Leticia F. Padilla, Life Experiencer

Answer: I have been told that living here in California is much easier than living in Mexico. There are more benefits and ways to advance, living in California. I am happy to be here. I lived off and on in Los Angeles. I was going to marry a young guy that was 22 years younger than me.

Question: Why didn’t you get married?

Answer: I realized the difference in the years between us. I realized I was going to get older and he would probably start straying towards younger women. I figured it was better to get the hurt out of the way now, than to wait until later.

Question: You had some family issues growing up, can you elaborate on this?

Answer: I had problems with my biological mother and step-father. There was a lot of abuse. The abuse was constant. I was the center of abuse from my step-father, he would not hardly abuse my step-sister and step-brother. The abuse became daily, it was so bad I started running away to the church for shelter. On one occasion the abuse was so bad, I was bleeding profusely. The blood was getting on the carpet and my step-brother was yelling for my step-father to stop beating me, because of the blood. My step-father then swatted my step-brother across the room and stopped beating me, because of the massive amount of blood on the carpet.

Question: That is horrible Leticia, I am so sorry to hear this. You had some negative conflicts in your life, but you also had some positive outcomes in your life. Can you please tell me about the time you met Salena and her group?

Answer: I was working at the radio station KRCX Spanish Radio Station as a secretary, then got promoted to a traffic manager within 6 months. Did that for about a year, then got into outside sales. Salina and her group were promoting her first record and came to the station and met everyone. She was so awesome and very personable. I met many other celebrities too.

Question: Didn’t you date Carlos Santana’s brother?

Answer: Yes, his name is Jimmy Bean, we dated every time he was in town. Do you remember the movie Bound by Honor? I met with Jimmy Santiago Baca, actor of the movie and they came to the radio station to promote the movie, in fact I got to see the movie before it was released. I became very close friends with Jimmy Santiago Baca. Jimmy had to disappear for a while, because of possible gang retaliation. Another actor from the movie was Magic Mike and let me think, I met up with Cruz (Jesse Borrego) Paco and Miklo (Damian Chapa). Other celebrities I met are: Vicente Fernandez and his son Alejandro Fernandez; Antonio Aguilar; Braulio; Gerardo; Lucia Mendez; Los Bukies. My station was associated with 93 Rock and because of that, I met Aerosmith, Van Halen, Bad Company, AC/DC, Journey, Tony ‘The Tiger’ Lopez. Special Note: I also met up with Tony ‘The Tiger’ Lopez in the 80s in my home in Citrus Heights, my female roommate was dating him.

Question: What was the most memorable time with one of the celebrities you just mentioned?

Answer: That would be Salina and Jimmy Bean, of course it was very personable and intimate with Jimmy (smile). I was a back-up dancer for a Tessla video.

Question: Very cool life, what would you like to add to this interview?

Answer: Oh I forgot to mention, I met up with John Secada, he was doing a concert in Lake Tahoe and he picked me up from the audience and put me up on stage and did his performance on me! One memorable time I had, was when I entered this jewelry store and they had a raffle going on, I entered this raffle and in one week’s time I got a postcard saying I was a grand prize winner. I actually won a trip to Mexico, everything paid, hotel, airfare. The trip would take me to Mexico City, Tasco Guerrero, Acapulco. This was a 7 day trip. This was my honeymoon trip, even though I was not married.

Question: Anything else you would like to add?