LIVE INTERVIEW w KELLY
Okay. I cannot say how excited I am this morning. This is my first live interview on Swell. I am going to be interviewing Miss April from latina herstory calica macho. We have a series of about four to five questions, y'all, so definitely tune in. And we are so excited. If you haven't read Kelly's feature, definitely look for it. It's here in swell. It's on my website, it's in newspapers. We're out there
Kelly Camacho
@milkncoquis · 2:07
And of course, she gave birth to my mom, who my mom had three kids, went back to school while raising those three kids, and she managed to maintain a 4.0 the whole time. And now she has a master's in bilingual special ed. I've watched my brother struggle to get his PhD as a gay man of color. I also see my nieces
Our next question. That was an amazing answer. You are so inspiring. Literally every time I hear your responses, I get motivated. So I am naturally curious about you and equally as grateful for this interview. So the next question is, how do you define success?
Kelly Camacho
@milkncoquis · 1:20
My definition of success is constantly changing. As an organizer that is working in Buffalo, I would say most often success for me is building leaders for creating social change. We cannot build a movement if we are the only people doing the work. So most often for me, success is building leaders as a union organizer. Sometimes it's just getting people to come to a meeting. Sometimes it's getting people to tell their stories. Being here in Buffalo, it's getting people to
Kelly, you are such a big deal. Being an organizer and motivating people is an incredible skill. My next question is how do you leverage your lived experience to be a better leader or to inform your leadership? Like your personal experiences as Kelly
Kelly Camacho
@milkncoquis · 1:34
That's solidarity. So when I think of the idea of how I leverage my experience to inform my leadership, I try to remain an expert in my own experience. I remember when I've had to be uncomfortable, when I've had to be hungry or afraid. I know that other people have had to as well. So the idea for me with organizing is that you should always link with other people who share your self interest, people who care about the issues that you care about
Kelly, I love that answer. It's so significant. And I think that you are amazingly authentic talking about the way that you leverage your lived experience. So my second last question is, what advice would you have for a new organizer or a young person about either emerging in their career or about how to be successful if they want to be just like you, Kelly, what do they do?
Kelly Camacho
@milkncoquis · 2:12
I love this question because this is something that I naturally ask a lot of people in the work. I think first you have to be willing to tell your story. You are an expert in your own experiences, and if you don't tell your story, other people are going to tell your story, and they are not going to tell it as true or intentional as you are. Some people will try to take your story and manipulate it to move whatever agenda they want
What's the best way to reach you? I know you live on swell now also, but I know that there's other ways that people can come in contact with you and learn more about your work. And I want to close the interview by making space for you to share those places. Thank you so much. E? Jos? Super proud of you. Amazing big boss Boricua energy and just very grateful for you to be working on my behalf
Kelly Camacho
@milkncoquis · 1:14
I have also included my link tree in the description, so for general community organizing, folks can feel free to get ahold of me on social media. I love to start every relationship with a one to one. So for me that means let's go grab a coffee or a tea, whatever beverage you'd like, and we can sit down maybe half an hour to an hour. Just talk, get to know each other, and talk about power