Faces of Long Island celebrates the uniqueness of everyday Long Islanders. In their own words, they tell us about their life experiences, challenges and triumphs. Newsday launched this social media journey into the human experience to shine a light on the diverse people of this wonderful place we call home.

‘I see teaching as more of a long-term thing. It is a hard job, but it’s worth it as long as you love it.’

Arielle Francois, Freeport

“When I started college, I was a bio major, but I didn’t enjoy it very much. I struggled a lot, and it made it hard for me to want to be in school because I felt very defeated. I feel like a lot of STEM programs in college are very cutthroat, and it wasn’t really what I wanted to do — like I’m only doing it for family. Being Caribbean, there is a certain expectation to set an example in school. Especially me being the oldest of my siblings, I had to set that example.

“Then sophomore year, I was like, I’m gonna do what I want to do. I may not have the most lavish life, but I’m do something that I enjoy, would be good at and would give me a purpose. So, the rest of college, I majored in adolescent education with a concentration in mathematics. I scrambled to get all those credits in, as I was about a year behind, but I graduated on time.

“It is my first year teaching. It was an eye-opening experience. In undergrad, I knew the logistics of teaching, but actually being in the classroom is a different experience, especially fresh out of college. There are so many things on the job that you just don’t know until it happens. The first marking period was hard adjusting from student life to working adult. I was 21 when I started the job. Being the youngest person at my job, finding peers and people I could talk to without feeling like the kid at work, was hard. But quickly that passed, and everyone took me under.

Being Caribbean, there is a certain expectation to set an example in school.

“I see teaching as more of a long-term thing. It is a hard job, but it’s worth it as long as you love it. There needs to be more young teachers. It’s hard for kids to relate to someone teaching them when they don’t get where they’re coming from or how they feel. I would want to be there for kids to do that. I could see myself doing this for at least the next 10 years, if not more.

“Eventually, I might work in administration or take more of a leadership role in a school or a district. I’m starting my masters part time in the fall. I’ll potentially get a PhD and be a higher education professor. The possibilities are endless. I’m not a hundred percent sure what I want, but I know it’s going to have something to do with education and teaching.”

Interviewed by Victoria Bell

‘One day I just woke up and I was like, I want a future, I want a family and I need a change.’

Stiz Santosa, Freeport

“I was actually born and raised in the boroughs, and then I moved to Long Island. I am a first generation American, and my parents were born in Indonesia. They had to work a lot because they had to support the family. I was put in pretty dangerous situations (at no fault of my parents) where I was basically emotionally abused, which caused a lot of traumas as well.

“Before that I was always a happy, very active kid. However due to the abuse, I went to drinking and drugs growing up. I went in and out of jail three times. I think it was partly due to just being lost and not having a goal and self-confidence in myself — just past trauma. One day I just woke up and I was like, I want a future. I want a family, and I need a change.

I wanted to make a name for myself and have my own business.

“I was an athlete all my life. I swam and I competed in New York City street-handball. I lost touch with sports due to that trauma, which I didn’t realize until later on when I had numerous amounts of therapy. Due to the therapy, I healed and that’s where I am now. I got my personal training certification, and I became super business-oriented and goal-oriented. I just surrounded myself with amazing people — people that I looked up to professionally, financially, and I just learned a lot from them. I think that is how and why my business has grown and so fast.

“I just knew that sports were something that I naturally was good at. I wanted to make a name for myself and have my own business. I was tired of working for others. Stiz Santosa is my brand. I am an independent personal trainer as well as a brand ambassador. I am a firm believer that you need to find out what you are great at and just excel at that and money will come to you. That is basically what I did. Now I just help others with their fitness. But it is not just physical. It’s also emotional and mental because when I shared my story of what happened to me and my journey along the way, a lot of people gravitated towards that. I am just happy that I can help people.”

Interviewed by Victoria Bell

‘I get asked to do Carol Burnett a lot, and I love that; you just laugh the whole time.’

Marc Courtade, Freeport

“I’m not a renaissance man. I like what I like. I have my interests — musical theater and classic motion pictures. I worked in the not-for-profit arts world for 30-plus years, starting at New York City Opera in the administrative offices. I went from there to Lincoln Center.

“I took a slight detour for a few years in financial services for one reason, full-tuition reimbursement. I got my master’s degree paid for in management and urban policy, specializing in not-for-profit management. I was at Tilles Center for 17 years in fundraising and as a business manager, which I think meant doing whatever no one else wanted to do. (I could push paper with the best of them.) From there, I took a job as the director of the Huntington Arts Council and was there for seven years.

Long Island is a smart crowd; they know this stuff. It keeps me on my toes.

“I retired about 18 months ago, but I’ve always done these lectures. I’ve been on the program at Jericho library every month since 2010. Now it’s a good retirement gig; it’s a labor of love. I started talking about opera and musical theater, then added classic movies because people love them. I write new material once a month for Jericho. I was trying to write about Harry Belafonte for years, but once he passed away, there was so much material. Tony Bennett is in the hopper; I think November.

“I get asked to do Carol Burnett a lot, and I love that; you just laugh the whole time. I love doing Julie Andrews; she is probably why I got interested in musical theater. I don’t get asked to do opera a lot anymore. I just did Renée Fleming, and I’m doing Maria Callas on what would have been her 100th birthday.

“For New York Council on Humanities, I developed three talks — the Rodgers and Hammerstein era, ethnic musicals, and the third, which I’m reviving, is on the Latino and the Broadway musical. I think it’s fascinating, and some people still like this stuff. The audience reacts wonderfully.

“Long Island is a smart crowd; they know this stuff. It keeps me on my toes. I look things up. I do my research, and I do it carefully, remembering just because you see something in Wikipedia doesn’t mean it’s true. People are all too happy to tell you that you made a mistake.”

Interviewed by Barbara Schuler

‘Never give up, even if you have a disability.’

Freeport

“I struggle with learning disabilities still to this day. When I was younger, I was diagnosed with low tone and low muscle, which basically means I didn’t develop quickly. I developed slowly. My speech and my body were not at the level that most kids are.

“When I was younger, I was not ahead of my classes. Everybody else was at the top of the class. I was below them. So, I had to get extra help. I had to go to speech therapy to help with my speech. I had extra time with a trainer just to get my muscles going. I had to catch up with other kids in class. I would say I started seeing therapists around first grade or kindergarten age.

Always ask for help. No one’s going to get mad at you for asking stupid questions.

“For my learning abilities, I would go to another person or another teacher and have like an hour or a 10-minute session with them, just to focus on each skill.

“But when I went to high school, I did not have that. I had to learn how to speak properly and study by myself and how to figure out how learn and remember information in different ways.

“In high school, if the notes were on the board, I would take them twice just so I remember them in my head. Also, I would read back the notes to myself to make sure I remember it.

“Throughout college, I would do the same, and I would always ask questions just to double-check if I was right or not. I made sure I did my tests on time. College was great. I learned a lot from my peers.

“My dream is one day to be a front desk manager in a hotel or a front desk person at a restaurant. I’m currently looking around for job opportunities.

“It’s also been my inspiration like to write, even though I didn’t take a course on that. I make blog posts about a Hulu show called ‘Tell Me Lies.’ I run a fan page called @tellmeliesfanpage22. I always look at shows and think how I would do this or what would be my review on it.

“Even if you have a disability, never give up. I would highly recommend that you work on it every day to make sure that you’re not behind and just to look forward to the future because it’s getting better every day. Always ask for help. No one’s going to get mad at you for asking stupid questions. Just ask for help and they’’ll give it to you.”

Interviewed by Victoria Bell

‘I learned that to be a great leader, you had to learn how to follow.’

Freeport

“I come from a first generation of immigrants, from Barbados and El Salvador, and grew up without a father. l was a young and dumb kid in my fifth year at a two-year school when joined the Army, then grew up and developed a fascination for wisdom.

“I realized I can learn something from every other person in this world if I just listen to the person speaking to me. I learned that to be a great leader, you had to learn how to follow.

“I became an all-Army MMA fighter, clocking in at 150 pounds, but I got hurt. Then I became a self-defense instructor, and through that work realized I have a special ability on how to teach anything to anyone because of the love I have for people.

“I was then deployed to Afghanistan as a 24-year-old sergeant who led teenagers into a war zone. I won a distinguished award for my leadership before getting out the Army and went on to get my master’s.

All of us, especially the ones who didn’t have positive role models growing up, would have saved so much time, energy and heartache if someone said the right thing to us when we were younger.

“I’ve come to the realization that there is a huge problem which I’m trying to find the solution for. The main thing right now is understanding that so many people want to do better, but there is no one around to help breathe life into new ways they can do things better.

“I’m just tired of watching the world burn, and I really want to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem right now.

“I really am trying just to help people in any way I can. I would have saved so much time, energy and heartache if someone had said the right thing to me when I was younger.

“Now that I have a 10-year-old son, if I’m gone tomorrow, I want there to be something for me to guide him. All of us, especially the ones who didn’t have positive role models growing up, would have saved so much time, energy and heartache if someone said the right thing to us when we were younger. Once I started hanging out with older folks, I learned so much from talking to them in a way that made sense.”

Interviewed by Ron Hart

‘I look at life like, “What’s the point of being here if we don’t make an impact on the world?”’

Freeport

“When I was like 16-17, there was a guy who used to sleep under a bridge in a park near my house in Freeport. He was the first homeless person I ever met. We’d buy him food and talk to him. He was a normal everyday guy who was just going through some tough times. He was the start of the inspiration that led me to help the homeless today.

“Back when I was 19, me and my buddy saw this lady on my aunt’s block carrying stuff. She asked if we could help her, and she ended up giving us some things I thought I’d sell at a yard sale. That led us to start doing free junk-removal jobs so we could do yard sales, but then we realized, ‘Hey, people charge money to do this.’ I also realized it could help start a thrift shop and help me help the homeless.

“Some jobs, maybe where unfortunately someone has passed away, we’ll find things that we can sell. We offer those customers a discount, as we charge based on what’s being cleaned up. If I see maybe clothing or furniture, I’ll say, ‘Hey we can recycle or resell a lot of this.’ But if I find, say, a nice winter coat, I’d rather donate that than have it sit in the thrift store and sell for 5-10 bucks. We do sell some of the designer clothing we come across, but that mostly goes to gas and things like that. We’ll hand out some clothing to people on the street, donate books to libraries, and work with groups that can distribute stuff to people in need.

Even if I don’t end up making a big impact, maybe I can be that push someone needs to get their life started.

“Among other things we’re also donating toward is a global organization that digs wells, and as I’m a volunteer firefighter, we’re working with another fire department and their clothing drive to get clothes to the survivors of that horrible Bronx fire that happened in January. The money we donate comes from both junk removal and our thrift store. We’ve also filed to become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on the homeless on Long Island, but right now we’re just donating from the money we make.

“I look at life like, ‘What’s the point of being here if we don’t make an impact on the world? Even a small impact.’ I want to do something game-changing, but even if I don’t end up making a big impact, maybe I can be that push someone needs to get their life started, and I’m fine with that.”

‘You didn’t see many Rockettes of color when I was growing up.’

Freeport

“Rockettes wasn’t something I ever thought about doing. You didn’t see many Rockettes of color when I was growing up. At the time, they were trying to diversify more. They were having workshops geared toward minorities. I went to these workshops where you learned the precision dance styles and eye-high kicks and I was like, I can really do this. I auditioned a few times and always got far in the process but never quite got the job. After a couple of years, I had moved on to the commercial dance world, I was dancing in movies and TV. But then I came around to audition again and finally got the call. I ended up dancing with the Rockettes for 5 seasons, from 2006 to 2010. It was one of the highlights of my career and it was definitely the hardest job I had. The precision it takes to do that style takes a lot of rehearsal and you have to think about things in dance you’ve never thought of.

I had many people tell me I would never be a professional dancer, that I didn’t have the facility for it. Being strong and knowing what I want to do has carried over in everything I want to do in life.

“I’ve had the time over COVID to focus on what I want to do. I love dance. I love sharing dance. I love mentoring. I wanted to focus, as they did with me, on introducing the world of Rockettes and the world of dance to minorities and young dancers and show them that this is a career you can pursue. That’s been my focus. I want to develop a program where I can encourage dancers of color on Long Island. I’m trying to get dancers that are young to create a funnel of talent to keep feeding the Rockettes.

“I always say the greatest lesson about dance is that you learn discipline and perseverance. That crosses over to everything in life. You can’t have a career in dance if you don’t like to work hard and put in the work. I’ve had that be part of my life since I was 3 years old. I was never a natural talent. I had many people tell me I would never be a professional dancer, that I didn’t have the facility for it. I’ve been told I don’t have the pretty European look. Being strong and knowing what I want to do has carried over in everything I want to do in life. That lesson of being able to push through and get what you want — that has been the ultimate lesson.”

‘I felt my soul went into the wrong body. But now that it’s in harmony with the way that I think, it just makes more sense to me.’

Freeport

“One of the misconceptions about people who are transgender is that it’s a lifestyle choice. I laugh inside. A lifestyle choice is I’m going to move to Manhattan! This is not a choice. It’s not a psychological disorder. This is being authentic. It’s just who I am in the spectrum of all that is possible in being a human being. My brain thinks one way, my body is another, and I can change the body.

“At the age of three, I instinctively thought I was a girl. My mother one day just said, ‘You know, you gotta take that off. That’s not your dress. You’re a boy.’ When she told me that I wasn’t a girl, I said, ‘Well, when will I be a girl?’ She said, ‘You won’t.’ And that broke my heart.

“I quickly learned how to behave so that I was accepted. You learn how to do that throughout your entire life to the point where, when I finally said that I’m going to transition in my mid-forties, people said they were surprised. And I said, ‘Really? I’ve carried this with me my whole life.’ I did a great job of blending in and keeping it quiet—but it ate me up inside.

There are many things that you can do to shape the way a child behaves. You can’t shape them innately knowing who they are. A child knows who they are.

“When I was younger, I had no role models. This was the seventies. You wouldn’t go to the library and pick a book out on it. There was no internet. There wasn’t even the term transgender really, I just always knew I’m a girl trapped in a boy’s body. I tried to kill myself when I was 15. I didn’t know how to stifle who I was and how to continue that throughout my entire life. It’s only nowadays that we’re really listening to children when they tell us this. I wonder how many children that weren’t listened to many years ago are no longer here with us?

“I had wonderful parents. They didn’t recognize this any more than I did. As far as parents today, I can say this: There are many things that you can do to shape the way a child behaves. You can’t shape them innately knowing who they are. A child knows who they are. You’re not going to shape them away from that.

“I felt my soul went into the wrong body. But now that it’s in harmony with the way that I think, and the way that I feel about myself, it just makes more sense to me. I think what I would tell my younger self is that it gets better. You get to be you.

“Aunt Barbara was an explosion of everything that I kept inside of me my whole life. Aunt Barbara was a release of all that pain I carried with me. And I think getting rid of a lot of that pain allowed me to say, you know what, I’m going to transition. Transition is one of the hardest things you can do. It is physically, mentally, emotionally difficult to do. People have walked away from me in my life. People that I’ve loved have walked away. A wise friend once told me, ‘You will be too much for some people…those aren’t your people.’ And that’s how I get through my day.

“I’ve had instances where people have treated me not so nicely outside. The underlying dirty look, the look away, that sort of shunning. Then there’s the microaggressions where it’s like, ‘Here’s your change, sir.’ That happens to me. If you’re not tolerant of someone’s differences you don’t have an open forum to be aggressive because it’s something you don’t understand. But the minute I call people out on it in a very respectful, professional way, I have a huge fan base of people who come right to my side.

“When the pandemic hit, I started doing an online show every week. It’s anything and everything. I’ll do a Tupperware party one week. It’s a talk show. It’s movie reviews. It’s interactive. And people from all over the country are tuning in. I have a whole new following. And there are people that have met each other. There are people that are in relationships because they bonded over watching the show. People look forward to it and they accept me for who I am.

“They went through my transition with me. I came back from the hospital where I had reassignment surgery and I had gift baskets, pajamas, slippers, robes—you name it. This place was filled with flowers and goodies. A really supportive group. And they love Aunt Barbara for who Aunt Barbara is. Cause she’s a part of me.

“When I put the camera on and I go live, the first thing I see are their comments coming up in the feed, and what I see is, ‘Hello family!’ That’s the first thing. They all know each other. It’s getting more and more people, and they consider themselves the Aunt Barbara family.”

Interviewed by Jay Max

‘My great grandparents had a bakery in Costa Rica and I grew up with my mother baking cakes as a little girl.’

Freeport

“My great grandparents had a bakery in Costa Rica and I grew up with my mother baking cakes as a little girl. I started my baking business at 30 when I was living in Tennessee with my first husband. I wasn’t as good as I thought I was and had to refund money and there were a lot of tears. I talked to my mother and she inspired me, she sent me whatever she had left of her baking tools. To this day, I have four of the spatulas she gave me. After my divorce, I moved back to New York and I was working odd jobs and I ran into my current husband, my brother’s childhood best friend. We met up, it was supposed to be a causal dinner among friends on a Tuesday but it lasted 6 hours and ended at my dining room table over a bottle of wine looking at my old pictures of cakes and he was like, ‘Why aren’t you doing this?’

I always wanted to stay at home with my kids and work from home. I wanted to raise my kids myself and this allows for that.

“From that night, we were inseparable, and we were married four months later. We had a baby right away, I quit my job at Bloomingdale’s when I was pregnant because I was having trouble with the pregnancy. I had five miscarriages until I had my first child. I’m OK with it; God doesn’t make mistakes. Now I have two natural sons and one bonus son I had the privilege to help raise. I wanted to go back to work and my husband was very adamant baking was my gift. It became hectic with small children and my Mom was living with us. Hurricane Irene came and wiped our house out, we rebuilt and then Hurricane Sandy came and wiped our house out even worse. We had to gut and redo the house again. He went to his parents a block away, they had a split house and two kitchens and said, ‘Do you mind if she works out of here?’ I have been working out of there since 2013.

“I always wanted to stay at home with my kids and work from home. I wanted to raise my kids myself and this allows for that. I can always reach out to my mother and my sister for advice, like how did you make this icing, I remember the flavor being like this. And the business, Bella Latina Cakes, is still growing. It’s really hard if you don’t have family support, it’s not impossible but boy it makes a huge difference.”