I am privileged and extremely excited to receive the prestigious Global Forum for Education and Learning (GFEL) “Top 100 Visionaries in Education” award. The award will be presented at the GFEL USA 2020 conference to be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, June 23-25, 2021 (postponed from December 8–10, 2020 due to COVID-19).
My personal and professional experiences around the role of education in my life have shaped me into someone eager to contribute his energy, skills, and efforts to promote positive social impact. Please allow me to share my journey.
My Upbringing…
My earliest experiences revolve around growing up in low-income project housing in Central California, in a single-parent family with five siblings. As a latchkey kid (for millennials, that's a child who is often left at home with no supervision), I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends. During my early teen years I was active in multiple sports, but at the age of fifteen I suffered a serious football injury. I gave up sports and had too much idle time. With idle time and no parent around, I often found myself spending late evenings on street corners with the older guys in the neighborhood. Despite being recognized for my abilities and having been transferred to a "gifted" elementary school, money and material things became more important to me than education.
At the age of eighteen, after attending multiple high schools, I graduated and moved out of the house to pursue my independence. I held various part-time jobs and enrolled in the local junior college, where I spent the next three years taking random courses, although few would transfer credits to a four-year university.
Digging Deeper…
Deep inside I knew I deserved a better life and did not want to see my mother continue to struggle and work so hard. I vowed to live up to my potential and take care of my mother. After a few years at junior college and a couple of work promotions, I decided to move to a broader job market. In Sacramento, California, I finished my undergraduate degree and started a professional career in the corporate and nonprofit strategy divisions of highly recognized firms including PepsiCo and PwC, and also in large urban K–12 school districts.
My top achievements revolve around leveraging my education, drive, and transferable skills across various industry sectors. My first achievement is one from which I draw great personal satisfaction and pride: I was the first in my family to graduate from college and break through a ceiling perceived as unbreakable by my family’s prior generations. Building on this personal achievement, I went on to earn a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University – J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Since then several of my post-baby boom family members have realized this same dream.
Connecting the Dots…
As I look back over my life, all of the dots (both positive and negative) connect through education. My education changed my life trajectory and put my family and me in a position to positively impact society.
This is why I'm so proud of my recent recognition as one of the GFEL’s “Top 100 Visionaries in Education.” The GFEL is an ideal locus for the confluence of educationists, edtech innovators, thought leaders, and academicians who are adding significant value and promise to the global education sector. The GFEL conference strives to unveil groundbreaking innovations and delve into the depths of knowledge sharing to build the future of imparting education. (https://www.gfel.world/)
My award confirmation has come during the global pandemic when my colleagues and I have worked tirelessly to provide education and other services for the community while dealing with conflicts between politics and science. This timely award validates the most critical work I can do at this moment: I can drive social impact. Inspired by a higher power, I'm blessed to serve my community in an impactful way. The GFEL award recognizes me for achievement in an industry that has had such a significant impact on my life—and that will continue to propel me on my journey!