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So What Now? with Carla and Dex

EP 192: The Story of Realtor Linda Jokbengboon: Refugee Camps, Gambling Addiction, and Growing up Asian

So What Now? with Carla and Dex

Idea to Launch Productions

Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.8 • 592 Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2023

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Imagine not belongin anywhere, no real home, no identity, no country that you can legally call home. Linda Jokbengboon aka Linda Sells Orlando started life in a Thai Refugee Camp. After moving to America, she struggled to assimilate with every community including her own.

In this episode, Carla and Linda discuss Linda's upbringing filled with gambling addiction, raising her siblings during college, and how a misdemeanor stopped her from gaining citizenship. They shed light on how Linda was able to overcome her hardships and become successful in real estate.

 

(5:59) Carla and Linda discuss how they met

(7:21) Being a refugee from Thailand

(10:43) Dad's Gambling Addiction

(19:33) Troubles of gaining citizenship and traveling abroad

(29:41) Growing up with Identity struggles

(40:35) Aligning with your purpose

(55:43) Linda and Carla answer a letter with the topic "Dumb real estate questions from a beginner"

(62:32) Bible Verse - Psalm 128:2

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This week on Pivot with Purpose.

0:08.1

One day she said, I'm a refugee from Thailand.

0:11.3

Every plane she was going and every beach she was at was local or a U.S. territory.

0:15.4

Facts.

0:16.4

Never so it must have been something international where she said, I can.

0:19.8

I'm like, oh, she's a felon. I'm like, for sure she killed somebody. I'm an illegal. And then it's like, oh, no, I'm a refugee. And I'm like, what? In college, senior year, we were like, let's go on a fucking cruise, right? And they're like, okay, you need a passport. So I was like, okay, so I marched my little tail down to the post office. I was like, hey, I need to get a passport. And they're like, well, you need to be a U.S. citizen. And I said, oh, well, I have my green card. Like, I'm here legally. I have refugee status. They're like, well, you can't get a passport for the U.S. because you're not a citizen, where were you born? I was like, I was born in Thailand. So I call the Thai embassy and they're like, well, you can't get a passport for the U.S. because you're not a citizen.

1:14.3

Where were you born? I was like, I was born in Thailand. So I called the Thai embassy, and they're like, well, you were born on refugee grounds, so you're not technically a Thai citizen. So I called the Lao embassy. The Lao embassy was like, well, you weren't born in Laos, so you're not a Lao citizen. I was like, I have no fucking country. Hey friend, you're listening to Pivot with Purpose.

1:17.0

This is my show where I pivoted from shit I'm 30 where I was dreading turning 30.

1:21.7

I had a failed marriage, failed engagement after that, and I don't have a relationship with my

1:26.4

immediate family.

1:27.5

But through it all, I came out the other side with a thriving business, an unexpected radio

1:32.3

morning show of my own, and a platform where I can reach millions of people and help them walk

1:37.8

in their truth.

1:38.9

I am now celebrating every step of my journey into continuously finding my purpose, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

1:46.6

Sometimes this journey looks like shit, and it probably sounds even worse, but it's still our journey,

1:52.0

and I'm learning right along with you to enjoy it. There's always a rainbow after the rainfalls.

1:57.5

Now, if you need advice in pivoting in any aspect of your life, relationships, careers,

2:02.1

spirituality, send your questions or story to ask Carla Womeres at gmail.com or shoot me a DM

2:08.5

at Carla Womeres. Now, let's start the show. We are back with another episode. Before we even

2:16.8

begin, I want to tell you that I'm tired.

2:21.0

I am tired. And even though my body and my mind are physically tired, I'm loving what I'm doing, y'all.

2:27.7

This is another recording right off of the plane from Atlanta. I leave to L.A. and to Vegas in a couple of weeks. I have more book recordings and it's just a reminder that when you love what you do, you get tired. But it doesn't feel like that, that remember, that cubicle feeling. For me, I know someone who loves that cubicle. I know plenty of people who love that cubicle, actually. They're allowed to go to their nine to five. For me, it was not. Like, if I tell someone that loves the

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