identity

This Dominican Inventor And A-Rod Hit It Off Immediately When He Made Him An Offer In Spanish On ‘Shark Tank’

By November 16, 2017 at 10:55 am

On this week’s episode of “Shark Tank,” Alex Rodriguez tried to use his Dominican heritage (and a little Español) to undercut all the other sharks on the show. Contestant Robbie Cabral, born in the Dominican Republic and inventor of Benjilock, a fingerprint scanning padlock for bicycles, was on the show trying to get the Sharks to invest in his design. The Benjilock was an Edison Award nominee at CES 2017 and the Sharks definitely saw the appeal of the product as several of them got into a bit of a bidding war.

Cabral had a lot to consider after coming from the bottom.

In an interview with Entrepreneur, Cabral talked about his experience on the show: “It’s an incredible feeling when you come from the bottom and then go up, you kind of appreciate the journey more.” Cabral came to Los Angeles from the Dominican Republic with dreams of being a rock star, but quickly realized that’s a lot easier said than done. And when his bandmates headed back to DR, he stayed and looked for his own opportunities. Those opportunities weren’t glamorous. Cabral says he had to wash dishes, clean gyms and clean vomit from hotel rooms just to make ends meet, even though had a college degree. The idea for the BenjiLock came to him while struggling the most. Cabral was out of work and had to find a way to financially support his newborn baby. After putting on 50 pounds, Cabral went back to the gym. He noticed people would often struggle to get into their lockers, which inspired him to create a lock that opens at the press of your fingertip.

Eventually, Cabral went with Kevin O’Leary, who offered $200,000 for 15% equity of the business.

And although A-Rod made a good offer of 200k and 20% equity, O’Leary’s move to cut 5% really made the difference. When you build something from the ground up, giving up any of it must feel like giving up your baby.

O’Leary took to his Twitter account to share his enthusiasm about the deal as well.

When O’Leary made the deal, he also went over to hug Cabral and it got a bit emotional.

Watch the emotional decision below and listen to what O’Leary tells him.

If you missed it: “You’re amazing. I’m going to make you rich. Watch it happen.” The prospect of getting rich would make me a little misty-eyed, too. Shoot, I’m misty right now just thinking about these bills.


[H/T] Entrepreneur

READ: 

A-Rod Admits That Sometimes He Gets Confused As J.Lo’s Bodyguard Right Before Getting Egged In The Face


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Latinx Transgender People Face More Discrimination And Hurdles Than Others In The Trans Community

Identity

Latinx Transgender People Face More Discrimination And Hurdles Than Others In The Trans Community

Christina Hendricks / mitú
By Alex Portée November 16, 2017 at 12:44 pm

In a society that struggles to drop its rigid views of what gender means, the sexual orientations and identities of trans individuals are often tied with discrimination and abuse. In the country’s most in-depth survey of transgender people in the U.S., the National Center for Transgender Equality has underlined the ways in which Latinx members suffer most. While the majority of Latinx participants in the survey were American citizens, 3 percent were made up of permanent residents, 2 percent were undocumented residents, 1 percent were visa holders and DACA recipients made up another 1 percent. All surveyed resided within the 48 states, the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico.

Results from the study found that participants who identified as Latinx and trans had a rate of unemployment that was three times higher than the national average.

Twenty-one percent of surveyed trans Latinx people reported being unemployed, while 12 percent of white trans people surveyed reported the same. Meanwhile, 43 percent of Latinx individuals in the survey reported living in poverty, compared to 12 percent of the general U.S. population.

The report also turned up with appalling findings concerning community and government outreach to the Latinx transgender population.

According to the survey, 59 percent of Latinx participants reported feeling somewhat to very uncomfortable asking the police for help. And it’s no wonder why, considering 66 percent also reported experiencing mistreatment by police or some other form of law enforcement officials in the past year alone. Outside of the survey, the Human Rights Campaign reported 25 murdered transgender people in 2017. What’s more, a 2016 Human Rights Watch report revealed that immigration detention centers often place trans Latinas in male facilities. There the women regularly face aggressions such as sexual assault, harassment and even the denial of HIV treatment and hormone replacement therapy.

Numbers from the survey are not only harrowing to look at but also extremely telling of the amount of progress needed in our country. They also give us insight into how these stressful conditions affect the community. Forty-five percent of those who had been surveyed for the National Center for Transgender Equality report said that in the month leading up to the survey they had experienced extreme psychological distress caused by the stressors discussed in the survey.


Read: Here’s Why An Undocumented Trans Latina Helped Create The LGBTQ Pride March Of Our Lifetime

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