>> Speaker 1: By 2025, America will face a shortage of over 12 million qualified workers.

But hope lies in an untapped population, the 5 million young adults across the country who want to improve their circumstances but feel disconnected from meaningful work.

This is a story of three people from underserved communities who set out on a road trip to find new opportunities, and learned that where you come from doesn't have to determine where you end up.

This is Roadtrip Nation To Be Determined.

>> [MUSIC] >> Denise: Being on this trip has been a phenomenal experience.

I feel like this is all a very big dream.

I'm just so used to waking up just for work.

I just really have to remind myself how free I am at the moment.

>> Yasmine: It feels great getting outside of my city, doing things that a lot of us in that city don't have the opportunity to do every day.

I feel like a trailblazer.

>> Taiheem: I was apprehensive at first to step outside of my comfort zone, because I've never left the city before.

So all this traveling has been such a great change of pace for me.

>> [MUSIC] >> Taiheem: So I'm from the Bronx, and I currently work in IT in Dumbo, and it's the more well to-do area of New York.

There's oftentimes where I feel like I don't exactly fit in, because I'm the only one on my team of color.

I just constantly feel this kind of imposter syndrome, am I supposed to be here?

This isn't meant for me, because most of the people that look like me, they're not doing IT.

I'm struggling with finding how to fit in.

>> Taiheem: So we're about to go interview Anel Perez.

He is a solutions architect at Amazon Web Services.

This guy should be pretty dope.

>> Yasmine: Hello, hello.

>> Anel Perez: Hi, nice to finally meet you all.

>> Yasmine: Nice to meet you, I'm Yasmine.

>> Anel Perez: Anel.

>> Taiheem: Hi, Taiheem.

>> Anel Perez: Anel, nice to meet you.

>> Taiheem: Nice to meet you, Anel.

I'm having a moment because when I first got into tech, this was one of the five companies that I wanted to apply to and work at once I made it big in IT.

And to just be here, I'm walking inside of one of my dreams.

>> [MUSIC] >> Taiheem: So a bit about me.

My name is Taiheem Wentt, I'm from the Bronx, I'm 26.

I have two daughters, and I like to make beats.

But growing up low income, I didn't have a good enough computer, so eventually I started to pick up pieces of computers and look on YouTube, put them together, so I can actually make beats.

That is where I had that passion kick in for IT.

When did it happen for you?

>> Anel Perez: I felt like it wasn't really clear for me at first.

It's so hard for you to tell someone who's 17, 18, 19 years old, what do you want to do for the rest of your life?

Where do you see your career going?

So for a long time, when I was in high school, I thought, I wanna be a mechanical engineer.

I wanna work on mechanical things.

But I remember taking my first engineering class in college and I was like, I don't wanna do this.

This doesn't speak to me, it's not of interest to me.

But the economy took a pretty big downturn in 2008.

So at that point in time in my life, I had just had a baby girl.

And I was working retail, and I was struggling to make ends meet.

I was trying to figure out, what's my next move?

What am I gonna do?

So I was very concerned at that point in time, cuz I felt like I had very little options.

But in my free time, I would read about computers, and what the specs are, and these new programming languages, and this new technology.

It was just like it was natural, so I pursued that, and it ultimately ended up being what I really liked.

So I think you really need to hone in on what speaks to you, what's significant to you, and you'll know it.

When you're on your phone late at night, what are you looking at?

What are you doing?

What are you researching?

That's how you know.

>> Taiheem: Instagram?

>> Yasmine: [LAUGH] >> Anel Perez: But even within Instagram, right, it's tailored towards your likes and your interests, there's algorithms running there.

>> Yasmine: Exactly.

>> Anel Perez: So what are the things that are popping up for you?

It's very clear when your passion is something that is gonna manifest itself in your life, and you should just hone in on that, lean in on it.

>> Denise: Also coming from a very retail background, at some point, I worked two retail jobs for 80 hours a week.

It was just really hard for me, I'm like, I know I'm worth more than this, I know I'm smart.

>> Anel Perez: Yeah, definitely that 80 hour workweek resonates with me significantly.

Because it feels like, no matter what you do, you never have money, it just feels like you're just making ends meet.

And I remember shortly after I got hired at my internship and feeling like, man, I'm finally doing some great things, things are going well for me.

I went from working 80 hours a week to doing 40 hours, cuz both of those two jobs equaled just that one job I had.

>> Denise: Exactly.

>> Anel Perez: So that was a game changer for me.

But then I remember, shortly after that, my car got stolen, then my house got broken into, got robbed, so I was just like, life happens.

>> Taiheem: Did you ever break down?

Did you ever after a hard day, just sit and just cry or go, it's killing me right now, cuz I can only imagine.

>> Anel Perez: I mean, constantly, I feel like that happens all the time.

It feels like sometimes you get kicked down a little bit.

I think it's pushing through and realizing that as long as you want to persevere and really, really work hard and don't quit, that's the biggest thing, it makes you a weirdo if you like to do it.

just not quitting.

I mean, you can make it happen for yourself.

>> Yasmine: I love the way you turn your negatives into positives by just reminding yourself, it happens, you're gonna get through it.

I like that self-preservation that you got going on right now.

>> Anel Perez: Yeah, so early on, I really didn't have that confidence.

But over time, I thought of something I've learned, that if you don't believe in yourself, I can't expect anyone else to believe in me, so something you really have to figure out.

>> Taiheem: This is more tech- geared, but when people from my neighborhood heard I was pursuing tech, they were like, that's nerdy.

There's this stigma that it's just not cool, What advice can you give to the youth that are watching this that will eventually feel some of these things?

>> Anel Perez: Yeah, it's hard to really realize when you're young, the friends that you have at that point in time in your life probably are not gonna be the friends you're gonna have when you grow and you're an adult because- >> Yasmine: Yeah.

>> Taiheem: Yeah.

>> Yasmine: [LAUGH] >> Anel Perez: As I alluded to earlier, talking about your interest, and you learn about yourself, and your views change, you change as a person.

And there's really something to be said when you align yourself with like-minded people, or people who are just going in the same direction as you.

So I feel like that naturally happens.

I feel like as I was growing and trying to progress my career, yeah, some of that was happening but I still focused on what I was doing, and naturally, those relationships will fade, right?

And that was also an eye-opening experience for me, too, because even after getting a job in tech, you realize how little people of color are there, how little people from my background are there.

So I think that by showcasing that it is possible, it kind of sets a trend like, he's doing it, I could do that too.

But I will say that I don't wanna feel like I'm just here because of my story, or my background, or because I filled some type of quota.

I always wanna feel that I'm somewhere, because I bring value, that I've earned my position, earned my place.

And I feel like being here, I've definitely earned my place being here.

So that's really what is meaningful for me, that I'm somewhere that I enjoy working and that people find value in the work that I do.

>> Yasmine: Yeah, so I wanna know, as we leave this place today, what's one thing you would like us to take with us?

>> Anel Perez: I'll say probably the biggest thing when you're young and you're trying to figure it out, is to know that you're not alone.

And that if you keep working hard and you follow your ambitions, that things will change for you.

When I was 16, 17 years old, I had no idea I'd be working for such a large company, I could have never imagined it.

If I can go back in time and tell myself that, I probably wouldn't believe it.

Because where I come from and the background I have, I was just working, pursuing my passions, trying to move forward.

Now that I'm here it's just normal to me, it's become my reality.

So that's really the best advice I can give to anyone of you is that, find that passion, find that one thing that really speaks to you and continue pursuing it.

>> [MUSIC] >> Taiheem: In a lot of places I worked in IT, I'm usually the only person of color.

To see him and where he's at, man, it just feels great.

I immediately didn't feel as lonely as I was before.

For me, it was just like, man, I can do this too.

>> Anel Perez: If you can't fly, run, if you can't run, walk, if you can't walk, crawl, whatever you do, don't stop.

>> [MUSIC] >> Denise: Yeah, love it.

>> Taiheem: Yes.

>> Yasmine: All right.

>> Taiheem: This is the point on the road trip, I feel this was very purposeful.

Man, it's just feels great like, you could look at him and say, yo, I could see myself doing that.

I wanna be somebody like that.

>> [MUSIC] >> Taiheem: All right, you all, on to the next interview.

>> Yasmine: You are the real MVP, you eat first tonight, okay?

>> Denise: [LAUGH] We're about to go talk to Joy King, the managing director of Per Scholas.

>> Yasmine: Nice to meet you.

>> Anel Perez: Wow, you look so fly.

>> Yasmine: I was just gonna say your outfit is so fly.

>> Taiheem: [LAUGH] Yo!

>> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: She looks like me, she literally looks like me.

She came from a city that was 30 minutes from where I was.

So I'm looking forward to learning more from her.

>> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: Right now, we would like to know a little bit about you, about your background, where you come from, and how did you get to this position?

>> Joy King: Sure, so I come from Chicago, south side of Chicago.

And my path, it wasn't super easy.

I thought the only thing I had to do was show up to college and the rest would figure itself out.

And that is just not how it works, which all of you guys know.

And the financial burdens were many.

I didn't know how to balance being a student and being away from home for the first time.

I messed up and got bad grades [LAUGH] in my freshman year at college, and my mom was like, you gotta come home.

And so, after two years, I found myself back in Chicago having to work in a back office that had no windows, and with people who were very disgruntled.

And it was probably the single most eye-opening experience because I had a choice to make.

Do I want this to be my reality, or do I want to figure something else out?

So I was like, what do you know?

You know that opportunities are out there, and you know that experiences create pathways to access.

And so how can I give other people the gift of access?

And so I thought teaching was the best way to go about doing that.

>> Joy King: So I spent ten years in Chicago teaching at various schools, high school English and Japanese.

One of the funniest stories was I had a parent come to the class for back to school night, and so he's agitated standing at the door.

And so I said, sir, you wanna come in and have a seat, we're gonna get started?

And so he's like waiting for the Japanese teacher to show up.

And so I said, I'm the Japanese teacher.

And he looked at me- >> [LAUGH] >> Joy King: And he kinda looked at me up and down, and he's like, no, you're not.

Then I'm like, yes, I am.

He's like, but you're black, and I said, thank you- >> [LAUGH] >> Joy King: For calling that out.

But it was one of those moments where I think he learned and I think my students got to experience, we can be anything we want, we can do anything we want.

How we look doesn't preclude us from having an experience like that that we wanna have.

You don't see very many folks that look like me who speak Japanese.

>> Taiheem: [FOREIGN] >> Joy King: [FOREIGN] >> Taiheem: [FOREIGN] >> Joy King: [LAUGH] Very good, spoke very well.

But yeah, I think the theme of access is really the piece of it that I latched on to at a very early age.

And I realized access is what sets us apart from one another.

Right, what we've been able to see and experience versus people who sit right next to us.

>> Taiheem: What is something that I can do when I get back home to try to create more access?

>> Joy King: I think that we've gotta break down silos.

We have to stop thinking that we can each go at the problem individually.

Sure, there's a lot that we can do as individuals, but what is it, an African adage that says, if you wanna go far, go together, if you wanna go fast, go alone.

We can solve all the world's problems if we gave folks information.

And they have to hear from the people that have walked in those shoes.

And so often, the ambassadors don't look like the people they're trying to serve.

And so that's the real benefit that I think you guys have is you are representative of the communities you came from.

And you go back to those same communities and say, look at me, I did it.

And so therefore, you can also, versus someone who doesn't look like them representing them.

>> Denise: Exactly, especially someone with my backgrounds in the Hispanic community, it's looked down upon to talk about your failures, if I wish I had seen someone like myself.

>> Joy King: Yeah, and I think it's that kind of ripple effect.

If you impact one person's life, suddenly now you get to see the impact that that one shift in their life has on many of their communities.

And so you mentioned, being that one in your community, having an option to go one way or the other, and now through your example, people that have grown up in the same community see that they have options in different access points.

And so that's the part that we all I think have a responsibility to do.

>> Yasmine: It's been a pleasure to talk to you.

>> Joy King: Thanks.

>> Yasmine: Getting to know you.

>> Denise: Yeah, thank you so much.

>> Joy King: Yes.

>> Denise: It was so nice to meet you.

>> Joy King: I love hugs.

>> Yasmine: Yeah, yeah.

>> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: I'm like, okay, Miss Joy, I see where you're coming from.

She don't forget where she came from.

She don't forget that starting point, and she still reaches back and grab people from that starting point.

That's the type of woman I wanna be.

What's stopping me from pulling other people with me too to be an example for the people in my community?

>> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: You literally see this in history books.

>> [MUSIC] >> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: Martin Luther King Jr. was a phenomenal man.

He fought for freedom for my people.

>> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: We felt the spirit of a million people there.

>> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: Okay, I'll just imagine this place being a theater of people.

All types of people would literally stand in front of this step we see now back to their mind that we're looking at.

>> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: To actually be here, man, it feels amazing.

>> Taiheem: It definitely makes you have this introspective moment where you're like, what am I doing to move more people?

I want to inspire them the same way Abe inspired the people, the same way Martin Luther King inspired the people.

>> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: I thought about conversations that I had back home with my grandma, >> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: By me remembering where I came from.

I did not have it all starting off.

It was tough trying to get there, and I've seen different obstacles.

But the more that I kept pushing through it, it kept giving me this fire to just keep fighting, keep going.

Even though I've got so much more to go, I wanna learn so much because I wanna get so filled up that I have no choice but to point out to everybody else that came from where I was.

I'm looking forward to getting home and just starting this new legacy.

That's the biggest thing I'm doing.

>> [MUSIC] >> Taiheem: We'll be heading to Delhi next.

It's been so jam-packed, I don't know how I'm gonna get back to regular life.

This is so different, I wish I could do this all the time.

>> [MUSIC] >> Denise: I'm really grateful, this trip has made me realize, wow, this world is beautiful.

>> [MUSIC] [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: As soon as we pulled up the first thing we do was go get a Philly.

Like how can you go to Philly without getting a Philly cheese steak, let's be for real.

So we got to Philly once we got there, that was amazing, to die for.

I'm just getting hungry thinking about it, was so good [LAUGH].

>> Taiheem: That first bite, it was [SOUND] [LAUGH] my soul lifted out of my body a little bit.

My eyes are watering it's so good.

>> Denise: I'm like a cheese freak so [LAUGH] it was so good.

Then we went to the Rocky steps to burn it off.

>> [MUSIC] >> [MUSIC] >> Taiheem: That Philly cheesesteak was no joke, man we should have did this before we ate the Philly.

>> [MUSIC] >> Taiheem: We're about to head over to our next interview with Andre Carroll.

He's had a pretty difficult background, I'm really excited to see how he was able to push through.

And make it to becoming a political campaign manager.

>> Andre Carroll: My name is Andre Carroll, I'm from right here in Philadelphia, a poverty-stricken neighborhood.

I'm a crack baby what they will consider, my mother she fell victim to the crack epidemic.

So she has been battling a drug addiction since the age of 14, my entire life.

>> Yasmine: Wow, >> Yasmine: It's so detailed.

My father, he's a career criminal, he's been incarcerated 95% of my life.

So my grandmother raised me, unfortunately in my senior high school my grandmother was diagnosed with liver cancer.

Four months after graduation, my grandmother passed.

And that's when life got real for me, because I went from paying no bills to paying every bill.

So I started waiting tables at various restaurants across Philadelphia.

And about after like server for five years, I realized a majority of like my coworkers are like twice my age.

I'm like, can I really do this for the entirety of my life?

So I decided that I wanted to do something different.

I was like, I don't know what to do.

But I remember this one exercise during Black History Month when I was in kindergarten.

It was like I have a dream, and you've got to put your dream was.

And I remember my dream was to be the first black president.

And it was because I remember that same year, looking in the back of a textbook.

And I see like all these like white faces, like there's never been a black president.

I get to high school and then a person by the name of Barack Hussein Obama becomes the 44th, President of the United States.

And I'm like, this is possible, and I think that has been my calling to politics.

>> Yasmine: So I would like to know a little bit more about your childhood, because I experienced not having both my parents at all times.

Of course I grew up with my mom, she was there and everything, but she had to work a lot.

And my dad he was incarcerated until I was 18, so how did your parents' life choices affect you growing up?

>> Andre Carroll: It's interesting, because now that 28 years old, you won't get a different answer than you would have got for me when I was 18.

>> Yasmine: Yeah >> Andre Carroll: And it's because having a mother who deals with a drug addiction, is a little shameful.

Like when you're in class and like parent/teacher conference comes up.

And your parents don't show up, and then the other parents of other children do.

And it's like, why is my mom not here?

And the kids are like, I never met your mom.

And I'm like, well, yeah, I don't see her often, like I'm saying.

And as a kid, it's really hard to articulate that kind of stuff.

So watching them make those mistakes and knowing what was happening, it made me never want to do that.

So to this day I've never used a drug, and I've never been to jail.

Because I see the destruction that happened in their life and then having something to look forward to.

Like when I was a kid, like my biggest thing was going to concerts.

I used to call a radio stations like, hey, am I call number nine, I want those tickets!

>> [LAUGH] >> Andre Carroll: Do things like find out when your favorite artist is coming to Philadelphia and things like that.

As long as I had something to look forward to I realized that my mind was occupied.

And that right there kept me from getting into like foolish things, like I didn't sit aside 19 hours for Janet Jackson.

I sat aside 8 hours for Barack Obama.

>> Yasmine: [LAUGH] >> Andre Carroll: [LAUGH] like when you find something that you feel so passionate about and yeah, I got something to do today.

That's a few hours that I ain't got no time to get into trouble.

You've got to find things that that hold your interest, just being a politics, I don't mind working 13, 14, 15 hours a day.

If I had to serve for 12 hours, I'm looking at an hour three, like when does this end?

[LAUGH] >> Yasmine: I know that feeling, man, I know that feeling.

>> Andre Carroll: So.

>> Yasmine: Yeah.

>> Andre Carroll: So you have to find something that fulfills you, and if you don't feel fulfilled, you just can't be content.

>> Yasmine: I definitely feel that.

>> Taiheem: Yeah, definitely touch me, man, because, I only like remember seeing my dad one day in my whole life.

In 26 years and going through a lot of the stuff that I went through.

There was times I didn't stay with my mom.

And a lot of times it made me go searching for that love and that family feeling in the wrong places.

And I admire the fact that you were able to stay strong, even seeing them go through their pitfalls.

It turned out to be the perfect examples of what not to do in your life, and I'm really, I'm proud of you for that, man.

You're killing it, killing it, no problem.

[CROSSTALK] >> Andre Carroll: I'm proud of you too, because I think you've done a very similar thing.

They hear you say that, I know that you will make sure those two young girls that you go home to don't ever have that experience because you know what that feels like.

So it's like that's why it's really important for people to share their stories, and it's not easy.

And when you come from these kind of backgrounds, you understand that these are not traditional backgrounds.

And the outcome is really weighing against you.

It's probably nine times out of ten, it's gonna be a negative outcome.

And we see this happen across this country day in and day out, it's just you have to rise above it.

That's what it really becomes, it's like what am I wanna be?

Just another statistic and it's like, one day like I wanna raise a family.

I don't want the next generation to have nothing to look forward to.

And you see this happen like, where generation after generation the family has been stagnant.

Somebody's got to break that curse.

>> Denise: Yeah.

>> Andre Carroll: If you give people options, they will take them.

It's when people don't have the options, they do hold true norms.

I was one of those opportunity youth that just needed an opportunity.

I just needed a chance to change my projected outcome.

>> [MUSIC] >> Yasmine: To actually see somebody that came from a situation similar to myself.

But instead of going to drugs, instead of turning to other things, he used that energy and put it towards something else.

That spoke to the girl and me as well, Yasmin, you could do this, because it's like you see so many people give up.

And I want to show all my friends and my family back home, that it's possible for them to succeed, too.

>> Andre Carroll: I touched on Martin Luther King earlier, I use one of his quotes.

It says we came over on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.

>> [MUSIC] >> Taiheem: Week two is all about transformation, because you've been away from home.

And you've spoken to so many people at this point where you have enough to actually reflect on.

Some of these interviews echo in my mind before I go to sleep.

And the aura that these people give off, it's like it's okay to be vulnerable.

They're humble enough to drop that guard, to just be straight out, and that I appreciate the most.

>> Denise: We're already halfway through, I'm just so excited.

I'm so fired up and looking forward to hear more.

>> Denise: We've traveled so many miles, now we're finally in my hometown, New York City >> Yasmine: Dude, it's crazy!

>> Taiheem: The trip isn't even over and I already have a different outlook.

>> Speaker 7: I feel like I have a dual citizenship in corporate America and my community.

>> Denise: I was so happy to see someone who looks like me in the corporate industry.

If she can do that, maybe I can too.

>> Speaker 8: There are millions of Americans just like you, all they need is a chance.

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