[MUSIC] So the phrase, state of change, I hope that I consider that as something that's very true for Indiana.

Because right now I think Indiana is seen as a stagnant place, just like very still waters.

So I hope the leaders that we meet are going to be able to provide insight for this innovation that's occurring within our state.

In that they will be able to show us that it's not just like this still place, this stagnant place for that.

And it's very active, and it's creating all this innovation.

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] All right so what are we doing again [LAUGH]?

>> [SOUND] >> So this summer.

>> Jaden, Dengke and I, we are about to go on this road trip around Indiana.

>> To >> Interview people working in growing industries in the state of Indiana.

>> Trying to figure out what we actually want to do with our lives.

>> I'm at that stage where should I go with what I like, or should I go with what makes money, or should I compromise with something in between.

>> I've never really explored Indiana, so I'm not really sure what's all out there.

>> Hopefully on this trip, we can just kind of slow it down, slow down the process, be able to catch our breath and just go forward and freedom on the road, on the open road >> Honestly I don't know what to expect from Indiana >> I'm just super excited.

>> Day one of the trip.

>> I took Lyft here and then Dengke and Jaedyn were there and I love them and I just gave them a hug.

Good Morning!

>> I want to get a picture too.

>> And then we all got moved into the RV.

Here we go ooh ahh.

When I first walked into the RV I thought it was really spacious.

Whoa my gosh.

This is so massive.

>> First thing I thought about when I walked into the RV was [LAUGH] It's nice.

[MUSIC] >> First thing I thought of when I first got an RV was it's blank.

There's nothing in here.

>> A little RV of opportunity.

I think it'll be really good.

I'm really excited about it, but at the same time, I really don't know what to expect because I haven't lived with boys.

So there might be a little weird stuff I don't know.

They're smelly I don't know.

>> I don't smell.

>> Boys don't smell okay right.

Do you guys bring your Roadtripping hat?

>> Yes.

>> Yeah of course.

>> I'm not really sure I haven't tried mine on I'm not sure how it's gonna work with my bangs.

It might get down into my eyes.

>> You're like the soccer mom.

[LAUGH] >> Wow.

>> Yeah good one.

>> My name is Shannon Newer I am 21 years old, and I'm from Beach Grove Indiana.

Growing up in Beach Grove it's really homey [MUSIC] My family is very family oriented.

My mom and I are exactly the same person.

Growing up she went to Beach Grove.

Graduated from Beach Grove.

She met my dad at this community college.

That's where they meant.

My family's so supportive.

It feels good to think that like I do make my parents proud.

>> So after 9th grade, my biology teacher got up and started talking about how we're going to need people to think like we've never thought before so that we can grow food for people with half the resources, half the water, and I was like, this is it I just felt like this why I feel like I've been created to do.

It has been the underlying motivator of the type of work that I wanna do.

And there's so many options in what I'm doing but food security is my number one thing [MUSIC] So I have a bunch of questions that I'm hoping that these professionals that we're about to interview are gonna help me answer.

>> Are you good?

>> Those are so cute.

>> Magic cards, an entire box full.

>> My gosh.

>> This is like 30 something in there.

>> My name is Jayden Zavala, I am 18 years old and I live in Kokomo Indiana.

Growing up here for me was nice.

It was a little bit hard though because when I was younger I got bullied a little bit at school and like name calling, racial slurs and things like that.

[MUSIC] That one, if you can tie on that one, and then I'll put it back behind that bookshelf just for now, we can change it after I.

>> My mom's been teaching for about five years.

I always go over and help her in her room.

We switch on and off cooking together, Sometimes we have our arguments.

It's just getting on me about little things to have helped me become a better person in the future.

In high school, I've been told a lot of negative messages.

Like, you are not smart enough for this.

We see how you do in school, you won't be able to.

Willing to succeed.

I did not really get good grades, I didn't really care and I was thinking about it over a period of months and I was like I really want to turn my life around.

I have to get good grades, enough to make my mom proud and then I started working really hard.

I finished with the best grades I've ever had my entire high school career [MUSIC] But right now in college I feel like I'm not gonna be smart enough to be able to do all this because like I've never taken college courses before.

I don't know how hard it will be.

I am not sure what I'm going to do.

Visiting people, doing these other jobs.

I think that'll help me learn more about what I wanna do.

And so I can be able to succeed what I want to do.

>> Dude you guys like Pokemon?

>> All my friends do but I don't.

>> [CROSSTALK] Smells like pickles in here.

>> My name is Dengke Wang, I'm nineteen year old and I live in Portage, Indiana.

Portage, I feel it is not like the rest of Indiana.

Its pretty close to Chicago.

So its getting a little vibe from there.

Pretty chill, I actually moved to the US when I was 7 years old back in 2005.

And when I moved here I didnt really know how to speak English or understand it.

It was pretty difficult I have to say.

My household is like a little gateway to China.

We really value family time.

Everything we do is still like traditional culture wise like Chinese.

For me like this road trip is like totally just 180 turn from what I usually do.

Cuz I'm the type of person that enjoys staying in my room, just playing video games all day.

[MUSIC] I actually got into computers when I was little.

I remember the first time I actually played on a computer.

I was four years old and I've been playing computer games non-stop from then.

And engineering, I got into that in high school.

But I'll be, actually, the first generation in my family to actually go to college.

And the expectation is, success is based off of how much money you make.

It's hard to stray away from that.

That kind of puts a lot of pressure on me.

Cuz I know I want to innovate and create, but I don't know where I want to go with that yet.

>> I have bad handwriting, this is gonna be bad.

>> I'll write it for you, >> So, the three of us, me, Dengke and Shannon, we wrote our biggest primary question that we wanted to have answered on this trip, on the walls For me I'm just going into college and I don't really have any idea what to expect, and it's a life changing decision.

>> My big question for this road trip is how do I figure out what I wanna do?

>> I want to get a job that pays well, and I'm happy with.

But I don't know if that's possible.

>> My biggest question for this roadtrip is what is my formula for happiness?

>> One question that I would like to address would be how do you continue to work with humility?

I feel like pride may inhibit someone from doing their best work.

How do they continue to walk in humility throughout their career?

>> You made Indiana backwards.

>> Did I really?

My God.

>> You did.

[LAUGH] >> I did?

>> Yeah, the bottom a little bit [LAUGH].

>> Was it this way?

>> It's pointed that way, yeah >> It's okay, you did good.

>> Noooo!

This is the look of sheer disappoitnment.

[MUSIC] >> Driving I think for me is the most scarey part.

>> It's fine.

Just sticking with it because I'm not trying to tip over.

>> [LAUGH] I don't want that to be on the news roadripper flips RV.

I just want a huge lane to drive in while everyone else can stay away from me.

>> Check your left.

>> I'm checking it.

>> Okay, now slow down we're gonna have to switch lanes and get to the left.

>>Of course, semi's like to drive right by it.

>> Okay yeah, this is gonna be the scariest part.

Yeah, make sure you- >> Slow down.

>> Take it nice and slow.

Yeah, there you go.

So good, you're doing so good.

>> Shannon, if you were not talking to me I probably would've crashed by now, but [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] Okay.

[MUSIC] Keep going forward.

Now stop.

Wow, we made it!

Woo, great job.

>> The first interview I didn't know what to expect.

What if I mess up?

What if I don't introduce myself the right way and what if everything starts off really bad?

>> So our first interview is a woman named Lindsay.

She's a lead software engineer.

She invited us into her home, which I though was really neat.

Yeah, I'm a little nervous.

>> I know nervous but excited.

>> I think it's gonna be good.

Within Indiana, I would say that a majority of people, they perceive it as a really negative place to live.

But these professionals that we're about to interview, they chose for a reason to stay and what is that?

Hello.

>> How are you?

>> Great.

Hi, I'm Shannon.

>> Lindsay.

>> Nice to meet you.

[MUSIC] Could you just tell us a little bit more about what stage of life you were in when you were our age?

And how you specifically got to where you are now?

>> I grew up loving design, loving art and I kind of knew I wanted to do something like that.

But I couldn't pinpoint this job.

My degree was Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue.

And looking back, I think that was a good approach for me cuz your first job seems like such a big decision.

But it's not necessarily your forever job.

>> What do you think a good balance for life is?

Should I go for a job that pays more, but spend less time with family, or?

>> Yeah, or vice versa.

I actually wanted to get into teaching cuz I love sharing kind of what I've learned with others.

So what I've actually done over the years is I have a great job where I earn a salary.

But on the side I teach coding to women to kind of help them enter the tech world.

There's a lot of women who don't have a support network if they want to enter the technology world.

So, Girl Develop IT, it's a non-profit organization that offers classes to women who wanna learn coding.

And we're also a great community for them, and it's a great way to give back to the community.

So, it's a good combination of having a great day job, which I enjoy doing, and I get fulfilment out of.

But then I also get to do these other things that are also interesting to me.

>> I think that it is so beautiful.

>> [LAUGH] >> And now that you work in Indiana do you see yourself staying here in the future and continuing your career here or?

>> I've thought about opportunities in other cities.

And I had the opportunity to explore those.

But people here are genuinely nice.

[LAUGH] And I use to think Indiana is so behind the times.

They don't care about innovation.

I've experienced the opposite living here in Indy.

People are excited about making progress, improving people's lives, building cool products, being on top of innovation and competing with other cities, that is a real thing here.

Still a very tight knit community but people are excited to innovate and make progress.

[MUSIC] >> It really left a deep impression on my heart that she's involved in bringing the lives of young women, cuz I have a big heart for outreach too.

And so I really look forward to carrying what she has said into my future career >> This is our home.

>> This is nice.

>> It's super new.

>> Yeah, we're living in here.

>> Welcome to our home.

[LAUGH] >> It's nice, so there's- >> Welcome to our crib.

>> Yeah, I love it.

>> What if I have a job and then I have other interests that I wanna do?

I'm like, I didn't know what to do, but then she said the non- profit.

I'm like, I can do that.

I was just excited knowing that I didn't have to choose just one thing to do.

>> All right, let's see if I can do this upside down.

>> [LAUGH] >> I wanna say, never stop learning.

>> She actually wanted to be a teacher.

But she's a senior developer now, so obviously she changed her mind from becoming a teacher.

But I like how she still didn't really give up on the idea and made it into a passion project for her.

>> Yeah,?

>> Thank you.

>> Yeah [LAUGH] >> Thank you.

>> And I've never met anyone like her.

And, it's awesome.

So I'm just really excited and I was calling my dad afterwards and he was like, Shannon anybody can be involved in a non-profit.

And I was like, what?

I did not know this was a thing.

And so I know there's gonna be a big takeaway for me.

That's just the first day.

[MUSIC].

So today, we're going to GE Aviation in Lafayette.

We're going to check out some plane turbines and how they are made.

[MUSIC] We went to GE, that's where they make jet engines, come on.

[LAUGH] They're these huge things.

>> I was thinking that it was just a factory, it was just gonna be like gross and old in there.

It looks cool in here.

>> My word.

>> My god.

>> So at GE, we interviewed Joshua.

>> When I graduated high school, I didn't want to go to college.

Trying to figure out what route was best for me, I joined the military.

I wanted to do something that would set me up for whenever I got out of the military.

I serve five years and then I heard on the news that GE was opening up and I applied and got hired to start this plant.

[MUSIC] >> Can you explain a little bit what you do here and what life is like working here?

>> I work over in the overhaul section where we actually tear down the engines and rebuild them.

You can get your hand into any part of the business here at the site even though you're a technician.

>> So this is what we call a vein sector and it is inserted between each stage.

So he's adding more haves onto his compressor to build up the case.

It's got to be built in stages or else it can't all go together.

But we'll insert vein sectors here.

Here and here in each stage, and it'll actually build up the whole case.

>> How did you figure out what you wanted to do, such as aviation and how you sorta did that in the military?

And now you're working for GE Aviation.

I was wondering how you figured out you wanted to do that.

>> As a kid one of the things I always thought that would be cool would be to fly a jet, helicopter, stuff like that.

And it was really a matter of what's the best way to figure out if I wanna become a pilot?

So I put myself close to that job, and the closest ability that I could do to get there was by working on the jets.

After that I was like I'm not sure about being a pilot, but I enjoyed what I did while I was in the military.

I realized quickly that working with my hands is what I enjoyed doing.

To me it's neat to build stuff, in my opinion.

It's fun to tear things apart and being able to put them back together.

>> What advice would you give to us and people going through that transition phase where they're not where they wanna be?

>> Some jobs require, I like to refer to as stepping stones.

Sometimes in order to achieve your higher goal you need to take other jobs, start from the bottom, and then work your way up.

And you just need to understand that you're not gonna always jump straight to the top.

You gotta realize that it takes hard work sometimes, and it's possible.

You just gotta look around.

>> He was saying, your first job doesn't have to be your dream job.

It's great to shoot for the stars, but sometimes you have to go in and you have to sweep the floors.

And you have to work in this position that you're not gonna want to do.

You can't go into a job saying I'm not going to do this, or this is dumb, because if anything it's gonna be humbling for you.

>> So awesome.

>> Thank you.

>> It's a stepping stone.

>> Yeah, stepping stone!

[MUSIC] >> After GE Aviation we drove a little bit up north to go see Bryan.

And he owns a family farm.

[MUSIC] Hi I'm Shannon.

>> Hi, Bryan.

>> Nice to meet you.

[MUSIC] >> There's a stigma around farmers, they're behind technology, and can you just describe how do you feel the stereotypes of farmers?

>> Yeah, so a lot of people are surprised that farmers are really high tech, we're ahead of the curve on some of that stuff we're like any other industry we get more specialized and more advanced all the time.

>> Brian was saying how our technology is like highly involved in farming and how they used drones, like they can see exactly in their farm, like what are the dry spots, what are the death spots.

>> We're using satellite imaging, and drones to look at our crops and you're basically everything we do in the field is recorded and geo- referenced.

So this is, this field, we're getting our location now.

>> Wow.

>> So we know that this variety is P1498, it's orange.

>> My big thing is that I'm really passionate about global food security, so I'm just really curious to hear what you have to say about that.

>> I think a lot of people are getting like this.

Everybody is always saying, American farmers have got to feed the planet.

I'm like no, okay there's a lot bigger problems than what I'm doing here.

So... it's important we're gonna keep doing better all the time.

But there's, there's societal problems that are the root of people being hungry.

Not so much there's not enough food to go around.

It's just not getting to all the people I should say.

>> I told him that I was passionate about global food security.

And he said that it's all about like policy and government.

That is where real change occurs.

And so here I have like this preexisting thought about what I would like to do.

And it's like, these people are mentioning these really odd things to me and it's starting to like [MUSIC] Test yourself around.

You have to be humble enough to accept that this thing that I want, isn't what's best for other people.

[MUSIC] >> For us, people going through college, would have one advice, you wish you had?

>> You gotta do something that you wanna do.

What drives me is, I always wanna get better at this.

We'll never get it 100% right, but we can always try again.

And you have to want to do it and be better at it.

[MUSIC] >> So now we're about to go visit a place called Turkey Run in Indiana.

It's this state park with canyons and wild animals and trails and a huge river and it's sort of like a hidden gem.

[MUSIC] Being on this road trip I am getting more time to think about my life.

Being able to be calm and not rush because during school and sports and everything, you're just focusing on school.

Now you actually get to get answers to all of the questions you have.

>> I feel like this trip is to honestly find who we are truly meant to be, and who we are now.

Cuz I I don't really know who I am.

I just feel lost, I guess.

But It's very comforting to know other people on this trip even though they're different than me or going through the same thing as me.

We might have three different questions but I feel like it all boils down to what is our purpose and what are we truly meant to do?

[MUSIC] >> Is this really how you guys made it through here?

>> [LAUGH] It's a dance move, Shannon, get it.

>> This is not dinner and a show.

>> [LAUGH] Yeah, Shannon, yeah!

>> Yeah!

>> [LAUGH] >> In the past two days, I feel like I've learned a lot about myself, and it's important for me personally to go forward with honesty.

Cuz I think a lot of the times I like to think I have it altogether and things like that, but really I just have been side-walled by a lot of things.

So I'm excited to speak with the upcoming people to just see what kind of wisdom they have to share with me.

[MUSIC] >> So we just got to Warsaw, Indiana and I'm excited to interview at Zimmer Biomet, I'm interested to learn what they do there.

>> We're gonna go see Hallie, she builds and manufactures pieces that go for knee and hip replacements.

[MUSIC] >> I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, I went to Beria High School, I really liked math and science, so I thought, hey, maybe I should go into engineering.

But I also liked medicine, and so my senior year, I did a summer program at a local university and got to explore different types of engineering.

And found biomedical engineering, it was the perfect marriage of what I liked to do, so I went on and pursued my PhD in Biomedical Engineering.

After my PhD, I started looking for a job and actually found a job at Zimmer, and I've been here for 16 years.

In 2010, I became the director of group called Advanced Technology, and we wanted a team that would look forward, look out.

And try and find technologies that we need to know about and start developing or at least figuring out how to use.

Technologies like 3D printing of metals for improving the way our devices function.

>> So this starts out with polyurethane foam, like in seat cushions, what they do is they pyrolysis it so you only have a carbon structure left, okay?

>> My gosh.

>> Yeah, it's a really cool process, these have interconnected pores all throughout.

Fiber metal is about 50% porous, this is 80% porous, so the more space you have, the more space you have for bone to grow into.

>> Makes sense, thank you- >> Sure.

>> Our core values are all around helping others, right?

We help patients to walk, have mobility, alleviate pain, so inherent in our values is this desire to help others.

Whether it's someone polishing an implant on the floor or someone in the research lab testing something new, it's all about helping others.

And I think that that's what draws most of the folks to this industry.

>> Every single product goes through what we call, verification testing, sometimes you can use.

>> How do you maintain humility in your position?

>> One of the things that I am passionate about is innovation and building an innovative team.

But one of the core values of innovation is humility, if you don't have humility you're not gonna be open to new ideas.

And that's what innovation is, it's being open to new ideas and how to bring those to fruition.

>> Without humility, you won't have innovation because if you think that you know it all all the time and that you're in this position.

You won't be able to have breakthroughs because your mind is up here, and the world is down here.

>> As I said earlier, I'm trying to study the field of engineering but I don't know which one to dive deeper into, do you have any advise on which one to follow?

>> I've got two teenagers at home, and I tell them that they can take whatever classes they want.

And actually, I encourage them to take lots of different classes to figure out what their passion is.

For me, it was math and science and medicine, and that's how I got into biomedical engineering.

But as I've progressed in my career my passion is less about the science and more about the people, and how do I get people to be more innovative?

I think the biggest thing to keep in mind is just having an open mind.

It doesn't mean you have to agree with everything but just see it from that perspective, it'll change the way you think, experience it all, experience it all.

[MUSIC] >> As I get closer and closer to choosing my major, I realize it's too much to go through to not like what you're doing.

My main focus is to make money, I guess, but I'm not really 100% sure what I wanna do with engineering, I still don't know which field, there's so many.

So should I go with what I like or should I go with what makes money?

Or should I compromise somewhere in between?

[MUSIC] We just arrived at Mt Vernon in Evansville to interview Dow.

>> Dow AgroSciences.

[MUSIC] >> I work for Dow AgroSciences, which is a part of Dow Chemical, what we do here, we're in the seed business.

Our job is to develop a hybrid that will help the farmer in his business and help him make money as he feeds the world.

>> This one is okay?

>> More fungus for you, looks like fusarium.

>> Yeah.

>> Fusarium developing there.

So if you take two inbreds like that and you cross them, that's your hybrid, so the seed is produced on that, it's pollinated with this one.

And then, when you harvest the seed and plant it, that's what you get, so that's the hybrid.

So people are like, well, why do you have hybrids?

And it's like, that's why we have hybrids.

>> Yeah, way better.

>> Way better.

>> I was wondering if you ever get stressed out with cross- breeding, you would have to have a lot of patients with that.

To see if it would work, I was wondering how you deal with that.

>> It's a discipline, you just have to be patient, but I like to say, you have to be patient but in a hurry.

I never feel like I can have that attitude of, well, it's just gonna happen or it doesn't happen, whatever happens, happens.

It's like Now you'll never get anywhere with that.

You have to have that let's go get it.

Let's get there as fast as we can.

>> Can you talk about your backstory and how you grew up in Indiana?

>> I did not grow up on a farm.

I grew up in a small town and my grandfather farmed.

He went out and said hey, do you want to plant a garden?

And that got started that way.

We planted some radishes in a spot about this big.

My dad was a forester, so he was a tree guy.

So I think my interest in plants came from him.

I was debating between agriculture and ornamental horticulture, growing flowers and that kind of thing which I really love also.

But I thought if I'm gonna spend my life doing something, I rather spend my life helping to feed the world, so I really can feel good about what I'm doing.

We look at thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of different strains of corn every year.

Out of all those thousands, we look at we're looking for one that could be a new commercial product that would go in a bag of seed like that.

>> We were just wondering if there were any specific times where you have failed and how you've overcome that.

>> Where do you start?

It's a long list.

Really, it's a long list.

A lot of people have been very patient with me.

When I was in graduate school, I was in a wheat breeding program and I destroyed a lot of the genetics by putting too much seed treatment chemical on a lot of our seed.

My professor could've really fired me from his program on my Master's degree and he didn't.

But that was a moment when you could have just said it's awful.

It really was not a fun day.

But you can use that to say what can I do to get better or you can just get down on yourself and give up and giving up doesn't ever accomplish anything.

If you can find something you have a passion for, you love it, you think about it in the morning when you wake up and then you can figure out an intersection of that thing with something that you can make a living doing?

That's a pretty sweet place to be.

[MUSIC] >> All the people we interviewed so far give me the idea of just pursuing what you love and then just see what opportunities can align with that.

Once you find something you're passionate about, I feel like you just stop caring about the money aspect of it.

[MUSIC] >> Coffee, bro.

>> I'm cooking rice, and Daker was heating the chicken.

[MUSIC] >> We cook pretty well, Jayden, we share a lot in common.

And then Shannon, she's good with everybody.

She's very outgoing.

>> It was funny, because usually people don't click real fast, but us three, right once we met each other we were talking and talking and talking, going on forever.

[MUSIC] We were telling scary ghost stories which Shannon got really scared and then I got scared.

It was a fun night.

[LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> I never had brothers growing up but that's the vibe that I'm getting from them.

Indiana weather.

>> We all feel like family now.

We're always gonna stay like that.

>> [LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> We're going to see Polina at Recovery Force, and what kind of technology they're using.

>> She wanted to help people who has pain to suffer less.

[MUSIC] >> Nice to meet you.

>> Hi, nice to meet you.

[MUSIC] >> If you could just tell us about yourself, and tell us a little bit about the company that you're in.

>> Absolutely, I'm Polina Feldman.

I was brought on to Recovery Force to help promote the research and support the research through funding through the National Institute of Health.

Early on, I had an interest in science.

So from there that guided me towards the position I'm in today.

I went to Indiana University in Indianapolis where the medical school is and I joined their neuroscience program and I focused on developing new therapies for pain treatment, cuz it's one of the hardest things to actually cure.

And the moment that I sign on to go to graduate school, my path was, I'm gonna be a professor, this is what I wanna do for the rest of my life.

I wanna have my own lab, become an Nobel prize laureate, that was my goal.

[LAUGH] As graduate school went on, I started to realize that it takes a lot more than just inventing something in the laboratory.

All of a sudden, my passion shifted from doing research, research, research to understanding how do I get my invention to the market?

How do I get it into the hands of people where they can benefit from and improve their quality of life?

So the end of my graduate work, instead of going on to do a typical post doc, I decided I need to understand how industry works.

So I contacted the business school at Indiana University and I was their first student who was a scientist who wanted to go into business school right away.

So I did what I had a new passion for, taking inventions out of the university and turning them into companies.

I didn't go through a straight path, one opportunity led to the other, I kinda went full circle.

Every time, I became passionate about something, I went and I explored that industry.

>> I struggled in my first term of college.

I just wondered how you dealt with stress brought in from college and all that?

>> Within those years of undergrad and graduate, there are a lot of difficult times.

It was challenging, it was different.

A lot of the times my stresses were from not being able to communicate, getting somebody to understand where I'm coming from.

When you can reason with somebody on that level, those challenges dissipate and people can see how they can help you.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you have mentors, and always keep an optimistic mind, and surround yourself with optimistic people and people who are supportive.

And if they're not supportive, then maybe spend less time with them.

>> Two of my most valued mentors are total polar opposites.

For me, it's a real toss up.

For sure, I know I'm going to graduate school 100% now, and your mentors are probably like, what are you doing?

Are you sure?

And then you have that one that's like, do it, go do it.

You are going to be so successful.

>> So literally it comes down to there are so many avenues into every type of career path.

Just with an open mind, always listen, because especially where you're at in life, they just wanna help.

You may not like what they say, but who cares?

Everyone at the university, your family, whoever is close to you, just spend a lot of time absorbing everything, all the information and knowledge that you're getting around you.

Ignore the probability, live life to the possibility.

>> Wow, that's good.

>> That's some motivation.

>> Wow.

>> Wow, that's really unique.

I haven't heard that before.

Her whole life was about bridging the gap between innovation And applying it to real life.

I think that I'm gonna need to be more mindful with what my mentors were telling me.

And more importantly, you need to listen to your own voice because that is the only one that's really gonna dictate where you're about to go.

[MUSIC] So we're on our way to our last interview, so bittersweet.

>> We're gonna interview the CEO of Emplify.

He was an immigrant who came from Colombia and knew no English.

He went from being that into becoming a businessman and becoming who he is now.

Being minorities I don't think people see us succeeding as much as other people >> My first business was I have an avocado tree in Colombia and my parents would go to this country club.

And I would literally grab ten avocados, put them in a bag and then go kiosk to kiosk [LAUGH] selling avocados to people, just shamelessly selling fruit in my parents' country club.

[LAUGH] Which I think they just let me do it because I was like six years old and adorable.

But I just did that on my own, I have no idea why I was such a weird six year old.

[MUSIC] >> If you just explain what your role is at this company and maybe give a brief summary of what you guys do here.

>> Sure.

My role, title-wise is CEO and co-founder.

And as far as what we do at Emplify, at Emplify, our goal, our vision is to help improve the lives of 1 million people through more meaningful work.

The reality is that 70% of people that work are disengaged.

When you think about it, we spend half of our waking lives working.

And so for me, I find a tremendous amount of passion and fulfillment around helping.

Can we help other people, hopefully a million people, find more satisfaction, more fulfillment, more passion in the work that they do every day?

>> I was wondering if you could describe where you were at our time and the challenges that you were facing at that time and maybe even mention starting with your company.

>> Yeah, I didn't know what I wanted to do, I actually started college as a philosophy and music major.

And then I started realizing that while I loved thinking about philosophy and answering those questions, I couldn't quite see a career path for me that I'd enjoy.

And so then the journey became, well what thing can I put my heart and soul into for the next 30 years?

I see a business almost as like a living organism, if you think about.

I loved creating a living organism, it was just like a pursuit of art, of how to put the right ingredients and the right people together to create something that would ultimately make the world better.

And so I was like, okay, well business is it.

And I had started eight businesses before I got to college [LAUGH].

All eight businesses have failed, if you will, right, they don't exist anymore.

But I truly believe that if I hadn't learned those lessons in those spaces, I wouldn't be prepared for having run, to have grown a company of 60 employees, five years out of school, that I started in my dorm room.

Most of the time it looks like failing ten times, and you being like, should I keep going?

And I think that that's the thing that I've seen, helps folks stand out from the rest and truly thrive, is just simply persistence and grit.

So try something, take a step forward, fail, and then get back up again and try again and try again and try again and try again.

So I remember being 18, I wanted to leave Florida.

The trip I was on, I was SCUBA diving in Australia talking to the skipper, the captain, of the ship.

And he said, you know, I was in a landlocked country in eastern Europe and I saw the ocean for the first time, and I was completely sold, I knew that I was gonna spend the rest of my life in the ocean.

And I was like, I need to find that, I need to find my ocean, what is that one thing that I can spend 20, 30 years doing and just like, love it.

So I started thinking almost kind of the Venn diagram of like, what do I love to do, what am I good at, and what can I get paid to do.

And if I could find something that was in the middle of those three circles, right in the very middle of the Venn diagram, something I was good at, something I enjoyed doing, and something that the world needed, then that's what I wanted.

And for me business is the same thing.

I started to see business as my ocean.

It was first recognizing that people out there have a need, there's a problem in the world.

I can envision a future where that problem is solved and I can work with other people to solve that problem and we can work as a team and we can do something bigger together than what I could do on my own.

>> I've applied to simple jobs and gotten rejected for being Latino and that was just tough for me, I never understood why.

So I just think it's amazing to see you up here.

>> Yeah, well thank you.

It's a tough road for sure, it's not fair, it isn't.

For me, there was absolutely name calling and all that.

And I'm sure there's been situations in business where that's potentially affected things as well, so it is a hard journey.

And I think that's one of the things that I use as fuel cuz we can't nessisarily control what happens to us but we can control how we react to it.

And everyone of us has a chance to either prove them right or prove them wrong.

It's, we're turning that into like I'm a motivator, like a fuel, like I'm gonna show everyone that, despite that I'm Hispanic, I'm going to make it and I'm going to contribute and I'm gonna make this country better.

And that's how I'm gonna show you that your views of seeing immigrants as lesser is just off, it's wrong.

But reacting with grace and thoughtfulness, and it is so hard because everything makes you angry, that this unfairness is there.

But trying to figure out how to respond with love is really counter- intuitive and really hard to do.

And through that journey I think I found peace realizing that, pursuing selfless type of direction in my life was a good thing.

>> We opened up about stereotypes and stuff that me and Denkge dealt with personally I didn't think I would share that stuff at all but I ended up sharing and opening it up and Santiago would just listen and accept it and was feeling like what we were feeling.

I was just wondering if you have any advice for us?

>> I would say that, when you fall, when you fail, when it doesn't work out, when you get rejected from that job, when you get rejected from that program, try again, and then just try again, and just never, ever, ever give up.

Your potential is nearly unlimited if you're willing to put yourself out there, do that scary thing.

And it's hard to do that scary thing, cuz you might fail, you might get told no.

But you'll look back at the end of life, and you won't regret the things that you tried that didn't work out, you'll regret the things that you've never tried at all.

What could have been if I had tried that, if I had taken that bold step?

And so when you fall, get back up again, and try to find that ocean for you.

>> He was talking about how he failed over and over again in his business.

I feel like I should have just really put myself out there, and fail a couple of times, to really find what I want to do.

Cuz I feel like that kinda is a necessary step now.

>> So this is my favorite quote, that I think sums this up.

So the master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play leaving others to decide whether he's working or playing.

To him he's always doing both.

>> You would think that a CEO would be not as willing to dig into the the deeper parts of themselves.

And it's not something that you would expect with the boys.

They just started getting really personal.

>> Thank you.

>> Absolutely, absolutely.

>> When I think of important people, I don't really think of minorities because there's not a lot out there.

It just gives me hope.

If I didn't interview Santiago, I don't think I would have that hope.

>> You good?

>> Yeah, bold, going fast.

>> I know, I'm just doing it.

[LAUGH] >> It's fine, fine.

>> I mean, it was amazing to see them up there, seeing a Latino personally, the CEO of a company.

Now this the most impactful thing I've seen in my life, that interview.

>> Has the other guy, Santiago texted you back?

>> He texted me back.

[LAUGH] That was very funny.

I never thought he would.

The CEO texted me back.

Whoa, who am I?

That did rub off on me, like more and more outgoing than I was before I started this road trip.

Being able to talk to people in a different light, and really connect with them, and being able to be outside my comfort zone, to expand my comfort zone.

[MUSIC] >> After going on the roadtrip I think, our perspective has changed.

We don't want to leave.

We are going to cherish the last few days that we have together.

>> All done.

Wow, so cool.

>> Shannon it's your last time making a bed in an RV.

>> Will you not go with me?

>> [LAUGH] [MUSIC] [SOUND - Alarm ringing] >> Right now, we are at an RV park, and we are on the last day of our road trip.

>> Go Shanon, go Shanon, brush your teeth, brush your teeth.

[MUSIC] [CROSSTALK] >> [LAUGH] >> I will miss you.

>> Mike [LAUGH].

[MUSIC] >> On this road trip, we all bonded really quickly.

[MUSIC] This trip has been a time of our lives for staying in an RV with a group of people that I've never really met before [LAUGH] as I get to see what life is like from there perspective.

[MUSIC] Before I went on the road trip, I did not know anything about these industries or I didn't even know that they were in Indiana.

We went the most northern part of the state, and then the most southern part of the state which now I see that we have everything here.

>> You know, Indiana is a great place to live.

I mean, I think there's a lot of good, hardworking, honest people.

>> At least in my area of expertise, this is the ideal place to be.

>> You got coal down south, and then steel mills and Indianapolis is the big city.

We're not called the crossroads of America for no reason.

You can go everywhere from here.

>> Before I started the trip, I thought that people in industry or people in higher positions of influence struggled with humility.

But now I see without humility, you won't have innoviation.

>> Without this road trip, I won't have met these great people and relate to, they all followed their passion.

>> [LAUGH] See you bro.

>> See yo.

>> Bye Jaedyn.

>> Bye Shannon.

If you guys don't come to my campus I'll be very sad.

>> We're gonna come visit.

Are you gonna hug him?

>> I already hugged him.

>> [LAUGH] >> Be good.

>> Bye.

>> Group hug.

>> This is disgusting.

>> I'm so tall [MUSIC] A lot of leaders did say just to put yourself out there.

So I feel like computer engineering, I'm probably gonna stick to that.

And then while I'm sticking to that, I could look into video games.

>> To these people just be like starting their own path, almost.

It is really cool, because they're paving a new way.

And it's like, I can do that for myself, it doesn't have to be a certain way.

You have freedom, and in that freedom, you can pursue whatever career you want, or whatever path you want.

>> Most of them took two or three jobs out of college, not doing what they wanted to do.

And that's why you have to had a lot of patience to be able to get to that point.

And very few people can do that, but the people who do that are the successful people, and that's the type of person I wanna become.

A successful person.

>> There's so much more that I realize than just what I know.

I just feel like there's more for me out there now.

I was really surprised by Indiana.

[MUSIC] >> It's not just this stale place, this stagnant place.

But that water's moving, and it's very active and it's cutting through and creating new spaces.

And just bringing new life.

[MUSIC] >> To learn more about how to get involved or to watch interviews from the road, visit roadtripnation.com.