So my guest today, Cindy Spiegel, grew up in New Jersey in a family that lived under the weight of poverty.
And as soon as she could finishing up high school, she made her way straight into New York City, where she ended up in fit, the sort of legendary fashion institute of Technology, and then launched herself into an incredibly successful career in the fashion industry in New York, working for some of the biggest brands at high levels.
And she was really riding that wave for a lot of years, until about 15 years in, everything changed.
She awakened to a truth about herself, her life, what she wanted, what she didn't want.
That led her to essentially start completely over and build a new.
Living a new life, a new set of friends, a new way to form.
Her contribution to the world that led her onto stages where she now speaks around the world, has built community to bring together, especially women, a diverse group of women who are out there looking to build and contribute in a similar way to her.
She has recently launched a really wonderful new community called Dear Grown Ass Women that we talk about towards the end as well, which kind of feels like it's never been more needed in this particular moment in time.
So excited to share this wonderful story and her words with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is good life project.
The majority of Perth Amboy still is black and puerto rican.
Okay, now, I think that's shifted a little bit, but I grew up very poor, you know, and that town, I think, is representative of it, even though it has a very rich history.
Growing up there, you know, I often say I wouldn't have it any other way.
It was, you know, I look the way I do, and growing up in New Jersey 40 plus years ago, looking the way I do, which is, you know, kind of freckle faced with this wild, curly hair and this sort of tan complexion, but I didn't speak Spanish, you know, so it just didn't really make sense in that space.
And so I would often actually get picked on for having these quote unquote stains on my face.
They're freckles.
But in that community, in that frame of reference, it's not really a thing, you know?
So, you know, as I said, we grew up really poor in this town, and most of the folks that I grew up with were also very poor.
And what's interesting is, particularly my friend group in high school, we all did very well for ourselves.
And I think that was in no small part to the community that we built within one another.