We met these three at a crossroads—well into their careers, but feeling unfulfilled and wondering what might still be waiting for them. Dana, a grandmother who worried the workforce had passed her by; Jeremy, a military veteran eyeing a new career path; and Bernita, a mother of two who felt boxed in by her lack of a degree. When they embarked on a road trip to find new pathways, they’d each lived a lifetime’s worth of experiences—but they were ready for what was next.</br> </br>Follow their eye-opening road trip across the country to explore alternative forms of education and training, and talk to people who have navigated life’s turns with tenacity—and without traditional four-year degrees—then check out our follow-up with them two years after their journey to see where they are now. No one knows exactly what the future of work will look like, but their stories and transformations show that it can hold opportunities for all—and it doesn’t have to leave anyone behind.

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It’s never too late to make a change for the better.

tell you in junior high or gonna come up with a plan, but to come up with another plan after that. on and anymore, so I have to figure it out. the military into running a startup. that I have no experience in coding at all. path? either I need to get the degree or without the degree, one or the other. see hope and to see that somebody made it. this, I can too. coast.  and be inspired by their stories. to their professional work is there's sort of in between, your life. out of high school or in your 70s or 80s. not give up, to make that change, to not stay stuck? what is it that you want? discipline and tenacity. the rest of your life learning? invincible when you're young and go?" there, >> So like, what's the next step? tired of living someone else's dream, it's my turn. whirlwind, I've never experienced. reliance on degrees. different types of learning. lifted. was all these options. because you want to or giving you, you have to be happy with what you do. 

What happens when you’re ready to make a change? 

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rise of robotics and automation, and the future of the workforce. uneven. geography and race, but determinant, education. that doesn't just mean a college degree. different types of learning. Boomers are remaining in the workforce longer and rapidly changing economy? to adapt? we're getting the best out of them? a film crew following me today. >> So people to do a cross country tour. coast to coast. other people and be inspired by their story. this big, green RV. it. nervous. this. I'm honored. who transition from one career to the next. profession with a typical four year degree. common is we all feel kind of stuck. path. in breeding prairie horses and magically present itself to me and so things in the horse industry until that happened. like that and I'm still bending and the show horse customers. that work, I am definitely ready for a change. the motivation has been to provide for that knows how to survive. that knows how to live. super-relevant technologically and be. doesn't lie in computers, swing a hammer, set a fence post. what I do isn't fulfilling to me. activism and and found more fulfilment there. out how that pays the bills. virtual and automated, destined to be obsolete. working for Lyft. than getting a real job. I found that it's more efficient to accomplish. a whim and went straight into the Navy. from the time I signed the contract. decision I ever made. and then I was released to the service fleet. a seal team as a support tech. them. couple of years, but I didn't know what I wanted to serving the Navy for almost 17 years. depression. something to transition into. the app I'm working on. you gotta run with this. wanted to design my own apps. be a household name. that I have no experience in coding at all. for three months. time student. myself going on this trip. people discover, and also discover for educational paths are available to us. radical about everything I do. they defy gravity and were once bound by their feet. careful with the words that I speak, but build up and cause victories on battlefields. that hurt me the most in life. was incarcerated all my life. and just recently, my son was incarcerated. person. I owned a independent living facility. and community engagement. neighborhood on a bus and neighborhood as a teenager. up. spaces in the community. communities like this and to say what do they need. you're finding solutions for people, but your own family, that hurts. every day, I have my son on my mind, I have my daughter on my mind. professional life right now, who I need to evolve to be. me is whether I will stay available in the city for I applied, and I didn't get it. it because she has a degree. like yeah something needs to change. degree or without the degree, one or the other. back to school is a lot. to open my eyes to some stuff. road trip. road trip with strangers, it's gonna be challenging. share your whole world with two people that you just coming on this trip was a risk. interviews that inspire us to make that change that nothing else, these transitions like we are, and that we'll all be okay. Bolles. from one career to the next. >> Nice to meet you. >> Dana. >> Can you tell us a little please eat. much time in college, a range of different jobs. point 27 different things that I did. after a while became almost a symbol for me. anything. >> Wow. like that have a deep affect on the way you think well, wait a minute, skills. and do new things. step is self exploration. I talk a lot about the future of work and that each of us care about. to find meaningful work that have the lifestyle they want. that's like the basics, right? similar is you're sort of in between. now I want to do this other thing. your life. straight out of high school, and 80s. number of possibilities, right? different paths you could take. need is permission from yourself to do new things. approval from society. to go to ask their approval. it's okay to take those risks. >> Certain amount of confidence say. like invincible when you're young, and >> [LAUGH] there. there. challenges in our lives, an awful a lot of it is mindset. problem for you. some of us it's harder than others. the RV with us and we have a space we'd like for something. do it. this a couple of times. >> Right, right, right. I was young was a cartoonist. >> Okay. need to change the world one app at a time. >> Dana, to give yourself permission. >> And positive you can break through any problem. world, so we're looking forward to all the next learn, the people you meet. guys. real, right? 24 hours. >> Less than 24 hours, yeah. and out of prison since age 13, felons. and Outside, Los Angeles County. traditional college education path. certifications that helped him get the job that he my father was incarcerated all my life. my father probably like every two years, prison. active gang family, and activity and incarceration. try to do is help individuals like me to services. furthering their education, they really wanna do in life. emotionally illiterate. feeling, I didn't know. and I needed a lot of help. people. outside the prison? understand that I don't understand myself. life, where have you been? my fault, this was how I was brought up. still had choice, and to stop using excuses. come and work for them. go back to school Ernie. you're not gonna be able to compete in this field. position, money you're gonna be making and it doesn't add up for an associates, work on a bachelors. certifications, help me on that level. families on the same level that I was being helped. have the courage to not give up, to not stay stuck, to not go back? I tell them, enough has to be enough. being one of the bigger keys in people's lives. to express yourself if you express these emotions that are tied up. what is it that you want? like, to see hope. it. this, I can too. where do you think we're going today? Santa Fe. said you would like to go and >> The Grand Canyon. gotta put my hiking shoes on for that. Jeremy, we're following you. emotional. I could feel it in the back of my throat. something, just be free of something. something like that nothing else matters, for the moment. it. everything else into the Grand Canyon. pain of the prison experiences I've had. much weight in my life that I have, father wasn't there or somebody who was a felon. with my son going to jail. again was like, wow, when does this stop? that was my permission to move past the hurt of all of this. breathing out all the pain. place. symbolic of new beginnings. 30 minutes of my life. 35 years, I didn't feel anything. I just wore this mask, okay. years to get the help that I needed for my depression. get help that that was the end of my career. hard. amazing. learning who I really wanna be. >> Nice to meet you, Theo. Phil? >> I'd never done pottery before, so Theo was a really good instructor. to twist the wheel counterclockwise, little bit, feeling the clay. move and so they slide upward vertically, >> [LAUGH] My creation, you ain't over. say that. it. journey. hmm, that didn't work, instead. start out with one idea and different idea. you right away, when you're in junior high or that you're gonna come up with a plan, but to come up with another plan after that. a vase. teacher, so having all these after school activities, people and dealing with kids and that was great. was that part of me that was not getting to evolve sort of contemplative, quiet, creative inner part. from that and be, I just wanna do what I wanna do. worry about sounding confused or whatever. isn't it? like, this isn't working. opening your own business? not think about it very much before I did it. it, it's very easy to get stuck. leap. answers. work out. do it, cuz you're gonna go nuts if you don't. learning the whole different perspective on if it wasn't coming out just how we thought, and start it again, or put a whole new blob there. more in those terms we won't get so our mistakes and our failures. permission about my present employment. where it felt like it it's time to do something else. powerful. doing? I'm Jeremy Burton. education. he had a realization that made him actually doing humanitarian work overseas. Kibera. and after it goes through the filtration. we flip it around. people die because they don't have safe drinking water crisis, that needs it, and we can do that. lifetime. trained horses for 30 years. >> And developed a heart for humanity. to figure out how to merge people into a career of sorts. the time. Africa, you let me know. >> Yeah, I would love to go, too. >> I would love to. transition over to Water is Life? people group up in the northern area of Kenya, little lady in the village that we were at. baby and I love kids. him, he's laughing and cutting up. old. I'm asking questions and I, obviously, that you could ever ask a mom What's his name? Sahara Africa will die before they reach they just call him blessing or boy. turning points for me as I'm things, it was obvious, I had to do something. I've walked away from what I was doing and make a difference in the world. do you have a degree to deal with water? hammers. >> But I have a lot of great people mistakes along the way. you grow from them and you change. do I fit? I want to do, it's that I want to do so much. well all of us have different talents. identify that is what are the things that make you tick? feel good when you're doing them and things that tick you off? table over, that you stay up at night worried about? need to help make a difference in. the things that we're passionate about for are handicapped and we can't make that break. I didn't know how to that you get paid for. still be doing good work and still be compensated. we've interviewed that I don't this point in life trying to figure something out. have really given us, about our own process. stuff, okay? we've talked to so far, and make the next half of this trip exciting. already been this just of experiences that I've never experienced. amazing, this bond on the road. 10 days, to happen in this next 11 military into being a full time student, it's a little challenging. wanted to go into the mobile app and daunting. start. I kinda just was using Google a lot. maybe throwing in the towel. two and a half years. Hardaway, who is the founder at Vets Who Code. helps veterans learn a 16 week free course. >> I was medically retired studying software engineering. your transition from active duty to how difficult that was for you? the right mental health support. transitional support when it comes to employment. be a cop or security guard. a cop security guard. nothing. a, you're a veteran. for software engineering. software engineering at the college I'm going to language, which that's kind of my dilemma right now. design apps, I want to help build them. languages. adviser because she was like, no, no. coder. means, too articulate to be a coder. with it. math, or being black, or being white, or that doesn't have anything to do about it. and tenacity. fact that you're going to spend the rest of your more. hard. not a gifted programmer in the least. and other people is that when I was just discipline to wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning and to work. was any of that an interest? on podcasts or they see me speak, kids into computer science or software engineering forever. smart in the Air Force. they know that, yo, I'm just like you. friendly. now works at a company that is the number seventh if they had put me in that little box. capable of because we said so. skills pay the bills. gym time, to be able to get to that championship level. something even when you don't want to. big three HTML, CSS, JavaScript. more questions now then when I started. there's so much I can do and many different places you can start. year Bachelors of Arts in Software Engineering. I have to figure out. technology is the future. hair on my arms, feeling like that, or you have a fear of technology or destined to be obsolete. I know that there's other people like me. three feet, nothing. Smedley. serving over 7,500 youth. she transitioned to a new career. call center I was getting emails about poet mentor. someone who has a four-year degree. years teaching experience. mind, I didn't even just going to try but qualifications and have that can be developed. my job. different mornings and I would be crying on my way. potential, but three kids were barely breaking even. I'm looking at people like I love you all. little while, just free for a little while, gonna, who's gonna cater to the community. >> Who's gonna cater to my family. break past it? defined by simply one thing. to that I went out and was the executive director of the organization, Word. then after the event was done, everybody's been telling me about. months I was teaching in a high school. dismiss, dismiss, dismiss. time for you? with me. with you? much. save everybody from pain. >> Can you control that? >> Why are you picking up something the planning is our best selves. our head. have to overcome in our lives, telling you you can. that more? narrative. to you, a moment like, I gotta be super woman. everything. helps me to know that it's okay to be real, more time to really just step back and the whole I wanna say crap that come with Bernita. me up most of the night is the fear of what if. path? to myself and I'm still learning how to share that. learn my guard down and be a person. motivation it's never been financed. want to make a certain amount by this time. thought that will just come naturally when you're savings, nothing to fall back on. my kids. complain about it but you just don't want that, so County, West Virginia and for doing whatever I can to survive, you know what I mean? coal miners? that. since there have been coal mines. over, and I'm going from here. to school, but I'm trying I'm doing it. as America's first frontier. close communion with the landscape, things, and were were really self- reliant. dependent on one extractive industry which was coal. from with only a high school degree year. industry. the highest unemployment in the country. one of the things that's real similar to Detroit. parallel with Detroit, actually. rap, right, in national media. >> And Appalachia does too. I mean, we're the butt of a bunch of >> The perception is we're uneducated or violent. insecurities here in Appalachia. we have real problems that we have to, sand about. and it is a real problem. people have some strange addicts. the lack of opportunity and of the tunnel that leads to that. do something about that, so creator. job training, higher education and that have payrolls and accounts. Virginia to think differently. did not have a vehicle to get to work. wheeler over several mountains every morning. it to work on time at 7 AM. Wilburn has that's what we mean by courage. here and I'll show you what's going on. this is their training area. manager, project manager. therapy for over eight years, but it. you gotta give yourself a chance. can get several certificates. like, i don't wanna go to college. I'm trying to find a clear path. do it. never dreamed. you never dreamed you'd go. sometimes you just get upset and you shut it down, but are older just power through it because, this test really [LAUGH] You know what I mean. just get through this. else's dream. your outlook on life. you're in it could go to something new, Luke he invited us to tail gate. >> I'm moving to West Virginia. here that probably needs some help and that's an interesting possibility. a company, I can get involved with help, and I want to be a part of that. the same obstacles and our poorest communities in Detroit. I can too. Maryland to interview Joe Miller. Joe was working for t-shirts in a small warehouse. the apprenticeship program there, and Engineering. kinda started at the bottom. stuff, not very good with technology. what the engineers were doing and everything. someone like me who was a fix-it person. background or have a big interest. aversion to computers and technology. apprehension about computers or. computers. hands, working with cars, lawn mowers. I need to make this stuff work. that when you want to get into engineering or if it's something you're passionate about, about it. college way. here that don't have degrees, school, that are now engineers making salaries. are doing great things. yes. gonna make her like tech. [LAUGH]. Dana was pushing back. over. gonna die. tool. were actually machines she saw possibility. >> You're an inspiration. going to Washington, D.C. cuz now you start thinking about really, next steps will be when we get back home. Isaac, Policy for LinkedIn. Bronx, some of the same ground I come from. as Floor Counsel in the Senate, and to President Obama. an over reliance on degrees and where you£re seeing more and of kinda ontraditional models of inclusion and requisite degrees but have the skills. degrees. right people who are looking for you, and there. different types of learning. you can access the skills needed for learning, there's certificates. as work is changing. change. diminish in any way what you bring to the table. is just not giving up and resilient. over these last 21 days. much bigger than what you think. >> [LAUGH] back. off somebody's desk. been eye opening, life changing in so many ways. trip, I was stuck in my old story. a weight has been lifted. world. learned that I do have resources. realize now that computers can be my friend. available to me was a 4 year program. most about education on this trip is there are so know, a traditional 4 year degree. these options and eventually the program and they are getting good jobs. because you want to or giving you and you have to be happy about what you do. available and network and completely like changed. start kicking ass. it felt like a door open or a door closed. this, I don't wanna go back to school. towards going to school. risks they need to take. it opens you up to be willing to take more. we'll be going to Busboys and Poets and of what I feel like I got on the trip. people in this room like open mic poetry, and [LAUGH] microphone is >> I'll be a little there. hear. extra bullets for his throat, for breached. faith and my father's last attempt to be faithful. you was born with a gift, now. what is wrong with me. spoken word and knowing Bernita's power, I was something that really we all had been a part of. to, path of you know what next, what next, what next? myself in this path but it's a possibility. we really don't even know. the totality of who we are. you be? >> All right, signed the open mic list. >> Woo! next path to those cliffs over there. have seen enough, and it's time for me to leap. after all they've taken centuries to build. sounds strange, don't it? told all your life that these mountains exists to what's on the other side. on the other side no more because leaping from one edge to the next. jump. mountains so surely we can to. cause soaring means we open up. over there for far too long now, you notice other people watching and conquer this mountain. to show them how free falling or soaring is possible, and on top of these edges, on top of these mountain or 

It’s never too late to find a new path—but what does it take to forge a new career, new skills, and a new beginning?

No longer training horses, she’s redefining herself and building something new—in more ways than one.

Where Are They Now: Dana

On the road, he faced the question he’d been chasing for decades—and found the answer.

Where Are They Now: Jeremy

When she got home to Detroit, she quit her job—and this is what she created next.

Where Are They Now: Bernita

This fall, we’re sending three people on a road trip, fueled by the Lumina Foundation, across the country to meet inspiring leaders who’ve adapted to and found fulfillment in work’s changing landscape. Along the way, they'll learn about new paths to long-term career success, and see how to unlock the education and training they'll need along the way. Follow along as these roadtrippers realize that even if life throws you a curveball, you can still hit it out of the park.

Future of Work Roadtrip

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