>>Narrator: How do I know which path is best for me?

Is it possible to take on these challenges and obstacles?

Where do I even start?

What should I do with my life?

Sometimes, the only way to find out is to go see what's possible Since 2001, we've been sharing the stories of people who ventured out and explored different career paths and different possibilities for their futures.

This is one of those stories.

This is Roadtrip Nation.

[MUSIC] >> Julia: We're halfway through our road trip interviewing people in the clean energy industry.

It's nice to be on an adventure and to be meeting all sorts of new people.

>> David: It's gone by so fast.

I feel like I know Julia and Leila so much better now.

>> Julia: We all get along really well, which is awesome.

>> Leila: Being the youngest one here, I feel like I've learned a lot from David and Julia.

>> [MUSIC] >> Leila: And yeah, I'm just looking forward to exploring people who I identify the same things I do and local things I do and see how they navigate the world because I'm still having trouble.

>> [MUSIC] >> Leila: My name is Leila Tevlin, I'm 19.

I go to Elmira College in New York by the Finger Lakes and I study environmental science and sustainability.

This is my lab I guess.

My lab coats are here and these are my goggles.

So, I was born in DC, and we lived in Maryland for a little while and then my mom had a divorce with my biological dad.

We're not really in touch with that side of my family anymore, but she met my dad.

He's awesome.

And he's just like, super funny and he's just like a very smart guy.

>> [MUSIC] >> Leila: Being Brown in an all white family, it's very weird.

I've had people tell my mom that she wasn't fit to raise me because she didn't know how to do my hair.

I've had to deal with a lot of stares.

I've had people think that me and my mom are on a date.

They'll hand me the check, even though she's my mom.

I feel like people kind of refuse to think that we're related sometimes.

>> [MUSIC] >> Leila: My parents made me really aware of my Blackness and told me that I am not going to be treated fairly sometimes.

And I've just been recently reflecting on microaggressions and more resonating with like culture, I guess, just because my family is pretty white.

When I was realizing that I was nonbinary trans, it was kind of later on in high school.

I didn't really know that there were other words for what I was feeling.

Cuz I didn't feel like I was a girl, and I didn't feel like I was a boy either, and I've always felt that.

I feel like I was very distracted while I was in school with social stuff, wrestling, and stuff like that.

I really just didn't have time to think about what I actually thought about myself because I was focused on the person other people were comfortable with, but I realized that I was never actually comfortable with myself.

And then more people started to become more educated about what nonbinary meant and I was like, wait, I kind of resonate with that a little bit.

>> [MUSIC] >> Leila: When I was thinking about college, originally I was going to be a political science major and then I changed it because my mom works in politics so I just kind of wanted something new.

Turned out to be like the best decision because the environmental science program is really cool.

And the people who work in environmental science are awesome.

They're super excited about compost and peas and gardens and mushrooms and the stuff that I like, the stuff that I've always been interested in and haven't explored.

And I've always just really liked going outside in nature and learning about all of these species and ecological concepts.

Like how does the mushroom help the trees, and how do the tree help me, and how are we all helping each other?

Where I'm at right now is just like, I don't know where I'm going.

I don't really have a dream job but I wanna see somebody else who's like me and has to deal with all of these, all these racial issues, but is also really passionate about what they want to see out of the human race.

>> [MUSIC] >> Leila: We're going to Soul Fire Farm, it's centered around Afro culture.

So, usually people of color go there and we're just gonna go see what it's about.

>> David: Yeah, I'm excited to see people who are working, from the grassroots, working closely with the communities that they come from.

>> Julia: It should be cool to meet some people who are focused on agriculture, and giving back to the earth, and doing different programs and stuff through the farm.

>> Leila: Rebuilding their community, making sure that people who are queer and Brown have a place where they're welcome.

>> [MUSIC] >> Cheryl: I feel that I was really called to this work of addressing food insecurity and really trying to promote healthy food access in our communities.

Because of my own lived experience of food insecurity growing up, food insecurity disproportionately impacts folks of color.

So, when I found out about the work that Soul Fire is doing, I just knew that I needed to be in this space.

I think it would be helpful to kind of break it down in the three main spheres of our work, which the first one is feeding the people and the land.

And then the second is training up the next generation of Black and Brown farmers.

And the last piece is really our movement building work.

So the first one, feeding the people and the land, this is really centered around the farm.

>> [MUSIC] >> Cheryl: We were able to start out with a sliding scale CSA in 2010, doing a doorstep delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables to folks living in the south end of Albany.

And from there, we've expanded to so many other different programs.

In this space, this is where we're hosting our farming immersion programs when we have workshops with folks centered around movements for food sovereignty, learning about different organizations and the work that they're doing, and also learning about different agricultural techniques that come from our ancestors.

Things like raised beds, which comes from the Ovambo people of Namibia.

Sharing this agricultural expertise of Black and Brown knowledge is really important to the work that we're doing.

The last piece of our work is doing speaking engagements around the country, talking about the injustices experienced by Black and Brown farmers, so that people have that knowledge of what it is that Black and Brown farmers are experiencing and what they need to be successful.

Sharing that message helps us to catalyze change for Black and Brown farmers.

We have this thing called our Food Sovereignty Action Steps Guide that's readily available on our website.

And this document lists different suggestions and action steps for you to take.

Including, if you know a Black farmer in your community that has a need for a particular item, reach out to them.

So, plenty of ways for folks to support.

>> Leila: For sure, yeah.

I really want to get involved with this more.

Cuz I read about you guys, I was really glad that I got this opportunity cuz I wanted to come see this.

So, this is really cool, thank you so much for showing us and sharing the story.

It's so cool, I can tell that you're really passionate about this.

>> Cheryl: Thank you.

>> Leila: So.

Yeah, that's awesome.

>> Cheryl: Jax appreciates it too.

[LAUGH] >> Leila: He loves Julia.

[LAUGH] Hi >> Julia: I love him.

Do you see what's happening?

>> Leila: [LAUGH] Yeah, dude you're so sweet.

>> Julia: I think that dog was a paid actor, I mean.

>> Director: [LAUGH] >> Julia: How does a dog like that exist?

>> David: [LAUGH] Yeah, he was going in front of the cameras.

>> Leila: Jax was the best, Jax really motivated me to come back.

It was like completely in line with my interest, just like a safe space.

It was very welcoming and 56% of the people who work on Soul Fire Farm are queer and Brown.

>> David: Leila talks a lot about growing up and being a farmer in the future and living off the land.

So just seeing them be super stoked about this place was super cool to see for myself.

>> Leila: I really want to have my own land and grow my own food and stuff like that and share it with people.

So it's really cool to see other people who are nonbinary, Brown, planting their own food and actually doing what I wanna do.

And it's really cool, it's really inspiring.

I feel like I can actually do it now.

>> [MUSIC] >> Leila: I've been thinking about this for a long time but I could ever I really like to see how I could put it into practice because there's not many places like that.

There's just not very many people who look like me, who identify like me, who are farming.

And they're doing exactly what I went into environmental science for, so that's really cool.

>> [MUSIC] >> David: So in Albany, we're going to be talking to Kereem Berry, who's the executive director of the MAPP program.

>> Kereem: I'm an electrician by trade, IBEW Local 86.

I'm also the executive director of the Multi-Craft Apprenticeship Preparation Program, also known as MAPP.

MAPP is really about helping people get into the building trades.

We have direct entry through the Department of Labor, meaning all the red tape that you would normally have to go through.

You don't have to go through that with us because we are recognized by the Department of Labor.

So if you complete our program, you pretty much have carte blanche into any trade that you want.

From the clean energy side of things I'm on a committee called Climate Solutions.

They are basically heading the clean energy effort in New York State.

We actually plan on putting solar panels on top of this building.

We have the Rochester location, the Albany location, and we're about to open up a Binghamton location.

We actually want to make that building green.

That's the plan for it.

With the trades part of it, we really just build to the specs.

So whatever the specs are for the job, we get the prints.

And the prints are from the people who want to build the clean energy project and we provide the labor for that.

There's so many jobs around now with the car charging stations and the wind turbines soon to be here in the port of Albany.

Solar fields are huge deals all over the outskirts of Rochester this huge solar fields.

So we do the work, it's just we don't design the work so to speak.

>> Leila: What sort of differences do you see of people who come in versus when they're leaving?

>> Kereem: Complete 180, people will come in and we [LAUGH] we know who we're dealing with.

The demographic that we're dealing with, the neighborhoods that we're trying to change.

We know where these folks are coming from.

We know the traumas that they've gone through.

So, us looking like them.

We're able to relate, so we get that part of it and able to kind of mold them into what really needs to happen on the job site, giving them that professional polish.

So they come in one way but by the time that they leave, they understand the mission of what we are trying to do.

And they understand what it's gonna take for them to actually make it through and they make the adjustment.

>> Leila: How do you teach the people who come here to be themselves?

And to put their best selves forward without erasing their culture?

>> Kereem: I do that by leading by example.

I don't code switch.

I am Kereem and I think Kereem is sufficient.

Kereem has an education.

Kereem can represent himself.

That's all you really need to do.

Be who you are, act professional.

But you don't need to try to assimilate to a certain culture.

You can be yourself let your work show for itself be there on time every day, ready to work, do your job.

You don't have to be someone else, you can be yourself and be just as efficient at the job as anyone else.

>> Leila: I'm going into the environmental science field and I'm Brown and trans and it's kind of hard to find people who look like me.

How do I form that community if all of the other Brown people are just trying to make it by, trying to assimilate as much as they can?

How do I make that change?

>> Kereem: The advice I will give you is be you and don't worry about it.

It will come.

A lot of the folks in my local are afraid of associating with me because I stand ten toes down on who I am.

And I make no effort to assimilate, it is what it is.

What I've noticed is people respect you when you stand on who you are and not trying to pretend to be something else.

So if you stand on that, folks will see that strength and gravitate towards you.

I wouldn't even go looking for it, it's already there.

>> [MUSIC] >> Julia: Talking with Kereem, it was really cool to hear about all of his work with MAPP.

But it was also really inspiring to hear from him.

He had real passion for his work but he also had this raw sensitivity and emotion.

He kept emphasizing be true to yourself.

And he really demonstrated to all of us that he could really be himself and still convey all the aspects of himself within this interview.

And I think that's inspiring.

>> Leila: He was very like personable and you could tell that he was super passionate about helping his community and building his community and things like that.

>> David: Kereem kind of talked about this idea of taking on responsibility.

And it kind of resonated with me because I'm kind of at that point where I don't know if I'm ready to be an adult.

Responsibility sounds scary.

So the reassurance from Kereem that it's something that everyone goes through.

And something that you'll get through as well was really nice to hear from him.

>> [MUSIC] >> David: So while I've loved being upstate and seeing all the beautiful nature of New York, I'm definitely excited to be back in the city.

I'm ready to show everyone all my favorite places in the city.

And go on a pizza tour and show everyone all the best places in New York for pizza.

You can't go to the city without having a slice or two or eight.

Good stuff.

>> Leila: I grew up in like a city area.

So now that I got a taste of like being in the middle of nowhere or like just sitting in the middle of the field.

I don't really like the city as much anymore.

But New York City is one of the greatest cities in the world, I'll vibe with New York City [LAUGH] >> [MUSIC] >> Leila: So today we are interviewing Elizabeth Yeampierre.

She's the executive director at UPROSE, which focuses on environmental justice and addressing the effects of climate change in low end communities.

>> Elizabeth: UPROSE is the oldest Latino community-based organization in Brooklyn.

It was founded in 1966.

We work at the intersection of racial justice and climate change.

We are a Black, Indigenous, women of color intergenerational organization.

We do everything from organizing to putting down infrastructure, to making sure that policy gets implemented, to building leadership.

And I sort of fell into this work, I'm a civil rights lawyer.

I was organizing against police misconduct, and I came to this organization when it was about to fold.

People came in and said that they were about to expand the Gowanus Expressway and that they couldn't breathe.

My father died from an asthma attack when he was 52.

And so it was this moment where I suddenly went in a different direction and became part of the environmental justice movement without having been part of it ever.

>> Leila: When I went into the environmental science and sustainability major, I was always taught that sustainability is a rich white person thing.

You have a Tesla, geothermal installed in your house, and you have a big mansion, and you have a big garden, and things like that.

>> Elizabeth: You're absolutely right.

Think about the civil rights movement and how long that took.

Even trying to get Brown versus Board of Education implemented, we still have segregation in New York City schools, right?

It took a long time because it moved at the pace of the needs of the privileged.

The American dream is a dangerous dream, that's a dream about capitalism, that's a dream about white supremacy.

People of color come to this country because they believe in that dream, that's a form of colonialism that we need to really eviscerate.

>> David: My parents came to America from China to chase that idea of The American Dream.

I can sense that they miss just seeing people that look like them, that speak the same language as them.

The place we grew up in St. Charles, Missouri, is not super diverse.

So many memories of going to the store and the cashier who's like this teenager who'll not understand what my parents were saying because they have an accent.

And they'll act really mean about it, and I'll have to translate what they're saying as a kid and I was so embarrassed of that.

>> Elizabeth: Somebody told me I had an accent once, I didn't even know I had one.

They said it's that New York kind of J Lo accent.

I was like, I have that, I was so happy, and I felt like that was an omage to being born in New York City and coming from a Puerto Rican family.

But they make us hate ourselves and be embarrassed by our parents.

My grandmother thought she could barter anywhere, that when you went to a store, you really weren't supposed to pay the price that was on the label.

And I would be horrified, and I'd walk out of the store.

And then I learned that she came from a slum in Puerto Rico, where she lost half her children to hunger and disease.

That she had come from an agricultural space that had been taken over by the United States.

They had put all these petrochemical industries there, and all the people that were part of that agricultural space had to move to the city.

And they all convened in this place in San Juan where they lived in the midst of open sewers, right?

And so then I understood her.

But before that, I would judge her because I was born here, and being born here shapes how you think and how you respond, even if it's harmful, even if it's hurtful.

You're embarrassed and then you feel shame for being embarrassed because you love them, right?

And so, the more I asked my grandma questions, the more I was blown away by how brave she was How she came without speaking any English, and how she had endured all of the abuse that she went through in this country and my mom.

And then all of a sudden, I had a different perspective.

That experience that you've had, it's so common.

>> Leila: It's really inspiring to talk to you because we haven't really talked to anybody yet who's touched on capitalism, and consumption, and how it affects our communities, and things like that.

That's something I spend a lot of time thinking about and something that really frustrates me about the world.

>> Elizabeth: When you think about ancestral knowledge in the practices of our people throughout the global south, we have always had to recycle, repurposing, and reuse, necessity makes you do that.

Now that we're talking about moving away from fossil fuel dependency and moving to renewable energy, the question is, what does that look like?

Is it affordable and accessible?

I live in Sunset, right?

And if I get on my rooftop and look around, the Chinese families that live across from me, they've got gardens, and they share food.

And then the Mexican families to the left, they're building things, fixing things, the Puerto Ricans are dancing, don't get me started on my people.

But what was really clear is that regardless of where they're coming from, they're coming with a certain amount of knowledge and experience that is gonna help us to get to where we need to be in terms of building sustainability in a really hyperlocal way.

The challenge is that when they come to this country, this idea of becoming American and to define yourself as successful is to be addicted to consumption and to throw away culture.

And so people who used to recycle, reuse, and repurpose, all of a sudden start forgetting those traditions and those practices that made it possible for them to live sustainably.

Folks with money are engaging in practices that are about appropriating our history and our traditions, and then making them unaffordable to us.

What we really need to do is redefine what it is to be an American using our own experience coming from the global south.

There is brilliance in our communities, and that brilliance lives in the fact that we come from so many different places.

>> Leila: This was really cool, I'm really glad we got to talk to you.

>> Elizabeth: I think it was meant to be, to be honest.

I'm real busy, but when they told me I was gonna be meeting with students and described you all, I was like, okay, yeah, I'll do it.

Because it meant a lot to me to be able to be in community with you and to have these conversations with you today.

>> Julia: It was so great to meet you.

>> Elizabeth: Great to meet you, too.

>> Julia: Elizabeth was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

There was no niceties or small talk, it was a purposeful conversation, and I think that we all felt that in the room.

David and Leila both felt really comfortable opening up, and I felt really lucky to even be at that table, honestly.

It felt like a space we could all be comfortable in and I was just grateful that they were willing to share with Elizabeth, but they were also sharing with everyone in the room, myself included.

>> Leila: That was probably my favorite interview.

[LAUGH] She said something that really stuck with me.

She said, progress moves as fast as the comfort of the privileged, and I've been trying to put it into words, why it moves so slow?

That was incredible to hear.

>> David: I think she really helped me to think more about my experience as a child of Chinese immigrants.

And just feel like validating in a way of sorts that immigrant experience, I think that definitely helped me open up and talk about my experience.

A lot of our discussions are about the technical side of clean energy and this is how this technology works.

Hearing from Elizabeth was kind of a breath of fresh air about how we also need to think about our identities and our communities, and the people that we care about when we talk about clean energy and environmental justice.

>> Leila: It was nice to talk to somebody who had been in the same shoes and could be like, I acknowledge what you're going through and I've lived it, and that's really, really hard.

It was the first time I had felt seen in a really long time.

I'm just feeling very grateful for the trip and I can't wait to see what's next.

>>Jula: It's the last day of the trip and feels bittersweet.

>>David: This trip for me is something that like I would never have imagined myself doing, and this experience has been so amazing.

>>Julia: It's also been a great time and a good adventure.

I've learned some solid new things about clean energy.

>>Adam: No matter where your passions lie in terms of your career, there is a path to being part of this revolution.

Wondering what to do with your life?

Well we've been there and we're here to help Our website has some awesome tools to help you find your path And you can check out all our documentaries, interviews and more Start exploring at roadtripnation.com