My name is DeAndre King. I was born on the south side of Chicago. It was a pretty cool neighborhood but as I started to grow and get older, certain things that I started to notice, like why is it that the neighbors can get up and go to work everyday but my mom wouldn't go. And my mom at the end of the day she most definitely was an alcoholic. She most definitely stayed depressed and all through it, she would still say, well, don't worry about what everybody else is talking about. Just focus on you. You can do it if you choose to, you live in the United States of America, greatest country in the world. You have all the opportunity in the world. There is no reason for you not to be able to get anything going in your life, just go out and do it but she couldn't provide per se where we're in shelter after shelter at the shelter, watching and schooling with friends and they're getting their hair done and nails done having to close and you're still in the same clothes for a whole month at a time, two months at a time because you have to go home that you don't have lights or gas or heat. I didn't graduate from highschool even though I went through all four years, I knew I wasn't gonna graduate because the opportunity was not there, because my mom and my father wherever he was getting drunk doing insane thing, drugging, there's no opportunity if they're not showing me the way What am I supposed to do? I really wish that somebody had gave me the opportunity then to be able to get some form of training. Then instead of just sticking to, like most people say, well you get a job. How you gonna tell me to go get a job? Had it ever occurred to you that might not know how to get a job? Had it ever occurred to you, I might not even have the money to even get on the bus to go get a job. These are the types of things that people just don't think about. They're quick to judge, but they don't they're not quick to give you the answer. So these type of things can build up and it's kind of hard for you to be young. To get the understanding that you can either do one or two things you can take it out on the world, be mad at the world or you can focus on making the change. As you get older, you know, don't cry over spilled milk as a saying. Well, I've tried to clean it up. So every experience that I got chance to have good or bad, it for me it just motivated me to become better 

Do your research. With the technology we have today, anyone can find positive resources. Utilize the organizations, libraries, churches, and schools in your neighborhood, city, and state.

Life was unstable growing up. My parents struggled with alcoholism. My mom was in a toxic relationship with my sister's dad. We often didn't have gas/heat at home and were in and out of shelters. At 18, I moved in with a friend to turn things around.

I enjoyed all four years of high school but unfortunately didn't end up graduating because I didn't have the stability I needed in my home life. I eventually got my GED and it's still a goal of mine to get a college degree.

Home Health Care Provider

You're fat. You're poor. You're Black. You can't afford it.

Acceptance

Perseverance

Struggle

Finding Motivation From The Struggles Of My Past

Most of the times when everybody see a problem and we wanna be that change in that problem. Most of the time we run into a roadblock. How do I start it? Where do I go from here? &gt;&gt; Yeah. &gt;&gt; I wanna know, if you did run into those roadblocks, how did you get over them? Or what are the steps that you did take to make sure that, okay, this is not just a thought. This is not just a feeling. I'm actually gonna be a part of the resolution and not the problem. &gt;&gt; Starting a business is ten times harder than you think. So whatever you plan on, you say they're gonna have x problems, I guess we're gonna have ten x problems. And so, unless you are 100% committed, beyond any other commitment you've had, the problems will push you down too much. So remember, when I first was selling Europe internships, have you done this before? No, have you ever run a nonprofit before? No, and said, why should I trust you? Have you even taught one student in your life? Nope, all I have is a business plan. &gt;&gt; [LAUGH] &gt;&gt; Right? So you have to be totally fanatical about what you're doing. And the definition of a fanatic is, you won't change your mind and you can't change the subject, right? So you got to like want it more than anything else. And in this case, I did want it more than anything else. And anyone that put something in my way, I was like, hey, it's just one more obstacle, right? It's just one more thing to get around, over, under, through, whatever it is. It's just something I need to knock down today to get to the next goal. 

Work for a great social entrepreneur as their assistant, even if it is a job you think you are over-qualified to hold. You will do and learn a bunch of interesting things, get great exposure, and make some awesome contacts.

Financial challenges have a way of focusing the mind. In my case, I vowed that I would get myself out of debt and was pretty focused on achieving that. Once I did that, it was a lot easier to turn my attention to fully serving others.

Half my time is external with donors, corporate partners, and other key stakeholders. The other half of my time is spent internally on culture, strategy, management, and people.

CEO 

Goals

Facing Roadblocks When Starting A Business

What did you tell yourself to push through? &gt;&gt; Life happens you can't control what happens in your life. It feels like sometimes like you get kicked down a little bit, but I think it's pushing through and realizing that things will get better. There's always an end in sight, as long as you're willing to persevere and really really work hard and don't quit, last thing is just not quitting, you can make it happen for yourself. But also being aware that if you keep on doing the same thing, nothing's gonna change. I knew I had to get certifications, I knew I had to go to school, and that made things harder, it did at the time. But doing that set me up for where I am now, you have to keep pushing and doing more. You have to put like 110% whatever it takes, but early on, I really didn't have that confidence to say like, okay, something I could do, but over time I felt something I've learned. That like if you don't believe in yourself, I can't expect anyone else to believe in me, so like something you really have to figure out. 

Pursuing certifications can greatly accelerate your career and make you more appealing to employers. Also, remember that a job interview isn't just for a potential employer to get to know you; it's also an opportunity for you to interview them and figure out if you could be happy there.

Both of my parents are immigrants and didn't speak English well. A lot of my childhood was spent helping my family navigate life in the U.S. It was tedious at times but I realize now that all the work is to benefit my family and create a better life.

I graduated from high school shortly before the 2008 recession. I had a newborn baby and was struggling to make ends meet. I felt like I had very few options until Year Up opened up doors for me.

I spend most of my time having conversations with customers and understanding their needs. This can be a combination of conference calls or on-site meetings. During our conversations, we could be discussing an upcoming project / initiative or I could be demonstrating an AWS service that is of interest to them.

Solutions Architect

Believe In Yourself And Never Give Up

How did you separate yourself from your environment and the limitation that they put on you? &gt;&gt; I always had a drive within myself. My motto is just never give up. When I came across a situation, I have kids, I'm not making enough money, I feel just like giving up. This is hard, this is crazy. If there were times where when I had to choose clothes or food, I would look for food banks. I've been to food banks, they helped. It put food on the table, it helped until that next check. So you have to really dig deep and figure out, what can I do to make it better? You know, everybody's so quick to just look at the traditional way of doing things, but there's always a way around it. You gotta get creative. And so if you have to take school online at home part time, if you're at work and on your break, you have to study. I mean, you do whatever it is to push through cuz it's only temporary. You have to look out at the outcome. The outcome is always gonna be better than a temporary that you're going through now. And you have to seclude yourself sometimes from people who won't give you that energy that it takes for you to continue to move forward. I even had to step away from my own family members in order to feed myself the positivity that I needed to help me get through. Because I've been down, I've been depressed for a long time. I had people negative and it's okay, I still love them. It's just that they couldn't see the same vision that I saw for myself. 

Obtain your technical certifications first and start networking with as many people as you can. Sometimes it's about knowing the right people! I did not have a desirable resume, but when I positioned myself with the right people, more opportunities came my way.

I was fortunate to be accepted into a not-for-profit technical school and my tuition was paid for. In addition, I reached out to friends for help with gas, lunch, parking fees, and miscellaneous school costs.

I was told I had ADD and learning a new subject was a challenge for me, but I wasn't going to let that defeat me. I studied harder, went to study groups, reached out to other students for help, and used every resource I could get my hands on.

I dealt with depression and it got to the point when I realized I needed to speak to a doctor about it. Everyone goes through struggles, but you can't let life beat you up. It's up to you to take control.

I come to work in a colorful environment where we can choose to sit in any comfy chair or sofa. With our laptops in tow, we get to select which tickets we would like to work on by calling the customer back and helping them troubleshoot their issues with their production printers over the phone. It's a very laid back atmosphere where all of the employees can collaborate with each other to help solve problems.

IT Specialist

Determination

Never Give Up

What was it that kept you going during some of those tougher times? &gt;&gt; When I came across the situation and have kids, I'm not making enough money. I feel just like giving up. This is hard. This is crazy. I started researching on an internet, if there were times where, what I had to choose clothes or food, I will look for food banks. I've been to food banks. They helped. It put food on the table. It helped until that next check. So you have to really dig deep and figure out what can I do to make it better. Everybody's so quick to just look at the traditional way of doing things, but there's always a way around. You gotta get creative, and so if you have to take school online, at home part time, if you're at work and on your break, you have to study, I mean you do whatever it is to push through, because it's only temporary. You have to look out at the outcome. The outcome is always going to be better than the temporary that you're going through now. And you have to seclude yourself sometimes from people who won't give you that energy that it takes for you to continue to move forward. I even had to step away from my own family members in order to feed myself the positivity that I needed to help me get through, because I've been down, I've been depressed for a long time. I had people, negative, and it okay, I still love them. It's just that they couldn't see the same vision that I saw for myself. 

Negativity

Be Creative To Overcome Challenges

Can you tell us a little bit about your background and where you came from? &gt;&gt; Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Growing up in a low-income area is challenging. You don't realize it at first because that's just the norm to you. You don't know anything different. But I think everybody has a cross to carry. I think everybody has their own customized journey to help them to get ready and prepare for the better. So I was down a lot because of the situation I grew up in. I've seen people die, chalk marks on the ground of someone getting murdered. I've personally been stuck up, gunpoint, waiting on the bus stop going home from work. So those things, it's just so much to keep putting you down, getting you down, but you are your own rescuer. You have to want it enough for yourself to say, you know what, I'm going to get through the odds. I'm not going to be a statistic. I am going to keep fighting. I don't care how long it take. I'm going to get there. And there's been times that I wanted to give up. I wanted to take my own life, it was that bad. But you can go through your emotions, that's normal, but don't stay stuck there. You have to find your fight. Nobody's going to come rescue you, and so you have to save yourself. You have to make the decision for yourself that you are not going to let that define you. 

Growing Up In A Low-Income Neighborhood

What was going through your mind the moment you decided to just run for governor? &gt;&gt; Well, that was a long thought process quite frankly. I thought about it a little bit. I kinda toyed with the idea after governor Sandoval's first term. When he was going into the second term, and lot of people encouraged me to run at that time and to see how that would go. We did some polling, I looked at it, it would have been tough to beat the incoming governor. So, decided against it. And then the opportunity came up four years later and I started about two years out to start raising money and talking to people and getting involved. I realized it was gonna be a lot to work. I know it's been pretty time intense but it's something I wasn't afraid of. It was a kind of commision your schedule is pretty much your own and pretty flexible. So I was able to coordinate both of them. &gt;&gt; I think you look around you see the office, you see your position and you're like, wow, this is someone who is very successful. But you mentioned you've been doing this for a long time and you took your failures too. So when you move through a process like that trying to reach a goal like this, what is going through your mind and how do you keep going? &gt;&gt; You can't let it get you down when you lose. I mean, you've got, I think, the key to success isn't you winning all the time. So quickly you get up and you move on from your disappointments or failures. I did run and lose and I learned a lot both times I did and it's something that I still wanted to do, serve the constituency of the general public. So I got involved and found a place that might have been a better fit for me to get me started. And then you never know, you really don't plan out. When I ran for State Senator, I ran for the board Regents, I never thought I'd be governor. I mean, that never even entered my mind. But opportunities present themselves along the way. And you take advantage of them at the time. You've got to take some risks and hopefully they work out. 

Set your goals and then keep your options open as best as possible. Not everyone can reach a certain goal sometimes because it's just not possible. For example, 10 people may have wanted to be governor but all 10 can't get elected. Do things that will direct you towards the goals you've set so that you give yourself the best chance of achieving that goal, but keep your options open because things change along the way.

I ran for State Senate twice and lost, which was disappointing. However, I persevered because I still wanted to serve the public, so I found a place that was a better fit for me to get started.

Governor

Failure

Risk

Persevere Through Your Losses

It's really difficult, kinda to balance where I am, because I'm doing so much. Not only am I a mentor, I'm also the president of USITT. I'm also doing different projects. All these things, I'm getting experience, but as well it's kind of hard to balance school with productions where I'm here from 8 o'clock in the morning to do classes. And then after that I don't get out until like 11 at midnight, because I'm doing productions and I barely have time to do homework, to study. But it's that drive that kind of pushes me forward like okay I might lose this number of sleep, but I know I'm gonna be ready in the end. Different opportunities are going to be brought up to me. It's just driving forward, giving it my all, pulling up all-nighters, it's just basically what college is. Many people go into college with this mentality, that, it's super hard, the professors are gonna make it really hard. College is not hard, what's hard is balancing everything out. Either being with work in school and with family as well. Going into family. &gt;&gt; [LAUGH] &gt;&gt; I have a Mexican background where my parents are a little bit strict. They want me home at a certain time but, they've given me the opportunity that they know that I'm here in the university pursuing my dreams here, working hard and where they give me that trust and be that okay, we'll let you stay up. [LAUGH] But you don't have to be home at a certain time, but the only thing that they want in return is to graduate from college. That's all they want to do. All they want is that diploma. They want me to do what I love. They want to give me that opportunity to pursue what I want to do. They just want in the end want that piece of paper and be like first generation, graduated from college, now into a new path. 

If you want to pursue this career, I would recommend you start talking to people and network to get involved in the entertainment industry. Get hands-on experience as early as possible so that once you graduate from college, you will have that necessary experience and be ready for any task thrown your way.

We left my extended family when we moved to the U.S. It's really hard at times because I'm not able to go back and visit my hometown or my family. It's a goal of mine to be able to visit again and make them proud with my accomplishments.

I'm the first in my family to go to college, but as a DACA resident, there aren't as many opportunities open to me. These limits and fear of being deported have made it hard to consider opportunities, find the right direction, and pursue my dreams.

A typical day in this part of the entertainment industry starts with going to the designated location to start setting up for the show. By working with my team, I help set up the stage, speakers, lights, and any other equipment that might be used during the show. Once everything is up and running, it's my job to make sure the show runs smoothly and to give the audience a good experience. After everything has ended, we take everything down and pack it up for the next event.

Perseverance

Finding Motivation From The Struggles Of My Past

Finding Motivation From The Struggles Of My Past

D'Andra King

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