#20 Lincia Rosario - Mike Check, One, Two

Transcript

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When I completed my 10th standard. I still remember India Australia match was going on. The next day I was selling clothes in some store. I was getting Rs50 a day. The next day I was like, Mum, I'm not going to go through this. I am going to work next day. I was in this job selling clothes. That was my first job. I got Rs50 for the whole day. 

 

Lincia is a professional anchor and an award winning MC. She has hosted more than 800 shows in over ten years of perfecting her craft. She talks to us about how she left home at a very young age, financed her own education by working in a call center, and how she got into MCing in the first place. This is her story.

 

Hello there, I’m Aamer Khan. And this is the Zed Medium podcast. A podcast that talks to people and about them, too. We take out the most significant experiences of an individual and package it in the form of a story, sharing those with you. We narrate people's journeys in the simplest way we can. 

 

There's a new person every episode, so do check out the previous ones. I'm sure you're going to find someone to relate to. Let's start with this one, shall we? How did Lincia go from this? 

 

Lincia: I had a fear of speaking public speaking. One, two is I was very shy. I was not confident. I was always scared of things in life. Do this. I host shows, corporate sweating, celebrity interviews, and I love living life to the fullest. Like, for me, I love what I do. I look forward to my work. I look forward to connecting with you. So I have been doing this since ten years now. I have hosted more than 800 plus shows globally. And I've had my own show on DTV America, which was called Close to My Life, where I was interviewing celebrities. Ten years I hosted a show with Alexa, one of the funniest. I co hosted a show with a robot. And recently I hosted a show with 4000 people in a stadium. It was on my vision board, which I picked Mark, and it was like 4000 people. 

 

Aamer: This is like insane energy. That's what this is about. Transformation. You must have read this a lot on Instagram or Facebook. It's not where you start, it's where you finish that matters. And as Courtney as that sounds, it holds true, especially in lyncia's case lyncia's childhood wasn't necessarily the best, to put it in the mildest way possible. Her father was not around much and her mother wasn't very supportive. 

 

She grew up in an environment that was at times violent. It wasn't a place she wanted to be in. Her growth has been exponential in terms of her personality and finances. Yes, she has the experience, but again, she has experienced firsthand what it's like to live below the poverty line. And so naturally, the only thing she wanted growing up was respect and money. 

 

Lincia: It came from the fact that I didn't see my father for my entire life. 

 

My entire 6th, 7th, 8th standard. I remember we didn't have food, so my mother used to lock all the dabas so that we don't need extra because there was limited food. And it came from that space, that space of scarcity. I didn't want that ever. I didn't want ever someone telling me that this is what I have. There was constant scarcity. And I didn't like that. Even like basic sanitary pads. Basic sanitary pads. Basic sanitary pads were not there, right? And we used to use cloths at that particular point of time. And when you're into sports and you're doing marathons and you're playing cupboard and then you're using cloths, it's just so much of a hindrance. 

 

Aamer: A lot of these things go unnoticed by many. But these were basic necessities that were missing in her life. And when you're missing the basics, it becomes very difficult to think about things like passion, finding what you truly love doing, finding your Ikigai, and so on. A human's first instinct is and always has been survival. It's a massive or hierarchy as well. So in her mission to get some money and respect, Lincia went through a number of jobs and only after could she really think about what she wanted in life. 

 

Lincia: I think that time the only passion for me was that I wanted to stand on my own feet. That I didn't want to be an MC, I didn't want to be a TV presenter. I just wanted respect for myself. Before being an MC. I tried, like, different things. Insurance. I used to sell insurance policies. Thanks to LIC, I actually sponsored my studies. I actually sponsored my entire Master's, in fact, during my entire college days because we were not financially that well off. My principal asked me to leave college and I said, no, I'm not. Because I used to come every day late to college. I was doing an Australian shift in a call center and every day I used to be late. 

 

And her name was Florida Souza. She loved me, but she's like, I can't allow you to come late to class every time you really need to figure your stuff out. And there came a point when she literally said, if that's the case, then you leave college. And I said, no. I'm going to make this work. And I somehow managed to win three consecutive scholarships in Xaviers, managed it with call center jobs and I finished my Master, tended insurance and after insurance, I remember I was doing insurance. I didn't understand numbers. I'm selling policies, okay?

 

And still, I do feel right in my heart. I've done my Master's in history, I'm selling insurance policies and I still don't know what I want in life. 

 

Aamer: Her bachelor's was in English, Sociology, and History, followed by her Masters in History, Political Science, Honors, but she doesn't remember much of it. All of it went by in the blink of an eye because she was so busy working to sustain herself. There was too much going on for her out of college, for her focus to remain on education at the time. She left home when she was about 21, and only after a long time has she been able to understand her mum and somewhere, her father as well. 

 

Lincia: My mom took care of me and my brother with whatever best she could understand about parenthood. And I'm so grateful to her, because today if she wouldn't have been the way she is, I wouldn't have reached where I am today. It took us a long time for my relationship to be beautiful with my mother. For a long period of time, you didn't understand her way of doing things. I didn't understand violence. I didn't understand why was she so abusive. Why did she feel the need to use profanity? Because it hurt me as a kid. Now when I process all of this, I'm like, she didn't know any better. 

 

How can I expect her to be a certain way when her environment was not like that? Her environment was profanity. In her environment, and her parents did the same to her. What she did with me, she didn't know any better. I remember Tony Robins saying this. Why is it that we blame people for all the negatives they've given us, but they've given us so many positives? So many positives, yeah. In all of this, I just want to say, you talk very less about your dad. Was he not there as in the I did have glimpses of my dad when I was very young. My dad was one of the most whatever I heard from my mom is very violent and he abused my mum. 

 

Left, right. I have images of blood all across my house and my mom's hand being cut with a knife. And it's very painful. It is a very painful childhood with my father. And then my mum ran away with me. And I don't speak much about it because I remember one day I was doing a spiritual session with someone and he asked me about my dad. And I said I feel nothing. I'm good. I'm good. I'm fine. And he's like, no, my father is there, but he passed away and I'm chilled out. And then he's like, let's just stop bullshitting yourself. Really. Tell me what you feel about your father. 

 

And I wrote a letter and I was so angry at him. So angry. I wrote a letter saying that you were never there for mom and me. I wish you had been a better father. And I wrote and I wrote, and I felt so good. And that day changed my life because I just forgive my father. Letting go is a lengthy process, but it is freeing. 

 

Aamer: Lincia could have held that within her for a very long time to come, but it would have affected her, it wouldn't have affected anyone else. And it's always better late than never. Even though we've come further from where we started, we'd like to go back into Lincia’s journey. Though her process, her struggle of reaching where she has did not start in college, it actually started way before that, when she was in the 10th grade.

 

Lincia:when I completed my ten standard. I still remember India, and Australia, and matches going on. The next day, I was selling clothes in some stores. I was getting Rs50 a day. The next day I was like, Mom, I'm not going to go through this. I am going to work the next day. I was in this job selling clothes. That was my first job. I got Rs50 for the whole day. My second job was I was working in a call center. No. I started giving tuitions. I used to give tuitions in 11th and 12th standard. And after that, I started working in different call centers throughout my college. And then I did a license because I could do my college and insurance. And after that, I worked as an assistant to a spiritual guru. She was into the NLP journey. That's when my life changed because I did so much of work on myself after that that I did NLP. 

 

So what is NLP? Neuro-Linguistic Programming, all of that. You're saying if you went from insurance to NLP, how did you land that job? Because one is a job that completely focuses on numbers, and the other is a job that is completely focusing on yourself and your inner peace. Yeah, actually, I was not a feeling of peace when I left my place. I was in someone else's place, someone else's house, which was equally chaotic. Their house was equally chaotic. That's another story altogether. It's like when you are messed up, that same energy, you go and you land up in another messed up space. 

 

When I was three years at staying at my friend's place, I remember I saved up whatever money I had in the call center. And one day I was walking on the road and met this female who says, do you want to make one crore rupees?

I'm telling you, I met her randomly on the road and she said, okay, I'm going to help you do that. And I'm like, okay, please help me. I have only 40,000 reviews from the call center job that I did, I saved up. That was an organization called Cunet. I remember I did not continue with that program, but I met another guy there. 

 

He introduced me to the spiritual leader Rangana. And from there I started my journey of journey NLP. From the insurance, from working at the shop to spirituality. But after spirituality, what made you decide that anchoring is the one thing that I will do and what I want to do next? I remember telling myself I'll do whatever comes my way. I got a call from my school friend randomly saying that there's this anchoring job in Infinity Mall. Can you come? I said, Anchor? So then he said that.

 

Aamer: Lincia still doesn't know why he called her, though she remembers herself being a shy kid in school. She was always scared and low on confidence. And it doesn't take a genius to know that anchoring requires the exact opposite. And this wasn't even a friend she was in constant touch with. To this day, it is still a mystery as to why that friend called her. But she promised herself she would take up any good opportunity that would come her way. And RS2000, who could say no to that at the time? 

 

Lincia: Because it was the money that made me go. That will be honest. Yeah, I went there. They gave me the mic in my hand. Oh, my goodness gracious. My heart started pumping so fast, my legs were trembling and I thought I'll die there. I went behind the teddy bear and I'm putting the mic, on and off. I couldn't even say hello. I couldn't. I was like, so scared. And then the guy who organized the event, came behind the cupboard. He said, what the heck are you doing behind the cupboard? Come and perform. And then I remember he told me that, Lincia if you don't perform right now, we have to call another MC. So I randomly remembered the musical chair. And I started playing musical chairs. And from there, there was no looking. I remember after that I had a standard marathon come my way. I went in oiled hair with a chashma that was broken. I had no sense of style. I thought I was the hottest woman or not, I'm not joking. But I'm so glad. I was innocent. I was naive. I was not aware of fashion. Because if I would, I would have been even more scared. 

 

After I got my first set of the first show and I managed because it was a ten-day show. I was a fairy. I don't know what I was a fairy. And then I was dancing with teddy bears, at the carnival. I think for the first three years, I didn't even know whether I wanted to do it 1000 days or three years. 

 

Aamer: That's the amount of time it takes to get used to what you're doing. Of course it's tough. She doubted herself on many occasions. She didn't have work for long periods of time. In those three years, she went to malls to write scripts. She took a lot of time learning said scripts. 

 

She still runs to the bathroom every time before a show because of the nervousness. But there was no reason she would stop what she was doing at any moment in time. 

 

Lincia: What happens behind the scenes that some of the people don't know. But these things happen, and they never come out in front of you being okay to fumble when you come from a place. I'll tell you, when I started anchoring, I was like, I'm going to be the epitome of perfection. The words are going to flow exactly to the T. You are going to make mistakes. And the art is not to not make mistakes. It's first to embrace those mistakes, because that's the only way to learn. I did so many flop shows before. I did some great shows, and my flop shows have taught me more than my great shows. 

 

Say, if I do ten shows a month, if I have that one flop show that keeps me in check, my ego in check. If not, it gets into your head you're good, which is not good. And when your ego is in check, you get back to practice. 

 

Aamer: The flop shows taught her what's wrong. It's easy to pinpoint mistakes when you don't do well, as opposed to when you do really well. When you've done well. It's not that you haven't made mistakes. It's just that the overall show was so good that it covers up for all the mistakes you've made. You can't escape the same when you haven't done well. That's when you sit back and analyze. 

 

That's when you dig deeper into what went wrong over the years. That's what Lincia has done, and she's learnt one thing that will help you become better at whatever you're doing. Its application is truly universal. Repetition is mastery. And that's the only way to learn. And that's what I had. No communication skills. 

 

Lincia: Anybody who's listening to this podcast, no communication skills in English, no communication skills in Hindi. It's terrible. No dressing sense whatsoever. I had no idea how to network my family. We don't have that entire networking thing. I learned it only through repetition and second through hiring the best coaches. Whatever money I earn, I only spent it with the best teachers. I used to go to Singapore, I used to go to Malaysia, hired the best to work on me. 

 

That's how I could become better in what I'm doing. 

 

Aamer: In her journey, she has had excellent teachers, or coaches, for that matter. Some trained and some were not. For example, the first time she hired someone to practice her lines with, she met him at a fashion show, and he decided to help her with scripting and rehearsing. He was her sounding board for a while. She's hired people throughout to help her with her craft, be public speaking, styling, or even out of craft things like how to handle your business. It was just constant learning. 

 

For her, it still is. Feedback is the breakfast of champions. 

 

Lincia: And I take feedback. I love taking feedback. If it works for me, great. If it doesn't, resolution it's with me. It doesn't resonate with me. I used to add events to ask agencies out of one to ten, how much do you rate me at this event? And they used to say, I rate you eight. They said, Why did you deduct two points? You could have worked on this better. I said, thank you so much. And I had a list of all the shows where they have rated me. 

 

And then I used to go back and improve. I used to always get feedback on my Hindi. But I remember starting this eight years ago. I was co hosting with my best friend who is a VJ right now, and the agency was like, you really need to work on your Hindi. And I said, yeah, I know. And then I had a Hindi teacher for three years. And today I do so many weddings. I do ceremonies to Haldi ceremony, you name it. All of it. After ten years of anchoring, she still believes she's in her learning phase. 

 

Aamer: She hasn't stopped taking feedback. Neither has she stopped perfecting her craft. It's been a long and arduous journey, but with the right people alongside her, it's become fairly easier. She planned a couple of things like winning the Best MC Award and living in Bandra, and she has accomplished those. She won the award but couldn't collect it because she was hosting another show at the same time. And two years back, she got her own place in Bandra. And that's her determination, meeting, hard work. That's not only in her work, by the way, but it's also in other things of her life. 

 

For example, yoga. 

 

Lincia: But I'll tell you one thing, what yoga has taught me, and I still show up for my yoga classes because when I did it, it took me like a year, I think six, eight months to a year. And I remember in my yoga class, we're doing the crops, we are doing the crops and I'm falling. The crop of is basically it's basically put your knees on your hand like a crane type. I'm practicing, I'm practicing and it's just not happening. And one fine day I did it and I said, Start. The whole point is just to show up. Half the battle is won. 

 

Aamer: That's one more thing ticked off her bucket list. Yes, she has a bucket list which is very dear to her heart. And she wants to get a lot accomplished before her time on this planet comes to an end. Sometimes though, she has asked herself questions like, what's all this for? Why am I doing all of this? And that's natural. She has asked herself this when she witnessed someone pass away due to a fire outbreak. She went to the apartment to pack all the belongings of the person and realized, what's all of this for then? 

 

If I'm going to go after everything I've done, was this all for nothing? All of the things collected, her presence on Earth, was it for nothing? And as we come to the end of the episode. We are here to tell Lincia that it's not all for nothing. She has created an impact on this world, and so has everyone who has ever been on this planet. We might not get documented by the media or be famous, but if you've made an impact on at least one person by telling your story or showing them that it can be done, then you've empowered the generation to come. 

 

And that there might be several ways to describe one's existence. In Lincia’s case, it's ambition. It's determination. It's getting what you want, whatever it takes. And this one story will get remembered for the rise of someone who at one point had to starve themselves because of locked jars and a scarcity of food. And how many items remain in your pocket?

 

Lincia: Oh, my goodness. A lot. A lot. I still have a long way to go. I want to be one of the greatest entertainers the world ever had. That's what I want to do. I want to be great in acting and comedy and anchoring everything that will help me be better at my craft. 

 

Aamer: If you like the episode, share it with others. You never know how you sharing it could impact someone in the most difficult of times. You never know. You might just share something life changing for someone else. And here's the common drill. Follow us for the latest updates on LinkedIn and Instagram. We're here to stay, we promise. And we're bringing a whole lot more for you. Stay tuned, and goodbye for now.