What a moment. Class of 2025—let's go. Let me hear it, come on! Let's go. You know, everybody who I work with knows that that is my favorite phrase. And I say it only when I'm really fired up. And I'm really fired up for you right here, right now. I came here to talk to you from the heart.
In my job, I have to be on 24/7. I always have to be traveling. I have to be gone in order to do a good job for everybody that invests in us, that gives us their trust, their time, everything they have. At the same time, I love my family, and I heard from one of the great speakers about support from the family. I have these four incredible kids. One of them is four—she's turning four today. Isn't that awesome? And then she's having this birthday party. And when I got the call from your awesome Dean, I said, yes, I'm coming here. This is too important. Vivi, my four-year-old. She's going to be okay. We had cake yesterday. We had a good time. Everything's going to be okay.
But this—this is too important. And I have an agenda today, overall. I am deeply, deeply honored, and I'm one of you today. Now, I am deeply honored to be able to talk to all you graduates, as you are the next generation leaders of our country and of the world. I also have so much appreciation for how hard you've worked. I know what it takes. I know what that means for so many of you since a very, very young age. You've worked extremely hard and now you have made it. You're graduating from American University and this moment. And that's why I came. It's so important. It puts you in a path of future leadership.
Today I'm going to attempt to help you on that path of future leadership. And I'm going to do so by sharing one word with you, one word that I really hope you take with you throughout your life. And that is positivity. I need all of you to be positive and stay positive.
First, I need you to be positive in your outlook of the world and on all the opportunities that are right here in front of you. I grew up in a small town in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. My dad worked really hard on his business, and my mom was an educator and school teacher. Together, they taught me the values of hard work and they showed me that there was a really, really big world out there.
And I gave it my all, step by step. Now, when I was in your shoes, graduating from business school, I thought I was already there. But you know what? Things are not looking too good for me. I couldn't get a job. So what's the deal with that? Maybe I should have had a little bit more fun. All these years of hard work and all the library nights and all the sports and everything else I did in my field of interest, private equity, I was rejected by hundreds of firms. But you know what? Throughout my entire process, I remained hopeful. And I remained hopeful until I got my chance. And it was a good one. And I took it.
Today, the economic and geopolitical challenges are so visible to all of us, and they may be affecting some of you, but these will be temporary. They will pass.