[MUSIC] >> Christina: I feel like we're very multifaceted.

The world just offers so much, so why stick to one thing?

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: I think the number one thing that's just always going to follow me is my curiosity.

>> [MUSIC] >> Lia: I'm not the kind of person to be easily convinced I need to understand something from the bottom up.

In some ways, it seems like I'm doing something so vastly different, but what if I'm doing what's right for me?

>> Darius: I want to be in a position where I can explore as much as possible.

And that's not something you can necessarily find in that typical standardized path.

While it would be great to pursue that path to stability, I don't fit in those spaces.

>> [MUSIC] >> Darius: For three weeks, I'll be in an RV with two strangers.

We'll be interviewing people who have attained success or are on the journey to success.

And have done that through doing it differently.

>> Lia: We're all going to meet up in Boston and do our first interview.

>> Christina: We are driving all the way through California and Seattle in a big green RV.

You can't miss it.

>> Todd: Whenever you have a choice, choose fulfillment, the thing that will bring you the most joy.

>> Atiba: Just find what makes you happy.

>> Bronte: Be soft and tender on your dreams.

>> Jodie: When things are really bad and you are very uncertain about your future, sometimes there's something really amazing waiting for you on the other end.

>> [MUSIC] >> Lia: This trip will give me a chance to kind of experience and get to know these different career paths.

And hopefully in doing that, find what makes the most sense for our hearts.

I'm excited to hit the road and meet people who are doing it differently.

>> Christina: I'm really excited to go on this road trip.

I'm mainly here because I'm feeling pretty confused at life right now.

>> Darius: I'm super excited to really reflect and learn.

I feel like I'm unstable and I'm always living in the moment.

I never really get to think about what I want to do with my life.

I'm just kind of going with the flow.

My biggest fear in life is to be complacent.

Always looking for, not the next best thing, but the next best experience.

How can I improve myself?

>> [MUSIC] >> Darius: My name is Darius Riley, I'm a photographer from East Palo Alto, California, and I represent it hard everywhere I go.

It's a small city about 30,000 people, right in the heart of Silicon Valley in the Bay Area.

It's always been considered like the other side of the tracks type of city.

When you live here and you're from here you take a lot of pride because we know what the people have been through to make this place what it is today.

East Palo Alto has taught me what it means to come from struggle and then pursue something greater for yourself, for your family.

We got the superhero over here.

Mommy is in East Palo Alto.

My mom is program manager at Google.

She had me 16 and she was independent, had her own job, had her own car.

She did whatever it took to make sure that I was fine.

Seeing her do amazing things from then until now, the obstacles that she endured as a single mother, I just aspire to have that same type of grind that she has.

I want to be able to thrive off of my passion and not put it to the side.

I'm really nervous about being unstable and not being able to contribute.

So the future's all over the place for me right now and I'm just trying to figure out which way to go.

>> [MUSIC] >> Darius: Having some time to myself on this trip to learn about what I want will help me to break out of that standardization.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: My name is Christina.

I am currently a senior at UCF here in Orlando.

I major in general studies with a concentration in computer and behavior science.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: For me, success is more so that inner fulfillment.

It's not really the outside material things.

Like the money, and the career, and the accolades.

It's more so like do I generally feel good with what I'm doing?

Do I feel energized?

Because it's really important for me to really love the work that I do.

Like a lot of people of color, we grow up with immigrant parents that want us to be doctors, lawyers, or nurses because that's for sure money.

But at the same time, this is the only life you get to live.

And I think social media, has really opened my mind to so many possibilities of what's out there.

So, I'm not exactly sure of what job I want to get into.

But I'm looking forward to this road trip just being in that environment where people are creative and they think big.

I generally don't really know what I want to do.

I just have to have faith that it's going to be okay.

>> [MUSIC] >> Lia: My name is Lia Beatty, and I am a junior neuroscience major at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.

I grew up in South Bend, Indiana, a little bit of a college town.

But aside from that, lots of sports and lots of art, school's just a thing there.

It happens, but my parents didn't really push me too hard.

They already knew I had enough anxiety.

I had dyslexia, ADD, and a processing delay.

So every little bit of life is a little bit more exciting.

Going into college, I bounced around several different ideas for what I wanted to major in.

I declared neuroscience before I was diagnosed formally.

So, I think it's convenient that they coincide, but it's not the reason.

>> [MUSIC] >> Lia: I don't necessarily know that I want to study learning disabilities.

I don't know, I feel like in ten years I could be doing research in a lab.

I'm really excited to just be away from the college grind and just kind of reset the system.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: Okay, t-minus 24 hours until my flight leaves, boarding begins in about a few minutes.

Airport is super packed right now.

Not sure where everyone else is going, but I know I'm going to Boston.

>> Darius: Can't believe this is really happening.

Can't forget my book, Dark Horse.

>> Lia: It is 3:20 in the morning, and I'm about to get on a plane and meet up with the crew and start this road trip.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: Meeting Darius and Lia for the first time was so exciting.

>> Lia: I didn't realize how tall Darius was.

>> Darius: I can't believe this trip is actually starting right now.

>> Lia: So we just flew into Boston and are on our way to our first interview with Todd Rose, the author Dark Horse.

>> [MUSIC] >> Darius: So this is our first interview with Roadtrip Nation.

You wrote a book called Dark Horse and it's setting the basis of our trip, kind of harness our individuality is to kind of help us understand what our passions are.

And how we can achieve success through our own path.

>> Todd: So interesting, this will be a good conversation.

>> [MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> Todd: I'm Todd Rose, and right now I wear a lot of different hats.

So first, I'm a professor at Harvard.

I used to teach neuroscience now I teach personalization.

And then I started, I co-founded with Parisa Rouhani this think tank called Populace.

And then I'm an author.

Never really meant to be an author.

I grew up in rural America.

School was terrible.

It just didn't fit.

My senior year, they just kicked me out, I had like a 0.9 GPA.

They were like, you can't graduate.

A lot of folks fairly sort of thought, well, you're just lazy.

I happened to have a conversation with my dad.

And he said, I don't think you're lazy.

I just think you have to be motivated.

And when you're motivated, you seem really good.

And when you're not, like the worst.

So I got my GED.

I enrolled in night school, and along the way, I end up with two kids.

I had my first son Austin, by that time I was 19 years old and I'm just holding him.

I was like, you gotta be kidding me like I can't ruin this kid's life, right?

This kid is depending on me, and I felt like okay, I have to do something.

I just was like, desperate got to make this work.

And so that process of figuring out who I was and figuring out how I learn kept getting better and better.

Flash forward is I ended up graduating with a 3.97 GPA.

My advisors were like, you really should go to grad school.

But I didn't know anybody who had ever gone to grad school.

So I trusted they wouldn't lead me astray.

And I read about this scholar named Kurt Fischer, who was doing this groundbreaking work that was so interesting to me.

And he was at Harvard, and I was like, shoot, right.

Okay, so probably not that, right?

And my advisors were like, no you should.

You should apply to like a lot of schools and like I did the dream schools and so I put that up there.

And, I ended up getting in, went through the doctoral program there and I ended up becoming the director of the Mind, Brain, and Education program.

And so I was the director up until this year.

>> Darius: Well, your story reminded me a lot of my mom, she had two kids at 20 and now she works at Google.

So I see she's hustling too.

>> Todd: I got chills, that's awesome.

>> Darius: [LAUGH] So I'm just trying to figure out like, what was the thing that was able to motivate you and keep you going?

>> Todd: It's funny, at first I was just trying to stay in school.

And it was in figuring out when I was engaged in a topic that motivated me.

Lots of stuff kinda fell into place and clicked.

So fit is everything.

When you've got that fit in the right way.

All these other things we talk about, like grit and perseverance, they happen.

Focus on the upfront stuff.

Get the motivation right, get the stuff right and you will persevere.

>> Christina: What do you mean by fit and like how do you go about finding positions that fit you?

>> Todd: Yeah.

First and foremost, it's about your individuality, right?

The most important thing, and I wrote about this a Dark Horse, was understanding what really motivates you.

I'm a big fan of standardizing, making things the same.

If it's like products, I'm not so worried about.

But when we move that into people, right?

And saying, let's treat people as categories like types, labels, let's standardize the process for how you're going to be educated.

The problem is, that if you wanna pursue your life and do things that are aligned to your individuality, it is a guarantee that a one size fits all path is not going to work.

For some people, it's a little bit of got to go off the path.

For some people It's like off-roading the whole way.

But what we know for sure is that standardization is a good path to mediocrity.

>> Lia: It was so cool to interview Todd.

After reading Dark Horse, it was a great way to start the trip.

>> Darius: And I'll see you on the west coast then.

You know Todd dropping out of high school, having two kids, and being on the grind at age 20.

Like I remember when my mom was in that same situation.

I'm just trying to see how I can adopt that same type of hustle and apply it to my own life.

I still can't believe that we're really in Boston right now.

We just completed our first interview.

And then the fact that tomorrow we're really about to be in an RV.

Driving for three weeks, I feel like this is unreal.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: Seeing the RV for the first time was so cool.

I was just really shocked at how large it was.

>> Darius: Oh wow >> LIa: [grunts] >> [SOUND] >> Christina: Where are we sleeping?

>> Darius: We got sparkling water all ready to go.

Anybody?

>> Lia: We're here.

>> Darius: All right, let's get this trip started.

>> Christina: DID one, two, wait do it differently >> Darius: One, two three DID, what!

Come on now [LAUGH] >> Lia: One, two, three do it differently!

>> Darius: We're gonna practice that.

>> [MUSIC] >> Jodie: I was a former professional surfer, and now broadcast producer, but I can relate to each of you guys, studying your major, and feeling like, it's not really the right thing.

Well, I was in that spot when I was in school as well.

I've been a freelancer my entire life.

And I look at some of my other friends that have those stable jobs and sometimes I go, maybe I should find something more stable but I just love what I do so much.

Being dyslexic, I am dyslexic myself and my father was dyslexic.

It's hard being dyslexic, and I can remember going through school and like being embarrassed about it and I feel like I've only just been really starting to embrace it and not be embarrassed by it.

And I think the more we're open about it, it just makes other people not be ashamed.

Everybody's brains work differently.

Not a lot of people say to themselves, hey, I'm not like everyone else.

I'm not gonna just like be that fish that's swimming down river with all the other fish, you know?

I'm going to be that one that's going up the river.

I didn't want to be just like everyone else, I wanted to find my own path and I was fortunate enough to figure out you can make a living doing something that you're passionate about.

And once you find that, the whole world opens up.

>> Lia: Yes, you talked a lot about finding that one thing that you really were passionate about.

What are some tools you use to decide, okay, this is something that's worth my while.

>> Jodie: I think it's hard to not know what you're passionate about.

It is a continual process that you have to go through throughout your career because things change.

While I was in the middle of kind of this transition from being a professional athlete into what's next in my career, I was coming alongside my friend who had breast cancer and I was like, how can I kind of pep talk her because she was getting down?

I was like, what can I do, what can I do?

And then all sudden I had this idea I'm going to paddle from Catalina to Dana Point, a nine-hour paddle, and I mean, I can't even imagine what she's dealing with going through cancer.

But I was trying to just show her I could tackle something big, intimidating that I had a good chance of failing at, and she's gonna come on the boat and watch me because I know I'm going to be suffering.

It just helped us raise a lot of money for breast cancer awareness and we got the message out in a very big way.

And when I donated the money to the two breast cancer foundations, they were like, hey, why don't you take the extra and start your own nonprofit if that's what you want to do.

And just before I had done that paddle, I'd lost a really good friend, Adler, who I do my event for.

So we do the Adler Paddler to raise awareness for aortic health.

Kind of all goes back to just my passion for sports I think, you know?

And using that passion to fuel my career.

>> Darius: Is there any final advice that you offer to somebody who's trying to harness their individuality and their passion to make a career?

>> Jodie: When things are really bad and you are really scared and you are very uncertain about your future, sometimes there's something really amazing waiting for you on the other end.

The fact that you guys are exploring and you're asking yourself those hard questions and not taking the status quo as an answer, that's to be commended.

Always be on the search unless you've found what you're after.

[LAUGH] That's my advice.

>> Lia: One, two, three, do it differently!

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: The agriculture of this place is so different from Florida.

It's like in a movie, you know, like when you see those cowboy western movies and you see like one of those, I don't know what it's called.

>> Camera Operator: Tumbleweed!

>> Christina: Yeah, tumbleweed!

>> [MUSIC] >> Lia: We've got a taco dinner night.

>> [MUSIC] >> Lia: All right, y'all, we can start eating.

>> Christina: I don't think I've ever been by campfire.

>> Darius: For real?

>> Christina: Yeah!

>> Darius: For real?

>> Christina: Yeah!

>> Darius: Wow!

>> Christina: I've never been by campfire before.

>> Darius: You by a campfire for the first time?

>> Christina: Yeah.

>> Darius: At [LAUGH] Joshua Tree.

That's dope as heck.

>> [SOUND] >> Lia: Pretty good.

>> [SOUND] >> Lia: Probably going to fill me up.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: We had to put the trip on pause, because of the pandemic.

>> Lia: Coronavirus took hold of the US and the world, and it made sense for us to go home and hunker down until it's safe.

>> Darius: On my way home, I was thinking, wow, that week was amazing.

I was just more so wondering what were the next steps to make sure that the road trip did happen.

>> Christina: I knew the road trip was going to get finished, I just didn't know it was going to be finished through Zoom.

>> Darius: I knew we were going to finish it too, I just didn't know how, but we made it work.

>> Lia: It's now at the point where we can do a few COVID safe interviews, doing it in our own way, doing it differently.

I think it's really hard to finish it without the other two.

I think that's what makes a lot of the road trip as it is like the energy and just the experiences.

So we just have to find other ways to have those fun experiences.

We're just taking a look at Snoqualmie Falls, getting some pictures.

I think it's the biggest waterfall I've seen.

>> Christina: You said you're in Washington?

>> Lia: Yeah, I'm in Washington, I'm on my way to Seattle.

>> Christina: That's nice, it look so beautiful.

>> Lia: It is, it would be more beautiful you were here too.

>> Lia: I'll see you soon.

>> Christina: Bye.

>> Lia: Bye.

>> Christina: As tough as this pandemic slash quarantine has been, it's taught me how much I have been living out of alignment with myself.

It's been my opportunity to really get to the root of a lot of the things that I struggle with.

Back in high school, I was an A/B student and my goal was to go into nursing, because that's what everyone in my family wanted for me, but it wasn't really for me.

I just wanted to go the complete opposite, so I was really inspired by computer science because it kind of just represented a side of me that I've never explored before.

I just had a hard time transitioning.

I ended my freshman year with a 1.7 GPA.

I was really questioning myself, should I be in this major like what am I doing?

It kind of scared me because I'm just like, what am I gonna do for like the rest of my life?

I don't want to be in like my 40s and 50s and regret that I spent all my time feeling so bad about myself.

>> Darius: So Christina, who are you about to interview?

>> Christina: Today, I'm gonna be talking with Lalah Delia, she is a writer, wellness educator, spiritual practitioner.

I am so grateful to be talking to you today.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: I would love to hear more about you and the work you do and how you got to where you're at.

>> Lalah: I started, like many people who get in to my business, through the path of pain.

For me what my pain, and I call it in my book the dark night of the soul, I didn't coin that term.

But I was going through a dark night of the soul for almost my entire life.

And for me what that looked like was childhood trauma, also there was suicidal ideation.

I was thinking that the culture I grew up in, that was just normal.

But when I started to get a little older and start meeting friends outside of my community, I started to really feel that people had a different look on life and a different even energy about themselves.

It started a seed of wow, what would my life look like different and free and if I didn't have all these problems.

[LAUGH] At home, my parents were very spiritual people and so I didn't have a way to say to them, I'm in pain.

So a lot of my trauma just kept compiling and stacking upon each other.

It was just layered and I was living out a life of a young woman who was very lost.

Meditation is definitely one of my go-to's, it's such a powerful medicine for the mind and for the body.

So I relate to pain in a way now where I am all about holding compassion for people, but also knowing that they can get out of that pain, which I did.

>> Christina: I feel like I'm in the desert now where it's like, I don't have nothing to lean on anymore.

It feels so scary but like I know like there's like so much potential in this space in life and so yeah, I'm gonna just try to keep moving forward.

>> Lalah: That desert is only a middle passage, you know?

It's during that dark night of the soul when some people decide to check out and they didn't realize that that was only an experience that's coming to make you stronger and to put you on the new path.

There's an affirmation that I say very often in my teaching and it's I have arrived, I am home, I am no longer running from myself.

So wherever you are right now is home and that's where you can settle in and root in and from there, everything else is going to open up.

>> Christina: I like to consider myself as like a garden.

For so long I've had like a lot of weeds and invasive species in my garden like just a lot of stuff that doesn't really belong there.

And so like quarantine has been my opportunity to really excavate and really get to the root of a lot of the things that I struggle with.

And just be more intentional about the seeds that I plan on moving forward.

I feel like Lalah's words have been like water for those seeds.

She articulates so many things that I feel but like I don't really know how to describe them.

It was really nice to get to talk to her about that.

>> [MUSIC] >> Lia: My struggles really didn't surface until high school and college.

I always remembered going up and getting extra help in the morning.

Homework was always just a nightmare.

Even when I do tell people, yeah, I'm dyslexic, that's why that word doesn't make any sense that I just wrote, but please understand that I'm not stupid.

It was something that I always wanted to hide.

It really is an invisible disability that no one can see on the outside but doesn't mean it's not there.

But I wouldn't ever wish I didn't have it because my LDs have given me so many different strengths.

>> [MUSIC] >> Lia: I was able to teach myself how to do so many other things.

If you're not doing maybe what everyone else is doing, that forces you to open other doors.

>> Cathy: So I'm Cathy Drennan.

>> [MUSIC] >> Cathy: I am a professor of biology and chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

I've always been interested in science, and I've always really loved teaching.

And so those are the things that helped move me along this path, but my path is certainly not traditional.

Because of my dyslexia, I was definitely very interested in going to college.

My mom took me on trips to sort of visit some of the colleges and I was scared, because of my dyslexia, of how well I would do.

I did not want to ask for help because I was afraid of being categorized as she's pretty good for a dyslexic person, and I wanted to be good, just full stop, not for something.

I was afraid of being judged by the faculty, like who let this dyslexic person into this school?

>> Christina: Many would say that you're already at the top of your game.

You're already a professor and I'm curious how you talk about LD with students and peers.

>> Cathy: People are aware about the fact that I'm dyslexic.

But I do feel that it's a little bit tricky because sometimes my bringing it up with other people can be uncomfortable.

When I first started at MIT, I wanted to meet with people and say, I'm dyslexic too or something and just try to bond with people.

And a lot of the students were like, I don't wanna have this conversation with you.

So I try to play it a little cool, but it's just out there in that people then can come to me if they wanna talk about it.

And a lot of students have and it's interesting that I feel like often students at other universities may be more likely to seek me out at MIT.

It's a little too personal and somehow, if they are gonna open up about how they feel about it, they'd rather me be someone who's not their teacher, I'm a teacher, but I'm not theirs, so somehow that's safe.

>> Lia: That sounds really interesting how for you, you're more willing to have a conversation with a student.

And so I was curious how the LD or the learning differently is talked about with someone maybe in your generation.

>> Cathy: Yeah, in first grade I was, first they put me in a high reading group.

This kid is super smart, she must read really well.

And they're like, top reading group and it's like, no, wait, second reading group, bottom reading group.

And then sort of mentioning my parents, it's like, there seems to be this huge disconnect.

They are so aware of the world and so interested in things and love learning and yet can't read.

My mom found the right people who were able to get me the diagnosis and then tried to figure out what could be done about it.

I feel now the schools are better, but often it does take someone looking out for a kid to make sure that the diagnosis is correct.

When you're supposed to sit there and read and you can't read, you get distracted and you're sort of looking around and sort of become a little bit of a troublemaker, because it's hard to focus when you can't do the thing that you're supposed to be focused on.

>> Lia: It definitely did feel like a weird experience where it's like, you're the smart person who has some idiosyncrasies and then suddenly in high school and college, you've deceived everyone, right?

And so I think kind of that internalized ableism that I have for myself has made it really hard for me sometimes to ask for the help that I need.

As much as I love to learn, school is not that rewarding.

Looking back, it was definitely noticeable.

When I was really little, I was too hyper, I was all over the place, never sat down.

It wasn't until high school and college that I really started comparing myself to others.

>> Cathy: It's hard not to feel imposter syndrome still where you were told you weren't supposed to be able to graduate from high school.

Have I just faked it this far along and then eventually someone will figure out that I don't belong here?

But if you're doing something that's really difficult and important, it's gonna be hard.

And if you love it, it really is a good thing [LAUGH].

>> Lia: I just finished up interviewing Cathy Drennan, and oftentimes people wanna hide that they had an LD and that they struggled.

Whereas with Dr. Drennan, it was all about actually being really vulnerable and acknowledging that everyone has something that they're self-conscious about or that they they want to hide.

For me, being in a college environment, there's a lot of imposter syndrome of like, I'm not supposed to be here, I don't belong here.

Sure, you may have a learning difference, but we all have our insecurities and we all have things that we think about and it's just, in some ways, a matter of talking about it and normalizing it.

So Darius, I heard that you're interviewing Bronte and I was curious what their story is.

>> Darius: I'm interviewing Bronte Velez, who is a leader of this organization called Lead to Life.

And what they do at Lead to Life is turn gunmetal into shovels.

They use these shovels to have rituals for those who have fallen to gun violence.

>> [MUSIC] >> Bronte: Lead to Life began a little before April 4th, 2018, which was the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination.

And what we were doing in Atlanta was hosting a series of gatherings and ceremonies in honor of his life and black people who've been assassinated historically and how do we do the work where people's lives have not been commemorated honorably.

>> [MUSIC] >> Bronte: A gun is made to kill, its purpose is to take life.

That's what it came to do.

Shovels have many purposes, they can either dig up to bury things or they can dig to plant life.

The guns to shovels process is not only ours, there's so many artists that make guns into the otherwise.

This is the star that we made last January in a ceremony in Oakland to honor Oscar Grant's murder.

>> Darius: Just holding this in my hand, I feel some type of way.

>> Bronte: Yeah, yeah.

>> Darius: Oscar Grant's death was the first time I understood there was an event that was police brutality that I could recognize or identify with, you know?

It was almost like a loss of innocence.

So to hold this, it's powerful.

>> Bronte: Oscar Grant was also I feel like an initiation for me into understanding that there was police brutality and the unjust murder of young black people.

I remember also, it was an initiation.

>> Darius: So I'm kinda curious, was there any point where you felt secure or insecure about the work you were doing and how do you keep going?

>> Bronte: I always had this wound of not wanting to hurt or disappoint people.

And so I would prolong things that I didn't even like doing.

I worked for other organizations that were kinda doing what I wanted to do, but not just yet.

And I started to just be like, this is not sustainable.

It's not sustainable for my spirit.

It's not honest and authentic to my relationship with these people.

I had to go do my own thing and trust myself and take this risk, say yes to my work and my offerings >> Darius: So you took a risk and you gave yourself their approval to go take that risk and do the work that you wanted to do.

>> Bronte: Yeah.

>> Darius: That's not something everybody does.

I've been doubting myself, is what I'm doing right?

Is being a starving artist going to give me the stability that I need?

>> Bronte: What has been important to me is when I've come into the security that art is valuable.

We need black artists, we need like artists to help us imagine otherwise, we need black photographers to help us imagine otherwise, to tell stories.

>> Darius: I have been blessed with community and relationships and people that believe in my dreams.

I've been put in a position to do what I love.

It would be wrong if I didn't follow it.

If I did anything otherwise, it wouldn't be right.

That's how I'm starting to feel right now.

But I wanted to show you something.

>> Bronte: I'm so excited.

>> Darius: Because I went to the Czech Republic.

>> Bronte: Me too.

>> Darius: When?

>> Bronte: [LAUGH] I studied around there.

>> Darius: Where?

In Prague?

>> Bronte: In Prague, the Czech Republic.

>> Darius: I studied abroad in Prague.

In Prague!

>> Bronte: [LAUGH] What program?

>> Darius: It's called the School for International Trade.

>> Bronte: My [LAUGH]!

>> Darius: Don't even play.

>> Bronte: The Art and Social Change program?

>> Darius: My, you're playing with me right now!

That's crazy.

Snap!

>> Bronte: I was in the program in 2014.

>> Darius: Wow, so that was last summer I was there, this time last year.

>> Bronte: Wow.

>> Darius: And I was applying for Roadtrip Nation while I was in Prague.

>> Bronte: Wow, that's so deep.

>> Darius: I had an amazing time out there, but I wanted to show like my first day out with my host brother, he took me to meet up with his friend who started this organization called Skate World Better.

And I won this shirt.

>> Bronte: It's so good.

>> Darius: Look at this, so it's the Mozambique flag.

The gun is a shovel, really a shovel.

>> Bronte: My god [LAUGH] that's so deep.

>> Darius: It's a shovel and they used it to build the skate park, so.

>> Bronte: My god, it's so deep.

>> Darius: It's a lot going on today.

>> Bronte: That's a lot of connections.

>> Darius: That interview with Bronte Velez was like mind-blowing.

>> Bronte: I bought some periwinkle flowers.

Periwinkles were one of the main flowers used to mark enslaved burial sites.

>> Darius: It means a lot to me that Lead to Life and Bronte are not just melting down guns into shovels, but Bronte is literally doing work to help people mourn that have not had the opportunity to mourn.

So I really do appreciate that.

Do you have any like words of advice you could give to the world?

>> Bronte: Be soft and tender on your dreams, because we absolutely need people to dream right now.

We need dreamers, we need people who believe in their dreams.

Pay attention to how you're speaking to yourself how you're speaking to other people and stay in community.

>> Darius: My conversation with Bronte was like, mind blowing, amazing.

It was so strange to have so much in common with a person that I've never met before and I never expected to meet.

And it was really cool.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: So we are currently here, well I'm here in Jacksonville, Florida.

We got to tour around the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christina: I had the opportunity to interview Leanne.

>> [MUSIC] >> Leanne: My dad always had us outside in nature, and I knew I wanted to do something in nature in some capacity.

I ended up going to school for biology when I got swept up into the computer industry and still had this love for science and outside and nature.

And I worked part time at the local college in the biology department.

So I went through the program and at the time somebody asked me, would you be interested in the curator of education position at the zoo, it's gonna be opening up.

And I thought that sounds like a really fantastic opportunity and, after many conversations, decided to go for it because this is what's gonna make me happy.

Ultimately this is what I want to do.

I want to be able to give back.

I want to be able to continuously learn.

I want to be in an environment where I get to see animals and be around animals.

And be around people that really enjoy being around animals and being in nature as well.

>> Christina: Yeah, I like that you mentioned you had a background in computers, because that's my background as well.

And I'm wondering what would you say to those people who don't necessarily have that background in animals?

How can they make that switch to working at a job like this?

>> Leanne: Yeah, I think that, although a zoology degree and a biology degree would open some doors a little bit quicker, I don't think that if you don't have a degree in one of those fields, that that should stop you from doing what you ultimately want to do or what you love or you desire you dream about.

You have this interest obviously in technology because you pursued it, but you're finding that you have another interest or another love, and I think that if that's ultimately where you want to be and you see yourself, don't let barriers hold you back.

>> Christina: If you could go back to my age, what would be a piece of advice you would give to your younger self?

>> Leanne: That's a great question [LAUGH].

I have always been a very shy individual.

I'm an introvert through and through, but I work in an extrovert world.

And I think that I had a lot of fears and you know, I mean even today, there's certain insecurities or fears that I have, you know, but I've wished that I didn't get in my own way.

And just don't hold back I think would be the biggest piece of advice that I would give myself.

Keep taking steps forward.

Try everything.

If you have an opportunity to do something that you haven't done before, do it.

Don't let fear stop you.

Just jump at it, go.

You know, learn as much as you can.

>> Christina: Well, that was a piece of advice I didn't know that I even needed.

I've really spent, most of my life and these past few years just being in my head about certain things and stopping myself from pursuing certain things.

And this one hour conversation has really opened my mind to so many different things.

And I really want to thank you for taking time for talking to me today.

>> Leanne: Absolutely, I'm so glad I did.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this.

>> Christina: My interview with Leanne was a really lovely conversation.

It gave me a lot of comfort knowing that not only did she switch from a different industry, she switched from the tech industry.

So it's like now I have no excuses.

Thank you so much.

>> Leanne: You're welcome.

>> Christina: It says, don't let fear hold you back from exploring a passion.

Especially after talking to her and just learning about the other positions that are outside of a zoologist or a veterinarian like I do feel more confident in my ability to get a career in this field.

>> Darius: What's good, y'all?

I'm about to go interview legendary photographer by the name of Atiba Jefferson.

The man has photographed for Slam Magazine.

His work is so dope and I'm ready to pick his brain and see what I can learn because I'm trying to get on legendary status too.

>> [MUSIC] >> Darius: Pleasure to meet you.

My name is Darius Riley.

I am 23 years old, recently graduated From Bowdoin College.

My heart and soul is in photography.

As long as I could capture what I wanted and talk to people and hear their stories, I was good.

And I just fell in love with that process of how I was able to get a camera in somebody's face and they'd be so vulnerable and willing to share their story with me.

And after that, it just kind of took off like I just needed to keep doing that.

>> Atiba: That's awesome, I mean, that was a very similar story to me, I mean, mine was skateboarding that got me into it.

But it's funny because I first got a camera when I was 15, I never put it down since.

I always say I see photos, like wherever I look, that's a photo.

I'm always composing, I'm always taking note of light, I'm just addicted to the process.

It's just something I would do if I did get paid or if I didn't get paid, it's just something that I love and that's always my advice to people.

It's like, if photography is something you love, find a way to work in that industry.

You don't always have to be shooting the biggest celebrities or basketball players or skateboarders.

It's like, no, just work in a camera shop, you need to follow your heart.

And that sounds like that's exactly what you did, so you're already on a great path.

>> Darius: A lot of people, they don't necessarily have the opportunity to find out what they're passionate about or what drives them.

What would you say to somebody to help them find what they're passionate about?

>> Atiba: I think there's a lot of pressure to figure out what you're supposed to do for the rest of your life when you're 17 years old.

A lot of people don't figure what they wanna do out until they're 30.

Mine was skateboarding and skateboarding led me to basketball which led me into doing all these different things.

I quit my job at the skate shop when I was 18, and I was like, I'm gonna move to California and live the dream.

I did not think I was gonna be a good photographer.

I thought I was gonna work at a 7-Eleven and that's all I needed.

But I was sending photos to Transworld Skateboarding and talking to their photo editor.

And photo editor is like look, come work for me and do some assisting.

Assisting was a really huge key in my life to get me to where I'm at, assisting to me is free school.

If you're able to work with someone who is great and pay attention to what they do, you're gonna learn like you would in school.

And the cool thing about it is that you're young.

What I say is so valuable in being a photographer is social skills and it sounds like you already have them.

>> Darius: Was there ever a time when you were like hesitant on pursuing your craft?

>> Atiba: There was a time my camera got stolen right when I moved to California, and that was the only time because I had no money, I had just moved here, I wasn't even working.

But I got to admit it wasn't because I lost the drive it was because I was like, yo, I don't have a camera.

The only thing that I can really say is for someone like me, I never thought that I was going to be who I am today.

So there was no pressure of that, I think that's the only thing when people feel like that.

When they're, hey, I've been doing a, b and c, why am I not where I want to be?

But for me, it's only been strictly for the love of photography.

Just find what makes you happy.

What makes you happy?

That's the simple question that I think a lot of people forget to ask themselves.

I was just doing what I love, you know, I'm hyper positive.

And I know that's never like the best answer but having a good work ethic and being positive, not expecting anything without working hard, and you're going to do good.

That's like the biggest key to what I've found in life.

And don't put too much pressure on yourself to provide for your family.

I bought my mom a car five years ago and it was like a proud moment, but just this last Christmas I bought her a house.

It's one of those things, that stuff will come to you, no doubt.

It's just, you got to get yourself good and set yourself up before you can set them up.

Concentrate on yourself because once you grow yourself, then everybody is going to eat.

>> Darius: What's up?

>> Mom: Hey!

[LAUGH] What's going on?

>> Darius: I just finished up the last of the interviews.

>> Mom: How is it compared to actually being on the road?

>> Darius: It's definitely different but I feel like the impact of the interviews is just as powerful.

>> Mom: Did you learn anything from their path and see how that may be applicable to you?

>> Darius: The biggest takeaway from talking with Atiba was like affirming that like I'm on the right path.

He just bought his mom a house off of his photography.

>> Mom: What, so we may not have to leave Cali.

>> Darius: [LAUGH] To hear that he could buy his mom a house off of his eye, you know what I'm saying, that's like, that's powerful.

>> Mom: Yes, yes.

>> Darius: I'm trying to buy us a house, I'm trying to create some generational wealth.

If I can do that with a camera, then I feel like I'll win, like you'll win, we'll all win.

>> Mom: Thank you.

>> Darius: We're making it work, we're doing it different for sure, but we making it work.

>> Mom: All right, well I'm here to help you and support any way that I can, so let's go.

>> Darius: Let's get it, time to eat.

>> Mom: Let's get it, [LAUGH] all right, bye, son, I love you.

>> Darius: Love you too, mom.

>> Mom: Enjoy the rest of your day, bye.

>> Darius: All right bye.

Man, hearing Atiba talk about the risk that he took and how he was already deep in the game at 23.

Like, that's like inspiring right there, that's the type of mentality you have when you love what you do.

There's nothing you can do to prep for a dream, you just chase it.

>> Lia: Hey y'all, it's good to see you, how's it going?

>> Christina: Hi, it's going good, I'm looking forward to today's interview.

>> Lia: Yeah, you excited for interviewing Jed?

>> Christina: Yes, I'm excited, I'm really interested in just hearing about how he rode his bike from Oregon to Patagonia.

So, where his headspace was, when he made that decision.

>> Lia: Yeah, me too, I'm excited just to hear about like that thought process, especially because he was taking such a big risk.

>> Jedidiah: I've been living on my bicycle for a year now.

I biked from Oregon, down America, down Mexico, Central America into South America.

And people ask me, why do you live on a bike, why did you quit your job, why are you doing this?

My answer is this, the routine is the enemy of time.

>> It makes it fly by.

>> Lia: We're just curious to figure out kind of how you got to where you are, and what were you doing when you were our age?

>> [MUSIC] >> Jedidiah: When I had just graduated college, I thought I wanted to be a film director.

And all of a sudden, when I realized what being a director actually is, I was like, no, I have made a huge mistake.

And I was really lost, I was like, I don't even know what I want to do.

So I was like maybe I'll become like a human rights lawyer.

It was not my dream to be a lawyer, it was more like, I guess I'll do this to make a living.

So I was okay, I'll try to get into a law school, and I did.

And then I read this Malcolm Gladwell book called Outliers, and in it he talks about this idea of 10,000 hours.

So like, people who are truly extraordinary at something, have spent 10,000 hours doing it.

And I remember thinking, what the heck would I even spend 10,000 hours doing?

And the thing that came to my mind was, what is my favorite feeling, and wouldn't it be cool to give people that feeling?

And my favorite feeling is when I read a book and then there is a passage in the book that is so good that I underline it.

And I was like, that would be my dream to write words that people underline.

And so, I started to have this cascade of thoughts like, okay, what if I wanna be a writer?

Then I thought, well, maybe if I do something that's objectively interesting, like go on a big adventure, then my writing can just be like a C plus.

And so that's when I got the idea to go on like a really big bike trip and write about it.

I love traveling and I'm very curious.

And so I had this big idea.

And I'm like okay, when I turned 30 I'm going to do this.

So as 29 was happening, everyone was like, one more year and I was like, yeah.

And then all of a sudden, it was six months out.

All of a sudden, it was three months out.

All of a sudden, I was doing it, and I was on the bike.

And I think a lot of it rooted on the concept of scarcity of time.

I felt myself becoming a real adult and thinking, this is my life.

And up until now, my life has been happening to me.

I'm done just having a life happen to me, I want to happen to life.

>> Lia: I had a question.

If there is any time there's been something telling you not to do something and how you broke through that noise.

>> Jedidiah: The most noise comes from me, like my own head and fear of failure.

And it really wasn't until my bike trip and wanting to become a writer where I cut through the noise by understanding the scarcity of time.

I had something that was good and fine, and now I'm risking a lot and everyone's looking at me, and I could just embarrass myself.

And that was this whole process of walking myself through that and being like, you know what, so what if you embarrass yourself?

>> Darius: That makes sense, that makes sense.

>> Jedidiah: Some of our biggest fears, if you actually walk the fear out and then you imagine the other side and you're like, that's actually not that bad.

So why am I so scared?

Why am I frozen all the time, not doing anything?

If I'm not the number one best seller or I'm not on the Billboard charts, if I'm not CEO, then I don't matter.

That is so distracting from whatever it is you're meant to do on this planet.

For me, my ultimate joy is sitting around a fire pit with my friends talking until three in the morning.

There is no mansion, there is no private jet, there is no fancy dinner that's better than that, ever.

>> Darius: So Jed, we're about to finish up.

I was wondering if you can give us like one final piece of advice for us and for anybody who's gonna be watching these interviews.

>> Jedidiah: A friend of mine, Justin, told me this a couple years ago, and it literally is one of those brain worms that sits at the front of my brain for the rest of my life.

Which is ask yourself, what do you love and then what loves you back?

And so as you are collecting your skills and and testing yourself, listen to what loves you back.

Listen to what people notice in you as you do things naturally, just being who you are and people recognize those things in you.

And that can sometimes be a big clue as to what you could make a big impact with.

>> Christina: Thank you so much for this.

>> Lia: I know I followed you when you first did your bike trip, so this was like surreal.

>> Jedidiah: Well I hope we get to hang out in person soon.

You all have really amazing energy and I want to just actually sit by my fire pit right there and talk to you.

So I hope we get to do that.

>> Lia: Sounds good.

>> Jedidiah: Okay, I'll talk to y'all later.

>> Lia: All right.

>> Jedidiah: Cheers.

>> Christina: Bye.

That was really nice.

>> Darius: I needed that.

>> Lia: There were so many things he said that I was just like, my god, I want to write this down right now.

>> Darius: Jed is just a regular person who took a risk, bet on himself, and was so dedicated to it, like, put himself out there >> Lia: Six or seven years ago when Jed did his bike trip from Oregon to Patagonia, I, you know, I followed along a little bit and I just saw so much of kind of his being okay with taking risks.

I'm at that point too where I feel like I need just to be jumping into cold water, kind of get that recalibration, that refresh.

>> [MUSIC] >> Lia: I think the biggest growth that I've seen in myself in the past year really did start with this road trip.

>> [MUSIC] >> Darius: Like a year ago, my big question for myself is stability.

And I didn't realize worrying about all that all the time was taking away from me really following a dream.

I've been really paying attention to what loves me back and that's been photography.

So much so I registered for my LLC and, I got back the email, from the State of California saying, I'm good to go.

And that's a win for me in so many ways.

Not only am I officially a business owner, this is the start of generational wealth.

Feeding my passion to do that is huge for me.

Huge.

>> Christina: I feel like before the trip, I was just like so in my head, trying to just be logical.

Since the trip I've just been more trusting at heart intelligence that I know what I'm doing.

I'm more confident in my ability and in my skill set to find a job that aligns with who I am as a person, >> Lia: Having heard from people who have all have found success in a way that serves them back validates kind of the unsureness that I'm in.

Obviously this trip didn't end up anywhere near where I thought it would.

I thought, we would be ending this part of our journey in March and that it would have, you know, a cute ending and that you know, everything would be done.

But it's not done and it's October now and we're still discovering ourselves.

I'm really glad to to have you two alongside me.

>> Darius: We defined doing it differently in every step of this road trip, and I'm glad we got to do it together.

>> Christina: As basic as it probably sounds, or as cliche, just listen to your heart.

>> Darius: Take risks, don't be afraid of what might happen.

>> Lia: I'm on the pursuit of finding what loves me back.

>> [MUSIC] Wondering what to do with your life?

Well we've been there and we're here to help Our website has some awesome tools to help you find your path And you can check out all our documentaries, interviews and more Start exploring at roadtripnation.com