WEBVTT

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You know,

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you think of bring me your huddled masses,

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and that's the premise of our country.

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When I was 25,

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I went through rehab.

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Even as a person that's in recovery,

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I didn't understand

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how hard it was to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

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I think America has

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business policies that prevent them from hiring employees

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that are in a second chance position,

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but if they really understood it,

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the whole American dream would open up.

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My name is Rob Perez and I'm with DV8 Kitchen.

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DV8 Kitchen employs only people that are in a

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second chance position from drug addiction and incarceration.

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This isn't just a job,

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it's trying to relearn your life,

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so we try to help them get to the dream job.

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No red pepper.

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Thank you.

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No red pepper.

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Can I get a top for here.

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DV8 stands to deviate from denial.

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We live sober out loud.

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My name is PJ and I'm kitchen manager here at DV8 Kitchen.

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I came here

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about 3 years ago.

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I was 3 days out of jail

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and uh I needed a job.

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My entire life has been in and out of jail and drugs,

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so when I first met Rob,

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one of the things that he said,

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man,

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that I will never ever forget,

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he said,

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what if I told you

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that you can have whatever job you want?

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Watch your head,

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watch your head,

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watch your head.

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I love it.

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PJ is exceptional.

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He was first a line cook,

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then he became a supervisor,

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and after becoming a supervisor,

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he's a full-fledged manager running the front of the house,

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the back of the house,

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and that's credit to

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really who he is.

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I graduate in May of 2026 with an associate's degree in welding technology

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and I,

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I,

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I wanna weld

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like Rob said I can do whatever.

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I'm,

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I'm gonna test that.

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I'm gonna test that theory.

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Hey,

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you got your bread cut.

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They have unlimited opportunities to be successful in the workplace.

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They just need a little bit of extra help in understanding the soft skills in

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life that they may have not had when they were becoming independent as teenagers.

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I just celebrated 4 years clean and sober,

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and we have people who come in here that are

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2 months,

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3 months sober,

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and I love that I can be an inspiration for them.

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I can be

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something that they wanna strive towards and something that they

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see themselves doing one day.

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To watch the transformation and when you see the lights go on and

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they start thriving at their job and loving it,

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there's nothing that can replace it not money,

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not a better title.

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I,

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I mean,

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I love it

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it's changed my life.