(bright music) - Hello, everyone.

Hello, Virginia Beach.

(chuckling) Okay, well, I'm the last one, so how could anyone be born an outsider?

We usually hear, "I'm born ready," right?

But here I am, wondering what made me so different from the rest of my immediate family.

If I had been adopted, maybe the feeling of being different would make more sense.

But no, that's my mom and that is undeniable my dad.

Same bloodlines, same genes.

Well, still something felt off, or at least off track from everybody else.

That said, I can't pretend I wasn't spoiled at times.

Being the youngest had its perks.

I got away with a lot of simply by flashing a smile or playing the baby of the house card.

I grew up in a Venezuelan household, raised with all the flavors, with the rhythms, and chaos that comes with a Venezuelan household.

But today, I'm not even sure what it means to be a Venezuelan.

You know, the country's going through a lot right now, and I lived there before the Chavez, before 1998, so I don't really know what's going on now.

So to all the Venezuelans who are watching right now, this is for you.

(J Belgrave singing in Spanish) That was for them.

(laughing) (audience applauding) Okay, so, what made me an outsider?

I used to hear more than once in my house, in my family, "You are blessed to belong to a country that has your back."

I was like, "Wait, what?"

You know, no idea.

As I got older in advance in school, it started to make sense.

While all the kids were diving into French, German, Italian, Japanese, or even Mandarin, there are a lot of, back then, there were a lot of Europeans in Venezuela, or that was my environment, my parents had me enrolled in English.

Was it worth it at that time?

To me, I was like, "Okay, I guess I gotta take English."

And I saw my siblings playing outside and I was inside flashing cards in English.

I'm like, "This is not fun at all."

But I noticed something else.

My siblings didn't get the same treatment.

Their education was shaped differently.

Learning English wasn't part of their immediate plan.

Maybe my parents saw something in me.

Back then was like, "Why me?

Why me?"

Or maybe they saw my passport because I was born here in the United States and that's all I had, my US passport.

Quick side note, for those who might not know, Venezuela, the official language is Spanish, so yes, I am fluent in Spanish as well.

Today, who knows if the Spanish over there has evolved as well with all the protests and memes and jokes that are made.

Well still, one thing that I will always appreciate about growing up in Venezuela with among Venezuelan is their sense of humor.

No matter what's going on, I remember the stories of, oh... Venezuela being a country that is rich in oil, there was a time, I don't know still happening, that people had to line up for days to fill up their gas in the cars.

But hey, that wasn't a problem.

They will bring chairs, tables, dominoes.

You will see somebody, "Hey, empanadas, empanadas.

Here's your little..." And that's how they take it and I'm so glad I was able to really see that, because no matter how difficult a situation can be, you make the best out of it, especially when you have no control of it.

So eventually I understood why things were different for me.

I was the only one in my immediate family born in the United States of America.

That little small detail back then came with responsibilities to me, and especially my dad, he was pretty much on top of it, and that's why he insisted in I having a different education that included English.

Well, then, you know, the years passed and I came back 'cause I was in Venezuela when I was a baby.

I went back with my parents.

My dad, he was a pilot and he came here to the United States to actually train other military pilots and that's how I was born.

So they took me back.

My first flight was on a C-130 as a baby, and then I came back in a regular civilian airplane.

But as soon as I came back, I was excited because, oh my God, I learned, I know English.

I am gonna be able to communicate in the United States when I land.

But guess what?

I land in South Florida.

(audience laughing) Oh my gosh.

So I was, okay, good.

Let me practice.

So I'm like, when I have the opportunity to open my mouth and speak English, uh-uh, halfway of my sentence, I hear... (J Belgrave speaking Spanish) Speak Spanish.

And I was like, "What?

Wait."

Then I felt an outsider again because hey, I'm supposed to be speaking English here, and it turns out that everybody here speaks Spanish, and not even from Venezuela, oh my gosh.

(chuckling) So that's the story.

That's why I believe, no matter where I go, I'm completely an outsider.

When I served in the military, which we have a variety, of course, service members in the United States Air Force, it's great because you wear that uniform proudly.

Yes, you sign your check, blank check, right, with your life, that's the price.

But if you're lucky enough to come back and serve your 20 years and you're able to hang up your uniform, then once you do that, you're really off, like you don't know where you belong anymore because you're so used to your military family, that once you're in civilian clothes, then you're again in a place that you don't know where you belong, so I'm working that out and that's pretty much it, that's my story.

(laughing) (audience applauding and cheering) (bright music)