didn’t understand the language, and that bothers you when you don’t understand something, to like, okay, sure, I’m gonna learn it.

[00:34:39] Salma: So I learn English, 4.0 GPA, all the grades started to get better. I was around 15 at the time And this is really funny. I find this, uh, network marketing business and they recruit me into it, and I really like the idea of owning your own business and, you know, they were sharing [00:35:00] books by Robert Kiyosaki-

[00:35:01] Salma: and, like, all these things, right? And I was reading books and, you know, listening to Dale Carnegie, and listening to all these audiobooks, and I was like, “Damn, I don’t wanna go to school. This is what I wanna do. I wanna have a business. I wanna do my own thing.” And I-

[00:35:16] Aaron: Like network marketing, selling what?

[00:35:18] Salma: It was like, is this company Amway?

[00:35:20] Salma: Everyone’s heard of it. Okay. Okay. Like, network marketing. Any- Mm-hmm.

[00:35:21] Aaron: Vitamins.

[00:35:22] Salma: Yeah, but- Mm-hmm … the thing is that the educational s- whatever little educational system that they had-

[00:35:27] Brad: Mm-hmm …

[00:35:27] Salma: I was, I was getting some information that I resonated with- Mm-hmm … and it just clicked.

[00:35:32] Brad: You know what’s crazy about that?

[00:35:33] Brad: 33… I’m 33. When I was born, my parents had a side business from their jobs selling for A- vitamins for Amway.

[00:35:42] Salma: Really? Damn.

[00:35:43] Brad: Is that crazy?

[00:35:44] Salma: Yeah.

[00:35:44] Brad: 33 years ago. It’s

[00:35:45] Salma: been around for so long.

[00:35:47] Brad: Oh, yeah.

[00:35:47] Salma: It’s still around. Yes. There’s still people doing it.

[00:35:49] Brad: Yeah.

[00:35:49] Salma: Mm-hmm. So anyways, they share all these books with me and, you know, like I, I, I…

[00:35:54] Salma: my horizon ex- start- started to expand, right? Mm. I remember, uh, since I was a kid, I always [00:36:00] said I wanted to be a billionaire, but since I didn’t know what a billionaire was in Cuba, I always said, “I wanna be like Bill Gates.” Mm. I knew Bill Gates was the richest man in the world- Mm … and I would always be like, “I’m gonna beat Bill Gates.

[00:36:10] Salma: I’m gonna be richer than Bill Gates.” So I always had this very entrepreneurial mindset, and I always believed in, like, you know, you have to do your own thing and you have to be very independent. I was always very independent, so everything in these books resonated with me. So- I was putting so much time and investing so much time in r- I was, like, the one that recruited the most people within a month.

[00:36:31] Salma: Oh, wow. And I was 15. I was 15. I had to sign my mom’s name to, like, like, put it under her name so I could do it. Yeah. Like, I was not even legally, like, able to do it. Mm. Yeah. But I was, I was really good at talking to people, and I really enjoyed it. So I was recruiting people, and bringing people in, going on calls and bringing people.

[00:36:47] Salma: And, uh, I w- I stopped going to school because I was going to bed at, like, 4:00 AM in the morning. And my mom- … her shift started at 3:00 AM in the morning. So I would just stay sleeping in the house. And, like, [00:37:00] I had, like, 10 absences.

[00:37:01] Aaron: Yeah.

[00:37:02] Salma: And the social person, like how- Social

[00:37:04] Aaron: worker?

[00:37:04] Salma: Social worker- Yeah … came to the house, and she was like, “Here, here’s your daughter’s grade.”

[00:37:09] Salma: Everything A, A, A, A, A, everything. She’s like, “She’s one of the our brightest students, but she’s missed more than the times that she’s supposed to miss school, and we have to let her go.”

[00:37:19] Aaron: Let her go for- from school?

[00:37:20] Salma: From school.

[00:37:21] Aaron: So you got expelled? To go where?

[00:37:22] Salma: To go, I don’t know, to go to another school, I guess.

[00:37:25] Salma: But if you, if you miss, if you have too many absences, they’re like, “No, we don’t want you.” Like, you know- What? … I had, like, 20-plus absences, honestly. It was- Mm … it was really bad. And I was hiding it from my mom ’cause I was like, “Oh, she’s at work. She doesn’t have to know. I’m making money.” Yeah. You know? Yeah.

[00:37:38] Salma: So my mom was shattered. Yeah. Like, can you imagine an immigrant when, when her kid’s like, “I’m not going to school anymore”? I was 16 at the time And I was like, “Okay, mom, like, here, here’s the thing.” I was obviously writing paragraphs in school. My final essays were how much I hated the educational system, by the way.

[00:37:57] Salma: Mm. I literally have paragraphs, I can look [00:38:00] them up now because they’re in this app called Pencil where you can still see your essays. Yeah. And all of my final essays, everything was anti-school system. Everything. This is what I remember coming up to the economy teacher. I mean, like, “Do you have a business?”

[00:38:15] Salma: He’s like, “No.” I’m like, “How are you teaching economy if you don’t have a business?”

[00:38:18] Brad: That’s hilarious.

[00:38:20] Salma: Like, literally.

[00:38:21] Brad: Yeah.

[00:38:21] Salma: The teacher was like bewildered. He was like he didn’t even know what to say, ’cause I was- Yeah … like exposing him basically.

[00:38:27] Brad: Yeah.

[00:38:27] Salma: And I was telling everybody, like all the, like the people in the school and the board, and I was like, “I don’t like this” and like, “Yeah, I’m good at it, but like I just don’t wanna be here.”

[00:38:36] Salma: Mm. Like, “I, I don’t agree with this. I don’t feel like it’s making me any smarter. It’s not giving me actual tools for life that I can apply, and I just feel like I’m wasting time and I’m wasting my mother’s money. Because in a few years I’m gonna graduate, and she’s gonna want me to go to college.” Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

[00:38:51] Salma: “And I don’t wanna go to college.” Yeah. So anyways, my mom was shattered. Um, she signed the document-

[00:38:57] Brad: Well, at least you ripped the Band-Aid off early.

[00:38:58] Salma: Yeah. But… Sorry?

[00:38:59] Brad: At least you [00:39:00] ripped the Band-Aid off early.

[00:39:01] Salma: Oh, that is

[00:39:01] Brad: true. Like 16 rather than

[00:39:02] Salma: 18. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So here’s the thing. So I don’t know, for some reason, the social worker, she, I don’t know if she liked me or something.

[00:39:10] Brad: Mm. ‘

[00:39:10] Salma: Cause this is illegal. You can’t leave school, right? Correct. But the social worker, she probably liked me or something, and she told my mom, she’s like, “Your daughter’s talking about being a multimillionaire and how she’s gonna do all these things, and I believe her. So I’m gonna let her go.” This is…

[00:39:28] Salma: She’s like, “I c- I’m not even allowed to do this, but I’m gonna let her go. You can sign this document, and she doesn’t have to go to any other school.”

[00:39:34] What? Wow.

[00:39:36] Salma: That is illegal. Never heard of this. If, if I, if I- Yeah, that’s wild … they expel me, I had to like find another school like immediately, right? Mm. Mm.

[00:39:42] Salma: Or do s- or go to a lesser school or something. I don’t even know- Yeah … how it works. And she was like, “And please, when she does, call me, ’cause I wanna know.” I was telling all the teachers, I was like, “I’m gonna be a multimillionaire. I’m not gonna be here.” Like if, like, bye. Like, I was like- … “Mm-mm, I’m not doing this.”

[00:39:57] Salma: And I remember I was, I, I saw that my mom was [00:40:00] really sad, so I was like, “Hey, Mom, you want me to get my college degree? Uh, I will.” So I sold the- College or

[00:40:05] Aaron: high school?

[00:40:06] Salma: Oh, sorry. High school degree. Okay, go ahead. Yeah, my high school degree, I will. So there was this letter in the mail that came in of a, like a private, like, quick, like, school, like a private school, and it was like $500 that I had to pay for it.

[00:40:17] Salma: I paid for it, and I finished school in two months. So I still have my high school diploma. I finished high school, basically. I just quit when I was 16, I guess. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Like, I did it earlier, so it’s called an early graduation program that I did. So I got out of school when I was 16, and honestly, it was the best decision-

[00:40:34] Mm-hmm

[00:40:35] Salma: that I could have made.

[00:40:36] Mm-hmm.

[00:40:36] Salma: Because, I mean, I knew it would still cause trouble if I was still there, ’cause I do not shut up. And I would just have been so invalidated by people- Yeah … because there were people that would clash, that their ideas would clash with mine. And at some point, enough resistance would have made me give up on my dreams and the things that I actually wanted to do.

[00:40:54] Salma: Mm. So, you know, I went my own way. I finished high school, and I, I started to do businesses and stuff, which is what I [00:41:00] actually like doing.

[00:41:01] Brad: That’s amazing. Okay, Aaron is dying to know, did you run into any drugs in high school?

[00:41:04] Salma: So I- I’m about to find out … quit so young, I, I, I, like, I didn’t… In high school, I didn’t see anything, but- You didn’t see nothing?

[00:41:11] Salma: Like, my, my- You didn’t see anything? What do you mean? No, but, like, I mean… Okay, so here’s the thing. I did- Did you go to a

[00:41:15] Brad: Catholic school and you

[00:41:16] Salma: just didn’t mention it? No, no, no, no. It was just, like, a regular school. Tell us, no. But here’s the thing, I was a nerd in school. Wow. So I was- Yeah … not hanging out with the, with the bad people.

[00:41:23] Salma: But outside of school, I did know other kids, and they were doing drugs. Like, uh, like friends- Oh, okay … outside of school, but not in the school, though. Yeah. Like, I was like a nerd in school. Right, right, right, right. So I, I- Right … would see, like, very young kids, like, smoking weed, like, since I was, like, in middle school.

[00:41:38] Yeah.

[00:41:38] Salma: So I had this one friend called Daniela, and I remember she would always take me with, like… ‘Cause I was, like, nerdy, and we were going to church, to Catholic church together. And Daniela had, like, the worst friends. She’s like, “Oh, let’s go out with these people.” And I get in the car. I’ve never seen a drug in my life.

[00:41:53] Salma: I was, like, 14. Um, I’m in the car. We’re hanging out. I’m like, “These people are really laughing” And like, like, “Why are they laughing so much?” Like, [00:42:00] it’s funny, but it ain’t that funny, like. And, like, they’re like, “Oh.” I’m like, “Oh, they’re smoking. Do you want?” I was like, “No.” Drugs, I’ve, I mean, I’ve heard my grandmother tell me, “Don’t do drugs.

[00:42:09] Salma: Don’t drink. Don’t do drugs. Don’t smoke. Don’t drink. Don’t smoke. Don’t do drugs.” Yeah. I was like, “No.”

[00:42:12] Brad: Yeah.

[00:42:13] Salma: So I was always really scared of them, and I did see them, uh, around people, like, just friends of school and people that would do them. But at that time, I, I never did them.

[00:42:23] Brad: Yeah.

[00:42:23] Salma: Yeah.

[00:42:24] Brad: That’s good.

[00:42:24] Aaron: Good job

[00:42:25] Aaron: that’s pretty good. I mean, yeah Yeah I mean, maybe it was- Impressive … my friend group. I, I just thought it was e- everywhere and Miami was just everyone. ‘

[00:42:30] Salma: Cause you grew up in, you went to high school in South

[00:42:32] Aaron: Miami also, right? Yeah, Miami Coral Park, that’s the same school that Pitbull went to. I know, I know that one.

[00:42:35] Aaron: You know? So but there was, like, I don’t know, a group of 12, and we were the gifted, like 130 IQ and higher, the smartest kids, but we’re not doing anything after school. Dude, you were

[00:42:44] Brad: in a gifted program

[00:42:44] Aaron: in school? Yeah, dude. What? Yeah.

[00:42:46] Brad: I

[00:42:46] Aaron: was

[00:42:46] Brad: too.

[00:42:46] Aaron: You were? Yeah. Yeah. There, there you go.

[00:42:48] Brad: And now we’re here.

[00:42:49] Aaron: Okay.

[00:42:49] Brad: Yeah.

[00:42:49] Aaron: So We’re all

[00:42:50] Salma: reunited after so many years.

[00:42:52] Aaron: But, and

[00:42:53] Brad: now we’re

[00:42:53] Aaron: all Scientologists. But, but, but the thing is, but the thing is, all the gifted kids- Gifted

[00:42:56] Brad: people of the world unite …

[00:42:57] Aaron: maybe they were targeted. I don’t know. But every [00:43:00] single person was on drugs, like everybody. Dude, yeah. All the gifted kids?

[00:43:02] Aaron: Like either dealing, taking weed, cocaine, something, like everything. And, and I j- I, I thought it was just Miami everywhere, but I mean- No, it’s everywhere … I also wasn’t trying to do my own business at that age. So maybe if you’re with people- Fair … doing their own business- Fair That is

[00:43:14] Salma: true.

[00:43:15] Aaron: Yeah … you know what I mean?

[00:43:15] Aaron: So I, I never looked at it that way. If you’re literally-

[00:43:18] Salma: Yeah, I didn’t

[00:43:18] Aaron: look at it … doing a business, you’re like, “I don’t have time for that.” Yeah.

[00:43:20] Salma: Yeah, yeah.

[00:43:20] Aaron: Yeah, yeah.

[00:43:21] Salma: I, the, my, my, at that moment, like, my vision was not on that. Then when I grew up, like older, like when I was like 19, I did see drugs everywhere- Mm

[00:43:30] Salma: and they’re everywhere. Like, you go to a bar, like you, you go to a restaurant, people are on drugs. Like- Yeah, mm-hmm … it’s crazy. Mm-hmm, yeah. At that point I did see it, but I remember I was just so focused on my little books and stuff, I, I, I never had the time to, like look around and be like, “Oh,” but I did see the drugs, I just didn’t pay, I didn’t care.

[00:43:46] Salma: I couldn’t care less. Mm. I was reading my books. I was doing my own thing. I was trying to become a billionaire, so I was like- Yeah, yeah … “Okay, I’m gonna grind.”

[00:43:53] Aaron: Did you ever, did you ever get into anything at all? ‘Cause you said you didn’t get to in that time, so…

[00:43:57] Salma: So as I grew up, when I was, like, [00:44:00] 19, I, no, not 19, like around 20, I mean, so much pressure.

[00:44:04] Salma: Mm-hmm. Like imagine years of, like, even my ex, like people around me like, “Do drugs. Do drugs.” Like, “Oh, here’s marijuana. It’s nothing. It’s just a pen. It’s like, it’s like a vape.”

[00:44:12] Brad: Mm. Yeah,

[00:44:13] Salma: yeah, yeah. Like, you know? Doesn’t do anything.

[00:44:15] Brad: Yeah.

[00:44:15] Salma: And you know I’ve always been, like, very repelled to things that you can become addicted to.

[00:44:21] Salma: Mm. I am a person that loves to be in control of everything that’s happening- Mm-hmm … in the present time moment, and I like to be very aware. I’m like, you know? So that was one of the first things why I never liked to do drugs, and I’m always, I’m also so, like, crazy and happy. I was like, “Why would I do that?”

[00:44:37] Salma: Like- Right. “You want me to have a heart attack?” Yeah. Like, I drink a coffee. I drink a coffee and I’m like this, like, like if I ever do drugs, it’s like, I don’t know, the world’s just gonna split in half or something. But after I went through a breakup And that was such a big loss for me.

[00:44:57] Mm.

[00:44:57] Salma: I was 20 at the time, and that was the first time that I [00:45:00] was like, “You know what?

[00:45:01] Salma: I’m gonna go, like, to a party and, like, do drugs.”

[00:45:03] Mm-hmm.

[00:45:04] Salma: And I did drugs. That only lasted two weeks. After those two weeks, that was the, like, yeah, very happy when you’re doing it. After those two weeks, I had the worst comedown of the worst comes downs that you can possibly have. I was like, “I am never doing this ever in my life.”

[00:45:20] Salma: Mm. And that was me. I know people that are still doing this and live this life and deal with the comedown, and it is normal to them. I remember calling a friend. I was like, “Dude,” I’m like, “I am n- I have never been so sad in my entire life.” Wow. Like, I did this to get over the breakup and to not think about it and not cry about it and not deal with the emotions.

[00:45:42] Salma: After I did this, I remember I had to… Like, after the party, I would go to my mom’s house ‘Cause I was so alone, I just felt so lonely. And I remember I was going through all of that, and my family, they didn’t, they didn’t know. I was just pretending to be normal. And I, I would… I remember I would tell my friend, “Can [00:46:00] you just drop me off at my mom’s house?

[00:46:01] Salma: Like, I just feel alone.” And I would just go to bed and sleep with her, ’cause I was so sad. And that was during Christmas, I remember, the calm down. It was the worst day of my life. Literally worst day of my life. Mm. Fucking insane. Like, I don’t even know what they had in these drugs, what they put in it. It, it was terrible.

[00:46:18] Salma: Like, I don’t know what they mix it with. I just, I just never… It was never possible in my head that you could feel this much amount of depression ever. Wow. And I would… I’ve never been, like, someone to, like, get unhappy about anything. But that was two weeks after, like, doing the drugs. Yeah. And I was like, “I’m never doing this ever again.”

[00:46:35] Salma: I quit it and, you know, a few months after, I, I met my fiance. And you know, I found Scientology. Nice. Hey. But it literally… You know, I’m someone that, like, obviously you don’t have to go through… Like, to me, that was rock bottom, which is, to most people, it’s like nothing. They’re like, “What do you mean? Like, nothing bad happened.”

[00:46:55] Salma: Dude, I remember there was this one day that I went to a party, [00:47:00] and I, I, I didn’t, I really didn’t want to go. First of all, I’ve never been, like, a party person. Um, so I just, my friends were convincing me, like, “Ah, let’s just go.” And I was like, “You know what? Anything to forget about the breakup,” you know?

[00:47:11] Yeah.

[00:47:12] Salma: So I was like, “I go.” I’m like, “I’m only gonna stay here for, like, an hour.” I lose my phone. That was to me, that, to me, that was my rock bottom, dude. Yeah.

[00:47:21] Yeah. Oh, my God.

[00:47:21] Salma: When I- Yeah … I’m a such a p- Like, and obv- Like, it’s crazy that out of everyone, I was the one doing the least drugs. Mm. And still, it was, like, really hard.

[00:47:31] Salma: But I wanted to be so aware that I was like, “Okay, I, I have to make sure the group is good. I have to make sure the girls are good,” ’cause I would only go out with girls. And like, you never know, dude. Like, I don’t know. My grandma, my, my grandma would scare me enough to, like- Mm … know about these stories. So every, you know, like, checking my…

[00:47:47] Salma: Literally, I was high, but I was check, still checking my pocket, everything. Mm-hmm. Someone steals my phone. I lose my mind. I’m like, “This is it. This is it.” Like, “I can never do this in my life.” Like, like, I, I guess I was so, like, spoiled [00:48:00] in the sense, like, nothing, like, that bad. Like, I, I, I don’t know it could…

[00:48:03] Salma: How could people do these things? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like, I, it was totally out of my reality that people would live a crazy life. So I lived the crazy life for two weeks. Totally out of control life. I lose my phone. Dude, I lose my mind. I tell everyone there, “The party’s over. You are taking me to my house right now.”

[00:48:20] Salma: And they’re like, “What do you mean? We just got here.” “No, you’re taking me to my house now, and I’m never doing this again. I’m never coming here, all these people here. I don’t like this.” And then they take me to my house. And dude, I remember that to me, losing my phone and that amount of depression, was so strong.

[00:48:34] Salma: I completely changed my mind and I was like, “You know what? I’m changing my life.” Someone broke my heart. It’s fine. I, I’m not gonna let that define me. I must have done something, so that happens, and I know something better is coming.

[00:48:48] Brad: Oh, wow.

[00:48:48] Salma: And a few, literally a few days after, I meet my fiance. And I didn’t even wanna be in a relationship at that point.

[00:48:54] Salma: I was just like, “Okay, sure, I’ll meet you.” But-

[00:48:57] Aaron: So how did you meet?

[00:48:58] Salma: So I was [00:49:00] on a dating app.

[00:49:00] Aaron: Surge.

[00:49:00] Salma: Yes. I, uh, so yes, I was on a dating app. I had a friend of mine, and she knew I was, like, really sad. Like, this is, like, a few months after the breakup.

[00:49:08] Aaron: Hmm.

[00:49:09] Salma: And she’s like, “Oh my God, like, you should just get on a dating app, like…”

[00:49:12] Salma: And I’m like, “No, like, you know, I just went through this breakup, and blah, blah, blah.”

[00:49:15] Brad: Which

[00:49:16] Salma: one? Which dating app? Hinge.

[00:49:16] Brad: Hinge.

[00:49:17] Salma: Yes. It good… I give them good promotion. It worked. Hmm. So, um, she was like, “Oh, you should just, you know, just go on dates, you know? To have fun. Like, just d- ’cause you’re so… You keep talking about this every single day, you know?”

[00:49:30] Salma: Like, uh, ’cause I didn’t wanna actually deal with the problem, so I would just talk about it and talk about it with everyone and complain about it.

[00:49:35] Mm-hmm.

[00:49:36] Salma: So she’s like, “Just go on the dating app, you know? Like, meet some people. It will do, it will do you well to go out. You’re, like, all day in your house doing nothing.”

[00:49:43] Salma: And you know, at this po- she’s like, “You don’t go out. You don’t meet people.” And funny fact, none of the times that I went out in Miami, no one paid attention to me. No one. There was not a single time that I went out that anybody came to ask for my number. Sometimes I even wonder- Yeah … I was like, “Is there something wrong with me?”

[00:49:59] Salma: Hmm. Like, is it that I don’t have [00:50:00] a, is it because I don’t have a BBL? Like, what is it? You know, everyone in Miami has

[00:50:03] Brad: a BBL. No. It’s just, it’s just ’cause most guys are just little, little bitches. Dude, it’s, it, it’s- Just little scared bitches … everyone is scared

[00:50:10] Salma: of me for something. I don’t know. It’s be- no,

[00:50:10] Aaron: it’s, it’s, it’s r- uh- They’re just scared of w- all women

[00:50:12] Aaron: my theory, my theory, um, well, there’s two theories, but one is the dating apps, you don’t have to encounter a rejection in person.

[00:50:21] Salma: Yeah. That’s right. That is true.

[00:50:22] Aaron: Yeah. You see, you just, whatever it is- Mm-hmm, that’s true … and then if you’re connected and you’re good.

[00:50:26] Mm-hmm.

[00:50:26] Aaron: Because if you go and you say blah, blah, blah, and somebody goes, “Get out of here,” then they, then they, “Oh, no, I can’t deal with this.”

[00:50:31] Salma: Uncon- uncontable. Yeah. People are so- That’s all. They’re, they’re just- Men are so, like, scared nowadays. It is crazy. Mm-hmm. And sometimes I would ask, like, male friends of mine, like, “Hey,” like, “why is it that people don’t come up to me?” And they’re like, “You look kind of scary.” And I’m like, “What do you mean scary?”

[00:50:44] Salma: Like, “You’re, you’re, you’re just, you just stand your ground, and you don’t, you’re not seeking for attention, and people can tell that.”

[00:50:51] Mm-hmm.

[00:50:51] Salma: And I was like, “Hmm, really?” But I was like, “Well, I don’t wanna change myself for- Yeah … someone to come up to me.” Yeah. “So I’m just gonna keep being me.” But dude- Right

[00:50:59] Salma: [00:51:00] nobody, after years of living in Miami, I wanted guys to, like, talk to me. But, but nobody did. So it was this point of- Wow … like, I either get on the dating app-

[00:51:09] Brad: May- m- maybe you didn’t, ’cause if they actually wanna come and talk to you, might have realized how weird most guys are. To be fair. I know,

[00:51:15] Salma: probably.

[00:51:15] Brad: To be fair.

[00:51:16] That

[00:51:16] Salma: i- yeah, I don’t

[00:51:16] Brad: know. Yeah.

[00:51:17] Salma: But I wanted to, though. I was like, “Oh, you know?” Never, never. They would come up to my friend, to the other friend, everyone. Uh, they wouldn’t even say a word to me. So I was like, “Well-” So out

[00:51:26] Aaron: of your friends, who do you think was the cutest?

[00:51:30] Salma: I had this friend, uh, named Rosie.

[00:51:33] Salma: I think she was the cutest

[00:51:35] Aaron: And she’d get the most people come to her or the least amount?

[00:51:36] Salma: Yeah. The, the most- The most? … people come to, to her.

[00:51:38] Brad: Hmm.

[00:51:39] Salma: Yeah.

[00:51:40] Brad: I was thinking, I knew, I thought

[00:51:41] Aaron: I knew where you were going. Because some, sometimes, some, like, if there’s a group of, like, four ladies- But I don’t know … you might be like, “Well, this one probably doesn’t get so much attention.

[00:51:46] Aaron: It might be easier.” I don’t know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just thinking in my brain.

[00:51:48] Salma: Honestly, yeah. Honestly. Maybe they thought I was cuter, and then they would come up to her. I don’t know. That’s just like-

[00:51:52] Brad: Nice.

[00:51:54] Salma: Yeah. Maybe, maybe it was that. But I am definitely am someone that, like, if it’s, it’s so [00:52:00] funny ’cause I am so like, like I, I really wanna grab, like, you know, like I really wanna talk to people and, like, talk about them and stuff like that, but you don’t get that impression when you see me from far ’cause I’m very within myself.

[00:52:11] Salma: I’m, like, minding my own business. If, if I’m with the girls, I’m with the girls. That’s it.

[00:52:14] Brad: Mm.

[00:52:15] Salma: So it was just a matter of like, okay, well, I either get on this dating app or I’ll never meet anybody because I don’t go out. I don’t get out of the house. I only get out to walk the dog, and I went through, through a breakup like a month ago, and like I, like I’m here in the house doing nothing.

[00:52:30] Salma: It would do me some good for my sanity to talk to people. Yeah. Mm. So I got on the dating app, and literally It was like, I don’t know, 15 days in the dating app. I was not interested on anybody. I would go on the dates and, like, have fun, just like we are talking literally, like-

[00:52:47] Aaron: Hmm …

[00:52:48] Salma: interviewing the person, talking to them.

[00:52:50] Aaron: Yeah.

[00:52:50] Salma: But nothing-

[00:52:51] Aaron: Have fun talking, not have fun fully having fun.

[00:52:53] Salma: No, no, no. I was like- Okay, just- I was talking, dude. I was talking. Yeah. I was not, like,

[00:52:57] Aaron: I- ‘Cause having fun means, has a definition.

[00:52:59] Salma: Oh, really? [00:53:00]

[00:53:00] Aaron: You just, I mean- It

[00:53:01] Salma: has several definitions. No, like, like, no. Okay. When I say having fun, dude, like, I wa- I was really getting to meet people.

[00:53:06] Salma: Okay. And, like, there, there were some interesting guys that I met. I was like, “Wow,” like, “guys are actually really nice.” Oh. That’s a realization I have, like- Wow … guys are actually really good, ’cause everyone else, I mean, I, I didn’t have that many relationships. I didn’t have… Like, I broke up with my ex of, like, years, and that’s all experience I had.

[00:53:24] Salma: And all my other girlfriends, “Oh, men are so bad. Men are terrible. Oh, all guys in Miami are the same.” So when I started to go on dates, I was like, “I don’t know what guys you’re going out with, but guys are actually really nice.” Hmm.

[00:53:36] Aaron: Wow.

[00:53:37] Salma: And they’re very, they’re gentlemen. They would take me out to dinner.

[00:53:40] Salma: They would pay for my dinner. I would get in my car, and I would go to my house, you know? So it wa- I had so much fun while being single and going out on dates just meeting people, like literally talking and getting to meet people.

[00:53:51] Hmm.

[00:53:52] Salma: So that, that’s what I say. When I say having fun, that’s what I say.

[00:53:54] Okay,

[00:53:55] Salma: okay. And that was really, really, really cool. So anyways, I didn’t care about anybody. That’s, I was seeing it like a [00:54:00] game. Yeah. That’s why I was like, you know, like doing my own thing. One of the dates is this Russian guy, and I remember he texted me on Hinge. He was like, “Oh, I’m Russian, and you’re Cuban.

[00:54:10] Salma: We should meet.” I was like, in my, in my head I’m like- … “Oh, that’s your line. Okay.” And I was, I was, I was actually, like, ignoring him. Gentleman. It

[00:54:17] Brad: worked.

[00:54:17] Salma: Yeah. I literally- For the record- Literally … the

[00:54:19] Brad: line works. Write it down.

[00:54:21] Salma: Literally. And I was, like, ignoring him, and you know, I would see, he had this one picture of him in a Lamborghini, a green Lamborghini Urus, and I was like I don’t know.

[00:54:32] Salma: Like, why would I go out with someone that is just showing off like this? Like, in my mind, like, why do you have to… I don’t know. It was just like, it just was a red flag for me. I was like, “You just put that because you wanna attract girls.” Like, and I don’t even like the car. Mm-hmm. It’s an Audi. I know about cars.

[00:54:48] Salma: It’s literally, like, it’s the only car not manufactured by Lamborghini. It literally has a, the, everything is a, the, all the assemble is a, is an Audi. And, uh, you know, I was like, “Ugh.”

[00:54:59] Aaron: What’s it called? The [00:55:00] Lamborghini what?

[00:55:00] Salma: Lamborghini Urus. It’s like Urus. The Urus. Urus? Okay. The SUV. The SUV. Okay,

[00:55:03] Brad: okay,

[00:55:03] Salma: okay.

[00:55:03] Salma: Literally, Audi-

[00:55:04] Brad: If you hear in a rap song Lamborghini truck, that’s what they’re referring.

[00:55:07] Aaron: Okay,

[00:55:07] Salma: okay. Yeah. So yeah, uh, uh, Audi’s the one that does the assembly for this specific car. I didn’t know that, though. Yeah. So it literally looks the same- Yeah … ’cause I have been in- inside of a Audi, and I didn’t like the car, like the color of the car.

[00:55:17] Salma: So I was like, “Eh,” you know? I was super picky, so like, I didn’t care. I went through a breakup. I was just like, “Meh, whatever.” Um, but anyways, it’s so funny ’cause I had this, like, detached attitude, but at the same time, I remember when I went through the breakup and everything was so bad, I remember saying, “The next person I meet is gonna be my husband.”

[00:55:35] Hmm. Oh, wow.

[00:55:36] Salma: But the attitude of detachment was not because I was not being serious, but because I know… Like, when you just let go of an outcome, like, the just, things just become more fun. That’s right. Right?

[00:55:46] Yeah, that’s right.

[00:55:47] Salma: So I had this, yeah, I have a very serious goal-

[00:55:50] Mm-hmm …

[00:55:51] Salma: but I’m not gonna become obsessed with like, you know?

[00:55:54] Salma: Like, people can sense that when you’re like, “Ah, I need to get married,” or you know? My intention was to [00:56:00] get married, and if you look at woman, like, I mean, my grandmother, people back in the day, woman had a lot of options, you know? You lived in the neighborhood. All the guys were courting you, you know, and you would choose which one you wanted.

[00:56:11] Salma: So I was like, “Oh, that’s a good, like, perspective to look things at.” Like, I can, I can have options, and I will find my husband within these people, but I was not desperate for it or anything. That was my intention, though. That’s why I was being so detached, because I was not giving the, the lay, the light of day to anybody.

[00:56:26] Salma: Hmm. I was like, “Mm-mm, no. Okay, bye.” Like, you know? So anyways, um, what part of the story was I on? I meet this guy. He tells me he’s Russian- Yeah … blah, blah, blah.

[00:56:35] Brad: Russian, Cuban, you should meet. Yes.

[00:56:36] Salma: So- You don’t

[00:56:37] Brad: respond …

[00:56:37] Salma: I was, like, ignoring him for a couple of days because I was, I was, like, busy. I was playing tennis and stuff, and I decided to play tennis for the first time in my life.

[00:56:45] Salma: And play tennis, like, I get, I literally get, like, fever ’cause I was so exhausted physically. Like, literally get fever after playing tennis. Like, I get, like, this exhaustion, couldn’t get up of bed. I was, like, sick, and I was like, “I keep postponing the date with this [00:57:00] guy.” And he didn’t live in Miami, which I didn’t know.

[00:57:02] Salma: I thought he did-

[00:57:03] Brad: Hmm …

[00:57:03] Salma: because of the car, and why would his location be in Miami? But he was there for a vacation with his mom. And, uh- I

[00:57:10] Aaron: mean, that’s nice.

[00:57:11] Salma: Yeah. Yeah. It is nice. Love your mom. That is a good reason to go to Miami. Yeah, that’s a plus point. You know, family- Plus point … family

[00:57:14] Aaron: person, you know?

[00:57:15] Brad: Did that balance the,

[00:57:16] Salma: the- He’s a super- I’m gonna say douchey Lamborghini pic … super family guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like he, oh my God, he’s the best son I’ve seen. I’m like, “This guy is just, like, over the top,” like an incredible son. So- It’s like, “Oh, yeah, like, you know, like I’m here taking my mom out for like her birthday, blah, blah, blah.

[00:57:32] Salma: I really wanna see you. I’m leaving tomorrow.” Magically- Mm-hmm … I wake up that day and I’m not sick. Ma- like out of nowhere. That was not forecasted at all. So I’m like, “Hey, you wanna just meet for lunch?” And I would do the dates really early, ’cause I, you know, like 6:00 PM latest. Uh, past 8:00 PM, mm-mm, I don’t know.

[00:57:51] Mm-hmm,

[00:57:51] Salma: mm-hmm. I was, I’m telling you, I was like a, I’m like an old lady. I was like careful, man. My grandmother- Mm-hmm … scared me so much as a kid. Mm-hmm. I knew everything that could happen. She would make [00:58:00] up these stories to scare me. I was very- Oh my God.

[00:58:02] Aaron: But it’s not a story, but it’s not a story. Yeah.

[00:58:03] Aaron: It’s tr- like here’s the thing. Yeah, yeah,

[00:58:04] Brad: yeah. Fair enough.

[00:58:05] Salma: I mean, it is, it is. If, if, if

[00:58:06] Aaron: a

[00:58:06] Salma: thing

[00:58:06] Aaron: starts at 10:00 PM, 11:00 PM-

[00:58:08] Salma: No …

[00:58:08] Aaron: there’s gonna be an intention. Like

[00:58:09] Salma: what are you doing? Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. It’s bad for your digestion. Yeah. What are you doing eating after? Yeah. Like, uh- So,

[00:58:13] Aaron: so 12 o’clock, 12 o’clock is smart.

[00:58:14] Aaron: I, I think, yeah.

[00:58:15] Salma: I was like, “Let’s go out for lunch.” Very, you know, very like- Mm-hmm … I was like, “This is good.” I, I, I would set up the dates, lunchtime maximum like 6:00 PM. I also eat early, so I was going on the date. I was late, dude. I was 45 minutes late.

[00:58:29] Brad: Oh, that’s super late.

[00:58:30] Salma: Yeah. That is very late. That is the latest I have been anywhere.

[00:58:36] Salma: So I’m going there. I’m like, “I’m so sorry the tra-…” You know Miami, the traffic’s bad, you know? Yeah. Like, traffic’s bad, blah, blah, blah. Okay,

[00:58:42] Brad: but you’re, like, in communication. You’re,

[00:58:43] Salma: like, texting? I am in communication with him. Yeah. I even send him, like, a video in the car to show him that I’m in the car, ’cause some people will tell you they’re leaving the hou- Hmm.

[00:58:50] Salma: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, they, they, they’re like, “Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way.” And you’re like, “Okay, they’re flaky.” They’re still getting… They’re still doing their hair.

[00:58:54] Brad: Yeah, yeah.

[00:58:55] Salma: So I was like, “Yeah, I’m here. I’m in the car,” blah, blah, blah. I was in communication with him. He’s super chill. He’s [00:59:00] like, “Ah, take your time,” blah, blah, blah.

[00:59:02] Salma: I get there, I’m like, I’m expecting this guy to be a little bit mad at me- Mm … because I’m so late. I get there. He’s just chilling, s- so calm, sitting down there. Like, a, like, he’s, he’s an artist. He’s, he’s an actor, so he’s just sitting like this, so nonchalant, and he’s so happy to see me, and I’m like, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry the traffic was so bad.”

[00:59:22] Salma: He’s like, “Doesn’t matter. I’m on a vacation.” I’m like, oh my God, this guy’s, like, really chill. He’s not like that anymore. He’s rushing, dude. We’re one minute late, it’s over. It’s World War III now. Okay? But- Oh my God. No, no. That day, he- Same guy. Yeah, same guy. Oh my God. That day he decided to be calm. I was like, “Oh, damn, this guy’s super chill.”

[00:59:41] Brad: Good decision.

[00:59:42] Salma: Yeah. Anyways, I sit there. I remember I was wearing these, like, white flower… I’m, like, over the top with the outfits on. White flower sunglasses. I get there, he’s like, “Oh, I really like your sunglasses.” I’m like, “Oh, do you wanna wear my sunglasses?” I had one of the most, like, insane dates with him.

[00:59:58] Salma: Like, the, the [01:00:00] conversation felt like I was just talking to a friend. Yeah. Like, like, like this, you know? Very natural, very… And, and most of the dates I, I would have were amazing, but this guy, there was just something different about him. Mm. I felt like I knew him. Mm-hmm. Everybody else was like, “Yeah, we’re, we’re getting along, but it’s a new thing,” right?

[01:00:18] Salma: Like, I’ve never met you before. With him, it, it, there was just a whole different vibe to it. I was laughing as hard as I laugh with my brother.

[01:00:25] Mm.

[01:00:26] Salma: Not my biological brother. Uh, I’ve known him since I was two, so I call him my brother. Yeah,

[01:00:30] yeah,

[01:00:30] Salma: yeah. My, literally my best friend. Nobody makes me laugh like this.

[01:00:35] Salma: So I was like, “Hmm” I was like, “I gotta go. I’m laughing too much.” I was like, “No, mm-mm, time to go. Too much time.” You were

[01:00:43] Aaron: getting scared ’cause you were

[01:00:44] Salma: having too much fun. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. I was like, “This is like, mm-mm. No, like, like, whoa, this is having too much…” I was genuinely having too- That’s so cute.

[01:00:52] Salma: Yeah … like, a lot of fun, so I was like, “Mm, time to leave.” And, uh, and then I was like, “You know, I have to leave.” And before [01:01:00] I said I had to leave, this is a very fun… We have the craziest story, guys. Mm. I, I, I wish I could cover the whole topic. But as we were in the restaurant, it’s this restaurant called Fiola in Miami, and he asked the server, like, “Oh, what’s, like, the best thing here?”

[01:01:14] Salma: And the server was like, “The meatballs,” and he ordered the meatballs. I ordered something else. And he gets the meatballs, he’s like, “Damn, these meatballs are really good.” He has one bite of it. That was weird, though. He didn’t eat on the whole day ’cause he was so nervous, but he didn’t s- he was, he was doing a very good job of pretending that he was not nervous.

[01:01:29] Yeah.

[01:01:31] Salma: And I’m me, man. I grabbed those meatballs. I was like, “You don’t want them? Man, give them to me.” I start- I was like, “Oh my God, these are the best meatballs I have ever had in my life.” I am here going crazy, having a full-blown experience with these meatballs. And he started to joke about it. He was like, he started to call me the meatball girl.

[01:01:50] Salma: And he was like, “You know what? I rap, so I’m gonna make you, I, I’m gonna make you a song.” In my head I’m like, “Pssh, yeah, sure.” I was like, “Forget, like it will- you’ll forget [01:02:00] about this tomorrow.” Mm-hmm. Like, who cares, you know? And dude, I wake up tomorrow, 7:00 AM in the morning, MBG.MP3, meatball girl, that MP4.

[01:02:09] Salma: MBG.MP4. He records a whole rap song of me- … and he calls me the meatball girl in the rap song. And he literally- Wait,

[01:02:19] Aaron: can we, can we… Is it published? Can we listen? Can you

[01:02:21] Salma: put it on here? Dude, I have it on my phone. We’ll put, we’ll put the link down to the meatball girl. Oh my God. No, like it’s- We’ll put it down

[01:02:24] Salma: it’s not published though, but I have- Okay, okay. Well- I have it there on my phone. What the hell? Well, publish it right now. We should publish it. Let’s go then. We should publish it. Let’s publish it. It is going on the internet. Wow. I’m sorry, Serge. So anyways, I’m like, “Dude, this guy is for real.” Yeah. Like, who says to you, “I’m gonna write a song about you”?

[01:02:40] Salma: Mm-hmm. And at- And does it … 7:00 AM in the morning, you get the MP4.

[01:02:43] Bam. Mm-hmm.

[01:02:44] Salma: I’ve never seen such speed, you know? Yeah, yeah. I was like, “Hmm, there’s just something about this guy, right?” That was the first cue. Uh, one of the other things is that, well, first of all, funny thing, everything that he said in the song came true, by the way.

[01:02:56] Hmm.

[01:02:56] Salma: Like, he started to predict things about us in the future, [01:03:00] ’cause I told him I was going to Paris and he was like, “No, you shouldn’t go to Paris. You should come to Boston.” That’s what ended up happening. He said, um, “Let me be your Chief. Like, I’m from Kansas.” Kansas won the Super Bowl that year. Like, insane, and you’re like, “Damn, this guy has like…”

[01:03:12] Salma: You know? Like, he, he, he- Yeah … says something, it really happens, you know? Uh, but that happened afterwards. So one of the other cues, obviously, like, he was not eating. He was telling me constantly, like, “Oh, you should come to Boston. You should come to Boston.” I was like, “Dude, no.” Like, I’ve heard stories. People got kidnapped.

[01:03:28] Salma: I just met you.

[01:03:29] In

[01:03:29] Aaron: Boston?

[01:03:30] Salma: I don’t know. I just met- … this person. Well, I mean in general. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You mean… Okay, okay, okay. No, no, no. Like, he wanted me to go to Boston, and- No, off

[01:03:36] Brad: of dating apps

[01:03:37] Aaron: I got it. I

[01:03:38] Salma: got

[01:03:38] Aaron: it. Dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:03:39] Salma: I was like- That is true … “No.”

[01:03:40] Aaron: That actually does… I mean, I’ve read those articles.

[01:03:41] Salma: Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I was like, “No.” And I ke- I kept avoiding the, like, coming to Bo- Mm-hmm. He’s like, he’s like, “I’m serious, like, I’m never-” Just, like,

[01:03:48] Brad: not acknowledging it?

[01:03:49] Salma: No. Yeah. I was s- switching the subject. That, he would, he kept saying that. And one of the things that he told me afterwards is that when I left and I got in the Uber, he deleted Hinge.

[01:03:59] Salma: He [01:04:00] deleted the dating app. He knew. Mm. And I, when he comes into the podcast, he tells the story best.

[01:04:06] Yeah.

[01:04:06] Salma: Like, he knew. He’s like, “20 minutes in a conversation with you, I already knew I was gonna marry you.” Wow. He’s like, “I knew you were the one for me.” Wow. I was just like, “Eh, whatever.” I was just trying to see…

[01:04:17] Salma: To me, what a guy says means nothing What a guy does means everything. Mm. So him sending me the song, the little actions that he kept putting afterwards, and the things that, how he would treat his family, how he would… Like, that to me w- were the things that told me who he was. I didn’t ca- you can tell me, “I’m gonna buy you 10 horses.”

[01:04:36] Salma: I don’t care. You’re just saying it, you know? Yeah. Mm-hmm. You gotta actually do it. So that, that… I w- I’ve always been very, like, like, on top of things, you know? So I, that, that was just like a, like a thing for me where, like, that was my rule. Doesn’t matter what they say, it’s only what they do. And he was doing a lot.

[01:04:52] Yeah.

[01:04:53] Salma: So we keep talking for weeks and weeks, and he keeps saying like, “Oh, I’ll see you in Boston. I’ll meet you in Boston. Be…” [01:05:00] And I’m like, dude, this dude is, like, really intense with the Boston thing. There’s nothing to do in Boston. Like, come on. Also, I’ve never traveled with anyone before, not even with my ex of three years.

[01:05:08] Salma: I was, like, doing nothing. So-

[01:05:10] Mm …

[01:05:10] Salma: I was like, “Oh, no, I don’t know. I’m not sure.” Like, I, I mean, I just met this person on the internet.

[01:05:14] Mm-hmm.

[01:05:14] Salma: Like, you know? So we keep talking for weeks and weeks, and funnily enough, he keeps sending me these, like, plates of the cars. So his name is Serge, my name is Salma, and that’s our initials, SS.

[01:05:26] Salma: So every plate of the car has SS on it, SS on it. Like, literally a few days after our date, he sends me a text and he’s like, “Thank you for bringing me food.” The name of his Uber driver in the middle of Massachusetts was Salma.

[01:05:38] Brad: Wow.

[01:05:39] Salma: What are the chances of an American woman-

[01:05:41] Brad: Yeah …

[01:05:42] Salma: named Salma? It is impossible.

[01:05:45] Brad: I think you’re

[01:05:45] Salma: the first person-

[01:05:46] Brad: I have never- … I’ve ever met in my life named

[01:05:47] Salma: Salma. I have n- Yeah I have only met one girl in my life with my same name. I never even saw her in per- I knew about her- Yeah … but I never saw her in person.

[01:05:54] Brad: Wow.

[01:05:55] Aaron: The only one I know is Salma Hayek. Is that- Yeah … I mean, that’s it, famous, but, like,

[01:05:58] Salma: I never

[01:05:58] Aaron: met a

[01:05:59] Salma: person.

[01:05:59] Salma: Basically, never.

[01:05:59] Aaron: No.

[01:05:59] Salma: [01:06:00] So I’m like, “This is weird.” And he keeps sending me this weird, like, mystic text like- Mm-hmm … “Hey, I’m not a weird guy or anything, but I think we’re destined to be together.” And I’m like, “Please.” And I’m like, “Oh, please. You’re just being a guy.” Yeah,

[01:06:15] Aaron: yeah,

[01:06:16] Salma: yeah. I’m like, “You’re just being a guy.

[01:06:17] Salma: You’re just saying that,” you know?

[01:06:18] Aaron: What was your reaction, though, like, inside to that? Did you-

[01:06:21] Salma: Inside of me, I, I was bewildered. I didn’t… I went through a breakup. I, like, I went through a breakup, uh, like two months and a half before this. I was, like, super, like, “Mm,” you know? Like- Mm-hmm … everything to me was a red flag.

[01:06:34] Salma: I, I, I didn’t think- Mm … like, “Oh yeah, this is it.” And I’ve heard so many girls get played, dude. Like-

[01:06:41] Mm-hmm …

[01:06:42] Salma: my whole, like, all my friends around me, all the girls around me, the only one that wanted to get married and that actually meant it and that did and w- was in ethics before meeting… Because I was, when I, when I did the drugs and all of that happened, I was like, “Dude, I’m changing my life.”

[01:06:57] Salma: Mm. And bec- this happened to me because I [01:07:00] did something wrong. Mm-hmm. Wow. There’s, there’s no way this is no one, no one else’s fault. This is my fault. Wow. I can’t keep living life like this. I said I wanted to be a millionaire. I said I wanted to get married when I was young. I said I wanted to have kids young.

[01:07:10] Salma: Like, what am I doing? Going and doing drugs with these girls? Like, what? Like, no. So when I made that decision, I was like, “Okay, I have to change my operating basis. I have to change what I’m doing and how I’m doing it.” So I started to, like, put an insane level of, like, ethics in my life, you know? Like I never even kissed any of the guys I went on dates with, never.

[01:07:28] Salma: No, just like talking to them and having fun. They’re friends, you know?

[01:07:31] Brad: Yeah. You were not a Scientologist at this point,

[01:07:33] Salma: right?

[01:07:34] Brad: No. Oh, wow. That’s

[01:07:34] Salma: really good. No, not at all.

[01:07:35] Aaron: Had you heard about it?

[01:07:36] Salma: No.

[01:07:37] Aaron: Okay. And you didn’t know he was a Scientologist either? Nothing. No. Zero. Okay, okay.

[01:07:40] Salma: So here, here, here’s how it goes.

[01:07:41] Salma: And he wasn’t

[01:07:42] Aaron: a Scientologist at that time

[01:07:43] Salma: already. He… Yes. Okay. So here’s, here’s how it goes. It’s really funny. So anyways, he keeps texting me, like everything he tells me is a red flag for me. I’m like, “Nah, nah, nah, nah.”

[01:07:52] Brad: Was just every advance a red flag? Like if he’s trying to advance

[01:07:55] Salma: towards you, that’s just like a- I, I just didn’t, I just didn’t wanna travel to Boston to like-

[01:07:58] Salma: Can you just come to Miami [01:08:00] again? Right, right, right. Like, I don’t wanna get on a flight.

[01:08:02] Brad: Yeah.

[01:08:02] Salma: I was scared. I honestly, I was scared. I was like, “No, like, I don’t know. I, I can’t trust you. I just met you.” So dude, he keeps, he keeps sending me every single day photos of plates, numbers, 444, SSS, signs with S… Like, I swear, S-

[01:08:18] Aaron: But what’s

[01:08:18] Salma: 444

[01:08:19] Aaron: though?

[01:08:19] Aaron: What does that

[01:08:19] Salma: mean something? Like, I don’t know, like repeated numbers, angels- Okay, okay … whatever. Like, people believe in that stuff, so I’m like, I mean, this act- so this guy is not lying. I’m like, “He actually is seeing these things.” Like, I don’t know, S&S Moving Company. Like, everything was S&S. Everything was S&S.

[01:08:34] Salma: And a funny thing is that I would always write, like, you know, when you get a piece of paper, you just wanna put something on it? I would always put S&S because to me that meant Salma and success.

[01:08:43] Aaron: What?

[01:08:44] Salma: So w- the first time he sends that to me- He sends me an SNS, I’m like, “Oh, that’s so funny. I always write that.”

[01:08:51] Salma: Every… You know when you’re in the shower, you draw SS. Like, you, you draw whatever. Oh yeah, I know

[01:08:55] Aaron: that for

[01:08:55] Salma: sure. I would draw an SNS, you know? Yeah. No, like that’s me. But you know when you’re [01:09:00] in

[01:09:00] Aaron: the shower- Yeah, yeah, I know for sure. I’m just,

[01:09:01] Salma: I’m not messing with you. I’m messing with you … and you see the fog and you’re like, “Oh, I’m gonna put my name in this.”

[01:09:04] Salma: I don’t know, something, a little heart or something. I would put SNS. So I’m like, “Well, that’s so funny. I always write that.” That’s a girl thing.

[01:09:10] Brad: I bet neither of us have ever done that.

[01:09:12] Aaron: I’ll put, I’ll put, I’ll put like a happy face

[01:09:14] Salma: or something. You see- Okay, fine. I don’t know Okay, fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:09:16] Salma: Okay, fine. Like a heart. Yeah. A money sign.

[01:09:18] Brad: Yeah,

[01:09:18] Salma: yeah. Which is an S too. So anyway- That is an S. It is an S. So I was like, “Oh, that’s funny. I always write that,” like in papers and stuff. And he keeps sending me these things and I’m like, damn, he might actually like be onto something here, but I was still scared.

[01:09:34] Salma: And dude- Mm … he is so, he’s a s- he was a sales guy at the point. Like, he was the best salesperson in the whole company in the United States for this big, uh, solar company somewhere. So he knows how to sell people. Mm-hmm. He keeps insisting, and it is so much insistence, and my birthday keeps getting closer, and I have nothing else to do on my birthday.

[01:09:52] Salma: Mm. ‘Cause you, me, I was in my house with the dog. And um, I was like, damn, well you know what? I’m gonna send my location to all of my friends, to my [01:10:00] mom, and I’m gonna tell them that I’m gonna go on a date with someone that I met. You know? I’ve, I’ve been talking to him on the phone for like a month so far.

[01:10:09] Salma: I know his friends. I, I know he’s real. I’ve seen like friends on Instagram. Like I- I’ve seen his parents. He posts them on Instagram. And you know, although I was, I was more scared of getting my heart broken again-

[01:10:21] Mm …

[01:10:21] Salma: than of something else, you know? And obviously there is this like, “Don’t go. Don’t travel with strangers.

[01:10:27] Salma: Don’t travel with strangers.” So I was like, you know what? I’m gonna give this a shot. So finally, after like so much insistence, I was like, you know what? I’m, I’m gonna go. And he booked my flight. Um, I went to Boston. I, I remember he like walked me in his car. He was like flexing on me with a Lambo. And I was like, “Okay, sure.

[01:10:44] Salma: It’s just an Audi.” Uh, I know, I, that’s the thing. I, um, um, I was like, I know about cars, you know? So- Yeah … like you c- like I would talk to a guy and I would have so much reality on it because I actually know about cars, the inside of it, everything. ‘Cause I used to manage a [01:11:00] car rental business. So I- Oh … I used to drive really nice cars for a friend of mine that owned a body shop, so I, I used to do that.

[01:11:06] Salma: So anyways, I, I got in the car. He, he had this like flowers for me, and I was like, “Oh, this guy’s sweet,” but nothing else. I didn’t even like… And also first thought when I saw him, I was like, “This guy’s too handsome for me.”

[01:11:20] Hmm.

[01:11:21] Salma: Oh. Yeah. Dude, like-

[01:11:22] Wow …

[01:11:22] Salma: Suri’s handsome. Like, and he- Yeah, he’s a good-looking guy

[01:11:25] Salma: he was on the internet. Like, you look him up, you can see his acting pictures, modeling picture, and he’s modeled for, like, Tommy Hilfiger. And like, I’m like, “This guy’s handsome.” I’m like, “My ex was not handsome.” I’m like, I, I mean, I’m like, “Dude, this guy must be a player.” Hmm. This handsome- Oh,

[01:11:39] Brad: yeah …

[01:11:39] Salma: 37 years, like 36, 37 years old, single, strong, rich, multimillionaire.

[01:11:46] Salma: I’m like, “He’s up to no good.” I’m like, “Mm-mm, I have to be careful,” you know? And it was like, it was that like- I love that he’s up to no good. Yes. And I, I d- obviously didn’t know he was a Scientologist. Um, and I [01:12:00] was always very careful about everything, you know? So we go on the first date, we’re having a lot of fun.

[01:12:04] Salma: He, he’s asking me questions, I’m asking him questions. And out, all, all of the sudden, this is our second date in Boston already. So he’s like, “Um, how big do you want your ring to be?” And I’m like, “Huh?”

[01:12:18] Brad: Oh my God.

[01:12:19] Salma: And I’m like, “What?” And he’s like, “Yeah, you keep talking like how much you wanna get married” and like, you know, this thing.

[01:12:24] Salma: ‘Cause I would tell my, the guys my intention on the first date, be like, “Yeah, I wanna- Oh … like I wanna, I’m looking forward to having a family, getting married.”

[01:12:31] Aaron: So you already told them you wanna get married, not

[01:12:32] Salma: to him- Oh, yeah …

[01:12:32] Aaron: or to him.

[01:12:33] Salma: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I- Or what

[01:12:34] Aaron: do you-

[01:12:34] Salma: My intention is to get married. I’m not saying I wanna get married to you.

[01:12:38] Salma: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or like a s- I’m like, my- Just dangling it. Dangling … this is my intention. You’re sa- And in my profile- Like you’re saying, “

[01:12:43] Aaron: Hey-

[01:12:43] Salma: Dude …

[01:12:44] Aaron: I’m here to meet

[01:12:44] Salma: a guy to get married” … you should have seen, you should have seen my Hinge profile. It, it was, it couldn’t be more straightforward. It, it was like looking for a life partner, and I literally put, “I believe in traditional values.

[01:12:54] Salma: I believe this is how relationships should be.” Mm-hmm. If you d- if you don’t think like this, don’t even waste my time.

[01:12:59] Yeah. [01:13:00]

[01:13:00] Salma: And I wouldn’t give my number to guys. I didn’t ve- I would ask them a certain amount of questions before giving them my phone number. Mm-hmm. And if they pass a test of the questions, then I would give them my phone number.

[01:13:10] Salma: And when, once I had their phone number, I would ask them more questions, and then I would decide if I would go on a date with

[01:13:15] Brad: them. Mm.

[01:13:16] Salma: So I was like Excel sheeting all of this, you know? Basically.

[01:13:20] Brad: Wait, did you actually have an Excel spreadsheet for

[01:13:22] Salma: this? No, I didn’t. But I, I, I- Oh, okay. Oh, yeah,

[01:13:24] Brad: you did.

[01:13:24] Salma: No, I mean, I, I, I- Oh, okay, okay.

[01:13:26] Salma: We’re fine … could have though. The way I am, I- Yeah … definitely could have. I just probably, like didn’t. The phone was, like too complicated. This, it’s too small, you know. You have to zoom in. You’re

[01:13:33] Brad: just deleting the prospects too fast to even

[01:13:35] Salma: add them to the spreadsheet. Yeah. No, I would delete the ones that didn’t work, everything.

[01:13:37] Salma: Uh, I’m a organizational freak, so I w- I would keep everything very organized, you know? Uh, everything was timed, everything was organized. There was rules for everything. Mm. You know? And also was putting an insane level of ethics in my life. I was like, “Oh, and this time it’s gotta…” Like it’s not like there’s- Yeah

[01:13:51] Salma: it’s not even a matter of, like if. It’s like next person I’m dating, no matter when it happens, five years from now, it’s gonna be my husband. Mm. And I’m like, I’m [01:14:00] not, no one’s gonna break my heart again. Mm-mm, not happening. So I, I go on the f- like second date with him, very good rapport. He’s like, he asked me that question, and ’cause I, honestly, I was talking about rings and stuff, you know?

[01:14:12] Salma: Like, you know, I, I’m a jewelry girly, so I was like talking about rings.

[01:14:15] Aaron: You already were with him already or no?

[01:14:16] Salma: Yeah. Okay. With him on the, on our second date. And he’s like, “Oh, how many, like, like how big do you want the ring to be?” And I was like, “No, at least six carats.” He doesn’t even know what a carat is, dude.

[01:14:26] Salma: And he writes on the internet, “Six carrots,” like the carrots that you eat.

[01:14:31] Aaron: Oh.

[01:14:32] Salma: Six carat ring. Of course, he’s also Russian.

[01:14:33] Aaron: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:14:34] Salma: No, but like you’re sup- … you’re supposed to know about these things. When I see that typo, I was like, “Mm, you see, I was right. He’s not the guy.” He, he’s not gonna marry me.

[01:14:45] Salma: He’s just asking the- Oh my God … he’s just asking this question. He’s a carrot. He doesn’t even know what a carat… Like, he’s supposed to know about these things, you know? And, and I’m like laughing ’cause I’m like, “Dude, it’s not carrot. You don’t eat this thing. It’s a carrot.”

[01:14:58] Brad: Wait, when he searched it, did it pull up [01:15:00] pictures of carrots and like rabbits

[01:15:02] Salma: and stuff?

[01:15:02] Salma: It didn’t. The internet kind of like, you know- The internet figured it out … it went, it, it, it like, it was like, “Eh, this guy just made a typo. I’m just gonna show him the actual six carats.” That was funny though. It’s like, if I can sell him a six carat

[01:15:10] Brad: ring

[01:15:11] Salma: versus

[01:15:11] Brad: six

[01:15:17] Salma: carrots- Oh, I thought, I thought he really thought about a carrot

[01:15:23] Salma: the commission, I mean. Yeah, yeah. No, he actually- Oh, ’cause he probably put six carat ring. Then it’ll, it’ll correct it- Yeah. He put ring … if you write, put that out, yeah But if he put six carats- By itself, yeah, yeah … yeah, you would have definitely seen the vegetable. So he put that. I w- I was like laughing, blah, blah, blah.

[01:15:24] Salma: So that night, like, you know, we go back to his place. Uh, he had like an extra room. I slept there. We go to bed, and when we’re about to go to bed, I have this re- Like, I look at him and I’m like, “Damn, this guy’s like strong and like handsome.” Like, I constantly am looking at him and I’m like Like this guy, ’cause he looks like an actor.

[01:15:44] Salma: He, he’s not only, he looks like someone you’ve seen in a movie or something. Like, damn, this guy’s, like, super handsome. Anyways, whatever, who cares? So I’m like, um, then the next day we go on another, like, dates, and he’s showing me around the city. Like, we go through Boston. At this point I was still, like, in [01:16:00] my, like, nonchalant, like, don’t care.

[01:16:02] Salma: I, I generally didn’t care. Mm. My purpose of going to Boston was not even to fall in love with him. Nothing. I was like, “I’m just gonna go to Boston. I’m gonna have a good time. I’m coming back safe.” Was

[01:16:11] Aaron: it for your birthday though?

[01:16:13] Salma: Yeah. You just got your birthday? It was, like, the day, I left the day before my birthday.

[01:16:16] Salma: Okay. ‘Cause my birthday birthday I like to spend it with my family. Okay. So, and to me that was such a privilege. I was like, “I’m not gonna give this guy the privilege,” ’cause I was born on Valentine’s year.

[01:16:24] Aaron: Mm.

[01:16:24] Salma: Oh. So my birthday is on Valentine’s. So I was like, “Mm-mm. Wow. This is for my family.” I always- Ah

[01:16:29] Salma: would every year I have lunch with my family on that day. So that’s what I did on my actual birthday. But the days before it was kind of like a birthday celebration, ’cause I only get to celebrate birthday and Valentine’s on the same day, so I was like, you know, we- Yeah … I can kind of separate both. And, uh, we go through the city and we’re looking at things.

[01:16:46] Salma: So on the third, second day that I was there, he had a shooting, uh, for, like, head shots in Lo- in New York. And Boston and New York are, like, two hours apart. Mm-hmm. So he’s like, “Oh, let’s go to…” I have never been to New York. But he asked me, and [01:17:00] I said, “Yes, of course I have been to New York,” ’cause who has never been to New York?

[01:17:03] Salma: I was like, “I’m not gonna, uh,” “I’m not about to be embarrassed in front of this guy that has all this money and stuff.” Like, no. “Yes, of course I’ve been to New York,” you know? I love New York. It’s just one of those things- Oh, my God … that you, like, look at it and you’re like, “Oh, yeah, Italy. I love Italy.” But, like, I’ve n- like, you’ve never been, but you know you’ll like it.

[01:17:19] Brad: Mm-hmm.

[01:17:20] Salma: So New York was, like, a very special city for me, but from in my mind, you know? I had never traveled before this. Yeah. Like, never. Like, my family-

[01:17:28] Brad: That’s so funny that you just said Italy. I literally, uh, my friend Grant is in Italy right now. Not Grant Cardone. And, uh, he’s literally posting pictures of it, and I literally messaged him last night and I was like, “Dude, I love this place and I’ve never been there.”

[01:17:40] Brad: I know. It looks like heaven. Mm.

[01:17:41] Salma: Right?

[01:17:41] Brad: Yeah. Yeah.

[01:17:41] Salma: So New York was like that for me. I knew I was gonna like it. I kind of had a feeling, you know, like, I’ve been there, blah, blah, blah. But I, I’d never been and, like, physically, like, in person. Uh, so I was like, “Well, yes, of course I’ve been to New York.” I know, I know, I know exactly where I’m going in the city I’m totally [01:18:00] lying.

[01:18:00] Salma: So we were on our way to New York. Dude, every… Oh, also, since I got into Boston, every single plate of every single car had SS in it. SS, SS, SS, business, SS. When we were on our way to New York, all the signs on the street, marriage signs, rings, people together. It was like the, like literally- Oh my God … like the universe was, like, throwing, throwing us all it had.

[01:18:25] Salma: Like, you- it’s meant to be. Like, don’t be s- don’t be scared. Like, like, that, that was the only reason why I kept, like, why, why I kept calm-

[01:18:33] Brad: Mm …

[01:18:34] Salma: because it was so natural. It was like I was hanging out with my best friend. Mm-hmm. Literally, that’s how I felt.

[01:18:38] Brad: Was he pointing these things out as he

[01:18:40] Salma: went? Oh, yeah, of course he was.

[01:18:41] Salma: Oh, yeah. It’s so sweet. Oh, you know it. Oh, you know it. Yeah, he was. Yeah. And even I was like, “Look, look, look.” Like, you know?

[01:18:47] Brad: Yeah.

[01:18:47] Salma: So dude, this guy is so funny. So I’m, like, having a blast ’cause, like, the, the, the most… The thing that caught my eye the most about him, obviously he’s a handsome dude, was how fun he was.

[01:18:58] Salma: Like, how funny. He was [01:19:00] cracking jokes every single time. And, like, I barely ha- Like, my abs hurt. I was, like, laughing so hard my abs hurt. So we’re on our way to New York. That night we have a date And I don’t know, he says a silly joke, a silly joke. So there was this wasabi that they were bringing in. This was at Nobu or something like that.

[01:19:20] Salma: This wasabi that they were bringing it to the table, and the, one of the wasabis was good and he didn’t like the other one. So I was like, “Oh, is that the good wasabi?” He’s, he- stupid joke, I don’t even know why I laughed so hard at this. Mm. He’s like, “No, this is not the wasabi, this is the wack sabi.” Like, it’s wack.

[01:19:35] Salma: The

[01:19:35] Aaron: wack sabi. Yeah, yeah.

[01:19:36] Salma: And I just- But you were cracking up … crack up and I’m like, “Oh my God, who would think of this? This is so funny.” And I was, like, literally crying laughing. And I look at him, I’m like, “I’m in love with him.”

[01:19:48] I was thinking the

[01:19:50] Salma: same thing. Oh, wow. That’s, I was thinking the same thing. I was like, “Oh my God.”

[01:19:53] Salma: Wow. And, and in my head I was like, I was no, this was not supposed to happen. Like, this is, this is not part of the [01:20:00] script. Like, I was supposed to, like, go back.

[01:20:02] Brad: Oh my God.

[01:20:03] Salma: And I was like, “Oh my God, I actually really like this guy.” Oh, wow. And it just hit me, and I c- I was like h- Wait,

[01:20:10] Brad: you never went back?

[01:20:11] Salma: No, no, no, no, like it d- Oh.

[01:20:13] Salma: No, no, no, no, like here’s what happened. Perfect.

[01:20:14] Brad: Okay, yeah, let

[01:20:15] Salma: her in then. No, it just hit me, right? Like, like boom. So literally, like, I had to leave the, the day after. So the day after… Oh, this is another, it’s so many little things that were insane in our story. Yeah. So I had never seen the snow before, and-

[01:20:31] Aaron: Oh, it’s such a feeling.

[01:20:32] Salma: February. I know, man. Yeah. And y- I’m from Cuba, dude. I had never seen no snow. Mm-hmm. So the day we wake up in New York- Mm-hmm … it was snowing- Mm-hmm … all over the city. And of course I did say that I had seen the snow, because I have been to New York. So this guy’s from Russia. He’s like, “What, what’s all the fuss about?”

[01:20:52] Salma: Like, “You’ve never seen the snow?” So I wake up and I see all the snow in the hotel, and I’m like, like I have tears in my eyes. I’m, [01:21:00] like, grabbing the snow and touching it and, like, opening the window, and like, w- w- we have to go outside and, like, see the snow. So we go outside and we’re like, it’s like a movie.

[01:21:08] Salma: Like, life just, since I got into, like since I went to Boston, life turned into a movie. Like- Mm … what you see on the movies, even better.

[01:21:17] Mm-hmm.

[01:21:17] Salma: And I remember- We, like, kissed and it was like everything was white. New York is a very special city for me. Mm-hmm. Everything’s white. The s- the snow was falling in our cheeks and we were kissing.

[01:21:28] Salma: That kiss felt like it lasted for, like-

[01:21:30] Mm-hmm …

[01:21:31] Salma: days. And then he asked me to be his girlfriend. Like, literally, like, that was, like, what? Our fourth date? And I was like, “Okay. Well, good. This means something.” But still, I’m, I’m like, “Okay, sure, I’ll be your girlfriend.” “You know, I really like you, but, like, I’m scared.”

[01:21:46] Salma: And, uh, and dude, he just kept showing up after that, you know? Yeah. Like, he was like, “You should move to Boston.” Like, literally as I was there, “You should…” But he was not only saying things, he was doing them.

[01:21:55] Mm-hmm.

[01:21:55] Salma: He wouldn’t, he wouldn’t just bluff or say things, you know? He would [01:22:00] put the action, and that was the, the, the most captivating thing about him was that, that he would lead with action.

[01:22:05] Salma: Some things he wouldn’t even say. He would just go and do them. And, uh, I remember he took me to, like, Cartier and he bought me, like, a little, like, this bracelet that I have right now. He took me to Cartier and he bought me, like, a bracelet for my birthday. Never in my life have I gotten a gift that expensive, ever.

[01:22:20] Yeah.

[01:22:20] Salma: Never. So that to me, I was pretending like, “Oh yeah, this is, like, normal.” But in my mind I was like, “Damn, this is, this is, like, mm, this is crazy.” Like- Yeah … I’m telling you, never tra- My family didn’t have any money before this. Mm-hmm. So I, I was just in Miami, but I, I, I didn’t have that much money, so I never traveled, never

[01:22:37] Aaron: had these

[01:22:37] Salma: things.

[01:22:37] Salma: How much is that

[01:22:38] Aaron: bracelet?

[01:22:39] Salma: It was, like, $5,000. Yeah. And it’s so funny ’cause he, he did tell me, he’s like, “I have never done this for another girl.” Like, never. And I was like, in my head I’m like, “I mean, like, you know, sometimes you get, like, you know, soon enough, like, you were shit with the other ones. Now, you know, it’s, I’m, I’m different, you know?”

[01:22:57] Salma: So I was like, “Okay, well this is what happens,” you know? You just… [01:23:00] But he knew. He knew. He knew- Yeah … I was the one. I was the one that was like, “Mm,” like, super scared ’cause I, I had that one bad experience and everyone around me, all the girls around me. But my mom never, my mom was never married to my dad. I never had- Oh

[01:23:14] Salma: anyone around me in my whole childhood that was married. My grandmother, my grandfather cheated on her when she was pregnant Uh, everyone was cheating on everyone. I never met a couple that I could look up to and be like, “That’s what love is.” Wow. Never. Never had that. But in my head, in my little, like, imagination, since I was a kid and I was playing with the dolls, I always envisioned myself and I would always say, “I’m going to marry a blonde guy with blue eyes.”

[01:23:41] Salma: And literally, like seriously. Yeah. He’s blonde and blue eyes,

[01:23:43] Aaron: right? Yeah. Yeah.

[01:23:44] Salma: And, uh, anyways, he asked me to be his girlfriend. Next thing you know, like, he’s, like, looking for apartments, like, showing me the apartments and, dude, everything was so natural. Yeah. Like, it- nothing was forced. Nothing felt like…

[01:23:57] Salma: Even though I was like, “Ah,” like, it, it didn’t feel [01:24:00] forced. No. Like, that was just more of, like, a reactive thing that I had, but it, it, it never felt forced. Nothing.

[01:24:05] Mm.

[01:24:05] Salma: And then, you know, a couple of months after, after I already had moved to Boston, he told me that he was a Scientologist. His, his dad introduced him to Scientology when he was about, like, 18.

[01:24:15] Salma: He’ll tell you guys the story. He was, like, addicted to drugs, insane, uh, troubles with learning. Mm-hmm. He couldn’t learn. He couldn’t confront people. He couldn’t talk to people in- Wow … face to face because- Mm-hmm … uh, he got so introverted because of the drugs that he would just, like, lock himself up in a room and couldn’t talk to people.

[01:24:32] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:24:33] Salma: So he, he got into Scientology because of this.

[01:24:36] Mm.

[01:24:36] Salma: And within months, after training and, you know, doing the courses there, he was like, “This changed my entire life.”

[01:24:43] Brad: Yeah.

[01:24:43] Salma: So that’s what he told me when, when… And it was really, at the moment, he, he wouldn’t talk about this openly. I could tell it was really hard for him- Mm-hmm

[01:24:50] Salma: to talk about this, you know?

[01:24:51] Brad: How, how long were you together when he

[01:24:54] Salma: told you? It was like, dude, he didn’t tell me at the beginning. Yeah, yeah. It was, like, two months and a half. Mm-hmm. I’m like, “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” So he’s like, “Do [01:25:00] you know about Scientology?” I’m like, “No, never heard of it in my life.”

[01:25:02] Salma: Mm, mm-hmm. Of course, you know, never. I did see the church once when I was driving with a car through it, but-

[01:25:08] Aaron: In New York?

[01:25:09] Salma: Yes, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In New York, that I have been to so many times.

[01:25:13] Aaron: No, wait. Oh, it was in Boston.

[01:25:14] Salma: No, where? Where? No, it was in Miami. It was in Miami. Oh, Miami. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

[01:25:16] Salma: Like, long time ago, before I met him, I was driving there- Wow … through the, through the highway, and then I saw it, but nothing, never asked any questions.

[01:25:23] Brad: What did you think? What did you think when you saw it?

[01:25:25] Salma: When I saw the church- Yeah, in Miami … the name caught my attention. Yeah. Scientology. I was like, “This sounds really interesting.”

[01:25:31] Brad: Mm-hmm.

[01:25:31] Salma: That’s what… This, it sounds like a place that I would like, like to visit one day. I- it was just one of those things- Yeah … that you see once and you’re just like, “Eh,” but then you forget about it, you know? Mm-hmm. That’s the only thing I knew about the church, that it was there and that it was named Scientology.

[01:25:44] Aaron: Mm-hmm.

[01:25:45] Salma: And that Tom Cruise was in it, ’cause the- … person next to me told me that when we went through it.

[01:25:48] Aaron: Oh, ’cause, oh, ’cause you were driving with someone you

[01:25:50] Salma: mentioned- Yeah, yeah … and they were s- I was dr- I was driving with a friend, and she was like, “Oh yeah, you know, Tom Cruise is there.” I’m like, “Okay, good.”

[01:25:56] Salma: So anyways, that’s, that’s literally all I knew about Scientology. [01:26:00] And, you know, I, I had my own be- even before Serge actually took me- Yeah … the first church I went to was Celebrity Centre International in Los Angeles before he proposed to me. Like, literally- Yeah … he took me to the church two days before he proposed to me.

[01:26:13] Salma: He was taking me to Los Angeles to propose to me.

[01:26:15] Aaron: Mm.

[01:26:16] Salma: And then he took me to the church there, which by the way, he hadn’t been to the church in 15 years.

[01:26:22] Aaron: Any of them, or-

[01:26:24] Salma: No, no, like, so he started in Scientology when he was 18.

[01:26:28] Aaron: Okay.

[01:26:28] Salma: He got all his problems handled. He was like, “Oh my God, this is amazing. Bye, I’m gonna go do life.”

[01:26:33] Salma: Yeah. You know? And he went and did life.

[01:26:35] Yeah.

[01:26:35] Salma: You know, and then 15 years went by, he stayed in communication with some of the, like, you know, people from the church, but he never actually went to do anything.

[01:26:43] Aaron: Wow.

[01:26:44] Salma: So- Was

[01:26:44] Aaron: that in Russia or here?

[01:26:46] Salma: No, that was in Boston.

[01:26:47] Aaron: In Boston?

[01:26:47] Salma: Yeah. So- So something, I don’t know what happened.

[01:26:51] Salma: He’s like, “Do you wanna go to this place? It, like, changed my life.”

[01:26:54] Mm.

[01:26:54] Salma: And I was like, “Of course.” You know me. I like, I always like to improve. [01:27:00] So literally a week before he takes me to Celebrity Centre, I, I had, like, my own, like, kind of like an epiphany I would say like a week before. And I was like, I w- as, as I was sleeping and, like, about to go to bed, I have this vision of our life changing after we go to Scientology.

[01:27:17] Salma: And I, and I wake him up. It was like 3:00 AM in the morning. I’m like, “Dude, I just saw this whole thing, and you know, like, we have to go to that place called Scientology. We have to.”

[01:27:27] Brad: Wait,

[01:27:27] Salma: why? Why? He was like, “I’m trying to sleep.” I don’t know. You visited? It’s one of those things. Had you, had you visited

[01:27:33] Aaron: or

[01:27:33] Salma: no?

[01:27:34] Salma: Never. You had never, you had

[01:27:34] Aaron: never been

[01:27:35] Salma: to Sci- It was just one of those things, you know? Were you already

[01:27:36] Aaron: in LA?

[01:27:37] Salma: No. This was in Boston, like, before. And I woke him up at 3:00 AM in the morning to tell him what I saw.

[01:27:44] Brad: Yeah.

[01:27:44] Salma: And at the time he was like… He, he only, like, I mean, at the ti- he didn’t have, like, um, the grace or anything in him.

[01:27:51] Salma: He, he only trained when he, when he went to the church.

[01:27:54] Brad: Yeah.

[01:27:54] Salma: And he did a life repair, you know, but that, that was basically it. I, I told him all of this, and I was, like, really excited. [01:28:00] And I remember, uh, he, he was gonna propose to me. I w- we were all pretending like we didn’t know that he was gonna propose to me.

[01:28:06] Salma: I knew he was gonna propose to me. This was, like, two and a half months- Mm … after we were- Mm-hmm … dating. And, uh, we- How did

[01:28:11] Aaron: you know?

[01:28:12] Salma: How did I know? ‘Cause he was so obvious about the whole thing. “Oh, wear something pretty. Do your nails.”

[01:28:17] Aaron: Oh, I got

[01:28:18] Salma: it. You know? And- So

[01:28:18] Aaron: he’s… Okay.

[01:28:19] Salma: Yeah.

[01:28:19] Aaron: Okay.

[01:28:20] Salma: And obviously, like, I am a very straightforward person.

[01:28:23] Salma: Like, before I moved in with him, I told him, “I have to be married to you. Like, I’m not, like, I, like, or at least we have to be engaged. Like, I’m not just gonna go live with you.”

[01:28:31] Aaron: Mm-hmm.

[01:28:31] Salma: Yeah. So you know, it, it has to be in a certain order, and this is how I things, I think things should be. And he was like, “I mean, of course.”

[01:28:38] Salma: Like, and I was like, “Okay, just, just making sure, you know?” You never know.

[01:28:40] Aaron: So you didn’t, you didn’t- Yeah … move in together until after he proposed, or you did?

[01:28:43] Salma: No, I did move in. The thing is that the moving from Florida to Boston is a lot ’cause I was, like, moving all my furniture and stuff. But shortly after he, I moved in, that’s when he, like, proposed.

[01:28:51] Salma: Okay, okay. So we went to, uh, we were going to Los Angeles, and three days, two, three days before he proposed to me, um, he takes me to [01:29:00] Celebrity Centre.

[01:29:00] Mm.

[01:29:01] Salma: And I remember walking through the… This is one of the, I would say one of the most beautiful days of my life. Like, I literally, like, I could cry about how happy this day was.

[01:29:10] Salma: I remember that we got into the parking lot, and the, the, you know, the head person of Celebrity Centre, I don’t know this guy, he comes in. I was super introverted at the time. I was not like… Like, like, I’ve always been like this, but I would restrict myself, so I wouldn’t, like, just, like, come and hug people.

[01:29:26] Salma: Dude, I see this guy, I go and I hug him.

[01:29:29] Mm.

[01:29:29] Salma: Like, I hadn’t seen him in years or something- Mm-hmm … you know? Like you, you know when you’re just like, “Oh, hi, hello” When I saw that place, I was like, like I could just feel it. I was like, “What is this place?” Mm-hmm. There’s just something about it, right? And I was all over everywhere, hugging everybody, hugging all the staff, seeing people, saying hi to everybody, and there was a moment I was like, “Hey, hey, hold up.

[01:29:50] Salma: Like, calm down.” You know? Like, “You’re being too… Like, this is, this is crazy.” Like, “You’re going too crazy here,” right? Yeah. That little reactive, you know, like little voice that you have in [01:30:00] your head.

[01:30:00] Yeah.

[01:30:01] Salma: And, um, and something, the thing that surprised me the most, and something that never happened to me in 20, 20 years, 21, I was 21 at the time, was that people were actually, all the staff of the church, they were actually paying attention to me.

[01:30:18] Salma: Mm. They were listening to me.

[01:30:19] Oh.

[01:30:20] Salma: And when I recounted this for the first time, like looking back at that memory, I, I cried for like an hour. Because before this, no one in my entire life had given me so much attention and really genuinely cared about me. Like, they would actually listen to you, and that’s something when you meet a Scientologist, like, we listen to people.

[01:30:41] Salma: Yeah. This is one of the things that we believe in, you know? Like, we are trained- Yeah … to care for people, and that was the most mind-blowing thing to me. Wow. Like, I just felt so acknowledged and so seen. It’s like they were looking through me, and I was like, “Oh my God, this place is amazing.” So we went in.

[01:30:59] Salma: We did the [01:31:00] IQ test, the, you know, Oxford Capacity Analysis test, and I was so happy. I was like going to school. I was like, “Oh my God, we’re going to school again, and this is so fun.” And then, and, and I- But

[01:31:09] Brad: Cuban school.

[01:31:09] Salma: Exactly. Mm-hmm. So we did a we did a personal efficiency course and, and oh my God, the supervisor was so good.

[01:31:18] Brad: Mm.

[01:31:19] Salma: That was like, damn, this woman is like superhuman. Like, she was, everything I would say, she would acknowledge it and tell me how amazing I was, and I was like, oh my God, like I was blown away. I’ve never seen this in my life. Like, this is weird. You don’t see this in the world. Mm-hmm. People, you talk to people, they ignore you.

[01:31:36] Yeah.

[01:31:37] Salma: They, they, they don’t care. Yeah. Even when they care, they don’t care, you know?

[01:31:42] Yeah.

[01:31:42] Salma: So this, this supervisor was so good. Her communication was so good. She had such a presence, and I was like, “Wow, this place is insane.” Like, like there is something about this, and I, I couldn’t put my finger on it instantly, and then they, they were showing me the videos, and one of the videos said, “You [01:32:00] can live forever,” and I was like

[01:32:05] Salma: I was like, “What? I’m a spiritual being and I can live for…” I was like, “What? I, I knew this. I, I have always believed in this.” And everything, all the videos, all the educational videos that they show to the new people, I was looking through these videos, I was like, “I already knew.” Like, like it’s in a new unit of time, but I, I believed in this.

[01:32:28] Salma: I found my people. Like, literally that’s how I felt. It was such a shock. I was like, “I have found my people.” Mm-hmm. Since I was a kid, I always knew. I would, I would read a lot And I would always read about the biggest families in the world, and this and that, and the Illuminati, and blah, blah, blah. So I was like, I always wanted to be part of a group of people that had certain knowledge that I knew was not accessible to a regular person.

[01:32:54] Mm-hmm.

[01:32:54] Salma: Right? And when I found Scientology, it is that knowledge, but it is [01:33:00] accessible- Mm-hmm … to everybody. Mm. So I was like, “Oh my God, these people have… I’ve been looking for this for years, and I found it.”

[01:33:08] Mm-hmm.

[01:33:09] Salma: After 21 years of, like, ups and downs, and, like, terrible things, and mishaps, and people betraying me, and my family going through stuff, and moving here, and doing this, and doing that, and ah, ah, ah, I found it, and it, it was all worth it.

[01:33:26] Salma: I remember having that thought, like, I’ve, I, I literally, I found it. I, I, I found the place.

[01:33:33] Mm-hmm.

[01:33:33] Salma: And everything resonated with me. There has not been a single piece of information that I have read from L. Ron Hubbard that has not resonated with me to such a deep level of understanding and truth that it never challenges who I am.

[01:33:48] Salma: Mm. It is just the truth because I know it is true for me. Like, you just read this stuff, you’re like, “Man, this is life.” Mm-hmm. This is not like he just didn’t just decide to put his opinion on [01:34:00] something. He is speaking from the truth, and this is a truth that we all share as spiritual beings.

[01:34:04] Mm-hmm.

[01:34:05] Salma: So I was, I was going through all of this, and I was like, “Wow.”

[01:34:08] Salma: And I would read books that would kind of allude to the same, like, spiritualism and stuff. I’ve always been- Yeah … very spiritual, so the part that caught my eye the most was not the mind or, like… No, no, that was… No. I wanted to know about the spirit. Mm-hmm. I wanted to know why are we here.

[01:34:24] Mm-hmm.

[01:34:24] Salma: Why do we do the things that we do?

[01:34:26] Salma: Who put us here?

[01:34:27] Mm-hmm.

[01:34:27] Salma: Like, ’cause I, I had… I was Catholic, I grew up Catholic, and then I was Christian for a long time, and, and it just didn’t quite answer the questions that I had. And I remember, you know me, I would, I would always ask the most questions at church, and they would be like, “Um, um, we can’t answer this que- We don’t have an answer for it, actually.”

[01:34:45] Salma: Yeah. And in this place, in Scientology, I found the answer to all of these questions. Mm-hmm. Like, what is existence? Why are we here? What is our purpose on this? And it, I didn’t only find the answers, it just resonates with me. I knew it. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s always been within me.

[01:34:59] Mm-hmm.

[01:34:59] Salma: I [01:35:00] just… It, it just got, you know, like re-intensified.

[01:35:03] Salma: Like, I just read about it again, and I just like, I’m like, “Wow.” Now I not only know it, I can go and apply it- Yeah … and do something with it. So that to me, long story, but it, it was mind-blowing. I g- I couldn’t put it- And enough words to describe how I felt that day

[01:35:17] Brad: What a beautiful experience. Oh my God.

[01:35:19] Brad: That’s amazing. Do you think, and I wanna ask, I will ask this to Serge as well, but from your perspective, do you think he was like, “You know, I’m probably gonna wind up doing the Scientology thing, so I should bring her to make sure she’s actually cool with it before I propose”?

[01:35:32] Salma: You know what? I don’t know.

[01:35:33] Salma: You would have to ask him. I have never asked him that question. Yeah. But he did tell me that he always wanted a girl that was a Scientologist. Like, you know, they had, like, a Scientology- Wow … like, group of people, like, you know, like a dating app or something like that back in the day. Mm-hmm. Yeah, there’s a couple.

[01:35:47] Salma: Yeah. So he was like, “You know, I was in the dating app.” He’s like, “I always wanted to meet, like, a cool Scientology girl,” but, like, like, you know, like, the girls were, like, older and stuff like that. Like, back in the day there was not that many young Scientologists, so he was like, “You know, [01:36:00] but I always wanted a Scientologist girl.”

[01:36:03] Salma: And it’s so funny because when he met me and I saw all of this, I was like, “Dude, I am in.”

[01:36:08] Yeah.

[01:36:08] Salma: Like, you know what in is? In. Like- Teach me everything. Give me everything. Can you just put it on a needle and put it… Like, I just wanna know. The, do, you know what? I’ve been looking for this for- Yeah … 21 years.

[01:36:19] Salma: Yeah. And you’re telling me it’s here. I want it all. Yeah. From top to bottom, from, like, everything, everything. Tell me. Tell, t- t-… So I would always go and talk to the staff and this, you remember. Every, always asking the most questions, always. Like, I was always super curious, and I always wanted to know. Wow.

[01:36:34] Salma: And you know, like, it was just a whole universe opened up for me. And- Wow … oh my God, it was so incredible, man. You have no idea how much I craved this, how much I was looking for this. It was the best thing that ever happened to me, finding Scientology, literally.

[01:36:50] Brad: I think we have a rough idea of how it felt.

[01:36:52] Salma: Yeah.

[01:36:53] Aaron: I feel like, I, I, I guess I, so, wow. You know, usually [01:37:00] I don’t know about usually, but from our experience, like, someone goes and Scientology is, like, kind of handling something in your life, kind of- True … improving something. Yeah. You know? It’s kind of like-

[01:37:09] Salma: True. Yeah. It is.

[01:37:09] Aaron: It is, it is. You’re, you’re kinda like…

[01:37:10] Aaron: But from what you’re saying, you’re just like, I- you just wanna learn about the topic. But was there anything, you know, especially probably in the beginning it’s gonna be like, “Well, what course do you wanna do? What do you wanna improve in your life?” Like, was there something you were trying to improve, or you just like, “I like this.

[01:37:24] Aaron: I wanna

[01:37:24] Salma: hear about it”? So I wanted to improve everything. I wanted to improve everything. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

[01:37:27] Aaron: yeah,

[01:37:27] Salma: yeah. Every statistic, everything that could be improved, I wanted to improve. I was like, I know I… You know, I, I’ve always been very self-aware. I knew I was doing something wrong in life ’cause I said- Mm

[01:37:37] Salma: I was gonna be a billionaire, and I wasn’t, you know? Mm. Yeah, yeah. So I was like, “Well, there must be something I’m not doing.”

[01:37:43] Yeah.

[01:37:43] Salma: And these people have the answer ’cause I know I’ve been looking for this place. I know it’s here, and I feel it, and I know it. And they know it, and I know it. So I’m gonna do everything, you know?

[01:37:52] Salma: And, you know, there, uh, to me, there’s two types of people that, that, that come into Scientology. There’s this person that wants to fix something, [01:38:00] you know, and there’s a person that wants more freedom. I’m in the category of, like, I want more freedom. Mm. I wanna, I wanna… Since I was a little girl and I had use of reason, my purpose was to make the world a better place.

[01:38:13] Mm-hmm.

[01:38:14] Salma: And I never had the tools. I never had a single person in my life that could show me that this was possible. The only person I saw that I was like, “Wow, you can do it,” was Michael Jackson. So my only- Wow … stability in life of what could I do if I had enough influence and enough power-

[01:38:31] Mm-hmm …

[01:38:32] Salma: to put something out good in the world was Michael Jackson.

[01:38:35] Salma: Mm-hmm. So I remember that was, like, my only example, and I was like, “I wanna be like him. I wanna create the same effect,” you know? And I had… You know, like, since I was a kid, I- my, my favorite thing was helping people, talking to people, like, you know, doing these things. And I knew that if at 21, it’s, obviously, I say being a billionaire ’cause, like, it’s, it’s, it’s what people are interested in- Yeah

[01:38:55] Salma: and the money, and what people know, but the actual purpose is making an [01:39:00] impact in the world, right? And what a better way to do it than being a billionaire. So I made that calculation. I associated the money with power and, you know, and a, and an ability to help other people. Uh, and I remember I was like, “Well, I am 21 years old.

[01:39:13] Salma: I have been saying this since I was two years old, and it, I am nowhere where I want to be in life, so I need to, I need to change something ’cause I do wanna change the world.” And I am the per- I’m, like, desperate. I’m like, if I don’t have… Like, I want everything fast, you know? Mm. I’m like, if it can be done right now, we will do it right now.

[01:39:31] Salma: So I was like I, I would hold myself up to such a crazy standard that I just felt like a failure in life because I hadn’t achieved or done the things that I said that I would do. So I could say that that was the thing- Mm … that made me be like, wow, okay, they have the tools that can help me. I wanted to change the world, and I hadn’t in 21 years.

[01:39:51] Salma: Yeah. And all I have encountered before this was failures, the wrong people, and getting betrayed with friendships-

[01:39:57] Mm …

[01:39:57] Salma: with family members, seeing [01:40:00] people do the same thing to other people. So I was like, well, I, I, I need to do something about this because I know I want to do this. Selfishly, it is my purpose.

[01:40:08] Salma: It’s like- Yeah … I mean, the better other people do, the better I will do. So this is my planet. This is… I live with these people, man. I, there, there… Someone’s gotta do something about this. Yeah. It’s, it’s crazy. You look out there, it’s crazy, right? It’s crazy. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So that always resonated with me, and I, I just didn’t know how to do it.

[01:40:25] Salma: You know, I was just a little girl from Cuba. The, the education that I had was very, you know, philosophical and very pompous and all of that, but I never had the actual tools to, to change the world. I, I didn’t have them. I don’t think anybody just, like, is born and has the tools to change the world, you know?

[01:40:40] Salma: Yeah. So that’s what I found in Scientology. I found the literally the tools to help myself first so I can be of help to others and change the world. So that, that was the main thing I was looking for, honestly.

[01:40:50] Brad: Oh, it’s so good. You know, earlier when you were talking about looking for… Y- you said you studied families in the Illuminati, and kind of knowledge that would [01:41:00] be, you know, reveled to like, oh, that’s- Yes

[01:41:02] Brad: the secret of whatever, and you thought that it would be hidden. I literally got chills when you said that ’cause I was like, oh my God, that’s so real to me. I was like- Yes … literally looking for the same thing-

[01:41:11] Salma: Dude, all the conspiracy

[01:41:11] Brad: theories … before

[01:41:11] Salma: Scientology. Everything. I watched all the documentaries, the sages documentary.

[01:41:15] Salma: Yeah. Everything.

[01:41:16] Brad: Yeah.

[01:41:16] Salma: Like how the Federal Reserve works, how the… Like everything. Yeah. I knew about it all. Yeah. Politics, how the Ku Klux Klan was founded, everything. I knew about everything. How politics work in this country, everything. The educational system. That’s why I was so, like, anti, like, ah, the school, blah, blah, blah, ’cause I, I, I had that information.

[01:41:32] Mm-hmm.

[01:41:33] Salma: And I always knew. I was like, there’s something that is missing. What is it? What is it? Where is it? What is it? Like, and you know, I, I, I know that most people that are in a position of power right now behind the government, they’re not the best people, right? Mm. So I was like, okay, I wanna be- powerful, but I wanna be a good powerful person.

[01:41:51] Salma: Mm-hmm. Like Michael Jackson. Mm-hmm. But why did Michael Jackson die so young? Yeah. Right? So you, I, I started to ask myself these questions. Psychiatry. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I started to ask myself these [01:42:00] questions like, why are these people that- No, literally

[01:42:02] Brad: though. Actually.

[01:42:02] Salma: Yeah.

[01:42:02] Brad: Yeah, actually.

[01:42:03] Salma: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, why are these people- So crazy

[01:42:05] Salma: that actually- It’s

[01:42:06] Aaron: government funded, government funded psychiatry …

[01:42:06] Salma: yeah, that actually want to change the world, why do they, why, why does always something happen to them?

[01:42:12] Aaron: Mm-hmm.

[01:42:13] Salma: The good people that came out of nowhere, Michael Jackson came out of nowhere, Black, little poor child- Mm-hmm … in Chicago, came out of nowhere.

[01:42:21] Salma: I don’t even know if it’s Chicago where he was born, but anyways, you can cut that if it’s not true. Uh, I, I saw the movie. I think it is Chicago, but anyways, I was like, what, why is it that these people- Kanye West

[01:42:30] Brad: is definitely from Chicago …

[01:42:31] Salma: yeah, Kanye West is from Chicago. So we can say

[01:42:32] Brad: Kanye. Yeah.

[01:42:33] Salma: Uh, but I was like, why is it that these famous people, the ones that actually wanna do good-

[01:42:37] Brad: Mm

[01:42:37] Salma: why do they die so young? And why do the ones that are spreading a bad message, why are they pushed- So like intensive- Mm-hmm … Bad Bunny.

[01:42:46] Mm-hmm.

[01:42:47] Salma: Like the Nicki Minaj, the Cardi B. So I was like, “I don’t wanna listen to this.” Like- Mm-hmm … honestly, I just don’t care, you know? It’s not even like a fact of like, oh, I don’t th- th- don’t care, you know?

[01:42:57] Yeah.

[01:42:57] Salma: And the, it, that, it was so [01:43:00] many things that I was like attracted to and that I knew deep inside of me that they were truths, you know? Like I just wouldn’t believe something because someone told me to. If not, I would have been a communist because that was what was indoctrinated in schools.

[01:43:12] Brad: Yeah.

[01:43:12] Salma: Every, every little like, there were processions that you would do in school every single morning, and you would say the same thing over and over and over, “Viva Fidel,” like life to Fidel. Che Guevara is good, blah, blah, blah. You would repeat the same things over and over and over. And you know what? Some people start to believe these things ’cause you repeat them so much.

[01:43:33] Salma: This, I mean, the communists got all of this information from the Russians. These people were scientifics, like they, they, like scientists. The people, they, they knew about the mind and how to indoctrinate people and how to get people to believe in something. So they got all this information from the Russians and they started to push it in schools.

[01:43:49] Salma: Mm. So that’s where I grew up. Like that’s the, that’s the information I had, but I never believed in it though. But when I read and listened to like all these families and the Illuminati and blah, there was just something about it that I [01:44:00] was like, “I know this is true.” There is some true about this because if, if, if it is not true, why is the world in the condition that it is in?

[01:44:08] Mm.

[01:44:09] Salma: How, how else would you explain it? If you add it all together, it makes a lot of sense, you know? So I would always be very avidly curious about everything that had to do with government, politics, and like anything to, to do with those sort of things. Yeah.

[01:44:23] Brad: Yeah. And then the conclusion of that was that data that you were looking for and you found it was actually just available for everyone.

[01:44:30] Salma: Yeah. Literally, I was like, “Like anybody can come here and have this. This is amazing.”

[01:44:35] Brad: Yeah,

[01:44:35] Salma: yeah. I’m like, “I have to tell all my friends.” Yeah. I was just bringing people. I swear I was like weekend bringing people into the church. The staff member’s like, “Oh my God.” I was like, “Doesn’t everybody do this? Like don’t you just find a good thing and you just tell everybody about it?”

[01:44:49] Salma: I was like, like I was raving, like telling everybody about it. It was my new baby, my discovery, and I was so proud and happy about it.

[01:44:57] Aaron: Mm-hmm. That’s why we’re here.

[01:44:58] Salma: Yes.

[01:44:58] Aaron: That’s right. [01:45:00] So, uh, I have a, a question about, so now you’re, you’re in the church Go Scientology. And engaged. What changes- And engaged. Wow.

[01:45:11] Aaron: Things are looking up.

[01:45:13] Salma: Um,

[01:45:14] Aaron: what changes did you experience, and also in Serge, because if Ser- you know, he’d kinda I guess been, uh… You know, what, what changes did you experience in your life, his life, kind of after you, you started?

[01:45:25] Salma: Oh my goodness. It was, like, from black and white to color. Um, so many of them.

[01:45:32] Salma: First one, and the biggest one for me, was the fact that when I got into Scientology, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to change the world, and I for sure knew I wanted to make a lot of money, but I didn’t know how. I knew there was an intention in it, but there was so much frustration behind that intention because I was unable, completely unable, to make it come true.

[01:45:54] Salma: Mm. I had no idea how I was gonna do it. I had no idea where I was gonna get the discipline, the, the, the, the hard, like, you know, the [01:46:00] hard work. I didn’t consider myself a discipline or a hardworking person or, or someone with- Oh, you didn’t? … enough responsibility. No, I didn’t.

[01:46:06] Oh, wow.

[01:46:06] Salma: I did not at all. I had the worst self-esteem you could possibly think of.

[01:46:11] Salma: Like, think about the worst self-esteem in the world. That was me, literally.

[01:46:14] Wow.

[01:46:14] Salma: I, I was very invalidated while growing up. Mm. Growing up in Cuba was tough, man.

[01:46:19] Mm-hmm.

[01:46:19] Salma: It, it really invited, invalidated me to the core, because everyone around me was so small-minded. They was so, like- Mm … you know, they had all this communistic and, and, and ideas, and I was just always like, “Oh, we can do this, and I can create this, and I can do that,” and, and, and I was good at so many things, but when I got into Scientology, I, I didn’t know.

[01:46:39] Salma: I, I didn’t… I to- honestly, you would have asked me, “What are you good at?” I’m like, “Good at nothing, man. I am, I’m a, I’m a loser.” Wow. “I am a literally, like, a loser. Like, I have done nothing with my life. I’ve always said I wanted to do things. I’ve never been able to accomplish any of them.” The only thing that I could probably said that I did was being in a beautiful relationship, but even that, before, like, [01:47:00] doing, like, auditing and before Scientology, it would have fallen apart if it was not for Scientology, and I will go into that.

[01:47:07] Salma: Wow. I, I literally, obviously I wanted more freedom when I, I got in, and I wanted to fix all these things and do all these things. And my biggest win was that when I started auditing, literally in session, I would come up with an idea and I would write it. I, I literally had to stop my auditor, which was my fiance at the time, ’cause we were auditing each other.

[01:47:30] Aaron: You were doing co-auditing?

[01:47:31] Salma: Yeah. We were co-auditing-

[01:47:32] Aaron: Oh. Oh, wow …

[01:47:33] Salma: on the Survival Rundown- Mm-hmm … which is a, you know, a series of processes that is one of the steps- Incredible … to going clear.

[01:47:39] Aaron: Magical. Yeah.

[01:47:39] Salma: So I remember, like, I had to stop him on, and I had to draw things that were coming to my head. Mm. Like colors and designs and things, and, and I had to draw these ideas because, uh, they were pouring.

[01:47:53] Salma: And I was like, “Damn, this is, like, really good. I wanna do this every day.”

[01:47:56] Mm-hmm.

[01:47:57] Salma: So I was having a blast while we were [01:48:00] auditing because I- it was like talking to God, literally. Mm-hmm. I was getting all these ideas, all this creativity. Next thing you know, I start dressing better. I start doing social media.

[01:48:09] Salma: I did a little… This is literally, like, a $75 course, how to set and achieve your goals. I do that course, and I start a whole business from scratch

[01:48:17] Brad: Yeah …

[01:48:18] Salma: literally out of a seven That course is sick It is so good That

[01:48:21] Brad: course is

[01:48:21] Salma: sick It is so good Mm-hmm And so easy for anybody- Yeah … to understand.

[01:48:24] Brad: Yes.

[01:48:25] Salma: First course for, uh, first actual course I did in Scientology, How to Set and Achieve Your Goals. If you see this, you should go to your local org and do this course. It is mind-blowing. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like, the reason why you think your goals… Like, the reason why you see that your goals are not coming true is ’cause you don’t know how to organize them.

[01:48:40] Salma: You don’t know how to, you don’t know how to set goals. Mm-hmm. And it teaches you how to do this. So I do this. I start a business from scratch. I quite, like, that business was coaching women through relationships and stuff- Mm-hmm … because they would really look up to me and they’d be like, “Oh my God, like, I wanna do what you did.”

[01:48:56] Salma: And I was like, “Well, I can write my hat up. I c- and I, I can write what I [01:49:00] did- Mm … and I can teach it to someone.” And I was, like, charging nothing. I was, like, charging, like, $200 to work with me for a month at the beginning. And, and, and I gained some success with that, but… And I, and I love talking to people.

[01:49:12] Salma: It, it was like being an auditor, right?

[01:49:14] Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[01:49:14] Salma: But I was like, damn, like, I, I have all these ideas, you know? There is so much I can do one-on-one. Like, I, I wanna help people, but in a bigger level.

[01:49:24] Yeah.

[01:49:24] Salma: So dude, I- I’m going in session every single day, and my taste becomes better. I am telling you, before Scientology, I didn’t knew I was good at styling.

[01:49:33] Salma: I didn’t knew I was good at social media. I didn’t have millions of views. I had nothing. Mm. I literally nothing. I didn’t have a personal sense of style. I didn’t even have a personality to start with. You w- like lack of everything. I don’t believe that one. I don’t believe it. Dude, I mean, I was always enthusiastic and happy, but there was so much grief behind that.

[01:49:51] Salma: Mm. Oh. So much grief, so much sadness. I was like, I, I didn’t even know how I was doing it, and I’m telling you, this is most people in Cuba. [01:50:00] Th- when you go to Cuba and you see that everyone’s happy, they’re h- they’re hiding something. It is not actual happiness, you know? Yeah. My mom was someone like that too.

[01:50:08] Salma: It’s like she’s willing to help, super happy, but you can tell there’s things that she hasn’t handled, and she tries to conceal them through being enthusi- enthusiastic, and that was me And, um, huge, biggest change I’ve had in Scientology is the amount of creativity and the amount of ideas that started to pour into me as I was going every single day in session.

[01:50:32] Salma: It was absolutely mind-blowing.

[01:50:33] Mm-hmm.

[01:50:34] Salma: So, I mean, obviously you benefit a lot from auditing in Scientology, but if you’re an artist, oh my God, it’s like on steroids, ’cause I just couldn’t stop. It, it, it became a thing where I thought I was lazy and I was not productive to like, “I have to make this happen and nothing’s stopping me.”

[01:50:51] Salma: So I was gaining- Wow … all these parts of myself. Mm-hmm. The very things that I loved to do when I was three years old, I was doing them again, [01:51:00] and I could… The, the, it is so beautiful.

[01:51:02] Brad: What, what, what is, what’s one of those things?

[01:51:03] Salma: Like, I, you know, when I was a kid, I used to go to my, my, my dad, he dated, like, very young girls.

[01:51:10] Salma: So my dad girlfriends, like, he had a, like, a, a girlfriend, she was very young. She was, like, 20, 20-something, right? Yeah. And she was this super cool girl, and I would go to her house every week, and I would wear her outfits, and I would tell her to take pictures of me. And my thing was taking pictures at, with outfits, and modeling and, you know, doing, doing all these sorts of things.

[01:51:30] Salma: And I was always very good at drawing and very creative. And whenever they made you do, like, murals and stuff and paper stuff, oh my God, I would always, like- One up everybody else. I was like, oh- Oh, yeah … I would put so much thought into, like, things done by hand, right? And I, you know, I had all this creativity as a kid.

[01:51:51] Salma: I was on everything. I was in dance class, in basketball, anything, any sport, anything that you can possibly imagine, I would wanna be on it, but I was [01:52:00] stopped so many times, though. There was so many things I wanted to do. The majority of the things that I wanted to do, like I wanted to go to art school, “No, you can’t do that.

[01:52:07] Salma: You have to stay in the traditional school.” Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Like, “No, you can’t do it. No, you can’t do it. You don’t know how to dance. You don’t know how to do this. You can’t do that. That’s impossible. You can’t, you can’t, you can’t,” till I started to believe it. Yeah. And then for- Mm … a long period of my life, that was my reality, “Oh, you can’t do anything.”

[01:52:22] Salma: So that was maybe for Scientology, and when I found Scientology, I started to shed myself of all of these untruths of what people told me, of what I couldn’t do, of what I’m not good at, of all of that, and I started to be more me. And I was not scared of, like, talking to people or doing things and, like, I also did the communication course.

[01:52:44] Salma: My God, the communication course is mind… It’s a $100 course. Yeah. Mm-hmm, yeah. And you get someone to sit with you in front of you for free, like literally it, it comes with the course, to, to drill you through all of these drills that you do in order to communicate with someone. After that, I was a whole [01:53:00] different person.

[01:53:00] Yeah.

[01:53:00] Salma: I… Before, I was that person that would be like, “Can you just check out the item for me? Like, I don’t wanna go talk to the store clerk.” Like, literally. To, like, to be me again, but I was like this when I was younger. I was- Yeah … two, three, four, five, I was like this. Nothing changed, you know? I mean, it, many things changed in the middle, but these things were not me.

[01:53:19] Salma: Yeah. It was just like, uh, other people’s beliefs and misconceptions- Mm-hmm … and criticism that I started to attach to myself. And once I started auditing, I did the communication course, I was like, “Damn,” like, “I’m a really cool person, and I’ve been hiding it all this time because I was afraid of what others would think of me.”

[01:53:35] Salma: Yeah. Because I was told in school that I talk too much. I would get kicked… The only reason why I would have- No way … trouble in school is because I would talk so much. I was, like, making jokes all the time and trying to make everybody laugh. I would… I literally made the quietest kid in school that was, like, super empathetic laugh.

[01:53:52] Salma: And that was my favorite thing to do, was talk and make people laugh. And, and you know, I would, I would get kicked out of like, of the class. They would be like, “Nah, talking too much. [01:54:00] Don’t talk. Don’t talk. You talk too much. Don’t talk too much. No, no, no, no.” And I was like, “Well, I, I guess I won’t ever talk,” and I, and I didn’t.

[01:54:07] Salma: And when I got into Scientology, I, I just started to become more me. There has not been a single thing I’ve done in Scientology that has not made me become more me. Mm. It, it, it has fully allowed me to be myself. It’s just given me the tools to be myself, and there’s just not a more beautiful thing.

[01:54:23] Salma: Because I’m me and you are you, and everyone’s a different person, so imagine having the tools to be more you. And, and not only that, denota- like m- making a line between who you actually are and what people told you that you actually are. Yeah. ‘Cause that is very difficult. I thought I was many of these things.

[01:54:40] Salma: I thought I was introverted. I thought I didn’t like talking to people. I thought I was shy. I thought I was undisciplined. I thought I couldn’t be a hard worker, and that couldn’t be further away from the truth. I, I learned how to delineate a line between me and what other people wanted me to believe that I was, or what someone told me 10 years ago that stuck with [01:55:00] me, and I took it and I stayed with it.

[01:55:02] Salma: And, uh, it’s just, it’s just been incredible because I j- I literally feel like this is just the beginning for me. Like, I’m so excited for all, all the things that I’m like, that are ahead of me and the things that I’m working on. So, yeah.

[01:55:14] Brad: Ah, so cool. Amazing. So good.

[01:55:17] Aaron: I was gonna just say that, um- So when this morning we were studying together.

[01:55:21] Brad: Ah.

[01:55:22] Aaron: So, so,

[01:55:23] Brad: so- You guys are on

[01:55:24] Aaron: course in the morning? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. So, um- What course? Uh, well, I’m, I’m doing my auditor training, one of them.

[01:55:29] Brad: What course are

[01:55:29] Aaron: you?

[01:55:30] Salma: I am, I am on Student Hat.

[01:55:32] Aaron: Oh.

[01:55:32] Salma: Yes. So you’re learning

[01:55:33] Aaron: how to study. Learning

[01:55:34] Brad: how to study.

[01:55:35] Aaron: Right now.

[01:55:35] Salma: God, it’s so good.

[01:55:36] Brad: Let’s go.

[01:55:36] Aaron: It’s so

[01:55:37] Salma: good.

[01:55:37] Salma: Um,

[01:55:37] Aaron: and I just think,

[01:55:39] Brad: can you- I’m on the communication course that she mentioned

[01:55:41] Salma: right now. Oh, nice. Yeah. With- You are on it as

[01:55:42] Brad: we speak? Yeah, with, with my wife.

[01:55:44] Salma: Wow. That is cool. Yeah. That’s

[01:55:45] Aaron: so good.

[01:55:46] Salma: I- that is really cool.

[01:55:47] Aaron: So, you know, when you talk about, about that, I just wanna talk about this course just ’cause you happen to be doing it right now.

[01:55:52] Aaron: Yeah,

[01:55:52] Salma: yeah,

[01:55:52] Aaron: yeah. Right? And so, like, what do you… And I know, again, you’re only… How far… Are you… Have you been on it for a bit or, or-

[01:55:58] Salma: I’ve been, I’m [01:56:00] like, uh, I will say one fourth of it.

[01:56:02] Aaron: One fourth of the way through? Yeah. Okay. So what, like, what do you think is important about study? Dude- Like, learning things, like, this thing called the Student Hat, which comes, I think it’s the course that comes up the most on this podcast, I think.

[01:56:13] Salma: It is. Yeah. It do- I would say so … I mean, it makes sense.

[01:56:15] Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. So, so, like, what do you think about that?

[01:56:19] Salma: Dude, it, uh, first of all, this is, like, every time I do something in Scientology, I think it’s mind-blowing. So, like, you ask me- Yeah, me too. … like, but this, I know. It’s like, oh my God, it’s mind-blowing, but this is more mind-blowing, and this is mind-blowing, and everything’s amazing.

[01:56:32] Salma: But oh my God. So in this course, you go through lectures, and what you do is you find the definitions of words, and you go to the dictionary, and, you know, you get a conceptual understanding, and you make some examples of what the word is, plus the significance of the word and, you know, where the word comes from and stuff like that.

[01:56:51] Salma: I had never felt so light in my life. Every time I am studying And I see a word I don’t understand, and [01:57:00] I go to the dictionary, and I find the definition of it and I read it, and now I know what the word means. Mm-hmm. And I make sure I know what the word means. Dude, it is the most insane feeling a person could have.

[01:57:12] Salma: Yeah. Because you literally feel like you’re a genius, and there are no- Literally.

[01:57:15] Brad: I was

[01:57:16] Salma: just gonna say the

[01:57:16] Brad: same thing.

[01:57:17] Salma: Yeah. I

[01:57:17] Brad: was like, it makes you feel like

[01:57:18] Salma: you’re a genius. Yeah. And even LRH says it. There are no dull students or bright students. Everyone could be a genius. People just have misunderstood words.

[01:57:27] Salma: Mm-hmm. And this is what this course is all about. It teaches you how to study. It gives you a technology of study, which is, in this world, is obsolete. It just does not exist, right? Yeah. So he found it… Like, you know, he was, he was actually studying photography.

[01:57:41] Mm-hmm.

[01:57:42] Salma: And he found what were the barriers to him finishing this photography course that he was not finishing.

[01:57:48] Salma: So he, he wrote that down and he created this course called Student Hat, and obviously, LRH was a genius, and he literally gives you his hat on how to be a genius. And it is mind-blowing. [01:58:00] Every time I clear up a word and I find the definition of a word, I… There has been times where I’m, like, crying, ’cause, ’cause you…

[01:58:07] Salma: Dude, you understand the world. There are so many words that are related to other words, and you kind of don’t get why. W- w- Okay. So what, what… Where does the word salary come from? It comes from the word salt because they used to pay people in salt before. Like, how interesting is that? Whoa, wow. Right? Like, you…

[01:58:25] Salma: And I’m, like, going through the definitions of this word, and the universe is literally opening before my eyes, and I feel like, oh my God, I’m a genius. Like, literally.

[01:58:34] Mm-hmm.

[01:58:34] Salma: And not only me. I’m like, dude, anybody could feel like this, because anybody could go on a dictionary and do what I’m telling you.

[01:58:40] Salma: It’s, like, free. Yeah. You can go on a dictionary, you can find the definition of a word. Even if you think you know the word, just go over the definition of your favorite words. What’s your favorite word? You first.

[01:58:49] Aaron: Well, I was… I don’t know my favorite word of all time, but I’ll say one that I was thinking of, which is decision.

[01:58:53] Salma: Decision. Oh. Whoa.

[01:58:55] Aaron: Okay? And, and as you know… I don’t know if you… Do you know the derivation of decision? I know it by

[01:58:59] Salma: heart.

[01:58:59] Aaron: [01:59:00] No, tell me. Tell me. You know it by heart?

[01:59:00] Brad: Yeah. D-N-C-A-E-R-D-

[01:59:04] Aaron: Caedere. Caedere. Caedere. Yeah, yeah.

[01:59:05] Brad: It means to cut off.

[01:59:06] Aaron: Yes. Wow. So because you have a decision, you actually cut off- You cut off everything-

[01:59:11] Aaron: all the other options- Damn … and you have that one.

[01:59:15] Brad: Wow. Wow. You wanna know something crazy? I knew that derivation before I was a Scientologist.

[01:59:18] Aaron: What?

[01:59:18] Brad: No way. Super random. How? Super random. Because there was some… I, like, w- heard it in an audiobook or something like that of, like, somebody explaining the derivation of decision.

[01:59:29] Brad: It was, like, a book on leadership or something like that. Whoa. But it’s honestly totally random. It’s great. That’s amazing. But I

[01:59:33] Salma: like that. What’s your favorite word?

[01:59:35] Brad: Uh, this is a bad answer, but my, my flash answer is onomatopoeia.

[01:59:40] Salma: What does that mean?

[01:59:41] Brad: It’s, uh, written words that indicate sounds. So like in a, in a- Brp.

[01:59:45] Brad: Yeah, that’s right. Oh. That’s onomatopoeia. Zap. Yeah, zap, yeah.

[01:59:48] Salma: Whatever. Beep, beep, bop, boop, boop.

[01:59:49] Yeah,

[01:59:50] Brad: yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that. Beep, boop.

[01:59:51] That, exactly. Exactly,

[01:59:52] Brad: yeah. That was my Flash answer.

[01:59:53] Salma: Oh, wow, that’s funny.

[01:59:54] Great. Okay.

[01:59:55] Brad: Can I actually tell you one other one?

[01:59:56] Salma: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:59:57] Brad: So I looked up the definition [02:00:00] of the word…

[02:00:02] Brad: I think it was, it, it was either, um… Was it operate? Yeah. No, it was operating. That was, I looked up the defini- ’cause it was like a, uh, abbreviation, SOP, standard operating procedure. Mm. I’m like, okay, let me just- Yeah, yeah. I was, like, feeling whatever. I’m like, “I know what that means, but let me just go check.”

[02:00:19] Brad: So I look, and I look at the derivation of the word operating, and it comes from, the derivation is from opus, which opus is a work. It’s a work of art. Mm-hmm. Or it’s something that you made. Operating comes from to produce something.

[02:00:36] Salma: Wow.

[02:00:36] Brad: To produce a beautiful

[02:00:38] Salma: work. That is really cool.

[02:00:38] Aaron: What about this one?

[02:00:39] Aaron: Your passion, okay.

[02:00:42] Salma: Passion- You guys are just gonna like, I’m like… Yeah. I’m like so light here. And listen- Yeah.

[02:00:46] Aaron: Passion actually comes from the passion of the Christ, where Christ suffered and gave his life for people. So passion actually comes from patere, means to suffer, or pati. Wow. [02:01:00] Suffering. So if something is passionate, you feel passionate about it, what are you going to go through?

[02:01:04] Aaron: Damn. And you will go through suffering-

[02:01:06] Mm-hmm.

[02:01:07] Salma: Wow …

[02:01:07] Aaron: to get the thing that you want, ’cause if you will not g- go through suffering for something, how passionate are you? Wow.

[02:01:15] Salma: Dude, that is so true.

[02:01:17] Aaron: Yeah.

[02:01:17] Salma: I was thinking, you know what, I do the same thing every day, and I love doing the same thing every day.

[02:01:22] Salma: That’s like one of… That’s something I’m good at. Like, I know how to do something in a infinite number of ways. I make the coffee a different way every single day. It’s exciting. I get excited about making the coffee. So I was thinking about it, I was like, damn, like I’ve been through so much to get here.

[02:01:37] Salma: Like, you know when you watch an interview and there’s an actor or whatever and they’re like, “Oh, how did you become successful?” “Oh, I was just sitting in, in a, in a little chair one day and someone came up to me and they gave me an opportunity, and here I am.” I’m like, no. I’m like, no, that, that… No, that’s, that’s not how things work.

[02:01:56] Salma: Yeah. Like, no. Like, and, and if you’re listening that from [02:02:00] someone, it’s probably ’cause they don’t want you to know what they actually did.

[02:02:03] Mm.

[02:02:04] Salma: You know? Like, you, you have to be very hard- Like, I, I can say now I am a very hardworking person, and I was thinking recently, I was like, wow, I have gone through so much to get here, and I don’t even have 100th of what I wanna have.

[02:02:20] Mm-hmm.

[02:02:20] Salma: But it w- it was all worth it, man. Like, like I can look at my products and I am so proud of the things that I create. I am so proud of the effect that I create on girls and people and women, ’cause everywhere I go, people just… I, I, I can create an effect on someone just literally based on the way that I dress.

[02:02:39] Salma: Like, literally. Like, people have a good day after seeing me dress up. And then they come the next day and they, and they dress better.

[02:02:45] Mm.

[02:02:46] Salma: And I’m like, wow.

[02:02:47] Mm-hmm.

[02:02:47] Salma: Like, that is powerful, man. They’re, they’re- Yeah … putting interest on themselves, and they wanna be presentable, and they wanna look better for people.

[02:02:54] Salma: And I have suffered To get to my passion- Mm-hmm … to my goal. [02:03:00] Tremendously. And I feel like the, the, the bigger your passion is, the more you have to suffer, you know? And I’m like looking at my life, I’m like, damn, like people probably must think I just literally got this, or like I got it from my relationship or like, I’m like, no, dude, this was…

[02:03:14] Salma: I had sweat and tears to come to this point. Yeah. And like, I look at it and I’m like, okay, good. It’s, I’m proud of it, but like, I have to keep going. And I’m so passionate about what I do. Serge sometimes is like, “Oh my God, you’re like on the phone all day long.” I’m like, “Dude, I’m working.” And he’s like, “But just stop for a…”

[02:03:30] Salma: I’m like, “Dude,” I’m like, it’s like I just love it so much. I just wanna keep doing, I just wanna do the next video, and the next fitting, and the next outfit, and the… Like, I just, I just wanna keep going and do this my entire life. I just love this so much. Yeah. It’s just, I can’t stop. You know? It’s, it’s not even hard work or…

[02:03:47] Salma: It’s just who I am. Yeah. And it just, it is so beautiful because you do suffer to get the things that, that you’re, that are your passions, but is it worth it? At 100%, it’s- Absolutely. Mm-hmm. I can look at the [02:04:00] things that I create and the effect that it has on people, and I’m like, wow. If, if I had to go through all of that so I could be on this podcast today and tell someone how-

[02:04:09] Salma: Scientology changed my life because of the success that I’ve achieved in my life, it was all worth it.

[02:04:14] Yeah.

[02:04:15] Salma: If I can train to be an auditor and go through months of training, hard training, ’cause this is not, this is not like just becoming a psychologist, you know? Like this is- I’m like, no, I mean, that, it is the truth.

[02:04:28] Salma: The, the, the training, the, the, the level of presence that you have to have to be an- Mm-hmm … to be an auditor, not only the, the technology part of it, the l- the presence. You have to- Mm-hmm … you drill presence, you know? Yeah. And you can’t buy that.

[02:04:41] Yeah.

[02:04:42] Salma: If I have to go through months of that so I can sit someone in a chair and have them experience a little bit of what I’ve experienced through auditing, dude, it was all worth it.

[02:04:51] Salma: I’ll do it 100, 100 times more.

[02:04:54] Mm-hmm.

[02:04:54] Salma: And the fact that I can talk to people, and because of what I do, and ’cause they like my content, [02:05:00] they’re willing to go and, and try a new thing and, and do this new thing, or go and do a course. Dude, I’m like 100%, I would do it all over again, you know? But now I have the tools to not make the mistakes that I was doing, which makes the road even better.

[02:05:14] Salma: Yeah. You know? ‘Cause you get rid of all the debris and you can just have a smooth ride. So, you know, who g- how can it get better than that?

[02:05:25] Aaron: Um, okay, so we have a, we talked about this briefly, which is what is your favorite quote or saying by L. Ron Hubbard?

[02:05:34] Salma: So I sent it to you. It’s a culture… I don’t wanna butcher it. Yep.

[02:05:38] Aaron: Okay, go ahead.

[02:05:39] Salma: Can you,

[02:05:39] Aaron: can

[02:05:39] Salma: you not

[02:05:39] Aaron: read it? You wanna read it? You wanna read it? Yes. I’ll

[02:05:40] Salma: pull it up. No, you read it. You read it.

[02:05:42] Aaron: No.

[02:05:42] Salma: I’ve been talking here all

[02:05:43] Aaron: this time. Okay, I’ll read it. I’ll read it. I’ll read

[02:05:44] Salma: it.

[02:05:45] Aaron: Well, you sent me a few.

[02:05:46] Salma: Yes. I, uh, I, I really like the one from the art series- Okay, let’s listen … and I really like the one about hard work.

[02:05:52] Aaron: So this is the artist one. I’ll just… Listen, I’ll say it and then you can comment on it- Yes

[02:05:56] Aaron: ’cause you sent it to me. So this is one, and this is [02:06:00] from, uh, geez, well, I have the three sources. I actually don’t know which one’s from which one. Let me see. Hold on.

[02:06:06] Brad: I’m gonna tell you.

[02:06:07] Aaron: Yeah, yeah. No, okay. You’re right. You’re right. I got it. I got it. Okay. So the first one is from artists, from Science of Survival, the book, uh, Chapter 18, and it says, “A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists.”

[02:06:22] Salma: By artists. Damn.

[02:06:22] Aaron: Mm-hmm. So you pick that one. One of them.

[02:06:26] Salma: Yes. Yeah. So I, as I said previously, something that really caught my eye before Scientology was the fact that, like, uh, this society was kind of, like, degraded, and I could notice. Like, you know, some people wouldn’t notice. I was heavily interested on this.

[02:06:41] Salma: I was, like, very observant, right? And, and one of the things that I would see that were the most affected was, uh, obviously the, uh, educational system and the arts.

[02:06:50] Mm.

[02:06:51] Salma: And I, it just, it just interests me so deeply the fact that, like, artists that are spreading, like, a very bad and negative message are so [02:07:00] pushed.

[02:07:00] Salma: I was like, “Why is this?” Like, why every time that I put on the radio it’s, like, Bad Bunny, blah, blah, blah. Like, do this, do that, go get drugs. It’s like, you know, like, you, you get pondered by the same message over and over and over. And I grew up listening to ’80s and ’70s music when I was a kid. Michael Jackson, you know, all the great art- artists, like Bohemian Rhapsody and, like, you know-

[02:07:19] Salma: like the Queen, and, uh, these are my favorite songs and my favorite artists. So I was like, “Damn,” like, “What happened?”

[02:07:26] Yeah.

[02:07:26] Salma: There, there’s something there. What happened? And most of it, it is drugs, you know?

[02:07:30] Mm-hmm.

[02:07:31] Salma: So

[02:07:32] Aaron: I was like- Talk about a government program.

[02:07:33] Salma: Mm-hmm.

[02:07:34] Aaron: Um, and concerning- Yeah … the drugs, uh, I forget the name of it, but, uh, around the Beatles’ time period, there was a government program to bring LSD to all these artists.

[02:07:40] Aaron: Jesus Christ. Oh my- Do you know the name of that one? … God,

[02:07:43] Brad: no.

[02:07:44] Aaron: It’s a CIA program.

[02:07:46] Brad: Oh, oh. Um-

[02:07:47] Aaron: It’s like Operation-

[02:07:48] Brad: MKUltra?

[02:07:49] Aaron: No, it’s another one. Not that one? Okay, fine. Damn. I don’t know. Anyway, but that was a… Like, that is not a conspiracy.

[02:07:54] Salma: No,

[02:07:55] Aaron: no, no. It is, it is an actual thing. Uh, just look at the, the Drugs Artist CIA.

[02:07:57] Aaron: It’s a CIA program- Yeah, yeah, yeah … that was started.

[02:07:58] Brad: Huh.

[02:07:59] Salma: So I, [02:08:00] I saw that and I was like, “Damn, well, what if I just… You know, it could, it could create a beautiful effect with, with, with my talents.” And you know, I really admire Michael Jackson, and I saw the effect that he had on the world. Mm. And I, I wanted to duplicate that.

[02:08:15] Salma: I, I wanted to create something like that. And I would see that if an artist would say something, people would go and do it.

[02:08:21] Brad: Mm-hmm.

[02:08:22] Salma: You know? That’s right. Like, take the ugliest clothing item that you can think of, like- And call that influencer … sandals,

[02:08:27] Brad: whatever.

[02:08:29] Salma: Influencer, artist, you know, like, I mean, to me, being, being…

[02:08:33] Salma: I, I consider myself an artist first than an influencer- Yeah, yeah. Yeah … ’cause I just do so many things. There’s videography, photography, lighting, uh, styling, makeup, you know? Like, I- there’s all these things that are encapsulated within what I do. Yeah. So I just tell people, “Oh, I’m just an artist, you know?”

[02:08:48] Salma: And I also love painting and, and I design and I draw my designs and stuff. But I, I just, I saw that effect that Michael Jackson had. I would watch my TV screen, two years old, and I would cry my [02:09:00] eyes out because of how powerful-

[02:09:02] Brad: No …

[02:09:02] Salma: that being was.

[02:09:03] Brad: Mm.

[02:09:03] Salma: And I was like, “Wow, this guy is changing the world.”

[02:09:07] Brad: They would show that in Cuba?

[02:09:08] Salma: Yeah. That- Oh. So n- they wouldn’t show it, but I had the CDs. So my dad was- Oh. Oh, oh, oh … like a huge Michael Jackson fan. Yeah. And I would go to his house and take the CDs and just go to my house and, and listen to it. And that’s so, that’s something really funny. It was a random datum. Uh, it was illegal in Cuba to listen to American music for years- Oh my God

[02:09:29] Salma: at the beginning of the revolution. See, I’m telling you, anything you do is illegal. That’s crazy. It’s like you can’t, you cannot not get in trouble.

[02:09:34] Brad: If you laugh.

[02:09:35] Salma: It was illegal to, um, pay, like, have American dollars. If they found one American dollar They will put you in jail.

[02:09:42] Brad: Wow.

[02:09:43] Salma: That’s just something I’m throwing out there.

[02:09:45] Salma: But anyways, dude, when I saw Michael Jackson and the effect he had, I was like, “Wow. I, I want to do this. I will…” I- it was not even a want. I was like, I was destined. I, I’m going to do something like this, you know? Mm. Even bigger. You know? Like, I was like, I, I want to create [02:10:00] something like that. And dude, artists have such an insane power.

[02:10:04] Salma: They don’t even… Um, unless you’re a writer, but you don’t even need words in order to communicate a feeling, in order to raise people’s emotions and tone level.

[02:10:15] Yeah.

[02:10:15] Salma: And, and, and I can, I can do that? Like, what? It’s just mind-blowing. And how he worded it was just beautifully worded. And not only that, in that same section, there’s, like, a whole text talking about artists, Science of Survival.

[02:10:29] Salma: The whole thing, there’s, like, a whole dissertation, I think it’s, like, seven pages-

[02:10:33] Mm-hmm …

[02:10:34] Salma: talking about how important artist is. Mm-hmm. And LRH places artist above doctors and attorneys and lawmakers. Yeah. He literally says it within that text. Read it in Science of Survival. Yeah. And when I read that, ’cause when I read that I was already like, “Okay, well, yeah, I’m an artist,” you know?

[02:10:52] Yeah.

[02:10:52] Salma: When I read that, I was like, “Wow, you, you mean, like, someone like me, like my h- like my fiance, like, we’re more [02:11:00] important than, than a politician and a doctor?” Like, and then y- you look around and it is that way. Yeah. And you know, if artists just decided to spread a good message, dude, the world would instantly shift.

[02:11:12] Mm-hmm.

[02:11:13] Salma: Instantly.

[02:11:13] Mm.

[02:11:14] Salma: And something that would really irk me and hurt me more than anything was going, I love art, going to an art gallery and looking at modern art.

[02:11:25] Brad: You know you’re

[02:11:26] Salma: not the first person on our podcast to mention that You wanna see me annoyed, you wanna see me annoyed? Take me to a modern museum.

[02:11:30] Salma: And dude, I would get so pissed. I was like, “How the hell?” Mm. Dude, like it took Michelangelo 20 years to finish the ceiling of the Capilla Sixtina. Sistine

[02:11:40] Aaron: Chapel, mm-hmm.

[02:11:41] Salma: Dude.

[02:11:42] Aaron: Mm-hmm.

[02:11:42] Salma: Like you’re telling me you put… Like I, I literally saw these little cardboards, like the ones you, you know when you go to like a liquor store, a grocery store, and they give you these like cardboards?

[02:11:50] Aaron: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[02:11:50] Salma: I saw an exhibition in New York in the MoMA of six of them from smallest to biggest- Yeah … and that was considered a piece of art. Yeah. And I was like, “Dude, this is [02:12:00] so low effort.” Mm-hmm. And you know what? It reflects the status of the society that we’re in. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It’s like, oh, let me just put the littlest effort.

[02:12:08] Salma: Let me not study the technicality of anything. Let me not do anything and just call this a piece of crap, a piece of art- Mm-hmm … and it will get shown because the standard’s so low that people will just admire it. Yeah. And that’s something, at the beginning I didn’t like when people would call me an influencer, because the first assumption was like, “Oh, she probably just grabs the phone and does TikTok dances,” you, you know?

[02:12:31] Salma: And when people s- actually see my content, they’re like, “Wow,” like, “Is that AI? Do, do you actually do that? Like, who helps you?” I’m like, “No, no, dude, this is everything me. Makeup me, ma- everything.” “I film the whole thing. I literally take my own pictures with a self-timer.” Like, people wouldn’t believe it. And I’m like, damn, like, you know, I obviously do this because I love it, but I, I literally, there’s this need in me to uplift and, and, and, and put people’s expectations and people’s standards way higher- Mm-hmm

[02:12:58] Salma: than they are. Dude, if [02:13:00] you, like it… Ugh, I was… You know, the, the, this album, Bohemian, the, the song Bohemian Rhapsody- Yeah … it took these people months to make this song. Mm. Months. And you, you listen to it and you’re like, “Of course it took them months.” Mona Lisa, two years to get painted. Now, I’m not saying that things have to take time, but you have to care about what you do.

[02:13:20] Salma: Mm-hmm. Especially when you’re an artist. There has to be some level of professionalism and, and, and competition and, on what you do. You know, you have to be competent. And, and when I see stuff that’s cheaply made or badly made or quickly, like, you know, glibly made, I just, it, it, it, it hurts me. I’m like, wow, this is like, I can’t believe people actually appreciate it.

[02:13:41] Salma: And it’s just, you know, the, the level that we are right now as a society. Mm. And one of my goals is to change that- Mm-hmm … is to uplift people through, through aesthetics, you know? Through- Yeah … beautiful clothing and beautiful music and, like, good video with good lighting, everything, you know what I mean?

[02:13:56] Salma: Everything. Like, the way we have the lights set up in here, there’s an art to that. Mm-hmm. You [02:14:00] know? And one of the things that it says on the Student Hat, if, if, if you don’t emphasize on these things enough, they get lost.

[02:14:05] Brad: Yep.

[02:14:06] Salma: You know?

[02:14:06] Brad: That’s

[02:14:06] Salma: right. So you lose technology, you lose art and technology- Mm-hmm

[02:14:09] Salma: and ways of doing things because people don’t use them enough because-

[02:14:13] Brad: Yeah …

[02:14:13] Salma: they, they don’t teach them. Yeah. And, and people are… Most artists right now are completely incompetent in, in my honest opinion. Mm-hmm. There’s just a hand few of artists that I can be like, “Wow, I really like this person.” And most of them are smaller artists, like people that are beginning, not people that are even extremely famous.

[02:14:29] Salma: Mm-hmm. The extremely famous people, they’re Yeah, some of them are very talented, but not the majority of them in, in just my honest opinion.

[02:14:36] Brad: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One of the, one of the worst things about modern society is that people don’t teach people anymore.

[02:14:43] Salma: Mm. That is true.

[02:14:44] Brad: People don’t, like, it’s not a thing to like- That is true

[02:14:46] Brad: teach people, you know? Um, I did wanna also comment on one thing you mentioned earlier. This, from way back in the conversation. When you drove past the Church of Scientology in Miami, and you had like a… Remind me, what was your fleeting thought about it?

[02:14:59] Salma: Dude, it was like, [02:15:00] the name is really interesting.

[02:15:01] Salma: Scientology.

[02:15:02] Brad: Yeah.

[02:15:02] Salma: It’s like the science of knowing something. That, that’s so ca- I don’t know. From my little, like, language experience that I had back then, it was like, I don’t know, it, it sounds like the science of knowing or something. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like the science of life, you know?

[02:15:14] Brad: I just wanted to tell you, I had a super similar experience in 2016.

[02:15:19] Brad: I saw a Super Bowl commercial for Scientology.

[02:15:23] Salma: Wow.

[02:15:23] Brad: Was not a Scientologist at all. Was not even in my universe at the time.

[02:15:27] Salma: Wow.

[02:15:27] Brad: And I see that- Those are good,

[02:15:28] Salma: though. Those commercials are insane.

[02:15:30] Brad: They’re so good.

[02:15:30] Salma: They really make an impact, you know?

[02:15:32] Brad: Yeah, they’re so good. And it, I remember I was watching it, and I had like a fleeting thought.

[02:15:37] Brad: I’m sitting there next to my, at the time girlfriend, now wife, and I just had this fleeting thought, and I’m like I might be a f… That was a really, I’m like, “I might be a Scientologist one day.” And, and I literally was like, I felt myself like- I know. Oh my God … I’m like, “Oh my God, I hope no one heard my thought.”

[02:15:51] Salma: You know something I tell people, they, they come, they talk to me about their problems, like, man, you know what I think? I think we are smarter than we think we are.

[02:15:58] Brad: Mm-hmm.

[02:15:58] Salma: And you’re gonna get through it. [02:16:00] You have, you have- Mm-hmm … that problem you got, you have the solution to get through it. Yeah. Just gotta keep going a little more, you know?

[02:16:05] Salma: But, but we are way smarter than we think we are.

[02:16:08] Yeah.

[02:16:08] Salma: We kind of, we’re more ahead than we think we are. We just need to like, you know, get to it. Yeah. Put the technology and u- utilize these tools and, and actually apply them so we can know what’s ahead of us, but it’s, it’s just, it’s just really funny.

[02:16:21] Aaron: Yeah, it is.

[02:16:22] Salma: We are very smart beings.

[02:16:23] Aaron: Yeah. I- I’m so happy that you had this Michael Jackson CD, and I’ll tell you something that I, I don’t- Tell me what, tell me what you think, but f- my favorite Michael Jackson song is Man in the Mirror.

[02:16:32] Salma: Mm.

[02:16:33] Aaron: I love- The lyrics of that song is

[02:16:35] Salma: insane.

[02:16:35] Aaron: Yeah … it’s unbelievable.

[02:16:37] Aaron: But I wanna say you had this foundation, and when you had this, all this drug problem, and then there’s something, ’cause you were very, I think, enlightened already. Yeah. ‘Cause you said, “I am here because of the choices that I made.”

[02:16:50] Salma: Yeah. “

[02:16:51] Aaron: And I’m gonna get out of this.”

[02:16:52] Salma: Yeah.

[02:16:53] Aaron: And that idea, I don’t know, do you, do you think kind of mu- like, h- why did you think this way?

[02:16:59] Aaron: [02:17:00] You know, I’m just saying, like, is there a connection- … between what you’re saying? That’s a great question. I was thinking the same thing Like, that, that’s an enlightened-

[02:17:05] Salma: Yeah …

[02:17:06] Aaron: thought. That- that’s not a, that’s not a victim common thought.

[02:17:10] Salma: I- Mm-hmm. Man, I just, like, my philosophy of life has always been I create my own universe and my own reality, and I am responsible for everything.

[02:17:18] Salma: If there’s anything I don’t like, well, there must be something I’m doing wrong. So I’m like a huge fan of finding, finding out what I’m doing wrong. The reason why I get millions of views on Instagram is because I spend every second of my day finding what I can improve and what I can do better. Like, none of my videos go viral unintentionally.

[02:17:36] Salma: Mm. There is a reason for it. The way the person touches my hair, the way I position myself, literally the position of my eyes when I’m looking at the light, the position of the light, everything is written down to its full extent. And, you know, like, I, I have to cancel out these mistakes and I have to kind of calculate, okay, what is it?

[02:17:54] Salma: Why did this video get more views? Why does this one get less views, you know? So I’ve always been a fan of finding mistakes, [02:18:00] dude. Like, I even tell my friends, I’m like, “Dude, if I’m doing something wrong, just tell me, please.” Mm-hmm. Like, don’t let me find out, you know? You know, it’s like the, like, same thing, I was, like, really overweight for some time.

[02:18:09] Salma: I was, like, 180 pounds. Like, you wouldn’t believe it. And I, I really, like, I got to this country. You know when you get to this country- Mm-hmm … you start eating everything, right? Yeah, American food also. Yeah. You start eating the, the… Yeah, and the American food is- The

[02:18:19] Aaron: vending machines.

[02:18:20] Salma: Yeah. Those vending machines-

[02:18:21] Salma: were killing me. I became a vending machine, the body of a-

[02:18:25] Aaron: Oh my God.

[02:18:26] Salma: So anyways, I remember, like, uh, when that happened, I was like Damn, like this is not me. I wanna change this. And I literally like sh- two months after, I was like losing weight and I like changed it, you know?

[02:18:38] Aaron: Yeah.

[02:18:38] Salma: And like, you know, sometimes you let yourself go, but you have to know who you are and like just go back to it.

[02:18:44] Salma: And when I took that decision of like, oh, I was just going back to my s- I was just going back to default settings, you know? I just decided to forget about who I was for a couple of years and pretend that I was a loser- I love that … and that I didn’t know how to do anything. Ah, I’m the [02:19:00] victim, blah, blah, blah.

[02:19:01] Salma: Oh, this person did this to me. I was like Girl, um, pick yourself up. Like just, you know, you’re, you know these things are gonna happen. Like, you know you are gonna be successful. Even if I doubted it, even if, I swear to God, even if 85% of my day was telling myself how terrible I am at everything, there was that 15% that was telling me, “You’re gonna make it, dude.

[02:19:25] Salma: You’re gonna do it. That is your purpose. Like, that is the reason why you’re here.” So, uh, dude, I, I just find mistakes and I correct them real quick and, and I switch and I pivot and I change it. I’m changing every single day, like literally by the second, by the minute. And when you add this to technology like Scientology, you change even faster.

[02:19:44] Salma: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So you sometimes you go in session, you’re like, “I’m a whole different person. I, this is not…” Like, you have a complete different vantage point than you did when you came in that session. Yeah. And you’re like, “How did I never see that before?” You’re just changing constantly. You can become successful without Scientology, but is it going to be [02:20:00] by chance, which it could happen, or is it because you have the technology and the steps on how you did it?

[02:20:06] Salma: Mm. ‘Cause there’s something called the conditions, and I apply… It, it was developed by L. Ron Hubbard. These are the conditions of life. You can apply them to anything, to a marriage, to a business. And you see these conditions, you’re like, man, you, you can do… This, this is life.

[02:20:20] Mm-hmm.

[02:20:21] Salma: And everyone is in a condition.

[02:20:23] Mm-hmm.

[02:20:24] Salma: And once I learn about the conditions and I, I started to apply them into my life, I was like, “Wow, like this is crazy.” My success is never gonna be by chance. I had the technology, I applied it, and it worked. There’s no way I couldn’t duplicate something that I just did. That’s something I was terrified of before Scientology.

[02:20:43] Salma: I was like- Oh … every time I would succeed at something, I’d be like, “Oh my God, what if I lose it? What if something hap- what, what if someone steals it from me? What if something happens?” Mm. “What if it doesn’t happen anymore?” I remember when my videos started to go viral, I was terrified. It was worse. I was like, it was worse when they went viral than, than when they didn’t because I didn’t how, [02:21:00] I didn’t know how I did it.

[02:21:01] Mm-hmm. Wow.

[02:21:02] Salma: And then I started to apply the conditions and I’m like, “Oh my God, there is no way that my statistics are ever gonna go down again. I know exactly how I did it” because I can look at the condition and I can keep applying it, and I can go up on this condition so I’m not in affluence right now.

[02:21:19] Salma: I’m, I’m in a position of power where I’m the best one at what I do. There’s no question about it, and everybody knows that, and you can see that in, in my views and my statistics. And dude, that, that’s like, I mean, like literally Scientology has everything, everything that you can think of, communication- In statistics, marriage, it, it just has something for, for everything.

[02:21:40] Salma: So applying statistics has been a huge win. And finding those mistakes is kind of part of the statistics. Mm-hmm. You know, when you’re in affluence- Yeah, what’s… Yeah … you have to find what is it that you’re doing right and keep doing it, what is it that you’re doing wrong, and analyze why. So that’s what I do in my life.

[02:21:54] Salma: There is no way my success is going to be by chance- Mm … ever. When you’re out there in the [02:22:00] world and you don’t have tools or technology, there is a chance that you might just get successful by chance. Yeah. You’ll never know how you did it. You will never, like I swear to God- It’ll be a mystery … you can be in a tot- you will be in a total mystery.

[02:22:11] Salma: Yeah. You’ll never h- know how you did it. You will think it’s luck. Yeah. You will think that you were sitting in a bank and someone actually came up to you and gave you an opportunity. Mm-hmm. And y- what is behind that is, like, maybe you were in ethics. Mm. Maybe you were, you were kind to someone that day or you were doing things the right way or you, you were finishing things to completion, and then someone came up to your life and offered you a good opportunity.

[02:22:31] Salma: Mm-hmm. But if you don’t have this technology, you’re just gonna think it was a chance that someone came up to you and gave you an opportunity, you know? Yeah. But here you learn, like, why do things happen? Why, why do people have good luck and other people have bad luck? Why do people have accidents- Mm-hmm

[02:22:44] Salma: and other people don’t have accidents? Like, you- Right … literally I was in a total mystery about life before Scientology. It was like, I don’t know how I became successful, why I did it. Well, like, I don’t know. I’m scared someone’s gonna take it away from me. My grandmother told me that when I was six. Yeah.

[02:22:56] Salma: And I should be scared, and my mom tells me that, [02:23:00] uh, I should be aware and, like, thing, bad things could happen to anybody. And like, oh my God, like, I was nervous for no reason because I didn’t know, and I didn’t have the technology that says that a thing is a certain way, and you better believe it is because when you apply it, it, it works.

[02:23:14] Salma: Yeah. And it’s like magic. Yeah. And you’re like, “Ah,

[02:23:17] Aaron: how?” Absolutely.

[02:23:18] Hogwarts.

[02:23:19] Aaron: I, I wanna just, uh- Yeah. They call it double… Oh, yeah, Hogwarts. I wanna, like, double-click. They call it double-click. It’s a new, new tech, new- What? Oh, really? … terminology for me. What does this mean? Is that like a zoom in? Double-click on something.

[02:23:30] Aaron: So we’re gonna, like, zoom in- Dude, he’s the mallet … you know, double in it. Ah. He’s the, the- So let’s double-click on something

[02:23:32] Salma: you said. Oh, so modern. Wow.

[02:23:34] Aaron: Which is how and why a person’s unlucky and how or why- Oh, fuck … can a person be lucky.

[02:23:40] Salma: Damn.

[02:23:41] Aaron: And I will tell you For me, seeing that, like in my own life, ’cause you know, you l- and we talk about our past a lot, like in auditing you’re gonna l- want to examine things.

[02:23:52] Salma: Yeah.

[02:23:53] Aaron: It’s, it’s really mind-blowing- Mm-hmm … that that is really the case. Like, well, I got unlucky, and this is the thing that did right before [02:24:00] that I got un- Dude- Why was I lucky? …

[02:24:01] Salma: literally.

[02:24:01] Aaron: Why was I lucky? Oh, and it’s, it’s unbelievable. You run that in a session,

[02:24:04] Salma: yeah.

[02:24:05] Brad: Yeah.

[02:24:05] Aaron: Oh, my gosh. The exact reason why. I can m- bring myself luck.

[02:24:08] Salma: Luck.

[02:24:09] Aaron: Now, of course, are you going 100% gonna have all the lucky things happen? No, but if you can just increase your chances of being lucky-

[02:24:16] Brad: Yeah. Yep …

[02:24:16] Aaron: and decrease your chances of being unlucky-

[02:24:18] Brad: Which is, which, which- … and

[02:24:19] Aaron: it’s for sure can happen … which

[02:24:20] Brad: is

[02:24:20] Aaron: like- Like it for sure can happen

[02:24:21] Brad: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That other side is so important, ’cause people just are like, “If I get lucky,” but they’re not looking all the times that they got- What can I do to get lucky?

[02:24:27] Brad: To not be unlucky. Yeah. Correct, correct. That they got unlucky, and

[02:24:30] Aaron: it’s like, dude.

[02:24:31] Salma: What did you do? What do you

[02:24:31] Aaron: do, right? And

[02:24:32] Brad: how?

[02:24:32] Yeah.

[02:24:32] Aaron: But it, it’s crazy because it’s, yes, that you can read it in a book- Mm … and of course in a book, and, and I do think you could be enlightened in a book. Like, and you can do it.

[02:24:41] Aaron: For sure. And that does happen, but the best thing is a combination where you read it, read it, read it, and you go, “Okay, I see how that could be maybe, okay.” And then you go back

[02:24:49] and you see, and you said, “Oh, my

[02:24:51] Aaron: gosh, this happened to me.” I know. Like that moment- I know, right? … and that’s why we’re doing this, because- It’s so crazy

[02:24:55] Aaron: I wanna share that, you wanna share that. Like, you can find out how to be lucky. Isn’t that crazy?

[02:24:59] Salma: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dude, it’s [02:25:00] crazy. It’s unbelievable. It is, it is an actual thing.

[02:25:02] Yeah. Yeah, it’s

[02:25:03] Salma: nuts. And before Scientology, I would have like lucky breaks and stuff, and people would be like, “Oh my, you’re so lucky.

[02:25:08] Salma: How do you do it?” I’m like, “I don’t know. Just happened.” Yeah. I don’t know. Yeah. I was sitting in a bank and someone came up to me, and they gave me an opportunity. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I, I keep going back to the analogy of like, yeah, I was sitting there and someone came and gave me an opportunity, but what did you do before?

[02:25:20] Salma: Mm-hmm. “Oh, and I was just eating a sandwich.” Wait, wait, but you- Like,

[02:25:23] Aaron: what? But hold on. Let’s talk about search, right? Yes. The relationships, even they, they do like relationship coaching, and it’s funny, this is our first, like romance podcast, I have to say. I

[02:25:30] Brad: know.

[02:25:31] Aaron: This is great. Like, I was literally thinking of like- Romance cast

[02:25:34] Aaron: this is our like first romance, like- Yeah, I love it … this is a

[02:25:37] Salma: romance

[02:25:41] Aaron: novel, like in a podcast. Oh, my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, it’s our first, so I thought it was pretty cool. Thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, you’re welcome. Um- It is a pleasure. So, but I thought like, you know, the, the, that happening, it w- you did get lucky, but how’d you get lucky?

[02:25:49] Salma: Dude, I was putting out, like saying.

[02:25:51] Aaron: But you, but you literally said- Right, right … “I’m done with all this other stuff.” gonna find a husband. And was that hard? I mean, you get, that’s [02:26:00] maybe not hard, like, changing, making that one thought. It’s, it’s a second

[02:26:02] Salma: Dude, it was s- it was not hard at all. It was not hard.

[02:26:05] Salma: You just go- Hard, hard, my past was hard. Yeah. Before that, life was hard. After that, like, everything got easier.

[02:26:09] Aaron: So you go, you just, it’s a, just a, a change of thought, and then that, like, he, I don’t know, fell on your lap or whatever. Like- Mm-hmm … that happened, but it, you literally decided it. Yeah. Do you see?

[02:26:22] Aaron: Like- Yeah,

[02:26:22] Salma: yeah, 100% …

[02:26:22] Aaron: I don’t know that people always see that.

[02:26:24] Salma: Yeah.

[02:26:24] Aaron: It’s like, well, I’m gonna do a change, and you just… Sometimes it’s light. Sometimes- Mm-hmm … there’s a lot of hard work, and sometimes it’s just light. It’s just- Yep.

[02:26:30] Salma: Yep.

[02:26:31] Aaron: And in fact- Love that … that leads us to, uh, another quote that you sent.

[02:26:35] Aaron: For y- by the way, also, another first- Oh … for the podcast, and we’ve only been doing quotes for a little bit, but, um, but you’re the first person who sent three quotes. Good job. So here we go. Um-

[02:26:45] Salma: I know. I just like them all. Oh, there’s so many more. This- But yeah …

[02:26:48] Aaron: this is from, uh, Thought Emotion & Effort lectures.

[02:26:53] Aaron: Okay, and the, the lecture name, it, they’re called Dead Men’s Goals Part Two. Mm. Okay, wait, like, whatever. That’s the name of the thing. Yep. These [02:27:00] lectures are ridiculous. Have you- Yes … you haven’t done them, right? Have you done them?

[02:27:02] Salma: Not yet, but yeah.

[02:27:04] Crazy.

[02:27:05] Salma: Man, I have to. I

[02:27:06] Aaron: have

[02:27:06] Salma: to

[02:27:06] Aaron: do it. This is, this is one, like, I wanna do it again, actually.

[02:27:08] Aaron: Uh. Wow. Just re- anyway, here you go. This is a quote As long as life has a level of being a game-

[02:27:15] Mm …

[02:27:15] Aaron: you can play it. But when it no longer has the level of being a game, it plays you. Oh. It’s the difference between being the chess player and the pawn. And the difference between being the chess player and the pawn is playing a game on a relatively non-serious level, and being all the seriousness there is, that’s the pawn.

[02:27:41] Salma: Damn.

[02:27:42] Aaron: Lauren Hubbard.

[02:27:42] Brad: Yep.

[02:27:43] Salma: Damn. That’s literally what I did when, like I told you, I was, I told, it was like having fun going on dates. I was not serious. I was serious, but not serious about the thing. Mm-hmm. I don’t even know how to describe it.

[02:27:51] Brad: Mm-hmm.

[02:27:52] Salma: And when I was coaching woman, that’s what I would teach them.

[02:27:55] Brad: Yeah.

[02:27:55] Salma: How can you be, have such an insane intention of like, I wanna get married- Mm-hmm … I [02:28:00] wanna find the person of my dreams, but not care about it. Not, not care. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, like there is a- Yeah … there is a level that you play in life where you get to that stage and everything just becomes easy, and you get lucky, and it’s just a game.

[02:28:14] Salma: But you, you’re serious, but not serious at the same time. Yeah. You can’t get too serious, you know? So it’s just, it’s, it’s funny, you go through stages in life as you accomplish something. Like me, I, I, I had to go to, through a breakup before this happened, before I had that like realization, that, that enlightenment moment.

[02:28:31] Salma: And I was like, “Oh, I’m gonna, I’m gonna change this.” And I, I, you know, I feel like I’m getting to that on like my career and stuff. I’m like- Mm … sometimes I’m like, “Ah, things are hard.” Like, and I’m like, “No, no, no, but like, no. Like I, I can, I can change that,” you know? I can do the same thing with a whole different mindset.

[02:28:44] Salma: Yeah. This is a game, let me just play the game.

[02:28:46] Yeah.

[02:28:47] Salma: And that’s what I do every day, man. Like, I literally wake up in the morning, 6:00 AM in the morning, I walk the dog, I go to Pilates. This is what I do every single day. S- from Monday to Monday. Walk the wake up in the morning, go to [02:29:00] Pilates, walk the dog, come back home, have breakfast, get ready for study.

[02:29:04] Salma: I study from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. From that, I make content all afternoon long. I edit all my videos, I prep everything for the next day. I pick my outfits and I take pictures every day. I don’t take a day off. And people look at them, they’re like How do you do that? Like, you don’t get bored? I’m like, “No, dude.

[02:29:22] Salma: I do- Mm … the same thing every day in a whole different way.” Mm-hmm. Like, the way I drank coffee this morning was not the way I prepared a coffee yesterday or the day before. Like, I learned how to make each of the activities that I have to do a game, and it becomes fun. Like, I don’t have to study, I get to study.

[02:29:41] Salma: Yes. Yeah. I don’t have to make content, I get to be creative and explore my own world. And it, it just, it became such a habit of me playing this game that I would literally just go insane if I was not doing it. Mm. Like, I would literally be so sad if I w- I didn’t get to do and play my character in life.[02:30:00]

[02:30:00] Salma: Like, me, being me is, like, my favorite thing to do. I’m like, “Ah.” I just wake up. But, but, but this, it was not like this, I’m telling you. Mm. Yeah. Oh, I hated myself. That’s such a great viewpoint. I hated my- I didn’t like being me, man. Yeah. I didn’t like waking up to a life where, like, my relationships and my friendships didn’t, didn’t reflect who I knew I was, or my bank account and the things that I had on my house, on my car didn’t reflect who I was.

[02:30:23] Salma: And I made a switch and I was like, “No, I don’t want this anymore.” I pretended to play it. That was a game. That was another game I was pretending to play, but, like, a lower ranked game, but that’s just not me. I know who I am. I know what I’m meant to do, and people need me. Yeah. And each day that is spent here with the drugs and the people and the party is a day that I am depriving the world from who I actually am and all the happiness that I can give to people.

[02:30:47] Salma: If I show them that a little girl from Cuba made it, they can actually do it. So that to me, I, I, I had that realization- Yeah … and I took responsibility for it. I was like, “Damn, I’m being reckless as hell.” Like, there’s people out there in the [02:31:00] world that were born in even better conditions than I was, were born in a better family, that don’t think highly of themselves, that don’t have the tool and the technology to help themselves and help others and, and I know I can do this.

[02:31:12] Salma: I know it. Before Scient- I always knew.

[02:31:15] Mm-hmm.

[02:31:15] Salma: And I’m just gonna stay here in Miami with the friends, hanging out, going to a party? Mm-mm. No. Not, not in my story, not in my game. So, you know- Not

[02:31:24] Aaron: if Serge has anything to say about it. Exactly. I’m going to Boston.

[02:31:28] Salma: Oh, no, Serge, Serge… Oh, I was gonna tell you about this.

[02:31:31] Salma: So I did, I did touch on it. I was like, like it, there would have been no relationship without Scientology. Like- Mm … when we started to, like, twin up on the auditing stuff, dude, everything. Like, you know, like, there were so many things that were going right, but we were, like, seeing, like, the worst sides of each other most of the time during that time, like- Mm

[02:31:50] Salma: like, we would have a lot of arguments at the beginning of the relationship And, uh, and I was like, damn, like this is gonna be impossible. Like, he’s got a reactive mind, I’ve [02:32:00] got a reactive mind. Like, it was insane. It was war. There was not a single day where we wouldn’t argue about anything, about where he put the cup of coffee.

[02:32:07] Salma: Ev- anything would be an argument. Mm. ‘Cause he was restimulating things in me that, you know, I had trouble with in the past and vice versa. I was doing the same. So when we’re, when we got auditing, like actual auditing with an auditor and we sat down and we handled all of our past, ’cause that’s what you do in session, you handle the past.

[02:32:25] Yeah

[02:32:26] Salma: We didn’t have any more problems. We haven’t argued ever since. The biggest argument we’ll have is like, “Oh, I just don’t agree with you on that. I don’t think it should be like that.” “No, okay, good. Well, me neither.” Good. That’s it.

[02:32:40] Brad: Yeah.

[02:32:41] Salma: From like the most like drama and this and you did this and you did that, and all those phrases that you see couples repeat, right?

[02:32:48] Salma: They’re like the same. “Oh, you always do this. Oh, you always do that.” They’re on repeat. Yeah, they’re on repeat. We literally are all the same. Yep. You can take 10 couples from 10 different cultures, 10 different countries, they all say the same things. Mm-hmm. And you will realize that [02:33:00] these things are so socially implanted on people that, that it was never me.

[02:33:05] Salma: Like why would I ever say that to him? It was, I don’t know, my grandma said it one time or something. Mm-hmm. I heard her say it to her husband, now I’m saying it. I heard my mom say it to somebody, now I’m gonna say it. You know? Like these things are so ingrained in us. Mm-hmm. And these are actual like socially put in phrases that are repeated so many times.

[02:33:23] Salma: You’re in a relationship, now you’re gonna say the same thing your mom told to your dad when you were a kid. Yeah, yeah. Because you have to and that’s the way things should be, and that’s who I am and I have to be right, and like, you know, you get older and you realize, damn, that was not true.

[02:33:36] Brad: That’s

[02:33:36] Salma: right.

[02:33:37] Salma: That was never me.

[02:33:38] Brad: So there’s something that you’re gonna study at the end of the course that you’re on, uh, and the, basically, you know, it talks about how there’s one thing that all people have in common. ‘Cause, uh, beings, human beings, we’re actually inherently different, but there’s one thing that we all have in common.

[02:33:57] Brad: It’s the reactive mind.

[02:33:58] Yep. I knew we were [02:34:00] gonna say

[02:34:00] Brad: that. So when you have group agreements- Mm-hmm … when you see the sa- people doing the same , the same destructive – Mm-hmm, mm-hmm … everybody’s doing it, that’s reactive mind stuff.

[02:34:08] Salma: Yeah. It’s crazy, man.

[02:34:10] Brad: Yeah,

[02:34:10] Salma: yeah. And you know, I didn’t know this before, like I remember when I got into Scientology it was like so happy and more freedom, blah, blah, blah.

[02:34:16] Salma: I honestly, I mean, I knew there was things I wanted to change, but in my head I was like, “Oh, I’m better than…” Like mentally I was like, “I’m, I’m good.” Then I got in session, I was like, “Dude, what was going on in my mind?”

[02:34:31] Mm-hmm.

[02:34:31] Salma: Like what did I have in there? Like what in the contortionism, like it was… And communism, dude.

[02:34:37] Salma: Being born in co- communism is a reactive idealism.

[02:34:42] Mm-hmm. Of course.

[02:34:42] Salma: So when you’re born in something like y- everything’s inverted, everything’s just like… I’ll give you an example. “Oh, you can’t lie,” they would tell me, like when I was a… “Oh, you can’t lie.”

[02:34:53] Hmm.

[02:34:54] Salma: Oh, but then like, oh, my grandmother had to lie to the teacher because I didn’t go to school that day, [02:35:00] and it was because of another reason that what she told her to, but like, but I can’t lie, but you can lie.

[02:35:04] Hmm.

[02:35:04] Salma: But, but okay, I can’t lie, so then I will go and tell the teacher like, “Oh, yeah,” like the teacher would ask me like, “Hey, where’s your friend?” I’m like, “Oh, she went on a vacation.” Oh, why didn’t you tell the teacher the truth? ‘Cause you told me I can’t lie. Oh, no, but in that case-

[02:35:18] Mm-hmm …

[02:35:18] Salma: you have to lie. And as a kid you’re like confused.

[02:35:23] Salma: You’re like-

[02:35:23] Yeah …

[02:35:24] Salma: okay, well, do I lie or do I not lie? Well, everybody lies, so then, then I must lie. And you know, you get into all the socially like constructed misconceptions of when you should lie and when you shouldn’t. Like, you shouldn’t, you know, you shouldn’t snitch on someone, but like that’s accepted bec- Mm

[02:35:38] Salma: and I was like, “Dude, this, th- this, this confuses people.” Like- Yeah … like my head was like twisted. Like, oh, okay, when should I lie or what should I… Oh, that was accepted. I lied, but it was good, you know?

[02:35:50] Brad: Yeah, yeah.

[02:35:50] Salma: No, you still lied, you know? And, and, and then I was fixing all my own crap on, on my own sessions, ’cause that’s, that’s the good thing about auditing.

[02:35:58] Salma: You don’t… Auditors, [02:36:00] they’re just repeating the same question over and over. They ain’t gonna tell you anything.

[02:36:03] Brad: Yeah.

[02:36:04] Salma: You can ask them anything.

[02:36:05] Brad: It’s all, it’s all for you to figure out.

[02:36:07] Salma: Mm-hmm. You can ask them anything, ’cause I would. I was like, “Oh, but what do you do this…” “No, just keep going. Let’s run the session.”

[02:36:12] Salma: And you know, they just let you figure it out and at the end of it all you figure it out, man. And I was figuring it out every day. I was like, “Wow, I can’t believe I, I was thinking like that. I can’t believe I was getting by in life thinking like that.” It was never me. It was absorbed from the environment.

[02:36:30] Salma: It was absorbed from my traumas, from moments of pain, but it was not me. And I was acting like that, and not only was I acting like that, I thought, I really thought that’s who I was.

[02:36:41] Mm.

[02:36:42] Salma: And, and dude, it’s, it’s- Yeah … a beautiful thing to… It’s a beautiful journey to get to experience and peel off layers of who you think you are and, you know, actually finding out who you truly are.

[02:36:53] Salma: It’s, it’s insane, man. It’s a, it’s a, it’s an, it’s a crazy journey. It’s amazing.

[02:36:58] Aaron: Yeah. True that. [02:37:00]

[02:37:00] Salma: Yeah.

[02:37:00] Aaron: Okay, I have the last quote.

[02:37:02] Salma: Yes.

[02:37:02] Aaron: The third.

[02:37:03] Salma: Oh, that one’s good, too. All of them are good.

[02:37:04] Aaron: This one is, this one is an article called Professionalism.

[02:37:07] Salma: Mm.

[02:37:08] Aaron: I love this one. I know it’s yours, but… Okay. “If you have the idea about anything you do that you just dabble in it, you will wind up with a dabble life.”

[02:37:22] Aaron: Wow. “There will be no satisfaction in it because there will be no real production you can be proud of.” Dang. “Develop the frame of mind that whatever you do, you are doing it as a professional, and move up to professional standards in it.” L. Ron Hubbard.

[02:37:41] Salma: Mic drop.

[02:37:42] Brad: Yeah.

[02:37:42] Salma: Dude. I grew up, so my dad is a, he’s one of the best hairstylists in Cuba, if not the best.

[02:37:50] Mm.

[02:37:51] Salma: And my dad is the most professional person I know. Like, um, in person, you know? Dude, my dad would cut hair from 3:00 AM in the morn- [02:38:00] like he would, he would cut hair from 7:00 AM in the morning. He would wake up and he would wait till the last client left around 2:00 or 3:00 AM in the morning. He wouldn’t take days off.

[02:38:08] Salma: He would just be very hardworking.

[02:38:10] Mm.

[02:38:10] Salma: And, uh, and I saw that while I was growing up and I was like, “Ah, he doesn’t wanna spend time with me.”

[02:38:20] Salma: And then I was like, “Well, he actually…” And you know, I would go and observe him. I would really, I, I’m a very observant person. I would sit down, see the way he cut hair He would give his life cutting someone’s hair.

[02:38:31] Yeah.

[02:38:31] Salma: He would take two hours cutting someone’s hair. One haircut, two hours. He would do it wet, dry, every style that you can imagine.

[02:38:39] Salma: He was cutting hair with two scissors, like, like Scissors, the, the movie, like the guy- Edward Scissorhands … with Edward Scissorhands, like literally. And I was like, “Wow, he is good. Of course, he’s the best. He doesn’t do anything other than this. He is… He loves it.” And to me, that just set up such a crazy… And it’s [02:39:00] funnily enough, my dad, like I didn’t spend a lot of time with my dad, like he didn’t provide for me, nothing, but I would go and see him sometimes.

[02:39:06] Salma: And the one good thing I, I got from him, the only good thing I got from him, was looking at him work, literally. And I would just be like, “Wow, this guy is truly professional.” Michael Jackson was another example. Yeah. I just didn’t know him in person. I was like, “Wow, I, I really, whatever it is that I do in life, I have to be the best at it.”

[02:39:24] Salma: Mm-hmm. And I applied that frame of mind to school. I was the best at it. In Cuba, I was like the best. And not only was I the best because I could memorize things and like, you know, I was the best because I was passionate about it, and I decided to- Mm. Like, if the kids were reading the history book, I was gonna read 10 other history books that had nothing to do with the class, and I was gonna show up in the class, and I was gonna know all of the information that the teacher was going to talk about the next day.

[02:39:49] Salma: I was dedicated to being professional at everything that I do. And something about me is like, if it’s not produced well, I, you won’t see it. You will never get to see it. Mm-hmm. Nobody would [02:40:00] ever get to see it. I know the standard, and if it doesn’t meet it, it’s just not going live. You’re never gonna see it.

[02:40:06] Salma: For me, mm-mm, never. And, and it… I was not like that. I was like that as a kid, then I went away, and you know, I got all muddled up with society and life and wrong people. And when I started Scientology, I started to recover that level of professionalism.

[02:40:21] Wow.

[02:40:22] Salma: And it was like a slap in the face when I was reading Student Hat ’cause I, I was like, “I’m, I’m good at photography,” you know?

[02:40:29] Salma: Like, I know how to take a picture. I know how to take a picture. Have I ever studied it? Mm-mm. Never. Never read a book. Mm-mm. Nothing. I just have a good eye for it. I just have a vision for it, you know? I just have a vision, and I can just turn it into reality. And then L. Ron Hubbard starts talking about how like, yeah, it’s, it’s good to have the technique, like, you know, it’s good to know how to apply things and, and have the doing-ness of it, but you need to have some significance behind it because then you don’t know what you’re doing, and you can’t re- duplicate it.

[02:40:57] Salma: ‘Cause if a picture worked once, then how can I do that again? [02:41:00] Ah, I don’t know The lighting. I don’t, I don’t know. I don’t know how to do it again, you know? And I was like, wow, like, okay, yeah, like anybody would see my pictures, am, am I good? I’m really good. People… Do people think I shoot this with a, an insane professional camera?

[02:41:14] Salma: They do. But have I ever studied it? No. So I started- … to pick up every subject that I have studied, and I decided to read all the manuals and all the instructions in each of the tools that I use, in each of the things that I do, in each of the subjects that I use, and get books on it and get trained professionally in each of the things that I do.

[02:41:34] Salma: Photography, videography, sewing, all those things. And I’m, like, literally learning something that I thought I knew, but I’m, I’m learning the significance of the subject. I am learning how a professional does it, and it’s just mind-blowing. I was so scared of doing that, ’cause I th- I thought I knew. I was like, “Mm, I know, I know how to take a good picture,” you know?

[02:41:54] Salma: Mm. But there, there’s just so much behind it. I, I literally, I had no idea. I, yeah, [02:42:00] I, I was good, but did I know? Mm-mm. I, I didn’t. It was just, like, glib knowledge. It was just like, yeah, like know how to do it, but I don’t, I don’t know what I’m doing.

[02:42:09] Yeah.

[02:42:09] Salma: So that was just mind-blowing to me, and it started when I did the course.

[02:42:13] Salma: And I j- I’ve just taken everything to another notch. Everything I do, I’m, like, super professional at it. I, I mean, if you work with me, like my assistant and everything, like they know. Like, everything’s gotta be… And if it, if the take is wrong, we gotta do it again and again and again and again. And it- it’s not done until it’s, until it’s what I envisioned.

[02:42:34] Salma: And I’ve always been like that, always. I, I always would say, “If I’m not gonna do it perfectly, I’m not gonna do it.” No- Mm-hmm … I, I don’t think now perfectly- Mm. Mm-hmm … ’cause perfection is an unattainable- Mm-hmm … it’s just a concept. Yeah. It’s a very subjective concept. It does not exist.

[02:42:48] Yeah.

[02:42:48] Salma: But if it’s not my ideal-

[02:42:49] Yeah

[02:42:50] Salma: vision It just, it just, I won’t stop until I get that. Yeah. And, and I just do that, man. I am so hardworking. I, I might not be the best one, but I will [02:43:00] outwork everybody else that’s doing what I do, ’cause I work 10 times harder than they do. And when people are, like, doing stuff and going on vacation and going to Ibiza, I’m in my house making videos.

[02:43:09] Salma: And it’s gonna pay

[02:43:10] off.

[02:43:10] Salma: And when, like, it is true. Yeah. Like, I, I just know it ’cause I love it, you know? It’s not like I’m missing out on anything.

[02:43:16] Yeah.

[02:43:16] Salma: Like, you know, like, as a Scientologist, you study a lot and you read a lot. And most of, like, my friends are, like, you know, going and, uh… I mean, most of my friends are Scientologists, but some of the people I have on Instagram, that’s what I mean, you know?

[02:43:29] Salma: Like, you see everyone’s party and went to Ibiza and, like, you know, like, going on nice dinners and traveling and, and my friend was talking the other day. She was like, “Oh my God, I feel like I’m missing out on all these things.” I’m like, “Well, they’re missing out in Scientology. They’re missing out on the things that we’re studying.

[02:43:45] Salma: They’re missing out on- True that … the keys to life and, and how to be lucky, and how to duplicate that luck and duplicate success, and how to get rid of your reactive mind. They’re missing out on that.

[02:43:57] Mm-hmm.

[02:43:58] Salma: And the things that we know and the things that [02:44:00] we do, we literally have the tools to change the world, and we’re doing it, by the way.

[02:44:04] Yeah.

[02:44:05] Salma: We are doing it as we speak. Like, people don’t know the amount of things and good things that come out of Scientologists and Scientology-

[02:44:11] Mm …

[02:44:11] Salma: and all of the organizations associated with Scientology And I was like, “They’re missing out on this. Dude, we’re changing the planet. The , this is like the coolest thing in the world.”

[02:44:19] Salma: Like, you kidding me? Yeah. I’ll go, like, I’ll go to Ibiza any other time. I’m, I’m finishing my training. I’m, I’m moving up on this. Like, we, we are superheroes. Like, I, I… That’s how I feel, man. Every time I meet a Scientologist, I’m like, “Damn, I just talked to a superhero.” These people are amazing. I know. So it’s just so cool to, like, be part of a group of superheroes, people that are literally changing the world.

[02:44:42] Salma: And that, to me, I’m, I’m not missing out on anything, man. Yeah. When I’m making my videos, when I’m studying, people are missing out on it, you know? It’s not the other way around.

[02:44:51] Brad: That’s a great viewpoint. Okay, big question. In your own words-

[02:44:55] Salma: Mm-hmm …

[02:44:55] Brad: what is Scientology?

[02:44:57] Salma: Oh, to me, Scientology [02:45:00] gives me the keys to life.

[02:45:01] Salma: Anything that I, any question that I’ve had in my entire life, any enigma, any mystery, has gotten solved by me not only reading or getting auditing, but applying Scientology. Like, p- to me, Scientology is, yeah, you have a lot of data, you have a lot of information and knowledge, but it’s applicable knowledge, and it only works when you apply it.

[02:45:23] Mm-hmm.

[02:45:24] Salma: So the, to me, a true Scientologist is not someone that knows and can rattle off pages of a book. It’s someone that applies it, and you see their life, and you look at their life, and their life reflects it. So most Scientologists are like that, I would say. Mm. You know? They’re all very successful.

[02:45:40] Salma: They, even if it’s, you know, like anything, a chef, even if you’re a mother, anything, they’re very successful, and they’re very professional in everything that they do. So that’s just a common denominator I have found in Scientologists ’cause we, we do things to its completion. It’s called a cycle of action, you know?

[02:45:57] Salma: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you learn all these things, right? And you’re like, “Wow, [02:46:00] a cycle of action. Start, change, stop.” So, so you mean I search something, and I can’t stop until I change it properly and, you know, I have to finish- … the whole thing, you know? So y- you learn about these little things that are very basic, and you’re like, “Wow, this, I knew this.”

[02:46:13] Salma: But, but do you do it? Oh, then you don’t know it. So, uh, L. Ron Hubbard really emphasizes on that, in everything he speaks about and everything he lectures you about. Like, okay, yeah, you know it, but like, do you do it? Then you don’t know it.

[02:46:24] Yeah.

[02:46:24] Salma: You know, understanding is applicability.

[02:46:27] Mm-hmm.

[02:46:27] Salma: You have to be able to apply things.

[02:46:29] Salma: Yeah, being an auditor is super cool. You have the technology. But you will never be a good auditor if you do not have an applicability on, on the things that you’re being taught. You can have the technology, but if you don’t have the presence, you’re missing half of the equation. So you get, as I say, you get hated on these things, and, and you just, it’s just insane.

[02:46:49] Brad: It really is. Amazing.

[02:46:49] Salma: Yeah.

[02:46:50] Aaron: Salma, thank you so much for coming

[02:46:51] Salma: on. Oh my God, thank you, guys. I had a blast.

[02:46:53] Brad: Our first romance cast.

[02:46:55] Aaron: Yeah.

[02:46:56] Salma: Cuban too, right? You guys had another Cuban here? No. Another [02:47:00] Cuban?

[02:47:00] Brad: First Cuban.

[02:47:00] Aaron: Cuban.

[02:47:01] Salma: First Salma? I think

[02:47:01] Brad: so. Mm, no. Definitely first Salma. I think probably the first Cuban.

[02:47:04] Brad: Probably the

[02:47:04] Aaron: first Cuban.

[02:47:05] Salma: Wow. Yeah. Uh, it’s a total honor. Thank you, guys. Yeah. This, this was amazing.

[02:47:09] Brad: Thank you.