12 years in a NYC Orphanage Didn’t Stop Lillian Colon from becoming a Rockette!

"If you have nobody, you have yourself." Lillian Colon

When Lillian Colon shared that phrase above with Rob Scheer when he interviewed her recently, there was a pause in the conversation as those words hit home. Reflect on them for a moment.

On today’s episode of Fostering Change, Rob interviews Lillian Colon, who spent more than a decade in a strict New York City orphanage because her father “thought it would be best” to separate from the mother she adored. With restrictions all around her, she strove to be someone better than anyone ever believed she could. Lilly never knew the care and loving attention of a stable family, but she didn’t let obstacles and family tragedies stand in the way of her dreams.

As a child, after the nuns who ran the orphanage took her to Radio City Music Hall to see the famed “Rockettes, “Lilly was driven to become a dancer. A graduate of New York’s prestigious High School of Performing Arts (if you’ve ever seen the movie Fame,” you’ll understand), Lillian became the first Latina Rockette.

Lillian achieved so much more in her career, having performed with some of the great names in Hollywood and on Broadway, including the legendary Chita Rivera. Most recently, she was the oldest dancer in the Hollywood adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights!”

We celebrate this achievement on the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Lillian shares all this in her memoir Lilly: The First Latina Rockette. This is a truly lovely conversation with a wonderful, good human. We know you will enjoy her growing-up stories and her performance success.

To find out more about what Lillian is up to, please visit her website: https://www.lilliancolon.com/

You can purchase her book here: https://www.lilliancolon.com/product/lilly-book/

Thank you for listening! Of course, if you have any questions or comments about today’s episode or a suggestion for a guest for Fostering Change, please reach out to us at [email protected].

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