with Manuel “Manny” Garcia
Do you value your personal lived experience as a professional?
Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong in the room?
During today’s meal— I speak with an RBT about his journey from raising 3 kids as a delivery driver to finding purpose, becoming an RBT, and getting his master’s degree in his 40s. We also talk about belonging, valuing lived experience, and the Santa Season.
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Amuse-Bouche
As a Registered Behavior Technician, how was your training experience?
Appetizer
Having gotten your start in disability, education, and service systems as a frustrated parent, is that why you decided to study Behavior Analysis?
Palate Cleanser
What are some must try foods in Humboldt Park, Chicago?
Entree
What do you wish you could have told yourself when starting in the field?
Something people misunderstand about you?
Dessert
Who are your role models and biggest inspirations?
Excerpts from the Episode
(*Paraphrased highlights)-
That I belonged before I believed I belonged.
I spent most of my life assuming other people knew more, were more qualified, came from better backgrounds, or had something I didn’t have.
I wish I understood earlier that experience counts too. Being a father was experience. Being that frustrated parent was experience. Being an RBT is experience. Growing up where I grew up is experience. My mistakes are experience. The things I’ve gotten wrong and learned from are experience too.
I didn’t have to become a completely different person before I had something valuable to contribute.
And honestly, I’m still working on this one. At 45, I’m still learning to trust myself and stop questioning whether I belong every time another door opens.
I started over later in life. I entered college at 40. I’m 45 now and doing things I genuinely never pictured myself doing. I still have moments where I walk into a room and wonder what the hell I’m doing there, lol. A lot of this stage of my life is me learning to trust myself and stop assuming everyone else belongs more than I do.
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That questioning something means I’m against it.
I ask a lot of questions. I challenge things. Sometimes I’ll say something doesn’t make sense to me or that I think we could do it better.
That can probably sound like criticism sometimes, but usually it’s because I care.
I spent a lot of my life being on the receiving end of systems without understanding how they worked. Now that I’m learning how they work, I naturally want to know why we do things certain ways, who benefits, who gets left out, and whether there’s a better way.
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It’s the people who were willing to answer me when I reached out and be there when I needed guidance.
A huge turning point for me was going to a conference by myself. I remember sitting at a BMBA (Black Men in Behavior Analysis) panel and realizing I wanted to be part of this community, even though I still wasn’t sure I belonged there.
From there I started reaching out and building relationships with people like Jeron Trotman, Dr. Gibson, Dr. Van, Dr. Barry, and other men within BMBA who made space for me.
They answered questions. They gave me advice. They introduced me to people. They encouraged me, and probably most importantly, they kept telling me to stop questioning myself and whether I belonged.
That mattered because for most of my life I assumed certain rooms just weren’t for people like me.
Nobody had to hand me anything. Sometimes I just needed someone to answer the message, give me five minutes, make an introduction, or say, “You belong here, too.”
That changed how I think about mentorship.
It doesn’t always have to be some formal relationship where somebody is officially your mentor. Sometimes mentorship is just somebody being willing to show up for you when you need them.
My kids are obviously a huge part of my inspiration too. They’re really why I started asking these questions in the first place. I became curious because I was frustrated. I wanted to understand what was happening to them, what professionals were talking about, and why these systems were so difficult to navigate.
Between my kids pushing me to start asking questions and the people who made room for me once I started looking for answers, I ended up somewhere I never expected to be.
Now I want to be that person who answers when somebody else reaches out.
ABOUT Manny
Manuel “Manny” Garcia, M.A.S., RBT
Manny Garcia is a father of three, RBT, parent advocate, trainer, speaker, and behavior analyst in training whose path into behavioral science was definitely not traditional.
He grew up in Humboldt Park in Chicago and spent much of his life feeling like college, professional spaces, leadership, and even the idea of being “successful” belonged to other people. He didn’t enter college until he was 40.
Before ever working in ABA, Manny experienced disability, education, and service systems as a frustrated parent. He remembers sitting in meetings confused, not understanding the language, assuming the professionals must know what was best, getting frustrated, and sometimes resisting recommendations because nobody had really helped him understand what they meant.
Eventually, he got tired of feeling lost in systems that had such a huge impact on his children and wanted to understand them for himself.
At the time, there was no big career plan. He wasn’t even in school. He was raising his kids, driving Uber Eats, trying to make ends meet, and trying to figure out what came next.
He eventually entered college at 40, discovered behavioral science, became an RBT, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and started finding himself in rooms he never imagined being in.
Today his interests stretch beyond traditional ABA into parent advocacy, RBT development, training, father engagement, early intervention, education, workforce development, culture, access, and the larger systems that shape people’s opportunities.
Now at 45, Manny says he finally has something he never really had before: a sense of mission. A big part of that journey has been getting over his own fear, learning to trust himself, and realizing that his lived experience has value too.
CONNECT with Manny
LinkedIn: Manny GarciaInstagram: @mannyincontextFacebook: Manuel GarciaPlease support our podcast by leaving a rating or review!
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