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- Ep 123 Does Hard Work Pay Off The YourPop Podcast
Jun 8, 2018
Abdelwadood
Daoud talks about how it was difficult growing up in a low-income
environment, and how he used his situation as a motivator and
driver for his success. Abdelwadood is a senior studying mechanical
engineering at Iowa State University with a background in computer
science and energy. Over the last few years, he has gained a
multitude of unique experiences. Here are a few… He interned at
Tesla in California where he and his team were able to save the
company over 3 million dollars. He taught English to homeless men
in New Delhi, India. He carried out research on the most efficient
energy system ever conceived at the National Energy Technology
Laboratory. With all of this, Wadood also serves as the National
Finance Chair for the National Society of Black Engineers. He is
passionate about helping those around the world who haven’t been
dealt the best hand in life. Specifically, he believes anyone can
change the course of their life with the right balance of learning,
networking, and confidence. YouTube episode link:
Full
Transcript:
welcome to the pharmacy leaders podcast
with your host Tony Guerra the pharmacy
leaders podcast is a member of the
pharmacy podcast network with interviews
and advice on building your professional
network brand and a purposeful second
income from students residents and
innovative professionals hey welcome to
the pharmacy leaders podcast I wanted to
introduce someone who has created a
fantastic podcast on YouTube his name is
Ahmed Ahmed
from the University of Iowa College of
Pharmacy and the next five days you're
going to hear one episode each day and I
encourage you to go to his channel to
subscribe at your pop-y oh you are P o P
it stands for the your pursuit of
purpose podcast where he interviews
successful people and how they got down
there leadership Road so hopefully
you'll subscribe 2,000 people already
have in the last month and here we go
hey guys it's a-comin here again and
we're actually on episode 2 of the year
pursuit of purpose podcast and I have
with me again after we did that wood and
something we actually didn't get into in
the first video our word dudes like his
past or has the trials and tribulations
that he had to go through before he
became the man he is today and everybody
has a story and it's unique to
themselves so I asked him for you to be
willing to share that with you on
without hesitation he said okay so
without further ado maybe you can just
talk about what you really went through
before he became where you are now
definitely um welcome everybody so my
story where I come from I touched on
that last time where my parents are from
Sudan I was born in Virginia and raised
in Iowa I don't think that really gives
you a good context of the type of
situation that everyone in my life has
gone through so my parents initially
came to America with just my dad so my
dad was in America
about two years before he brought my mom
with him to America the story behind
that is that he told her that she said
that she want him to come and bring her
to America because she would be able to
she'd wash his clothes cuz no one is
there to wash his clothes and he was
like that's so cute so he brought her
and showed her a washing machine it was
like but you know really growing up in
America with my family I had two parents
who were really accustomed to the
Sudanese lifestyle and me I'm a direct
contrast where I'm I only know America
you know that's all I know the systems
that I'm starting to learn the
everything that happens in America I was
getting a totally different experience
in them so so growing up in peasant
Ridge I grew up in a neighborhood that
you know quite well pheasant Ridge
Apartments it says I grew up there as
well it's an apartment complex in Iowa
City Iowa for section 8 housing or you
know families that don't have as much of
an income as they might like and that
neighborhood while it was for people who
didn't have that much money I think it's
a catalyst to the type of person I am
today where there are so many people
around me who were struggling and in
that consistent struggle really just
takes a toll on you know um so I was
growing up in pheasant Ridge and I
always had this thing in the back of my
mind where I was like I want to get out
of here I don't want my family to be
here this is not the best-case scenario
and I had great friends around me
definitely but it just really took a
toll on me and you know growing up I got
to junior high and when I was in high
school my life kind of changed a little
bit
where my father got in he'll miss and he
was hospitalized for a few months maybe
about four or five months and that in
the end result in a amputation for my
father and that was one thing where it
just felt like right he was just it was
so sobering to me because I knew America
was hard I knew I was struggling to
understand this dynamics the system
everything about America I was
struggling to understand it and I
realized that I didn't realize that my
parents were working so hard just to
provide just to they came from a place
where they didn't even the language of
the you know I mean they come to America
they don't even know the language and
they're working so hard just just to
provide for us and it's crazy to me that
you know I'm having these thoughts wrong
we can do better we can do better but I
learned that my dad actually you know
got to a point where he worked so hard
that it
it ended up costing a leg I think that
was really big to me because he showed
me first off that they were dealt a bad
hand I think that the American Dream is
something that's sold to everyone across
the world and none of them realized that
it's a second generation that actually
benefits from it you know our parents
really sacrificed for this American
dream that they were going for and what
did it turn into it turn into my dad
being sick just provide for his family
and it's not hard work you know that the
quote hard work pays off like it's a
myth period there's hard work is good
and you need to work hard to accomplish
a lot of things but I promise you my dad
worked harder than you know I feel 95
percent of the people in the nation and
no it didn't it didn't pay off yet you
know like he's struggling he's in a
different situation um so what that did
is you know I didn't grain this this
this thing that's in my heart or I feel
like I have to work hard to show my
parents the benefits of the American
Dream and to show them that we can
realize this dream it's just that the
system doesn't work how you thought it
did you know yeah it's not it's not what
you thought it was we're not gonna come
from Sudan and just make it happen it's
totally different but I've been really
passionate Allegiant with you know
learning about the system learning how I
can actually you know make the system
work in my favor and what does that turn
into it turns into getting an
engineering degree getting good grades
getting scholarships and going to school
without having to spend my family didn't
you know pay $1 for my school and if
anything I've actually given back while
I'm in school you know I mean honey and
I'm so thankful for that but it just
showed me that you know we there are
these systems in place for us to take
over America in a way you know for us to
take advantage of what is given to us
the opportunity whatever you want to
call it and I think that what happened
with my family my family's story has
really engrained that into me you know
now I know that I need to work hard and
I need to understand the system because
I am going to realize the American dream
for my family you know there's no way
around it they're gonna get it they're
gonna live it through exactly that's
such a good way yeah I mean touch them
back to present range I think that the
huge thing is just that we were all in a
situation where all of us we're
struggling you know you remember like
there were days where we would try to
find neon dollar so we can get a ball
from our team you know it's so weird but
like we we didn't have money like that
we weren't gonna ask our parents cuz
we're trying to eat you know they have a
totally different dilemma and we knew
that bass so so the background the my
parents being from Sudan me being
American and then paired with the
situation that we lived in in peasant
Ridge has totally changed our lives
yeah and just a little thing that I run
from our childhood was the cardboard
boxes oh my gosh we're gonna get
cardboard boxes literally with tearing
apart and using the slides we we took
out so many cars this is how you know
there's a broken system to me because we
couldn't afford Slim's we would get
cardboard boxes right we got to a point
where people were getting mad at us and
I can't even believe this growing up I
never even thought about it we were
getting yelled at for taking a cardboard
boxes out of the container but what are
those for recycling what were we doing
recycling the boxes or utilizing yeah
yeah so sleds overpriced cardboard free
I love it oh yeah man and just
transitioning from that so you know with
all this that you had in your your
childhood and your background I just
want to know so in terms of when you
went to New Delhi India is your study
abroad and you were teaching English to
homeless men yeah so how did that kind
of what inspired you to start even
teaching cuz you are there on a study
abroad it's a new environment a new
place and it's you know you kind of
figure out how to get by yourself yeah
but then you're like you know what I'm
gonna step out of my comfort zone of
just actually one in the comfort zone
you're in a new zone so you stepped out
of it you're like okay I'm gonna leave
all the academics aside for a second it
takes on my time out of my day and go
yeah to just basically teach English to
a homeless man yeah I think that's
remarkable I think the first thing that
I'd want to say is that the reason I
went to India and I don't know how I
said this out loud before really but the
reason that I went to India was because
you know I had that thing in my heart
that's connected to connected to Sudan
right but there was no study abroad in
Savannah right and I didn't want to
study abroad in London or somewhere else
I didn't want to study abroad in America
with an accent and I hope you understand
what I mean by that
but I didn't want to go into an
environment where it was like Oh
everything's comfortable yeah this is
great you know if we go and pour the
water
everything's just good now I didn't want
that I wanted to be uncomfortable and I
wanted to see how I'd react in a
situation like that um in terms of
teaching English to those men I mean
once again it probably connects to my
parents you know they were dealt a bad
hand they were dealt this American dream
and it was fake you know it doesn't work
like that if you don't have all the
things that all the other things in the
background that you're supposed to have
so I think English is such a critical
aspect of success whether we like it or
not it seems so basic but um I meant so
many kids so many people and when I say
English to homeless men in New Delhi
India these guys were 1920-21 there was
25 year old student you know they're
older than me and it was just hurt me so
much to see them working hard you know
working overnights and the fact that
they were still going to this NGO they
were going to this NGO and they were
trying to learn English but there was no
one from America teaching them English
or any English speaker teaching them
English um and it was just so powerful
to me what are NGOs non-government
organization think of like a non-profit
type of thinker yeah this is not like to
be ever made okay um but anyway I mean I
was I was really hit by the fact that
they're working so hard just to learn
English and there was they just didn't
have the outlet for it and once again
you know I work hard you hard work pays
off wasn't paying off for these guys you
know it wasn't paying off for these guys
and I think I really really really
wanted to show them that you know if you
learn these skills that are English you
can do whatever you want you know like
there was one of the guys there it was
actually homeless and he was um he would
he would he would come to my class my
class started at 10:00 a.m. and it would
go until 1:00 p.m. or a little bit later
and he would work overnight until maybe
7:00 a.m. sleep for an hour or two and
then come to my class right yeah like
it's crazy and you know we were so
comfortable in our lives here but uh
like once I saw that I know I was
committed to something bigger you know
and we work together and actually by the
end his time autonomy English we learned
how to use email on these laptops we
learned how to create margins on a
business and actually figure out how to
make a business and they actually three
of the guys before we even left
business running for selling dried fruit
in India really but I really genuinely
think that English was one of the most
critical aspects of that Wow yeah that's
so why did I do it I did it because I
didn't want to be comfortable and I saw
that these people were working hard and
it wasn't paying off and I needed to
figure out how we can close that gap and
that's an example of just exactly I said
about this young man is that he's
brilliant he's bright but he's also he's
just so humble like no one just goes out
of their way to kind of like yeah I'm
just gonna go struggle yeah like not
many people would be willing to do that
but I appreciate it it's just I'm just
stating the facts and you guys will
Bobby he'd give me this it tells you
tell them the exact same thing that I am
so we're doing with all that being said
of course the one last thing that I want
to touch on was again going back to the
resume is that you were you got the
opportunity to work with the National
Department of Energy yeah that's huge
National Energy Technology Laboratory
yeah yeah and at some point you were at
the US Department of Energy
okay so just take us back how did you
find out but energy is not something
that you think about later I wanna study
energy as a mechanical engineer about it
so like did you meet a mentor yeah
what's the story to hire it's a comedy
story first off yeah it's just a funny
story the first thing I want to say is
that you know he touched he said
mechanical engineer mechanical
engineering why would you go into energy
your major is totally for credibility
think about it like this most companies
are expecting you to work for them for
more than four years and you're gonna
learn just as much if not more than you
learned in your degree so I just want
people to realize that your degree
doesn't put you in any box you know it
doesn't you get to dictate that um but
to connect to your story yeah so the way
that I got involved with the US
Department of Energy yeah you remember
when I when I said that I had the
conversation with my friend where I said
I want to work at Tesla so about three
months before that and this is
documented I said dude I don't know what
it is but I just feel like I feel like
someone's gonna change this year it was
right after my freshman year is the
summer my freshman year I feel like
something's just gonna change this year
I don't know why I just felt like I felt
like I came to Iowa State in college and
I was expecting to like change the world
and I got there and I was like wait what
we just take you know calculus and
um so I was really diligent about
accomplishing that thing that I said I
just want something to be different so I
was going to different networking events
and whatnot and what never one
networking event I was at it was the I
was today Club Fair was you know
probably August I was at this Iowa State
Club fair I'm talking to a young woman
from Nesbit I remember it like it was
yesterday and we're talking we're
talking we're talking in a an old older
man comes in front of us he's maybe you
know 50 years old something like that
yeah walks right and right like is if
you went right in front of this frame
right here walks in between us and he
just didn't realized what he did and
they go oh whoa sorry didn't mean to
running jump into your conversation um
please disregard me whatever and he was
like I'm sure you don't want to talk to
an old man like me anyway and I was like
you know I don't want to talk to you and
he thought this was comedy for some
reason you say all right well let's talk
so I tell the girl I know I have no idea
who he is but anybody who knows me knows
that this is very normal for me like I
just I like humans yeah what do you mean
I don't want to talk to you sir you
don't know that um anyway we talked for
about you know like 30 45 seconds at
first just just you know tell me about
yourself I talk about myself and you
know you don't know anything you know
you don't have anything going for you
your freshman year you know what someone
asked you like give me your elevator
pitch and you don't have anything to
pitch yeah I was like so um you know
studying mechanical engineering and he
was like he's like no but like you know
like really what do you do when I was
like sorry man or the ants report you
know anyway the conversation went off
you know you know probably another three
minutes and he ends up having to go and
he write he takes a corner at a piece of
paper writes down his email and he said
let's get coffee this Thursday turns out
after I email him he says the location
are supposed to come to and it turns out
to be the virtual reality application
center at Iowa State University this is
weird but whatever yeah I go to the back
and I see he has an assistant I'm like
this is weird like he's this isn't
coffee at all the mind you he did not
tell you anything about nothing nothing
this is all like you know you told me
the professor Tilney professor but like
this is I'm expecting to get coffee with
a man and finally learn right I'm
expecting to start the Congress
right um I get into his office and we
start talking whenever first thing he
goes yeah I would do it and I seen you
whatever he said so just a little bit of
the work that my team does and he's the
director of the simulation modeling a
decision science team for the Department
of Energy um so he just talks about that
a little bit whatnot and then I'm not
even lying probably five minutes into
the conversation this is before I
probably said anything and he goes so uh
you want to work with me I was like yeah
I'd love to work with you for sure um
and I walked out of that meeting and you
can ask I miss my even if he's not a
guest on this podcast he needs to be a
better guest on this podcast I'm sure he
will be but uh I called him he goes hey
like I had the call how did the meeting
go you professor in my response was
honestly man I don't even know what
happened but uh I'm a research assistant
for the Department of Energy and it's my
life honestly I changed my life but
realize that the catalyst between that
whole interaction the catalyst between
that might have jump-started my whole
career that everything that we talked
about that you know maybe I'm successful
whatever who cares everything started
with probably that and what was it a man
walked in front of me and what even more
he said excuse me and he wanted to get
out of my way and the one thing that
changed my life maybe was no I did want
to talk to you towards or three words I
yeah it's great and then you know fast
forward you know I'm working for the
Department of Energy at the virtual
reality applications center have
projects projects and then I worked for
the National Energy Technology
Laboratory I just had a publication for
the Department of Energy about like two
weeks ago all of this like none of that
like that whole track of life would have
been totally eliminated atmos mighty was
with me he saw me talk to his professor
he was on the outside just looking in
but huh yeah so if I need to tell
anybody the value behind just putting
yourself out there I didn't know
anything I was a freshman I didn't even
know how to give a pitch like I gave
probably the worst elevator pitch ever
no I wouldn't I'm still embarrassed that
I gave that pitch but but in reality you
know it it doesn't take much more than
communication to solve a lot of your
problems nervous toes
power of communication in credit this
has been a reoccurring theme throughout
our entire conversations had LinkedIn oh
yeah populist work immediately I think
that anyone can change their life when
you're diligent about your knowledge you
know gaining knowledge learning how you
learn take your first two years out of
college to learn how you learn you're
gonna have horrible professors for sure
you're gonna have to teach yourself
things it's inevitable right if you can
learn the way that you learn that's
extremely valuable secondly if you can
network you know have these
conversations communicate with these
people and figure out what what am i
lacking
what are you lacking maybe we can help
each other out something like that just
communicating and then three you know
confidence or purpose you know defining
your purpose realizing that one of my
favorite quotes of all time I've told
this to you before oh I love you gonna
ask you for the quote but yeah so the
quote is confidence is not optimism or
pessimism and it's not a character
attribute it is simply the expectation
of a positive outcome and I think that's
so so valuable because there's so many
people who think that confidence is like
something inherent within us and it's
nothing more than just positivity you
know you are confident if you're if
you're if you think of a positive
outcome if you're if you're positive
about what's gonna come about that
conversation you know so I was confident
with mark my professor but it was
nothing more like I didn't deserve to be
confident I had nothing going for me I
was just expecting something positive
out of that conversation but yeah like
if there's anything I can lead people
with I mean I would just say like
there's an extreme value and
communicating and networking effectively
learning how you learn and just being
really scholarly about everything that
you're doing and whatever you're
interested in and then lastly you know
just being confident realizing what your
purpose is and realizing that it doesn't
take anything more than you just
believing in a positive okö for you to
really portray something that can change
your life serve your purpose to pursue
your purpose and we didn't know I really
appreciate you think some of your
valuable time out of your day he's
actually going off to Michigan here soon
oh and turn out idec's
they're specifically in their energies
the this company is not in the energy
space I'm always doing something with
energy yeah no it was great having you
on and I do appreciate you giving us
some of your time and help the audience
know kind of like who would do it really
is most people enormous like the
successful young men but he's he hasn't
always been this way
and he came from a place that they
really first didn't allows to thrive
yeah well it doesn't make sense
I wouldn't it wouldn't made sense and I
appreciate everything about you to the
viewers I think that what he is creating
right here is incredibly important not
to me not to him and maybe not even to
you but to the people behind us there's
so many kids in community and
communities like we grew up in who don't
end up where we're at you know and it's
nothing more than having these types of
conversations and in letting people
visualize the potential that we have for
each other absolutely and you know again
I'm just gonna keep thinking you cuz
it's just been so great having you on
and we'll do that what I want to do of
course at the end of you know having
someone out I kind of want to leave I
want to give you the opportunity to
leave a message with kind of something
just the last bang basically just of
telling them one piece of advice you can
just give them basically just to pursue
their purpose one thing that you can
just leave them with and I'll give you a
second to kind of think about it but
yeah and this is not something I asked
about this is very impromptu on the spot
yeah so something can just leave them
with there is anything I don't want to
leave you with it would be the fact that
there's nothing holding you back besides
yourself and that's so cliche it's
incredible but in reality like my life
I'm not supposed to be aware of that if
we think of you know hard work whatever
you want to say let's say hypothetically
that my parents were still in the game I
might be living off of less than $10 a
day you know so it's not that I deserve
it or that you deserve it it's just that
it can happen and so yeah I just want
everyone to realize that it can happen
for you and just take advantage of every
single opportunity you can be nervous
that's fine but just dive into it in the
worst case scenario
situation is that you learn something
Wow thank you so much for joining us
today thank creator man all right agent
thank you guys for joining us again and
we'll see you guys off support for this
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[Music]
with your host Tony Guerra the pharmacy
leaders podcast is a member of the
pharmacy podcast network with interviews
and advice on building your professional
network brand and a purposeful second
income from students residents and
innovative professionals hey welcome to
the pharmacy leaders podcast I wanted to
introduce someone who has created a
fantastic podcast on YouTube his name is
Ahmed Ahmed
from the University of Iowa College of
Pharmacy and the next five days you're
going to hear one episode each day and I
encourage you to go to his channel to
subscribe at your pop-y oh you are P o P
it stands for the your pursuit of
purpose podcast where he interviews
successful people and how they got down
there leadership Road so hopefully
you'll subscribe 2,000 people already
have in the last month and here we go
hey guys it's a-comin here again and
we're actually on episode 2 of the year
pursuit of purpose podcast and I have
with me again after we did that wood and
something we actually didn't get into in
the first video our word dudes like his
past or has the trials and tribulations
that he had to go through before he
became the man he is today and everybody
has a story and it's unique to
themselves so I asked him for you to be
willing to share that with you on
without hesitation he said okay so
without further ado maybe you can just
talk about what you really went through
before he became where you are now
definitely um welcome everybody so my
story where I come from I touched on
that last time where my parents are from
Sudan I was born in Virginia and raised
in Iowa I don't think that really gives
you a good context of the type of
situation that everyone in my life has
gone through so my parents initially
came to America with just my dad so my
dad was in America
about two years before he brought my mom
with him to America the story behind
that is that he told her that she said
that she want him to come and bring her
to America because she would be able to
she'd wash his clothes cuz no one is
there to wash his clothes and he was
like that's so cute so he brought her
and showed her a washing machine it was
like but you know really growing up in
America with my family I had two parents
who were really accustomed to the
Sudanese lifestyle and me I'm a direct
contrast where I'm I only know America
you know that's all I know the systems
that I'm starting to learn the
everything that happens in America I was
getting a totally different experience
in them so so growing up in peasant
Ridge I grew up in a neighborhood that
you know quite well pheasant Ridge
Apartments it says I grew up there as
well it's an apartment complex in Iowa
City Iowa for section 8 housing or you
know families that don't have as much of
an income as they might like and that
neighborhood while it was for people who
didn't have that much money I think it's
a catalyst to the type of person I am
today where there are so many people
around me who were struggling and in
that consistent struggle really just
takes a toll on you know um so I was
growing up in pheasant Ridge and I
always had this thing in the back of my
mind where I was like I want to get out
of here I don't want my family to be
here this is not the best-case scenario
and I had great friends around me
definitely but it just really took a
toll on me and you know growing up I got
to junior high and when I was in high
school my life kind of changed a little
bit
where my father got in he'll miss and he
was hospitalized for a few months maybe
about four or five months and that in
the end result in a amputation for my
father and that was one thing where it
just felt like right he was just it was
so sobering to me because I knew America
was hard I knew I was struggling to
understand this dynamics the system
everything about America I was
struggling to understand it and I
realized that I didn't realize that my
parents were working so hard just to
provide just to they came from a place
where they didn't even the language of
the you know I mean they come to America
they don't even know the language and
they're working so hard just just to
provide for us and it's crazy to me that
you know I'm having these thoughts wrong
we can do better we can do better but I
learned that my dad actually you know
got to a point where he worked so hard
that it
it ended up costing a leg I think that
was really big to me because he showed
me first off that they were dealt a bad
hand I think that the American Dream is
something that's sold to everyone across
the world and none of them realized that
it's a second generation that actually
benefits from it you know our parents
really sacrificed for this American
dream that they were going for and what
did it turn into it turn into my dad
being sick just provide for his family
and it's not hard work you know that the
quote hard work pays off like it's a
myth period there's hard work is good
and you need to work hard to accomplish
a lot of things but I promise you my dad
worked harder than you know I feel 95
percent of the people in the nation and
no it didn't it didn't pay off yet you
know like he's struggling he's in a
different situation um so what that did
is you know I didn't grain this this
this thing that's in my heart or I feel
like I have to work hard to show my
parents the benefits of the American
Dream and to show them that we can
realize this dream it's just that the
system doesn't work how you thought it
did you know yeah it's not it's not what
you thought it was we're not gonna come
from Sudan and just make it happen it's
totally different but I've been really
passionate Allegiant with you know
learning about the system learning how I
can actually you know make the system
work in my favor and what does that turn
into it turns into getting an
engineering degree getting good grades
getting scholarships and going to school
without having to spend my family didn't
you know pay $1 for my school and if
anything I've actually given back while
I'm in school you know I mean honey and
I'm so thankful for that but it just
showed me that you know we there are
these systems in place for us to take
over America in a way you know for us to
take advantage of what is given to us
the opportunity whatever you want to
call it and I think that what happened
with my family my family's story has
really engrained that into me you know
now I know that I need to work hard and
I need to understand the system because
I am going to realize the American dream
for my family you know there's no way
around it they're gonna get it they're
gonna live it through exactly that's
such a good way yeah I mean touch them
back to present range I think that the
huge thing is just that we were all in a
situation where all of us we're
struggling you know you remember like
there were days where we would try to
find neon dollar so we can get a ball
from our team you know it's so weird but
like we we didn't have money like that
we weren't gonna ask our parents cuz
we're trying to eat you know they have a
totally different dilemma and we knew
that bass so so the background the my
parents being from Sudan me being
American and then paired with the
situation that we lived in in peasant
Ridge has totally changed our lives
yeah and just a little thing that I run
from our childhood was the cardboard
boxes oh my gosh we're gonna get
cardboard boxes literally with tearing
apart and using the slides we we took
out so many cars this is how you know
there's a broken system to me because we
couldn't afford Slim's we would get
cardboard boxes right we got to a point
where people were getting mad at us and
I can't even believe this growing up I
never even thought about it we were
getting yelled at for taking a cardboard
boxes out of the container but what are
those for recycling what were we doing
recycling the boxes or utilizing yeah
yeah so sleds overpriced cardboard free
I love it oh yeah man and just
transitioning from that so you know with
all this that you had in your your
childhood and your background I just
want to know so in terms of when you
went to New Delhi India is your study
abroad and you were teaching English to
homeless men yeah so how did that kind
of what inspired you to start even
teaching cuz you are there on a study
abroad it's a new environment a new
place and it's you know you kind of
figure out how to get by yourself yeah
but then you're like you know what I'm
gonna step out of my comfort zone of
just actually one in the comfort zone
you're in a new zone so you stepped out
of it you're like okay I'm gonna leave
all the academics aside for a second it
takes on my time out of my day and go
yeah to just basically teach English to
a homeless man yeah I think that's
remarkable I think the first thing that
I'd want to say is that the reason I
went to India and I don't know how I
said this out loud before really but the
reason that I went to India was because
you know I had that thing in my heart
that's connected to connected to Sudan
right but there was no study abroad in
Savannah right and I didn't want to
study abroad in London or somewhere else
I didn't want to study abroad in America
with an accent and I hope you understand
what I mean by that
but I didn't want to go into an
environment where it was like Oh
everything's comfortable yeah this is
great you know if we go and pour the
water
everything's just good now I didn't want
that I wanted to be uncomfortable and I
wanted to see how I'd react in a
situation like that um in terms of
teaching English to those men I mean
once again it probably connects to my
parents you know they were dealt a bad
hand they were dealt this American dream
and it was fake you know it doesn't work
like that if you don't have all the
things that all the other things in the
background that you're supposed to have
so I think English is such a critical
aspect of success whether we like it or
not it seems so basic but um I meant so
many kids so many people and when I say
English to homeless men in New Delhi
India these guys were 1920-21 there was
25 year old student you know they're
older than me and it was just hurt me so
much to see them working hard you know
working overnights and the fact that
they were still going to this NGO they
were going to this NGO and they were
trying to learn English but there was no
one from America teaching them English
or any English speaker teaching them
English um and it was just so powerful
to me what are NGOs non-government
organization think of like a non-profit
type of thinker yeah this is not like to
be ever made okay um but anyway I mean I
was I was really hit by the fact that
they're working so hard just to learn
English and there was they just didn't
have the outlet for it and once again
you know I work hard you hard work pays
off wasn't paying off for these guys you
know it wasn't paying off for these guys
and I think I really really really
wanted to show them that you know if you
learn these skills that are English you
can do whatever you want you know like
there was one of the guys there it was
actually homeless and he was um he would
he would he would come to my class my
class started at 10:00 a.m. and it would
go until 1:00 p.m. or a little bit later
and he would work overnight until maybe
7:00 a.m. sleep for an hour or two and
then come to my class right yeah like
it's crazy and you know we were so
comfortable in our lives here but uh
like once I saw that I know I was
committed to something bigger you know
and we work together and actually by the
end his time autonomy English we learned
how to use email on these laptops we
learned how to create margins on a
business and actually figure out how to
make a business and they actually three
of the guys before we even left
business running for selling dried fruit
in India really but I really genuinely
think that English was one of the most
critical aspects of that Wow yeah that's
so why did I do it I did it because I
didn't want to be comfortable and I saw
that these people were working hard and
it wasn't paying off and I needed to
figure out how we can close that gap and
that's an example of just exactly I said
about this young man is that he's
brilliant he's bright but he's also he's
just so humble like no one just goes out
of their way to kind of like yeah I'm
just gonna go struggle yeah like not
many people would be willing to do that
but I appreciate it it's just I'm just
stating the facts and you guys will
Bobby he'd give me this it tells you
tell them the exact same thing that I am
so we're doing with all that being said
of course the one last thing that I want
to touch on was again going back to the
resume is that you were you got the
opportunity to work with the National
Department of Energy yeah that's huge
National Energy Technology Laboratory
yeah yeah and at some point you were at
the US Department of Energy
okay so just take us back how did you
find out but energy is not something
that you think about later I wanna study
energy as a mechanical engineer about it
so like did you meet a mentor yeah
what's the story to hire it's a comedy
story first off yeah it's just a funny
story the first thing I want to say is
that you know he touched he said
mechanical engineer mechanical
engineering why would you go into energy
your major is totally for credibility
think about it like this most companies
are expecting you to work for them for
more than four years and you're gonna
learn just as much if not more than you
learned in your degree so I just want
people to realize that your degree
doesn't put you in any box you know it
doesn't you get to dictate that um but
to connect to your story yeah so the way
that I got involved with the US
Department of Energy yeah you remember
when I when I said that I had the
conversation with my friend where I said
I want to work at Tesla so about three
months before that and this is
documented I said dude I don't know what
it is but I just feel like I feel like
someone's gonna change this year it was
right after my freshman year is the
summer my freshman year I feel like
something's just gonna change this year
I don't know why I just felt like I felt
like I came to Iowa State in college and
I was expecting to like change the world
and I got there and I was like wait what
we just take you know calculus and
um so I was really diligent about
accomplishing that thing that I said I
just want something to be different so I
was going to different networking events
and whatnot and what never one
networking event I was at it was the I
was today Club Fair was you know
probably August I was at this Iowa State
Club fair I'm talking to a young woman
from Nesbit I remember it like it was
yesterday and we're talking we're
talking we're talking in a an old older
man comes in front of us he's maybe you
know 50 years old something like that
yeah walks right and right like is if
you went right in front of this frame
right here walks in between us and he
just didn't realized what he did and
they go oh whoa sorry didn't mean to
running jump into your conversation um
please disregard me whatever and he was
like I'm sure you don't want to talk to
an old man like me anyway and I was like
you know I don't want to talk to you and
he thought this was comedy for some
reason you say all right well let's talk
so I tell the girl I know I have no idea
who he is but anybody who knows me knows
that this is very normal for me like I
just I like humans yeah what do you mean
I don't want to talk to you sir you
don't know that um anyway we talked for
about you know like 30 45 seconds at
first just just you know tell me about
yourself I talk about myself and you
know you don't know anything you know
you don't have anything going for you
your freshman year you know what someone
asked you like give me your elevator
pitch and you don't have anything to
pitch yeah I was like so um you know
studying mechanical engineering and he
was like he's like no but like you know
like really what do you do when I was
like sorry man or the ants report you
know anyway the conversation went off
you know you know probably another three
minutes and he ends up having to go and
he write he takes a corner at a piece of
paper writes down his email and he said
let's get coffee this Thursday turns out
after I email him he says the location
are supposed to come to and it turns out
to be the virtual reality application
center at Iowa State University this is
weird but whatever yeah I go to the back
and I see he has an assistant I'm like
this is weird like he's this isn't
coffee at all the mind you he did not
tell you anything about nothing nothing
this is all like you know you told me
the professor Tilney professor but like
this is I'm expecting to get coffee with
a man and finally learn right I'm
expecting to start the Congress
right um I get into his office and we
start talking whenever first thing he
goes yeah I would do it and I seen you
whatever he said so just a little bit of
the work that my team does and he's the
director of the simulation modeling a
decision science team for the Department
of Energy um so he just talks about that
a little bit whatnot and then I'm not
even lying probably five minutes into
the conversation this is before I
probably said anything and he goes so uh
you want to work with me I was like yeah
I'd love to work with you for sure um
and I walked out of that meeting and you
can ask I miss my even if he's not a
guest on this podcast he needs to be a
better guest on this podcast I'm sure he
will be but uh I called him he goes hey
like I had the call how did the meeting
go you professor in my response was
honestly man I don't even know what
happened but uh I'm a research assistant
for the Department of Energy and it's my
life honestly I changed my life but
realize that the catalyst between that
whole interaction the catalyst between
that might have jump-started my whole
career that everything that we talked
about that you know maybe I'm successful
whatever who cares everything started
with probably that and what was it a man
walked in front of me and what even more
he said excuse me and he wanted to get
out of my way and the one thing that
changed my life maybe was no I did want
to talk to you towards or three words I
yeah it's great and then you know fast
forward you know I'm working for the
Department of Energy at the virtual
reality applications center have
projects projects and then I worked for
the National Energy Technology
Laboratory I just had a publication for
the Department of Energy about like two
weeks ago all of this like none of that
like that whole track of life would have
been totally eliminated atmos mighty was
with me he saw me talk to his professor
he was on the outside just looking in
but huh yeah so if I need to tell
anybody the value behind just putting
yourself out there I didn't know
anything I was a freshman I didn't even
know how to give a pitch like I gave
probably the worst elevator pitch ever
no I wouldn't I'm still embarrassed that
I gave that pitch but but in reality you
know it it doesn't take much more than
communication to solve a lot of your
problems nervous toes
power of communication in credit this
has been a reoccurring theme throughout
our entire conversations had LinkedIn oh
yeah populist work immediately I think
that anyone can change their life when
you're diligent about your knowledge you
know gaining knowledge learning how you
learn take your first two years out of
college to learn how you learn you're
gonna have horrible professors for sure
you're gonna have to teach yourself
things it's inevitable right if you can
learn the way that you learn that's
extremely valuable secondly if you can
network you know have these
conversations communicate with these
people and figure out what what am i
lacking
what are you lacking maybe we can help
each other out something like that just
communicating and then three you know
confidence or purpose you know defining
your purpose realizing that one of my
favorite quotes of all time I've told
this to you before oh I love you gonna
ask you for the quote but yeah so the
quote is confidence is not optimism or
pessimism and it's not a character
attribute it is simply the expectation
of a positive outcome and I think that's
so so valuable because there's so many
people who think that confidence is like
something inherent within us and it's
nothing more than just positivity you
know you are confident if you're if
you're if you think of a positive
outcome if you're if you're positive
about what's gonna come about that
conversation you know so I was confident
with mark my professor but it was
nothing more like I didn't deserve to be
confident I had nothing going for me I
was just expecting something positive
out of that conversation but yeah like
if there's anything I can lead people
with I mean I would just say like
there's an extreme value and
communicating and networking effectively
learning how you learn and just being
really scholarly about everything that
you're doing and whatever you're
interested in and then lastly you know
just being confident realizing what your
purpose is and realizing that it doesn't
take anything more than you just
believing in a positive okö for you to
really portray something that can change
your life serve your purpose to pursue
your purpose and we didn't know I really
appreciate you think some of your
valuable time out of your day he's
actually going off to Michigan here soon
oh and turn out idec's
they're specifically in their energies
the this company is not in the energy
space I'm always doing something with
energy yeah no it was great having you
on and I do appreciate you giving us
some of your time and help the audience
know kind of like who would do it really
is most people enormous like the
successful young men but he's he hasn't
always been this way
and he came from a place that they
really first didn't allows to thrive
yeah well it doesn't make sense
I wouldn't it wouldn't made sense and I
appreciate everything about you to the
viewers I think that what he is creating
right here is incredibly important not
to me not to him and maybe not even to
you but to the people behind us there's
so many kids in community and
communities like we grew up in who don't
end up where we're at you know and it's
nothing more than having these types of
conversations and in letting people
visualize the potential that we have for
each other absolutely and you know again
I'm just gonna keep thinking you cuz
it's just been so great having you on
and we'll do that what I want to do of
course at the end of you know having
someone out I kind of want to leave I
want to give you the opportunity to
leave a message with kind of something
just the last bang basically just of
telling them one piece of advice you can
just give them basically just to pursue
their purpose one thing that you can
just leave them with and I'll give you a
second to kind of think about it but
yeah and this is not something I asked
about this is very impromptu on the spot
yeah so something can just leave them
with there is anything I don't want to
leave you with it would be the fact that
there's nothing holding you back besides
yourself and that's so cliche it's
incredible but in reality like my life
I'm not supposed to be aware of that if
we think of you know hard work whatever
you want to say let's say hypothetically
that my parents were still in the game I
might be living off of less than $10 a
day you know so it's not that I deserve
it or that you deserve it it's just that
it can happen and so yeah I just want
everyone to realize that it can happen
for you and just take advantage of every
single opportunity you can be nervous
that's fine but just dive into it in the
worst case scenario
situation is that you learn something
Wow thank you so much for joining us
today thank creator man all right agent
thank you guys for joining us again and
we'll see you guys off support for this
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