What Pitbull Taught Me About Reframing Life

There was a time when I thought failure was the end.

Walking into federal prison felt like my whole world had collapsed. Everything I once clung to was stripped away. Titles. Achievements. The image I built. All gone. What I was left with was pain, shame, and fear about who I might become on the other side.

But in that silence, I learned something I carry with me every day. I learned to reframe.

Reframing is not about pretending everything is fine. It is about looking straight at the heartbreak and the loss, feeling it fully, and still asking yourself: What is this here to teach me? How can I grow from this? Where is the opportunity hidden inside this pain?

That is how I began to turn failure into fuel. That is how I found the courage to try again.

And one of the best examples I know of reframing is Armando Christian Pérez. You know him as Pitbull.

He grew up with struggle all around him. Poverty. Addiction in his family. A world that kept telling him what he could not do. If he had accepted that script, his story would have ended before it began. But he flipped it. He turned obstacles into drive. He turned pain into music. He built a global brand and a legacy from the very things that could have broken him.

And here is the part that most people never see. Pitbull is not just an artist or an entrepreneur. He is a kind, generous, and grounded human being.

I met him years ago in a restaurant. He could have brushed me off or kept it polite. Instead, a few days later, he texted me. He wanted to hear my story. He asked questions. He listened. He gave me his time. He mentored me. He empowered me when I was still trying to find my footing again.

That kind of humility and generosity is rare. It showed me firsthand what reframing looks like when you live it out loud.

He did not stop with his own success. He poured that same energy into building charter schools that give kids a chance at a future they might never have believed possible. Years later, I had the honor of giving the commencement speech at one of those schools. To share that stage and now call him a friend is proof that reframing is not just survival. It is transformation. It is rewriting your story and helping others rewrite theirs.

When we reframe, we stop seeing struggle as a dead end. We start seeing it as a doorway. The magic and the light are waiting on the other side, even when we cannot see them yet.

Challenge to Rise

Take one negative moment this week and reframe it. 

If something flops at work, do not stop at “I failed.”

Ask yourself, “What did this teach me?”
If a relationship feels heavy, ask “What truth is showing up for me here?”
Reframing is courage in action.

Leading with Courage

Leaders who reframe change the culture around them. They own mistakes. They speak truth. They help their teams see possibility in the rubble. When failure becomes fuel instead of fear, that is where innovation begins.

Breakthrough Moment

The next time you feel the weight of overwhelm, stop. Name the feeling out loud. 

Then ask yourself, “What is the gift in this moment?” That single shift builds resilience.

We do not always choose our struggles. But we always choose how we frame them. And in that choice, we rise.