Raul Cuero Interview

Dr. Raul Cuero, from an early age, has used his creativity to become a successful inventor and microbiologist. Starting at the age of five years old, he found unconventional ways to keep himself entertained. His family could not afford toys or a TV, so he began observing the cockroaches in his grandmother's house. Even from this young age, he began to think outside the box, allowing him to develop his own way of thinking. He encountered his first real obstacle when he went to college, where he was not seen as anything other than a tall basketball player. Nobody viewed him as an intellectual thinker because of the color of his skin. He used the prejudice directed towards him as a motivation to prove who he was and what he was capable of; he states that to overcome the predicament you are in, you must become who you are, even if it is against the societal views, and become your own nature. Nature is not a universal concept.
Being able to have a universal consciousness instead of following a local set of principles is what drives creativity. Going above the societal/cultural/individual norms opens the door to possibility, since you are then not limited to thinking and acting the way society tells you to. If you change your own expectations of how the world will view you, then what other people think or feel will not matter. Following the known is not what leads to creativity and it actually just leads to dullness. Stepping out of your comfort zone and society's comfort zone leads to ideas emerging that one would never think are possible. Stepping out of the bubble, observing the world, asking questions that have never been asked, and enjoying the process of developing and executing new ideas is the definition of creativity. Even if you are scared of the unknown, it is okay, because that fear is what fuels the creativity even more. Committing to the process, even when the possibility of failure looms, allows you to learn about yourself and the world, which is what leads to success.
This way of thinking and interacting with the world can be applied to almost anything. I am a psychology major, and over the past several years my dream has been to work in the FBI for the behavioral science unit. I never believed it was attainable and always viewed it as far-fetched goal, but as time has gone on I have realized that the only thing that was holding me back from reaching this goal was me. Not having the confidence or intensity to go after this goal is what has made me feel stagnant, but I have realized that if you shift the way you view the world and yourself and dedicate yourself to something, you can achieve it.