I'm in college and my buddy Peter a playwright sends me a vanity fair article about the

Dominican man that James Bond was based on.

Potfirio Ruizsa and my entire James Bond was based on. Porphyrio Virosa.

And my entire world is shattered because, like I said earlier, I was running around my building

pretending to be James Bond with all my nerve guns on all these missions. I was pretending to be James Bond. With all my nerve guns on all these missions I was

pretending to be a white British guy and it clicked. What if I wasn't pretending to

be them but I was allowed to be myself or my father.

You know, this character I loved as a child,

look like me, looked like my community,

looked like Queens, looked like light,

looked like so many people that are not a white man. And then, and then it's like I saw it. I just

saw my difference in this world. In an instant, like that article in an instant revealed so much to me.

Why am I one of the only bodies of culture in this school?

What does that mean? The weight of it, the weight of difference. I started to feel it. It was really sort of shocking.

Hello friends, I want to welcome you back to the Light Watkins Show.

If this is your first time here, I interview ordinary people just like you and me who've taken

extraordinary leaps of faith often in the direction of their path, their purpose, or their mission.

And in doing so, they've been able to positively impact the lives of many others,

who've either heard about their story or who've witnessed

them in action or who've directly benefited from their work.

And today I'm in conversation with one of the most talented and brilliant storytellers that I've ever heard, Mr. Christopher Rivas.

As many of you long time listeners know, I used to produce these inspirational variety shows called The Shine between the years of 2014 and 2019

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