>> Narrator #1: Everywhere you turn, people try to tell you who to be and what to do.

But what about deciding for yourself?

Road Trip Nation empowers people to define their own roads in life.

Every summer we bring together three people from different backgrounds.

Together they explore the country interviewing inspiring individuals from all walks of life.

They hit the road in search of wisdom and guidance to find out what it actually takes to build a life around doing what they love.

This is what they found.

This is Roadtrip Nation.

[MUSIC] >> Natalie: Shoot, this is epic!

Woo!

>> Robin: Oh my god, this is so surreal.

I'm terrified and excited all at once.

[LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> Robin: This is, this is insane.

Okay so this is, day seven, [LAUGH] I need to be keeping a little ticker.

>> Natalie: This is the hub for tech and innovation.

I've only seen Silicon Valley on TV.

[LAUGH] We're finishing week number one in San Francisco.

It's really cool how much we've bonded in such a short time.

[MUSIC] >> Zoed: I got a job moving furniture, and that was tough.

Odd schedules and last minute calls, and obviously you start looking at yourself, and paycheck to paycheck, seriously, am I going to do this forever?

That's when I started going to school part time at Long Beach city college.

Now I'm a computer science major.

Since I took off work, obviously I'm on a budget, so I don't I don't try to eat fancy, let's just say that.

But, hey, what are you gonna do?

You gotta sacrifice.

Once my son was born, I guess you would say I kicked into high gear and that's why I started going full time.

Everybody else was kind of relying on me.

Hasn't been easy.

And if I screw up, my kid's not going to benefit anything from it either.

>> Natalie: All right, ready?

>> Zoed: Aw, not there!

>> Natalie: Sorry [LAUGH] >> Natalie: It's got to come off.

Okay, okay.

See look, look, it came out.

>> Natalie: I feel like I've known them for such a long time so it doesn't feel like just seven days, it feels like it's been months or maybe even years.

[LAUGH] >> Zoed: Use the soft side >> Natalie: Well, it's not gonna like, it's like sticky hair.

That's why I had to use the rough side.

>> Zoed: Your rubbing me like freaking sand paper.

>> Natalie: No, it's not.

I think you missed some spots.

[LAUGH] >> Zoed: From all these interviews, what I hope for is a little bit of insight that might change the way I think.

Philip, he's a latino, he was born and raised in LA in a bad neighborhood and now he works at CODE2040 to help black and Latino students succeed in technology.

>> Natalie: Natalie, nice to meet you.

>> Phillip: The lack of people of color within the tech industry is really disheartening.

The median wealth of a white family is about $110,000.

The median of black and Latino families combined is somewhere around $15 to $20,000.

The only way for us to boost that from 15 to 100,000 is to do things like tech.

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] I grew up in Boyle Heights, if you're not familiar with Boyle Heights it's predominantly Latino neighborhood.

I grew up low income, single parent home.

It was just my mom my sister and me.

>> Natalie: What helped you kind of push through it?

Cuz I didn't have role models who had completed college.

So could you talk about what helped push you to make it all the way through school, like in college.

>> Phillip: Yeah, and that's really the biggest issue with especially first gen students is actually finishing school, right?

When you go to college, you're not just in this bubble.

You're taking all of your family responsibilities with you.

How are you going to class, and you're thinking, okay, let me study for this CS test.

But my mom's calling me because there's not enough food to eat.

Or my sister's calling me because they don't have supplies for school or new clothes or anything.

My family doesn't have money to pay bills or to pay rent.

I can't go to school, because if I go to school for four years, that's four years that my family doesn't have money.

I've worked with students that get their financial aid, and they send the money home.

And then, they don't eat, or eat ramen, or they'll eat mac and cheese or whatever, you know what I mean?

>> Zoed: Yeah.

>> Phillip: So that burden, or that responsibility is still there within our community.

>> Zoed: Yeah, I definitely agree with the whole burden thing.

It's just a little more stressful knowing that if you fail, there goes the chance of helping your family.

You can't fail, I mean that's definitely a huge, huge stress.

>> Phillip: That C or D becomes your family's C or D. And it's right, if you fail this class, you feel like you failed your family.

But the things that you're doing are the right things.

You're going to school, you are making a difference.

So you all are the pioneers, you're the, not the guinea pigs, you're the astronauts.

Just understand that when you're going through those hard times.

Like, I'm gonna make it.

Be confident.

>> Robin: This is cool because I think he really understood where we were from.

When he was talking about his background, that seemed to resonate with you.

>> Zoed: Yeah, yeah.

>> Natalie: I was half crying, you were in tears.

>> Zoed: I got teary, I told you, I got teary.

I really connected with Philip.

He has to feed his family, you know?

I'm definitely with him right there.

I want to see my immediate family be well off, be good, be happy, with no worries.

>> Natalie: [LAUGH] We bonded after I had to scrub his head.

He's like, not here, not this part!

>> Zoed: Chill, she's using the steel wool grinding me out like I was a car.

>> Robin: There's no blood, I don't see any.

It looks perfect.

>> Zoed: You need blood to tell you it hurt?

[MUSIC] >> Zoed: Little extra, little extra.

>> Natalie: I got you, this is kind of hectic.

>> Zoed: All right.

>> Natalie: I applaud you.

>> Robin: I don't really drive, I take the bus everywhere and part of that is because I have a lot of anxiety driving.

So much anxiety that I forget basic things like break left, gas right.

It's still terrifying going in San Francisco and I feel bad for the passengers.

>> Zoed: Think left, think left.

>> Zoed: Think left.

That one was close.

>> Robin: [LAUGH] Ooh!

>> Zoed: Careful, careful, careful, careful, careful.

>> Robin: No, no.

Okay, I just keep thinking when I drive, that I'm going to leave a destruction, like, a wave of destruction.

[LAUGH] >> Robin: And Natalie, while she hasn't been driving, she has been navigating and really just supporting us up there, which is really helpful.

>> I got this Natalie, way to go.

Thank you so much.

[LAUGH] >> Natalie: Since I have my permit, I can't drive too much.

I've been trying to still participate.

As like the lead navigator.

[MUSIC] >> Robin: I'm terrified in the green RV, so to go from that to this other thing where I'm tiny and I could slip under the RV, that was unnerving.

I think having supportive people around maybe a little more important to me than I realized.

To be with Natalie and Zoed and having this kind of support that I'd normally haven't had, I like it and I really like this.

>> Natalie: It was like little Mario carts around the city of San Francisco, that was pretty awesome.

Really appreciating this whole opportunity.

[MUSIC] Computer science, there's like 100 plus people in all of my classes.

Mostly male, mostly white.

[LAUGH] And then there's me.

Do I wish there were more people that looked like me, that could actually relate to me?

Yeah, of course.

>> Maxwell: When we came here, we didn't bring anything.

>> Angela: How much money did you have?

>> Maxwell: We didn't have much money.

>> Angela: $60.

>> Maxwell: Yeah.

>> Angela: We went through like bad things.

When my kids were little, the three girls, sometimes I could not have someone to take care of them.

So they would go with me to clean house.

>> Natalie: Like clean houses, maid service.

And when I was younger, when I got to school, everyone's like, my dad's a businessman or whatever, and I'm like, my parents clean those houses.

[LAUGH] But, I respect them so much.

They gave up everything they had just to give us all these opportunities and how could I not take advantage of those?

>> Maxwell: It's her time now.

Seeing my kids growing and getting better and better, better than me, that's what I hope, that's what I hope.

[RV ENGINE NOISE] >> Natalie: So, booked this interview with Laura Gomez.

She worked at YouTube.

She worked at Twitter.

Wow, in 2013, she was Forbes Mexico 50 most powerful woman.

Anyway, she started another company recently called Atipica, basically helping underrepresented people get these jobs in tech.

>> Robin: How did you first find out about it?

>> Natalie: I Googled Latinas in tech.

Not many people show up.

>> Robin: I read somewhere that Hispanics represent only 3%- >> Natalie: Yeah, it's sad.

>> Robin: That's insane.

>> Laura: That's insane that in the number one industry that is creating change, we don't have that.

It's an industry that needs Is to change now.

[MUSIC] When I was eight, my mom came to United States and we came here undocumented.

I remember crossing the border in a car, there were some men in the trunk.

And so, we came here right in the middle of Silicon Valley.

At the age of 17, I got my work permit, I was on my way to becoming a permanent resident, and I got an internship at Hewlett Packard in the software development.

No one looked like me, so I got into tech and worked at YouTube and Twitter and I was the first Latina.

I headed all of international localization, which means translating and localizing Twitter into other languages.

Left Twitter, went to another company, that was hardware.

Then I decided that I never wanted to be an entrepreneur, I was like, why do people not want to get paid and lose sleep?

But here I am, an entrepreneur.

>> Robin: I mean, you've clearly proven yourself in all those, but did you ever struggle with feeling like you needed to prove it?

Like prove that you could code or do this for people, because you don't fit the stereotype?

>> Laura: A friend of mine said you're the trifecta for difficulty, you're a solo founder.

You're a person of color and your woman.

Like, I'm the only Latino here, how do I feel?

Not great.

When I'm the only woman, how do I feel?

Psh.

And so I always say, whether it's going to be embracing me or not, I'm going to be in this industry and this industry sooner or later is going to understand.

>> Natalie: You mentioned you didn't like being the only female.

So what gave you the confidence to go back into tech after that bad experience at first?

>> Laura: It was funny because, at this event, someone came up to me and they're like, are you Mina's daughter?

She cleans my house.

And I was like, yeah.

I was like, I am.

And she was like, my god.

She was like, yeah, she was just so amazing, your mom.

I can't believe I'm at an event where I'm seeing her daughter and I was like That's the thing, right?

If you don't acknowledge the people that are serving you and you don't know that they have children and you don't care to know what their children are doing to change this world, then that's a problem.

And that's the number one thing I tell people.

Acknowledge other people, because those people's children are going to be amazing.

>> Natalie: I'm just so amazed by you.

My parents are also house cleaners, so like I have never met someone who kinda like understands that where I'm coming from.

So really nice to see a role model.

>> Laura: Thank you.

I'm amazed by you guys.

Like I'm amazed by the tenacity, you're doing, you're coding in spite of all the challenges that you have.

But even when the cameras shut off, when you guys all get to go home, I will probably keep on going just for you guys.

I'm amazed by you and you will be super successful and that you will create that wealth for your family, for future generations, for your parents, for your communities.

It's empowering you to push forward.

Stay true and loyal to your potential.

Not anyone else's but yours, your own.

[MUSIC] >> Natalie: Thank you for everything.

My gosh.

I'm [LAUGH] a mess right now.

Wow.

She's such an inspirational person, and she understands where I'm coming from.

It makes me even more motivated to do exactly what she's doing but in my own way.

[MUSIC] The week one is over already, and I only have three weeks left with everyone.

So it's kind of sad.

It's been really really great so far.

[MUSIC] >> Robin: This is like Christmas morning.

The lack of internet, which I thought I would be a bit cooler with, that's been a little extreme.

So the moment we pulled up and there was power, I was like plugging things on top of things through things.

That aspect of this trip is one of those, breathe, nothing is going to happen if you don't check your email for a day, but everything is happening.

I am still so giddy over it.

[LAUGH] >> Natalie: All right.

[MUSIC] >> Zoed: Up at Netflix, we interviewed Sabry and Amy.

>> Sabry: I didn't realize you guys had this huge thing.

>> Robin: Yes.

>> [LAUGH] >> Sabry: I'll ride with y'all.

I'll show you how to get there.

Good morning.

>> Robin: I'm Robin.

>> Sabry: Sabry.

>> Robin: Nice to meet you.

>> Sabry: What we'll do is we'll leave this with the valets and have them deal with it.

>> Okay.

>> Sabry: Let's make a right here >> Robin: All right.

>> Sabry: And we'll go, [THUD] what was that?

Did you hit a tree?

>>Producer: Yeah.

>> Sabry: It's all good.

[MUSIC] >> Sabry: So, I'm Sabri.

I'm also first generation.

I actually grew up in the Congo.

You know, it was kind of a strange world where I was surrounded by people who had it really good and then our people who didn't have it good at all.

>> Natalie: Not fitting the stereotypical image of a computer scientist, have you ever had people kind of look down upon you in any kind of way?

>> Amie: There's definitely that feeling where people don't know where to put me.

When I first got out of out of college and I started as a coder and you know, you're working on team coders and here I come.

And they're like what are you gonna work on?

[MUSIC] >> Sabry: Well think about it.

What happens when somebody meets a young black man?

Most of their thought initially is not positive.

Unfortunately the world doesn't think a good thing at first.

I never wanted to fit the stereotype, so I didnt accept what necessarily other people wanted to label me as.

>> Amie: It always makes me more motivated because I want to prove to them, like, you're not gonna look at me like I'm just a dumb girl that, you know, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna be classified in that.

And I'm gonna prove to you and I'm actually gonna more awesome than you so that you like totally disregard that you ever should have a stereotype on that.

You know, like I wanna like totally break that in their minds.

There's a way and it really sucks, and it means I'm gonna be studying three times harder than the majority of people in this class.

I'm gonna do it because I'm not gonna say I can't do this.

I don't like saying that.

>> Sabry: So I'll tell you, I flunked calculus 2.

So you have to take, what, six or seven math classes to get an engineering degree, right?

And I flunked the second one, and there's like, [LAUGH] six more to come, right.

So you got, discrete, linear, multi variable, all that stuff is coming.

I can't even pass calculus two.

I will never forget this.

I called my father.

I was crying, and I was like, dad, I just flunked.

And I was ashamed.

It was an embarrassing thing to say.

He helped me pay for this class.

This class is expensive.

I grew up with all these kids that are dirt poor, and if they had this opportunity, I guarantee you they would have done better than me.

I just kept rambling on the phone, and I realized wait a minute.

He's not saying anything.

So I'm like dad are you there and he said I'm here and he said so what do you want to do now?

That's a moment for me because at that point I learned that the way failure works in the real world is like "how do you react to things that happen that can really devastate you?"

You know like how do you come back?

>> Amie: At the end of the day, no matter how hard things are or how much people want to stereotype you and classify you, like don't let that defeat you.

Just continue to prove yourself, and then once you get past that one little hurdle and you're like wow that person totally changed their perspective because I put my foot down and I proved myself.

Then you continue to do it and no one's gonna get you down.

>> [LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> Sabry: There aren't many people out there that look like you.

They've never met you, they sort of look at you and they try to, maybe they don't even do this.

But you feel that they are trying to classify you and that's really what matters is what you feel.

Come on, you've felt it all your life.

You know that's not gonna change.

[MUSIC] So you gotta ask yourself, okay you have had a different life.

You really had a extremely hard life.

Maybe you look around you and like these people have no freakin' idea what I've been through.

So what?

So, what do you want to do?

Do you want to go back and just be where people expect you to be?

Or, do you want to take that and show that you can do better with it?

All of this was for myself but, at the time I didn't see it.

It's much more easy to see [MUSIC] The pressure from outside is to see who you are.

[MUSIC] Don't let the statistic define you.

[MUSIC] Don't fit.

Why should you fit?

[MUSIC] >> Robin: Sabry pointed out, yeah you're different.

That's just something you're going to have to deal with.

It took a while to digest that.

[MUSIC] You're not going to find your niche.

You're not going to find people like you which is at first really uncomfortable and it's like, wait!

I thought that was the whole point of this.

[MUSIC] I keep trying to make a square peg fit into this circle and I'm getting frustrated that it doesn't.

[MUSIC] When I was a kid, I was really upset, I was like picked on all the time and it was like why can't I just be normal?

Why can't I just fit in like anywhere?

I can't fit on my rez.

I cant fit in with my family, why?

And this trip is kind of like, okay, you're not normal, deal with it.

This is something I have to deal with.

It's in front of me so it's more just like what are you going to do?

[MUSIC] >> Natalie: Def Con was so cool.

>> Brent: As soon as someone hears the word, hacker, they immediately go to criminal.

There are very kind hearted, good hackers that do it for the greater good, and it's not malicious.

>> Natalie: I want to explore more or like, opening my mind to all of these amazing things that other people can do.

>> Ian: One night I was playing with my iPhone, I was like, why can't I use this as the brains to control these robots?

>> Dima: I was just a naturally curious person, and so I thirsted for technology.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator #2: Roadtrip Nation extends beyond this program creating resources to help anyone to find their own road in life.

Here's a snapshot of our interview with Chelsea Clinton.

>> Chelsea: When I was in high school, I wanted to be a doctor.

I went to college, and I realize I actually didn't wanna be a doctor, I wanted to do something more in public health.

And what are the systems that really influence whether or not someone is healthy?

And then as I got older, I realized everything effects health, and whether or not someone has a good opportunity or good job.

The chance to go to a community college, or a four year college or medical school.

And so one of the things I'm so grateful for now, doing the work that I do with the Clinton Foundation or academically, is that I get to ensure that conversations about whether it's just employment or whether it's about energy, also include a health dynamic.

Formal education is really important.

I also think we learn a lot in things that we do outside of formal education.

In the work that we do, in the conversations we have with our communities or communities that we want to engage in.

I know it might sound corny but I really do think of adages maybe because they're easier to remember.

Life is not about what happens to you it's about what you do with what happens to you.

I think it's always better to ask because the worst thing someone's gonna say is no.

And sometimes it is a really really terrible thing, but it's a lot better than just not knowing what the answer would've been.

And that sometimes we have no idea how useful something will be today for what we're gonna do tomorrow.

So sometimes it's worth saying yes to an opportunity because it just might open a door in the future.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator #3: To learn more about how to get involved or to watch interviews from the road, visit roadtripnation.com.

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