Hatching Creativity: Conversations on Success, Innovation, and Growth
Welcome to "Hatching Creativity: Conversations on Success, Innovation, and Growth"! Join us as we dive deep into the world of creativity and explore the minds of remarkable individuals who have achieved extraordinary success in their respective fields.
In this podcast, we believe that creativity is not limited to the realm of art and design; it encompasses every aspect of life and business. Through engaging interviews and thought-provoking discussions, we'll uncover the secrets behind harnessing creativity to drive innovation and fuel personal and professional growth.
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Hatching Creativity: Conversations on Success, Innovation, and Growth
How Comedian Frankie Caputo overcame bullying and challenges from Nystagmus and turned his resilience into a tool to help others.
When Frankie Caputo faced down the bullies that targeted him for his eye condition called, Nystagmus, he didn't just defend himself he used humor to connect with others and shine a spotlight on his unique perspective. My incredible nephew joins us on the podcast, sharing the raw and often funny journey of transforming his insecurities into the kind of comedy that leaves you both thinking and laughing. Through stories of his eye condition's impact on every slice of life, from misinterpreted glances to the trials of road tests, Frankie illustrates the power of laughter to triumph over adversity.
We touch on the importance of sharing our stories, not just to heal ourselves, but to reach out to others who might feel alone in their struggles. Frankie's narrative takes us through the creation and hiatus of his 'Dancing Eyes' podcast, the quirks of cultural misunderstandings, and the hilariously low bar for obtaining a Florida driver's license. His experiences offer a fresh lens on the world, reminding us that our challenges don't define us—they can be the very thing that makes our lives uniquely rich and worth celebrating. Join us for an episode filled with the kind of humor and heart that will have you seeing life through a different, dancing set of eyes.
Welcome to Hatching Creativity. This isn't just another behavioral health podcast. This is the place where thought leaders converge to talk about real-life challenges, breakthroughs and pivotal aha moments. Thank you, everybody for tuning in. I'm really excited about today's guest, Frankie Caputo. Frankie is my 23-year-old nephew, but why is beyond those 23 years to the point where I thought it would be really valuable for all of you to learn a little bit more about Frankie and the perspectives that he has on some of his traumas and some of the things that he's dealt with in his life? So welcome, Frankie, If you want to share a little bit about yourself please go ahead, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my name is Frankie Caputo. I'm an aspiring comedian, so right now I'm just doing a lot of open mics. I get booked once in a while, not really doing it full-time yet. It's going to happen soon. I also host a podcast called the Dancing Eyes podcast, which is a podcast where I interview other people that were born with the same eye condition that I was born with, which the eye conditions called nystagmus. I was bullied a lot for it when I was growing up so I decided to make a podcast so I could talk to other people about it, because I was never able to meet another person with the condition in real life. So I met a bunch of great people with the conditions, started the podcast and now I'm doing the stand-up. And here we are now. For the first time in my life I've found some fulfillment through the podcast and through the stand-up, just trying to keep doing that and seeing where it leads me to.
Speaker 1:I love what you've done with the struggles that have been dealt to you in your life, and we'll go through a little bit of Frankie's history on the show today. But just a second ago you talked about your podcast Starting at the beginning. You were born with an eye condition that not only affected your vision and what you see outward to the world, but it also has an effect on your eyeballs, on your pupils and what other people are seeing in your eyes. So it affects the way other people are looking at you as well as what you can see out. Double whammy, double whammy, exactly, exactly. And that's important to mention, because a lot of times when we have a medical condition or some other sort of handicap, right, it's either internal and only we know about it, unless we choose to let other people know about it, or it's external and everybody can see it as well. This is something that is unique because it affects both sides of that.
Speaker 2:I was born with nystagmus, which is a condition that makes my eyes move around uncontrollably, like pretty much all of the time. Some people they move up and down, some people they move like circles. Mine just go left to right, so they go side to side. And there's other things with my eyes, like I only look at things with one eye at a time, like I don't use both eyes to lock down on things, which, like gives me the appearance of like looking past you if I'm trying to look at you, which that's actually mostly what I got bullied for. I didn't get bullied mostly for the nystagmus is more of like the I'm not really looking at you when I'm talking to you. That was where most of the bullying came from, so that affected every interaction that I had. Like I was.
Speaker 2:I didn't talk to people for a while because I was scared to get bullied from them. Where I was scared that if I made enough eye contact with them, like they would see through me and they would see that I'm like a crazy person and they wouldn't want to talk to me anymore. Because that's how the bullies made me feel is that I'm not worth being like I'm good to have around as a joke, but I'm not good to have around like as a friend. It affected every aspect of my entire life. My eyes were the only thing that I was able to think about for years, like I lived in a state of tremendous insecurity and I still do, by the way, like it's not. Like the insecurity has dissipated, but I'm not nearly as insecure as I used to be. But like freshman, sophomore year in high school, first couple of years of high school, just every single interaction I had with the person I would be thinking about my eyes and my eyes shaking, which is how I felt for years, so-.
Speaker 1:You know, frankie, a lot of people deal with very similar situations, maybe not with the eyes, but something that is part of their appearance, that they get picked on for, and then they are very self-conscious about it. I had that growing up as well. Heard about it about my nose, heard it about it about many different things right, and what I thought was really inspiring about you was being able to take these situations that you have no control over and getting out in front of it and talking about it, and one of the things that I really admire about you is your openness to talk about your experience. How did you get from the scared to talk to people and anxious about being around it and interacting with people to the point where you can put yourself on video and put yourself out to the world.
Speaker 2:I learned that it made me feel better. That's as simple. Like, simply, I started talking about my eyes, or I started talking about even we can get later into this but like traumatic experiences that I've gone through which, by the way, for me, like my eyes, are a traumatic experience because, like the bullying that I went through is borderline, just as traumatic as anything else that I've been through I learned that talking about it really like it's cathartic, it makes you feel better. And I also learned that when I was in high school, if I start talking about it, like people aren't really going to make fun of it anymore, like you take the wind out, you make it less fun for people to make jokes about it, especially if you made the jokes about it first and your jokes happen to be better, then it's like what are they going to do now? Like you've already, you've said the jokes and they're better than theirs are, like they have nothing.
Speaker 1:Right, well, you're also welcoming it, right, and you're identifying the elephant in the room.
Speaker 1:And sometimes people joke, or make jokes because they're uncomfortable, because they just don't know what's going on. And if you explain it to them like, hey you, this is, this is what's going on with me, this is actually a medical condition and, yeah, I think it's funny too. And how about this? It completely takes all the power out of that bullying and that's really what you've been able to do and I love how you took that recognition of hey, I haven't been able to come across other people with nystagmus and found a niche, found this group and created a tool and an educational environment for people to learn more about it and and really put that out there in the world. And I mean, I see the, the connections and the comments that people are making to the things that you're doing. And you go, ben, I was able to turn a traumatic event right and you had labeled it as traumatic into something that can now be a tool and is now a tool for you to overcome that trauma, and I think that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I just wanted to say this as well about the podcast and the people coming across the podcast when, when I was younger and I was getting bullied a lot for the nystagmus, there weren't any resources online for me to go to, where there were people talking about the mental aspect of the condition and the bullying and like the learning how to accept yourself and dealing with the condition, there was nothing like that available online. There was a lot of medical stuff there's a lot of doctors explaining to students what nystagmus was. There was a lot of surgeons talking about medical procedures and things that we can do to make the eyes better but there was never somebody like hey, by the way, you might get a little, you might get bullied for this. Here's how you overcome the bullying and and here's what I went through and here's what other people went through and and here's how we how we got through it.
Speaker 2:There was never personal stuff available online and to me, that that's the biggest reason why I started the podcast is because I wanted to make a resource for people that are going through something similar to what I was going through and and the response has been tremendous the people who are just coming across my podcast for the first time, are seriously grateful for it and and I'm I'm grateful for them that they're grateful for this, like the podcast has done. The podcast has done exactly what I wanted it to do, like it couldn't have gone any better, so I'm super happy about that.
Speaker 1:You know what else is important to mention too, about that connection, right Cause I think that so much of this world is about connecting with other people, and when we feel shame or we feel like we're broken or there's something wrong with us, then we kind of go back and we regress, we go back into the shadows, right, and that shame makes us do that, because we feel like there's something wrong with us. It helps beyond ourarincy. It's great that you can take that label it, as, hey, this was me. I'm here to talk about this and talk about my experiences, other people's experiences, and then be able to to grow and help people grow from it, and I really appreciate what you've done with your own life and and really respect what you've done with the podcast and all of the other aspects of your life that you've been able to grow from. Frankie, can you share with people the name of your podcast and and and how to find it?
Speaker 2:Yes, you have. The name of the podcast is called the Dancing Eyes podcast and it's available anywhere. It's on Apple podcasts, spotify, youtube Anywhere you find your podcasts. It's available on there. There's also an Instagram page for it. It's just called Dancing Eyes podcast. On Instagram we post clips from different episodes. The podcast, just to be clear, the podcast. I haven't posted an episode in like half a year now. The podcast is on a bit of a hiatus. I don't even know when it's gonna be returning. It'll probably be returning with a new host, but I'm not sure when that's happening. But I think it's probably gonna happen eventually.
Speaker 1:Whether it happens with the new host or it happens anywhere else. I think the most important factor is the is the fact that you were able to take the challenge and May and make something universal as a tool for other people to benefit from. You've turned adversity into a super power and I give you mad props for that and I really appreciate you, frankie. Thanks, man.
Speaker 3:I Appreciate it people like to put googly eyes on an adamant object and they think it's a good time. I disagree. I think it's cultural appropriation. Anybody here put googly eyes on an inanimate object before? First of all, I'm happy you said something, because I can't see you. Second, off, you are part of the problem. I Look like I was born during an earthquake and my eyes never recovered. I don't drive, but I do have a driver's license. And I know what you guys might be wondering to yourselves right now how the fuck is googly. I gotta have a driver's license and the answer is simple. The answer is I got it in Florida. I Fucking cheated. I was one of the easiest tests I've ever taken. The woman who gave me my driver's license test she did not sit in the car with me during my driver's license test. I'm not making any of this up, what she did, what she stood outside and yell instructions at me through the window. Well, she smoked the cigarette.
Speaker 3:There was one point during my test, for she yelled at me to do a three-point turn and I'm not gonna lie, I didn't know what the fuck a three-point turn was. So in the middle of my test I took out my phone and I looked that shit up and she saw that part and she still passed me.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The day I got my driver's license I got a bunch of texts from friends and family. Some people were happy for me, some people were concerned. My favorite message I got was from my uncle, who sent me a picture of a blind man wearing sunglasses Driving a car and holding a walking stick out, and the message that he said with that said ha ha, lol, did not mean to send that to you, bro. I said that make my least. Favorite thing about my eye condition is that it's literally the first thing that a cop is trained to look for when deciding if someone's intoxicated. That's not a joke, it's just unfortunate. I always looked like I'm high, but I didn't know. I always felt like I was high until one time I was a math class. In the middle math class someone came up to me, lifting me my eyes and said I've been there before, buddy.
Speaker 3:And I was like dude, you are my math teacher, bro, oh, teach me a dish.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to hatching creativity. We appreciate your support. Please don't forget to like and subscribe and tell all your friends about the show and remember it's never just about one thing.
