>> How I started with Roadtrip Nation.
I graduated from UCI in 2007 and I
was a part of the documentary series.
I applied to be like a road tripper, so
basically travel around right on the RV,
and just meet people and interview people.
So, I went to New Zealand on my trip and then
did that and interviewed people and just kind
of cemented everything like
I've studied for at UCI.
And so, I went there, I came back
and I was like, man, I need to --
this is what I want to be doing, like
I want to get involved with them and --
so I kind of like hung around a little bit and
then they offered me a spot to be a roadie,
which is traveling on a green RV again, which
is going around the country; but, in this case,
it was visiting different colleges and different
high schools and just talking with them
and sharing like the opportunities of road trip
to hit the road with us to get grants to travel.
And so, from there, that's when I was like
getting the hands-on experience with working
with students and working with kids
and like doing it within Roadtrip.
And then, once that tour ended,
I was like, "I got to stay on.
I got to keep staying on."
and so, basically hung around
and I became a production intern.
So I did went like road tripping
which is like, you know, the --
what we make the series on is off with the road
trippers and then it was like a roadie who's
like getting paid to travel and then I went
all the way down to like production intern
and I was just like -- but it
was like I have to stay here.
I have to be a part of this.
And so, from there, I was like interning and
then a spot opened up in our outreach department
to do outreach and they knew that that was
something [inaudible] passionate about.
And so, from there, [inaudible] the outreach
started, you know, getting involved there
and then eventually became
like the road trip director.
So, yeah. I attended college at
University of California Irvine
and my major was social science with the
emphasis in public and community service.
I picked public and community service as
a major because that whole idea I think
when I was younger and growing up, my
parents, they came from the Philippines
and so they were -- you know, they were very
-- they had their idea of what successful was
and like what I was supposed to do and
what I was set up to be when I grew up
and I think I had passions and
things that I was like very --
I cared about a lot growing up that
didn't hold important, you know,
whether it was like something as simple as like
making beads or like making music or writing,
like it wasn't important to them.
And so, I never had that like support from them
and I always felt like I had to do it on my own.
And so, for me, that idea of,
you know, people -- and --
but they also instilled me which is
interesting is like the idea of like giving back
and the idea of like realizing what
you have and being able to share that.
And so, in a way, they kind of like set me up
in a way that they didn't support me so much,
but then they also set me up with
these values so I give back --
During college, I interned at Olive Crest,
which is like they do like foster home --
or group homes and youth for in Santa Ana.
Yeah, I think what I was interning in in college
like directly has affected like what I do now
and it showed me like that path
as like, I think that's the way
or I know that's the way I want to go, so yeah.
What did I do after college?
Well, I was broke for a little bit and
like searching really hard for a job.
And I think that was -- that's a big thing that
I talk about like which was right after college,
which was -- you know, I felt really
idealistic after college and I was like,
"Let's go change the world, like
let's go to the nonprofit world."
And I think right when I graduated, too, I was
kind of like the economy was kind of tanking
and it was -- it was a tough time to find a
job, so I did -- just sent out many, many,
many, many, many, many, many resumes.
Eventually, I worked like doing afterschool
teaching with youth and mentoring with them.
And before I got to Roadtrip,
and so I got the Roadtrip ad.
That job was only part time, so I
think even after college I went back
to like delivering food and I was like, "It's
worth it for me and that it was like a means
to an end like I knew that if I
wanted to get where I wanted to be,
I needed to make these sacrifices
to do that, and so, yeah.