So what advice would you give to people like our age
 2
00:00:03.636 --> 00:00:07.640 who don't really know the next step, who are afraid of the future
 3
00:00:07.640 --> 00:00:10.643 or just kind of looking for answers?
 4
00:00:10.844 --> 00:00:14.514 I think my advice is, honestly, if you have grandparents,
 5
00:00:14.581 --> 00:00:16.082 look at your grandparents.
 6
00:00:16.082 --> 00:00:17.984 I was raised by my grandmother.
 7
00:00:17.984 --> 00:00:21.221 I'm so blessed that I was raised by my grandmother, and I had her as an example.
 8
00:00:21.221 --> 00:00:23.623 And I think for me, that is very important,
 9
00:00:23.623 --> 00:00:26.459 that intergenerational education.
 10
00:00:26.459 --> 00:00:27.594 Yes, schooling.
 11
00:00:27.594 --> 00:00:31.898 Yes, Columbia, NYU, yes, all those schools are very important.
 12
00:00:31.898 --> 00:00:34.868 And they're going to teach you, they're going to get you the network.
 13
00:00:34.868 --> 00:00:36.669 I think yes, it's the knowledge, but it's the network.
 14
00:00:36.669 --> 00:00:40.440 It's the network of you navigating, it's the people around.
 15
00:00:40.573 --> 00:00:42.542 But the knowledge comes from your grandmother.
 16
00:00:42.542 --> 00:00:44.010 It comes through your grandparents.
 17
00:00:44.010 --> 00:00:45.678 That is going to be the root.
 18
00:00:45.678 --> 00:00:48.314 Don't learn theory that you can explain to your grandma
 19
00:00:48.314 --> 00:00:49.916 because then it becomes fake.
 20
00:00:49.916 --> 00:00:51.418 The I think that was the biggest thing.
 21
00:00:51.418 --> 00:00:54.487 How do I not get caught up in the heady things?
 22
00:00:54.487 --> 00:00:56.623 If you cannot break it down in simple terms,
 23
00:00:56.623 --> 00:00:59.626 that your grandmother can understand then that knowledge is not for you.
 24
00:00:59.726 --> 00:01:03.863 And so for me, I think thankfully I had my grandmother that grounded me.
 25
00:01:04.464 --> 00:01:08.935 I think, how do you stay grounded so you don't become this egomaniac?
 26
00:01:09.836 --> 00:01:11.304 I think that's the biggest thing for me.
 27
00:01:11.304 --> 00:01:12.672 The grounding is very important.
 

I didn't realize how much being undocumented would affect me until I was a teen. All of my peers were getting jobs and driver's licenses, and I couldn't. That struggle prompted me to start writing in order process and comment on my lived experience.

I spend my days writing poems, curating events, and supporting fellow artists through workshops and mentorship. Whether I’m writing, performing, speaking at a conference, or helping someone shape their voice, everything I do centers on storytelling that uplifts and empowers the communities I come from.

Poet Laureate

Oh, you're a poet? That's cute but what do you actually do for work?

Family

Inspiration

Learn From Grandparents

So you mentioned a lot that you're raised by your Abuelita
 2
00:00:03.536 --> 00:00:06.206 and that you love her very much and things like that.
 3
00:00:06.206 --> 00:00:10.110 But I'm wondering, what did she think about your poetry?
 4
00:00:10.677 --> 00:00:13.680 You know, my grandma never really understood what I did.
 5
00:00:13.680 --> 00:00:14.948 Like a lot of our parents.
 6
00:00:14.948 --> 00:00:17.350 Like, I think she's a teacher or I think he's a.
 7
00:00:17.350 --> 00:00:20.553 And she was telling people that I was an immigration lawyer for so long.
 8
00:00:20.954 --> 00:00:23.623 So all my neighbors would come with their cases.
 9
00:00:23.623 --> 00:00:24.090 And I was like.
 10
00:00:25.658 --> 00:00:27.360 And so she was just hilarious.
 11
00:00:27.360 --> 00:00:30.296 But one of the biggest transformative things that happened
 12
00:00:30.296 --> 00:00:32.032 is I premiered my show, Prieto,
 13
00:00:32.032 --> 00:00:35.168 at the Broadway Theater in San Francisco, which is a 300 seat theater.
 14
00:00:35.168 --> 00:00:36.870 I sold out the whole weekend,
 15
00:00:36.870 --> 00:00:41.341 and on the second night she was able to come and see the show.
 16
00:00:41.574 --> 00:00:43.510 And I think that was transformative to her
 17
00:00:43.510 --> 00:00:47.147 because it's for the first time and she's the center of my story.
 18
00:00:47.147 --> 00:00:50.583 And so all these people had this standing ovation, and she got to
 19
00:00:50.583 --> 00:00:54.154 come on stage and people are basically clapping for her.
 20
00:00:54.888 --> 00:00:57.357 And so they're clapping for her and she's over here cheering
 21
00:00:57.357 --> 00:01:00.360 like she wrote the play, which is really cute.
 22
00:01:00.627 --> 00:01:02.796 But then she called me on the way when she was driving.
 23
00:01:02.796 --> 00:01:05.799 They were driving her home, and she tells me like,
 24
00:01:06.099 --> 00:01:09.102 I never believed that people cared about my life like that.
 25
00:01:09.969 --> 00:01:12.705 That was transformative to me because
 26
00:01:13.940 --> 00:01:16.843 for the first time, somebody heard her or recognized her.
 27
00:01:16.843 --> 00:01:19.345 And I think so many of us are walking around
 28
00:01:19.345 --> 00:01:22.682 just wanting someone to say, hey, I see you,
 29
00:01:22.682 --> 00:01:26.086 I value you, and I thank you for surviving and still being here.
 30
00:01:26.386 --> 00:01:28.021 And I think that was the biggest thing for me.
 31
00:01:28.021 --> 00:01:30.623 And I, I cherish that moment.
 32
00:01:30.623 --> 00:01:32.158 And if and if I can't accomplish
 33
00:01:32.158 --> 00:01:35.595 anything else in life, if I can't achieve anything else in life,
 34
00:01:36.362 --> 00:01:38.598 I'll die happily knowing that
 35
00:01:38.598 --> 00:01:43.598 I was able to show my grandmother how beautiful and at the end of the day,
 36
00:01:44.537 --> 00:01:48.374 if she ever asked herself, was my journey to this country worth it?
 37
00:01:48.942 --> 00:01:51.911 Did I lose so much or did I win anything?
 38
00:01:51.911 --> 00:01:55.782 She right now rests peacefully knowing that she did it.
 39
00:01:55.982 --> 00:01:57.350 She transformed everything.
 40
00:01:57.350 --> 00:01:59.519 And now you can go to the San Jose Art Museum,
 41
00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:04.023 and there's a big portrait of her that they have of her at the museum.
 42
00:02:04.023 --> 00:02:07.560 And we're not going to be these kind of pixelated
 43
00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:10.597 or these undocumented people that nobody knows her name.
 44
00:02:10.797 --> 00:02:12.165 You're going to know our name,
 45
00:02:12.165 --> 00:02:15.101 and you're going to know and you're going to feel when we leave.
 46
00:02:15.101 --> 00:02:18.404 And so that's my quest now, period.
 

Personal Impact Of Poetry And Storytelling

How do you inspire the youth to see agriculture
 2
00:00:03.870 --> 00:00:07.474 as valuable as it really, truly is and not just like, a chore?
 3
00:00:07.540 --> 00:00:08.241 Yeah.
 4
00:00:08.241 --> 00:00:11.011 I mean, when we get schools, like schools come out here
 5
00:00:11.011 --> 00:00:14.414 to do tours all the time and, we'll make, like, wood fired pizza together.
 6
00:00:14.414 --> 00:00:18.284 And I really feel like it's about, like, so many of those kiddos.
 7
00:00:18.284 --> 00:00:20.854 Maybe they don't have a yard or, you know, a garden.
 8
00:00:20.854 --> 00:00:23.023 So when they're like, that's how green beans are grown.
 9
00:00:23.023 --> 00:00:25.191 Like, it's really kind of mind blowing to them.
 10
00:00:25.191 --> 00:00:27.694 And they go for it, kids out of anybody.
 11
00:00:27.694 --> 00:00:30.096 I feel like adults are more hesitant to be like, you want me to try what?
 12
00:00:30.096 --> 00:00:31.965 But the kids just go for it.
 13
00:00:31.965 --> 00:00:35.001 They pull a carrot out of the ground, they're like, wow, and there's dirt on it,
 14
00:00:35.035 --> 00:00:35.668 you know what I mean?
 15
00:00:35.668 --> 00:00:37.470 So it's like we give them the tour.
 16
00:00:37.470 --> 00:00:38.905 We kind of blow their mind in that way.
 17
00:00:38.905 --> 00:00:39.472 But then I'm like,
 18
00:00:39.472 --> 00:00:42.909 now we're going to like harvest things and like we're going to make food with it.
 19
00:00:43.476 --> 00:00:47.814 And then there's something about this, like pride of making a meal, like
 20
00:00:47.814 --> 00:00:51.251 they're making it themselves out of stuff that they harvested.
 21
00:00:51.718 --> 00:00:52.852 So it's that connection.
 22
00:00:52.852 --> 00:00:56.656 Once you give them that connection, I feel like then it just takes off.
 23
00:00:56.756 --> 00:00:59.893 I feel like kids really get into it and they feel inspired and,
 24
00:01:00.627 --> 00:01:02.128 you kind of boost their confidence too.
 

You don't necessarily have to go to culinary school. I'd recommend getting hands on experience in the food industry early and intern at several farms and restaurant kitchens.

My mornings start early with my daughter. Then I check in with the farmers, give them harvest orders and my own orders, and head into the kitchen to prep for events. I might be planning a community brunch, catering a wedding, or hosting a drag show—every day is different. I'm also managing computer work and meeting throughout the day. By the end of the day, I’m reconnecting with my family and friends.

Farmer, Chef & Owner

Maybe I should have gone to college and earned my degree.

Inspiring Kids With Growing Food

Do you guys have any inspiration in the music space
 2
00:00:03.203 --> 00:00:06.706 or even in the civic space that helps to guide your own work?
 3
00:00:07.374 --> 00:00:12.374 I would say my whole career I've really looked up to Brandi Carlile.
 4
00:00:12.779 --> 00:00:16.516 She is an artist that I first got turned on to
 5
00:00:16.516 --> 00:00:17.550 when I was in high school.
 6
00:00:17.550 --> 00:00:19.953 I felt really drawn to her music at first
 7
00:00:19.953 --> 00:00:22.489 and I had no idea about the sort of like world
 8
00:00:22.489 --> 00:00:26.526 that she had built or like the approach that she had taken but she in a time
 9
00:00:26.526 --> 00:00:30.096 where it was really like not supported at all in the music industry.
 10
00:00:30.096 --> 00:00:34.801 She was an out artist, a queer artist and she similar what John was saying
 11
00:00:34.801 --> 00:00:39.801 like she started building community that became inclusive welcoming spaces.
 12
00:00:39.839 --> 00:00:41.975 And it was also a space that never othered.
 13
00:00:41.975 --> 00:00:45.845 So even though it had a point of view it wasn't discluding of anybody.
 14
00:00:45.845 --> 00:00:47.047 Everybody could be there.
 15
00:00:47.047 --> 00:00:51.418 And so I love that she's just created these spaces over time that really like
 16
00:00:51.451 --> 00:00:56.189 uplift communities and create space where other parts of the music industry
 17
00:00:56.189 --> 00:01:00.527 are not allowing people to exist while doing it in such a humble
 18
00:01:00.727 --> 00:01:03.897 kind inviting non othering way.
 19
00:01:03.897 --> 00:01:05.865 To me that's a model of how musicians
 20
00:01:05.865 --> 00:01:09.235 could be and the ways that we could change the world with our music.
 

2025 DEMC Roadtrip
Interviewed with John Carroll.

I came out as gay in college. Going through the journey of finding chosen family, advocating for gay rights, and learning about more liberal experiences in Los Angeles compared to my upbringing in Iowa were pivotal experiences.

Each day I help design and lead workshops, concerts, and trainings where music sparks connection across divides. I guide groups through conversations that can be tense, then shift us into co-creating songs that build empathy and hope. I spend time visioning and strategizing for future events, while also handling the logistics and planning that make them possible.

Co-Director

Inspired To Create An Inclusive Space As A Musician

Do you guys have any inspiration in the music space
 2
00:00:03.203 --> 00:00:06.706 or even in the civic space that helps to guide your own work?
 3
00:00:08.141 --> 00:00:09.242 I do.
 4
00:00:09.242 --> 00:00:11.144 Other than Ben.
 5
00:00:11.578 --> 00:00:13.413 But I mean that's seriously.
 6
00:00:13.413 --> 00:00:14.447 On this journey of me
 7
00:00:14.447 --> 00:00:16.549 trying to figure out what I was going to do
 8
00:00:16.549 --> 00:00:18.385 and what it means to be a musician
 9
00:00:18.385 --> 00:00:20.420 and what it means to be able to tell the story
 10
00:00:20.420 --> 00:00:21.888 I want to tell.
 11
00:00:21.888 --> 00:00:24.824 I was looking at the business models for it and it's very cynical.
 12
00:00:24.824 --> 00:00:25.225 Right?
 13
00:00:25.225 --> 00:00:28.461 It's like an attention economy that you're going out into.
 14
00:00:28.461 --> 00:00:31.464 And it felt very like me me me me.
 15
00:00:31.464 --> 00:00:34.200 You got to advertise for yourself. Be your own advocate.
 16
00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:36.503 And I found it really distasteful.
 17
00:00:36.503 --> 00:00:41.503 And I remember I met a lady named Karen Reynolds who is just a singer songwriter
 18
00:00:42.742 --> 00:00:44.944 to the truest extent and form.
 19
00:00:44.944 --> 00:00:49.015 She tours around in her little car and sleeps in parking lots on the go.
 20
00:00:49.182 --> 00:00:52.352 But she had started a community of songwriters
 21
00:00:52.352 --> 00:00:54.220 in Knoxville Tennessee.
 22
00:00:54.220 --> 00:00:56.589 And she started having a songwriters night
 23
00:00:57.690 --> 00:00:59.426 and supporting the songwriters there.
 24
00:00:59.426 --> 00:01:03.596 And in her what I found was a model of a person who kind of said
 25
00:01:03.596 --> 00:01:05.698 I can do good in the world and I can make a living
 26
00:01:05.698 --> 00:01:08.902 doing good in the world and it doesn't have to be an and or.
 27
00:01:08.902 --> 00:01:13.206 But she said I'm going to set up and build something here cool,
 28
00:01:13.206 --> 00:01:14.741 for everybody here.
 29
00:01:14.741 --> 00:01:17.744 So it's a more of a business model of investing in each other
 30
00:01:17.844 --> 00:01:19.079 and taking care of each other.
 31
00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:20.380 And that was a big change for me
 32
00:01:20.380 --> 00:01:24.184 in how I looked at like what my music can mean for people because it didn't
 33
00:01:24.184 --> 00:01:28.188 have to be about list building but it could be about mutual investment.
 

2025 DEMC Roadtrip
Interviewed with Ben Caron.

Learn how modern artists live, create, and build community. You don’t have to be one but you need to understand them, because this work is about helping people tell stories, connect, and stay human in a digital world. Gain experience in creative systems, community building, digital fluency, emotional intelligence, and business. There’s no one major that captures all of this but if you study the intersection of people, art, and systems—and care deeply along the way—you’ll be on the right path.

A typical day is gloriously unpredictable. Some days I’m facilitating songwriting workshops between people who disagree politically. Other days I’m designing content systems, building partnerships, editing audio projects, or troubleshooting event logistics. At its core, my work is about turning art into architecture—building the scaffolding that lets stories, songs, and people come together in meaningful ways.

My Inspiration As An Artist

What helped you start and want to start the American Exchange Project?
 2
00:00:04.004 --> 00:00:08.241 I love baseball more than anything in the world, but I got to college.
 3
00:00:08.241 --> 00:00:10.276 I didn't play very well when I got there.
 4
00:00:10.276 --> 00:00:12.579 Then I got hurt, and then I got cut.
 5
00:00:12.579 --> 00:00:16.416 And the middle of my college experience, this thing
 6
00:00:16.416 --> 00:00:20.787 that I loved, was removed from my life, and I'm figuring out what's next.
 7
00:00:20.787 --> 00:00:25.091 And I'd heard that three professors all taught
 8
00:00:25.091 --> 00:00:29.062 in the same program at Yale, the Studies in Grand Strategy, it was called.
 9
00:00:29.162 --> 00:00:33.233 A number of folks in the grade above me were currently taking it.
 10
00:00:33.233 --> 00:00:36.236 And one day at lunch, one of them walked in and said,
 11
00:00:36.436 --> 00:00:38.772 how did your grand strategy application go?
 12
00:00:38.772 --> 00:00:40.573 And I thought, come again?
 13
00:00:40.573 --> 00:00:42.075 Like what application?
 14
00:00:42.075 --> 00:00:42.375 She's like,
 15
00:00:42.375 --> 00:00:45.779 oh yeah, it's a very competitive class and they only take like 30 or 40 people.
 16
00:00:46.179 --> 00:00:47.547 You need to apply to get in.
 17
00:00:47.547 --> 00:00:52.052 And so I just sort of sat back and thought, and the summer before,
 18
00:00:52.052 --> 00:00:55.422 I had taught preschool at a local school
 19
00:00:55.422 --> 00:00:59.059 in New Haven, Connecticut, and what struck me about teaching
 20
00:00:59.125 --> 00:01:04.125 preschool was noticing that the children of the Yale
 21
00:01:04.964 --> 00:01:08.902 PhD students and young professors and the children of the folks
 22
00:01:09.102 --> 00:01:13.273 who were living in the city of New Haven, were very, very different.
 23
00:01:13.306 --> 00:01:15.141 At the ages of two and three years old.
 24
00:01:15.141 --> 00:01:18.678 Their words they used to express their thoughts, their ability
 25
00:01:18.678 --> 00:01:22.449 to process their emotions, how they handled different situations,
 26
00:01:22.449 --> 00:01:26.686 and how do we create an education system that levels that playing field.
 27
00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.989 Within that week, I interviewed a woman named Barbara Sasso,
 28
00:01:29.989 --> 00:01:33.193 who had been a teacher for 30 years at the local high school
 29
00:01:33.193 --> 00:01:36.096 in the city of New Haven, and I was writing a profile of it, hoping
 30
00:01:36.096 --> 00:01:39.599 that Yalies would just be more aware of what's going on within education
 31
00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:40.400 in the city of New Haven.
 32
00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:42.635 And in the middle of our interview, Mrs.
 33
00:01:42.635 --> 00:01:44.037 Sasso started crying.
 34
00:01:44.037 --> 00:01:44.771 I said, what's wrong?
 35
00:01:44.771 --> 00:01:46.005 And she said,
 36
00:01:46.005 --> 00:01:49.008 you know, people come into my classroom all the time and tell me what to do.
 37
00:01:49.075 --> 00:01:50.143 And no one ever says, Mrs.
 38
00:01:50.143 --> 00:01:53.146 Sasso, you've been working with these kids for 30 years.
 39
00:01:53.246 --> 00:01:54.914 What should we be thinking about?
 40
00:01:54.914 --> 00:01:56.182 And I thought, hmm.
 41
00:01:56.182 --> 00:01:59.552 That was where I zoned back into the moment
 42
00:02:00.086 --> 00:02:03.089 and thought, okay, I'm going to write about education.
 43
00:02:03.223 --> 00:02:08.223 So education and the grand strategy of how we educate in America will be my thing.
 44
00:02:08.695 --> 00:02:09.929 And then it said, okay.
 45
00:02:09.929 --> 00:02:12.866 The course runs from the spring of junior year to the fall of senior year.
 46
00:02:12.866 --> 00:02:15.135 We do the history of grand strategy in the spring.
 47
00:02:15.135 --> 00:02:18.471 We do policy in the fall, in the summer, in between,
 48
00:02:18.471 --> 00:02:22.542 we're going to give you $1,500 for you to do a project on whatever you want.
 49
00:02:22.542 --> 00:02:24.911 And so I'm going to go around the country and I'm going to listen,
 50
00:02:24.911 --> 00:02:27.947 and I'm going to focus this project on education, and I'm going to meet
 51
00:02:27.947 --> 00:02:30.950 teachers and students and parents and community members,
 52
00:02:31.084 --> 00:02:33.353 and I'm going to figure out what's the grand strategy
 53
00:02:33.353 --> 00:02:35.288 of how we educate our nation's poorest children.
 54
00:02:35.288 --> 00:02:36.422 Write it all down.
 55
00:02:36.422 --> 00:02:37.190 Click submit.
 56
00:02:37.190 --> 00:02:38.591 Lo and behold, they went for it.
 57
00:02:38.591 --> 00:02:42.462 And six months later, morning after my 22nd birthday, I was driving
 58
00:02:42.462 --> 00:02:47.200 by the highway in my mom's Mazda CX9 to go drive around America for a summer.
 59
00:02:47.600 --> 00:02:51.371 Spent two months on the road, drove 7100 miles across the country.
 60
00:02:51.371 --> 00:02:53.473 I spent two months living in three towns.
 61
00:02:53.473 --> 00:02:55.742 I went, not intending it
 62
00:02:55.742 --> 00:02:59.546 to be as profound as it was, but three things happened on that trip.
 63
00:02:59.579 --> 00:03:02.582 It quickly became the most profound educational experience in my life.
 64
00:03:02.782 --> 00:03:05.652 A project that began in how we educate children turned into a project
 65
00:03:05.652 --> 00:03:09.989 about democracy, civics, civil discourse and listening to each other,
 66
00:03:09.989 --> 00:03:13.226 which was the big thesis of it all, that people feel very unheard today.
 67
00:03:13.226 --> 00:03:17.864 And if I'm coming from this place of enormous privilege,
 68
00:03:17.864 --> 00:03:22.535 then maybe listening will be helpful for me.
 69
00:03:22.535 --> 00:03:26.306 And if we are to do anything as students, it's not to have answers.
 70
00:03:26.306 --> 00:03:29.542 It's to ask questions, and it's to listen to people and learn.
 71
00:03:29.609 --> 00:03:33.279 The second thing that happened was I didn't know this when I was planning it,
 72
00:03:33.279 --> 00:03:36.249 but I was traveling around the country during the same summer
 73
00:03:36.249 --> 00:03:38.851 that the Trump and Clinton campaigns were traveling around the country.
 74
00:03:38.851 --> 00:03:39.786 I got to Cleveland the day
 75
00:03:39.786 --> 00:03:43.856 the Republican National Convention began, and so I got a front row seat
 76
00:03:44.190 --> 00:03:46.960 to polarization in America and the American moment
 77
00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:48.461 that we've been living in for the last decade.
 78
00:03:48.461 --> 00:03:51.864 The third thing I came away with was amazing friends.
 79
00:03:52.165 --> 00:03:54.834 And what happened everywhere I went was I was adopted.
 80
00:03:54.834 --> 00:03:56.636 I was from a different background.
 81
00:03:56.636 --> 00:03:58.705 Socioeconomically, I was certainly from a different culture.
 82
00:03:58.705 --> 00:04:00.907 More often than not, I was the only white person in the room.
 83
00:04:00.907 --> 00:04:02.742 Everywhere welcomed me
 84
00:04:02.742 --> 00:04:06.713 in this summer of division and conflict, and we Americans are against each other.
 85
00:04:06.746 --> 00:04:09.349 How pivotal was your grandfather in,
 86
00:04:10.416 --> 00:04:12.285 you know, shaping who you are as a person?
 87
00:04:12.285 --> 00:04:16.322 I know he's the author of many books, one of them being, his book on John Adams.
 88
00:04:17.090 --> 00:04:19.459 And now you being the historian you are like,
 89
00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:22.962 how pivotal was he in that, in that formation?
 90
00:04:23.463 --> 00:04:24.264 Enormous.
 91
00:04:24.264 --> 00:04:25.865 We were very, very close.
 92
00:04:25.865 --> 00:04:27.533 Yeah. My grandfather, my namesake.
 93
00:04:27.533 --> 00:04:28.601 I'm David McCullough III.
 94
00:04:28.601 --> 00:04:30.937 He's David Sr., my dad's David Jr.
 95
00:04:30.937 --> 00:04:34.207 He won two Pulitzer Prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
 96
00:04:34.207 --> 00:04:36.042 which is our nation's highest civilian honor.
 97
00:04:36.042 --> 00:04:37.677 And he had the hardware.
 98
00:04:37.677 --> 00:04:42.148 My grandfather's accomplishments and the way he handled them
 99
00:04:42.582 --> 00:04:46.119 never made me feel any kind of pressure.
 100
00:04:46.119 --> 00:04:48.054 It's definitely made me, though,
 101
00:04:48.054 --> 00:04:52.058 someone who realizes that big ambitions are possible and not a bad thing.
 102
00:04:52.225 --> 00:04:56.529 What I learned from my grandfather was much, much more about character
 103
00:04:56.529 --> 00:04:59.866 and about work ethic, and about doing what you love
 104
00:04:59.866 --> 00:05:02.869 and about who we are
 105
00:05:02.935 --> 00:05:05.705 and what we stand for as a country.
 106
00:05:05.705 --> 00:05:08.508 I do think in terms of our work directly,
 107
00:05:08.508 --> 00:05:12.879 he told stories about underappreciated things from the past
 108
00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:17.350 that are meant to evoke who we are and what we stand for as a society.
 109
00:05:17.417 --> 00:05:18.818 I'm trying to do the same thing,
 110
00:05:18.818 --> 00:05:21.788 but rather than for people who are gone, I'm trying to do it for the living.
 111
00:05:21.788 --> 00:05:23.289 But my whole family.
 112
00:05:23.289 --> 00:05:25.458 I realized too, is an enormous shaper of why I am.
 113
00:05:25.458 --> 00:05:29.529 My dad's always been my best pal, you know, my mom is the CFO of a business,
 114
00:05:29.529 --> 00:05:32.832 and I talk to my mom more about how to run a business today than I do my dad.
 115
00:05:32.832 --> 00:05:35.468 And my whole mom's side of the family is Armenian,
 116
00:05:35.468 --> 00:05:39.472 and they came here fleeing the Armenian Genocide.
 117
00:05:39.739 --> 00:05:41.974 My mom is the first in her family to marry a non-Armenian.
 118
00:05:41.974 --> 00:05:43.776 I exist because of multiculturalism.
 119
00:05:43.776 --> 00:05:47.513 You can see why it bothers me that we are a culturally siloed society.
 120
00:05:47.880 --> 00:05:50.616 My belief in the American story and the American identity,
 121
00:05:50.616 --> 00:05:52.885 and being ambitious and advocating for the civic,
 122
00:05:52.885 --> 00:05:55.555 and looking at our history and our past to inform where we are now.
 123
00:05:55.555 --> 00:05:58.491 Certainly that comes from my grandfather, but my belief in the American dream,
 124
00:05:58.491 --> 00:06:02.462 my belief in how we welcome people into this country, my belief
 125
00:06:02.462 --> 00:06:05.365 in what this country is really about and what we are made up of.
 126
00:06:05.365 --> 00:06:06.699 We are a diverse nation
 127
00:06:06.699 --> 00:06:10.269 where the people who are American citizens are not the original people from here.
 128
00:06:10.636 --> 00:06:13.573 We are all, in one way or another from somewhere else.
 129
00:06:13.573 --> 00:06:16.376 We all come from different backgrounds and stories.
 130
00:06:16.376 --> 00:06:18.945 How do we get along?
 131
00:06:18.945 --> 00:06:21.781 How do we honor who we are and where we're from,
 132
00:06:21.781 --> 00:06:24.784 and come up with a new identity at the same time?
 133
00:06:24.784 --> 00:06:28.421 And just like you're discovering these things that are down the road, pay
 134
00:06:28.421 --> 00:06:31.457 deep attention to the things you discover about in here too.
 135
00:06:31.524 --> 00:06:35.862 The things you learn about yourself and follow them, truly follow them.
 136
00:06:35.862 --> 00:06:37.163 They're bubbling up for a reason.
 

Co-Founder & CEO

Experience

How And Why I Started The American Exchange Project

How pivotal was your grandfather in,
 2
00:00:03.636 --> 00:00:05.505 you know, shaping who you are as a person?
 3
00:00:05.505 --> 00:00:09.542 I know he's the author of many books, one of them being, his book on John Adams.
 4
00:00:10.310 --> 00:00:12.679 And now you being the historian you are like,
 5
00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:16.182 how pivotal was he in that, in that formation?
 6
00:00:16.683 --> 00:00:17.484 Enormous.
 7
00:00:17.484 --> 00:00:19.085 We were very, very close.
 8
00:00:19.085 --> 00:00:20.754 Yeah. My grandfather, my namesake.
 9
00:00:20.754 --> 00:00:21.821 I'm David McCullough III.
 10
00:00:21.821 --> 00:00:24.157 He's David Sr., my dad's David Jr.
 11
00:00:24.157 --> 00:00:27.427 He won two Pulitzer Prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
 12
00:00:27.427 --> 00:00:29.262 which is our nation's highest civilian honor.
 13
00:00:29.262 --> 00:00:30.897 And he had the hardware.
 14
00:00:30.897 --> 00:00:35.368 My grandfather's accomplishments and the way he handled them
 15
00:00:35.802 --> 00:00:39.339 never made me feel any kind of pressure.
 16
00:00:39.339 --> 00:00:41.274 It's definitely made me, though,
 17
00:00:41.274 --> 00:00:45.278 someone who realizes that big ambitions are possible and not a bad thing.
 18
00:00:45.445 --> 00:00:49.749 What I learned from my grandfather was much, much more about character
 19
00:00:49.749 --> 00:00:53.086 and about work ethic, and about doing what you love
 20
00:00:53.086 --> 00:00:56.089 and about who we are
 21
00:00:56.156 --> 00:00:58.925 and what we stand for as a country.
 22
00:00:58.925 --> 00:01:01.728 I do think in terms of our work directly,
 23
00:01:01.728 --> 00:01:06.099 he told stories about underappreciated things from the past
 24
00:01:06.099 --> 00:01:10.570 that are meant to evoke who we are and what we stand for as a society.
 25
00:01:10.637 --> 00:01:12.038 I'm trying to do the same thing,
 26
00:01:12.038 --> 00:01:15.008 but rather than for people who are gone, I'm trying to do it for the living.
 27
00:01:15.008 --> 00:01:16.509 But my whole family.
 28
00:01:16.509 --> 00:01:18.678 I realized too, is an enormous shaper of why I am.
 29
00:01:18.678 --> 00:01:22.749 My dad's always been my best pal, you know, my mom is the CFO of a business,
 30
00:01:22.749 --> 00:01:26.052 and I talk to my mom more about how to run a business today than I do my dad.
 31
00:01:26.052 --> 00:01:28.688 And my whole mom's side of the family is Armenian,
 32
00:01:28.688 --> 00:01:32.692 and they came here fleeing the Armenian Genocide.
 33
00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:35.195 My mom is the first in her family to marry a non-Armenian.
 34
00:01:35.195 --> 00:01:36.996 I exist because of multiculturalism.
 35
00:01:36.996 --> 00:01:40.733 You can see why it bothers me that we are a culturally siloed society.
 36
00:01:41.101 --> 00:01:43.837 My belief in the American story and the American identity,
 37
00:01:43.837 --> 00:01:46.106 and being ambitious and advocating for the civic,
 38
00:01:46.106 --> 00:01:48.775 and looking at our history and our past to inform where we are now.
 39
00:01:48.775 --> 00:01:51.711 Certainly that comes from my grandfather, but my belief in the American dream,
 40
00:01:51.711 --> 00:01:55.682 my belief in how we welcome people into this country, my belief
 41
00:01:55.682 --> 00:01:58.585 in what this country is really about and what we are made up of.
 42
00:01:58.585 --> 00:01:59.919 We are a diverse nation
 43
00:01:59.919 --> 00:02:03.490 where the people who are American citizens are not the original people from here.
 44
00:02:03.857 --> 00:02:06.793 We are all, in one way or another from somewhere else.
 45
00:02:06.793 --> 00:02:09.596 We all come from different backgrounds and stories.
 46
00:02:09.596 --> 00:02:12.165 How do we get along?
 47
00:02:12.165 --> 00:02:15.001 How do we honor who we are and where we're from,
 48
00:02:15.001 --> 00:02:18.004 and come up with a new identity at the same time?
 49
00:02:18.004 --> 00:02:21.641 And just like you're discovering these things that are down the road, pay
 50
00:02:21.641 --> 00:02:24.677 deep attention to the things you discover about in here too.
 51
00:02:24.744 --> 00:02:29.082 The things you learn about yourself and follow them, truly follow them.
 52
00:02:29.082 --> 00:02:30.383 They're bubbling up for a reason.
 

Integrity & Authenticity

Drawing Inspiration From My Family

What would you say is like one of the, the greatest part
 2
00:00:04.304 --> 00:00:07.674 or greatest, aspects of working with youth besides,
 3
00:00:07.674 --> 00:00:11.611 you know, maybe watching them kind of succeed in their own way.
 4
00:00:11.878 --> 00:00:16.616 Like, is there, one unique part about that that you would like to share?
 5
00:00:16.783 --> 00:00:19.786 You know, when it comes to working with young people,
 6
00:00:19.919 --> 00:00:22.622 I think the thing that is special to me
 7
00:00:22.622 --> 00:00:26.960 is there is, I believe, a solution
 8
00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:30.597 to any problem that we might have
 9
00:00:31.197 --> 00:00:34.701 that's in the mind of a young person, right?
 10
00:00:34.701 --> 00:00:39.105 Somewhere in there is a new idea, a new product,
 11
00:00:39.239 --> 00:00:43.977 a new business, a new organization, a new way of looking at the world.
 12
00:00:44.377 --> 00:00:49.377 And, you know, someone once said you can't take old keys to unlock new doors.
 13
00:00:50.850 --> 00:00:51.518 Right.
 14
00:00:51.518 --> 00:00:54.654 And so the thing that I love about working with young people
 15
00:00:54.654 --> 00:00:57.657 is it feels like I'm watching them create new keys.
 16
00:00:57.857 --> 00:01:00.527 And giving them the sense that, they're important.
 17
00:01:01.995 --> 00:01:03.863 That they have value.
 18
00:01:03.863 --> 00:01:07.700 That their ideas have value, that their dreams are valuable,
 19
00:01:08.334 --> 00:01:11.571 that they don't have to be limited by the things that they see
 20
00:01:11.571 --> 00:01:15.008 and that there is wisdom for them to tap into.
 21
00:01:15.041 --> 00:01:16.876 There's ancient wisdom.
 22
00:01:16.876 --> 00:01:18.478 I don't consider myself ancient wisdom.
 23
00:01:18.478 --> 00:01:20.480 Maybe some of the young people that I work with do.
 24
00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.715 There's even wisdom even older than me.
 25
00:01:22.715 --> 00:01:24.617 And this is such an important part of our work
 26
00:01:24.617 --> 00:01:28.021 at the Obama Foundation, because we end up training a lot of young leaders.
 27
00:01:28.488 --> 00:01:31.291 You can build and innovate,
 28
00:01:31.291 --> 00:01:35.862 but you don't have to learn the lessons that people learned
 29
00:01:36.396 --> 00:01:38.998 20 years ago, 60 years ago.
 30
00:01:38.998 --> 00:01:40.700 You know, a millennia ago.
 31
00:01:40.700 --> 00:01:43.903 You can start from where we have ended.
 32
00:01:44.637 --> 00:01:47.907 And so putting young leaders in a position,
 33
00:01:47.907 --> 00:01:51.277 or young people in a position where we can help give them guidance
 34
00:01:51.411 --> 00:01:56.116 and then give them the tools to be able to take things forward,
 35
00:01:56.282 --> 00:02:01.054 and create the world that I hope I stick around long enough to live in.
 36
00:02:01.187 --> 00:02:04.124 It's a very inspiring way to live.
 37
00:02:04.124 --> 00:02:07.127 And it, it just is this sort of renewal.
 38
00:02:07.327 --> 00:02:09.963 Right. A young person, is this ever
 39
00:02:11.097 --> 00:02:12.932 creating source of renewal.
 40
00:02:12.932 --> 00:02:14.901 There's always going to be young people around.
 41
00:02:14.901 --> 00:02:19.072 And so working with them, beyond the impact it's good for me.
 42
00:02:19.105 --> 00:02:20.940 It's good for my life. It makes my life better.
 

2025 SXSW Conference
Interviewed in Austin, TX but works in Chicago, IL USA.
advanced-degree

Work hard at learning the basics of whatever it is you want to do. If you're really good at the basics, then people can rely on you, which can help open a lot of doors.

I lead external affairs at the Obama Foundation, where I build partnerships, connect with stakeholders, and support young leaders through My Brother’s Keeper. My days are filled with storytelling, guiding youth to lead change, and helping shape a future that honors those who came before us. Every day, I get to work alongside people creating the world I hope to grow old in.

Inspiration

Learn From Grandparents

Learn From Grandparents

Yosimar Reyes

300 videos on Inspiration: