Eva Abreuon your personal success goal. If this happens, especially when you least
expect it, do everything in your power to act on it at s oon as possible to
ta ke advantage of what has been presented to you. Again, through
social media channels, I’ve seen the speed at which the perfect
resources come forward when we make our goals known. It’s been quite
remarkable.
I’m a firm believer in these ideas to help us achieve success and I
apply the concepts every day in my life: visualization, thinking
positively, and doing something rather than doing nothing.
WRIGHT
I totally agree with you.
So who were your role models?
ABREU
I would say that my parents and my neighbors were my first role
models. My mother passed away when I was thirteen, so she wasn’t
with us for very long. When she was here, I remember how neighbor-
fo cused and community-oriented she was; the other women on our
block were the same way.
We h ad a com munity culture in our neighborhood that was help
oriented. In those days, it wasn’t unusual to have five or six kids in a
family, which made for great games of hide-and-go-seek, dodge ball,
and snowball fights. If a neighbor was in the hospital or a mother just
had a baby or if someone was going through a difficult time, the
neighbors would spread the word and help o ut. We’d also get together
when times were good, just to be with each other and celebrate fun
times and fr iendships.
I look back now and realize how big of an influence the kids on our
block were for me and h ow their parents played a significant role in
teaching us how to respect others and how to create a community of
acceptance and service for other s.
My father was a role model and continues to be. In the 1960s, he
worked as a test engineer for a small engineering firm in c entral New
Jersey. The company was a subcontractor for NASA and he tested a
mechanical part that e nded up going on the Apollo 11 mission. I’m in
the process of writing a book about this, as well as other examples of