August 18, 2025 • 49 mins
Hernán Carvente Martinez shares his extraordinary journey from juvenile incarceration to becoming Executive Director of Alianza for Opportunity, a national nonprofit dedicated to building thriving communities for Latino, Afro-Latino, and Indigenous groups. His powerful story reveals how one mentor's belief transformed his life trajectory and instilled in him the courage to never give up despite overwhelming challenges.
• Spent four years in juvenile prison at age 16 for attempted murder before finding transformation through a college program
• Met mentor James McCain who challenged him to develop writing skills, public speaking abilities, and see a future beyond his past
• Transformed after three "quits" when his mentor gave him tough conditions to return, teaching him persistence and accountability
• Graduated with 57 college credits while incarcerated but faced significant barriers in employment and education after release
• Became an advocate for juvenile justice reform through sharing his story at policy forums and national platforms
• Now leads Alianza for Opportunity with a focus on empowering emerging Latino leaders ages 18-25
• Embraces his Chicano identity to ensure Latino communities are represented in conversations that affect them
• Continues professional development through fellowships with organizations like Just Leadership USA and Forward Promise
• Survived mental health struggles to become an advocate for wellness and self-care while doing justice work
• Builds community connections as his form of "capital" to create meaningful impact for the next generation
Connect with Alianza for Opportunity on social media platforms @AlianzaForOpportunity or visit www.alianzaforopportunity.org to learn more about their work. Email admin@alianzaforopportunity.org to connect directly with the team.
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The views shared on Career Cheat Code are those of the guests and don’t reflect the host or any affiliated organizations. This podcast is for inspiration and information, highlighting unique career journeys to help you define success and take your next step.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And ever since that it's been really hard to be
honest, to look at anythingdifficult and just merely walk
away, because I believe that ifas long as I put my best foot
forward, the best effort, thatI'm going to do a great job, but
that I really need to want itand believe in it.
And I think that's the lesson,the turning point in my life,
because after all of thosetrials and tribulations, I
(00:22):
navigated life a littledifferently and I still made
mistakes after the fact, right,like I'm not a perfect human
being or a perfect leader, butthat was my turning point, that
led me to a path that felt a lotmore wholesome than the one
that I was living before, whichfelt like I was denying myself
the opportunity to just be be abetter human, for myself and for
no one else.
Welcome to Career G-Code.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
In this podcast, you'll hear how everyday people
impact the world through theircareers.
Learn about their journey,career hacks and obstacles along
the way.
Whether you're already havingthe impact you want or are
searching for it, this is thepodcast for you.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
All right, welcome to the show.
Thank you, yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, I'm excited to have you here.
But you know, let's dive rightin.
Let's tell the world who youare and what you do for a living
.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
For sure.
So, hey everyone, my name isHernan Carvente Martinez.
I use he, they, el, ellapronouns and I'm the executive
director of Alianza forOpportunity, which is a national
nonprofit really dedicated tobuilding thriving communities
for Latina, afro-latina andindigenous groups around the
country.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Got it.
So what does that mean on amore molecular level, right?
So like what's an example ofsomething that the organization
does for this youth.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
For sure.
So at the present moment wehave a training program that's
dedicated to emerging leadersages 18 to 25.
I really prioritize trying tomake sure that we're empowering
another generation of leaders tonot just lead us in the present
work but also lead us inconversations in the future.
As an organization, you know wereally strive to support any
(01:53):
conversations or narratives thatare around the Latino,
afro-latino and Indigenousdiaspora, understanding that
those terms don't fully captureall of our diaspora right.
It doesn't always includeCaribbean folk, asian folk, so
shout out to those communitiesas well.
We pick these terms becausethese are the terms that
government tends to use or thatfolks in the nonprofit sector
use, but I know that thediaspora is much bigger than
(02:15):
that and overall, as anorganization, we really strive
to do work that centers that andthat really is about uplifting
what, for example, safety lookslike for Latino communities,
what healthy communities looklike.
And when we say that, what doesit mean for our people?
Not for what governmentofficials, academics or other
folk may say, unless they looklike us right and come from our
(02:37):
community.
So it's like if it's not aboutus, if it's about us but without
us.
That's one of the conversationsthat I'm always trying to strive
to challenge but also pokearound and trying to make sure
that our people are beingincluded more effectively.
So that's a little bit, and youknow what I do on a day to day
sometimes looks like getting upresponding to emails or jumping
right into a Zoom, and a lot ofit is with partners that we have
(03:00):
around the country inCalifornia, illinois, new Mexico
, colorado, dc.
So we are a nationalorganization and that means that
a lot of my life is oftentimessitting in a computer, which, as
you know, that might be bad foryour back, but we try to do our
best to work remotely.
And the other half of my team,my other half, the person who
completes this organization, isJulia Ramirez, who is based out
(03:20):
in California, so we're a smalland mighty team, and who
completes this organization isJulia Ramirez, who is based out
in California, so we're a smalland mighty team.
We also have a facilitator,yvonne Pulido, who is in
Illinois, in Chicago, illinois.
So, yeah, we're out here justtrying to build with a small but
mighty team.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
That's great.
How long has the organizationbeen around and how long have
you been as the executivedirector?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
there.
So the organization actuallyhas a really long history.
We've been around for over adecade.
However, challenges and otherthings that the organization
went through really preventedits growth at a pace that maybe
we wanted to as a collective.
But I took over theorganization literally almost
three years ago now, so it'sbeen around two years, eight
months, who's counting.
(04:01):
But I took it over when it wasoriginally named Alianza for
Youth Justice because we reallyfocused on the juvenile justice
system.
But I took it over when it wasoriginally named Alianza for
Youth Justice because we reallyfocused on the juvenile justice
system.
And I am now here for thisamount of time where I rebranded
the organization.
I changed our mission statement.
I really wanted to create anopportunity for us to be a
little bit more versatile, morenimble, but also just more
(04:21):
strategic in what conversationswe got involved in.
And it couldn't have happenedat the best time because,
walking into this administrationand everything that's been
happening, it's made us moreflexible and able to survive the
current tide of cuts in fundingand other things happening in
the world.
So it's been hard, but two anda half years and plus running
(04:45):
and hoping to be here until Ican make sure that this
organization is stable andsuccessful.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So what brings you to this work?
Why are you doing this work?
Why are you even involved inthis?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
space for personal reasons, and then some of it
also now has to do with just thepassion for making sure that
young people and families, youknow, are included in the
conversations that we're talkingabout.
So I'm actually someone who'sformerly incarcerated.
I spent about four years in ajuvenile prison in New York
State for the crime of attemptedmurder.
(05:19):
Not saying that to glorify itfor anyone listening.
I say that to acknowledge thatit is a point in my life where I
was at my lowest, but I wasalso at my youngest, making the
worst mistakes and really notthinking about the consequences
of those mistakes.
And so I was 16 at the time ofthat offense and I went into the
system and experienced what itwas really like to house young
(05:40):
people in spaces far away fromcommunity, far away from family,
and really also saw just thegaps in services, support and
the things that could reallyhelp a young people thrive.
And so I got lucky, though,because I ended up in a college
program while I was in thefacility and I say luck I used
to say luck.
I think some part of me reallywanted to find opportunities,
(06:02):
and so I got my GED, took 57college courses while I was
incarcerated, and then Ieventually came home after doing
all of that and, you know,having had my life saved by a
man in there his name is JamesMcCain.
He's no longer with us, butultimately that man really
helped me see a life beyond ganglife, a life beyond drugs and
just a life beyond everythingthat I had known up until that
(06:23):
point.
And when I came home, I'm outhere trying to be an
aspirational, you know, like letme go work at a restaurant or
let me work at retail or let mejust do something to put some
money on the table.
And I ended up realizing thatnobody wanted to hire the
formerly incarcerated kid fromQueens with an attempted murder
charge.
Around that time, you know, weall had to check off that box
(06:44):
that asked for the felonyconviction.
And so every time I checked offthat box it was like an
immediate what did you do?
And the moment that I had toexplain there's no light way to
explain oh I, you know,attempted against someone's life
.
That is about the lightest waythat I could frame it.
And you know so people justkind of looked down on me
because of that.
And eventually I found the workof criminal justice, I found
(07:06):
advocacy, I found people whowere out there in reentry, folks
who were also advancing thesekinds of things, and I started
getting involved by just likeparticipating on panels sharing
my story, talking about thiskind of work.
And then over time I startedsharing my story not just in New
York but nationally.
So I started sharing it as partof national platforms, with the
Coalition for Juvenile Justice,the National Academies of
(07:27):
Science, you know, the AnnieCasey Foundation, macarthur
Foundation, right Like I startedexpanding the audiences to
where my story was being sharedand over time I just kept
getting more and more involved.
You know, I ended up being apart of advocacy campaigns to
really include young people andfamilies in state policy reform.
I went on to then do work inabolishing youth prisons.
(07:50):
So I ended up working at theYouth First Initiative, trying
to close down youth facilitiesaround the country and
reinvesting that money intocommunity alternatives.
And I'm in this position aftertrying my own endeavor, which
was Healing Ninjas, which reallycentered healing and wellness.
It was a social enterprise, butit was really hard to build a
social enterprise and you know,and I think that's one of the
(08:11):
struggles and journeys that I'mstill walking because I still
haven't given up on that project.
But Alianza was sort of a placewhere I went because I was
asked by my predecessor, a goodfriend of mine, to come to the
organization and support it inthe transition phase.
And so I came into thisposition merely because I really
wanted to explore, hey, whatwould it look like for me to be
(08:34):
an interim executive director?
Right, could I get some skillsthere that I might then apply to
the project that I was workingon before?
And, truth be told, what shouldhave been a four-month contract
is now a two and a half yearperiod of my life.
So you know, it's been ajourney and there are so many
things that I'm leaving out inthat, but that's sort of like
the fast track to how I ended upwhere I'm at in the present
(08:55):
moment and some of the careerjourney that I've had.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I think that's great, right, because you bring lived
experience, real ability torelate to the work, real like
innate love and passion for thepeople that you're serving,
right, and you just show updifferently, like that shows,
right, this is not like just ajob for you, right?
Like it's not.
It seems like you know youmaybe went in there like, ah
sure, let's take this contractand see where it goes, right,
(09:19):
and it seems like you've nowfallen in love with the work and
you're like, oh no, I see itlike a mission here.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I do see it as a mission and, more importantly,
what I failed to share was thatwhen I walked into Alianza, you
know and I mentioned thisearlier, which is that this
organization is really focusingon Latine, afro-latine and
indigenous communities, and allthat time that I was doing
advocacy work that I mentionedat Youth First, killing Ninjas,
(09:50):
you know, at the Vera Instituteof Justice, all of these
different positions that I'veheld, all the committees that
I've been on, I've really failedto own my Chicano background,
me being Mexican, me havingundocumented parents, me being
brown skin.
I didn't own any of thosethings in like a very aggressive
manner, for lack of betterwording, right Like I stepped
into spaces, holding that blackand white paradigm and treating
the issue of criminal justicejust like many of the academics
do, which is always listing outthe black and white statistics
(10:12):
which all the love to you knowmy black and African-American,
you know brothers and sisters,because the system impacts them
in a much more disproportionateway.
The brown folk are alsoimpacted and I never really
bothered to think about it thatway or bring it up.
And so being at Alianza nowreally means I have to really
think about that right, like,what does it mean for me to
represent mi comunidad and thenalso understand that, as a
(10:35):
leader of an org, as a Chicanoleader of an org, as someone who
represents predominantly theMexican diaspora, I also don't
want to get into this likerabbit hole of suddenly only
pairing up or working withMexican or folks who represent
that diaspora and understandingthat when we say Latina,
afro-latina and indigenous, thatdiaspora is bigger, right?
So really bringing in folk whoare from the central, from
(10:58):
Central America, from SouthAmerica, and understanding that
you know we have Guatemalans,honduranos, salvadoranos,
cubanos, dominicanos, right Like, and even then, right Like,
it's not representative there,right, because the folks that I
just mentioned to some of themare actually on islands that are
off the coast of the majorcontinents.
So it's important to me becauseit's making me learn more, but
(11:19):
it's also helping me show upeven more authentically.
That I did in the past.
It's like I'm a Chicano fromthe Big Apple, is what I say now
, right, and that means that Idon't carry the same Chicano
swag or heritage that everyonedoes who are from the Southwest
or from California, and thatmeans I'm just a different kind
of Chicano.
I'm not trying to force myselfto be the one that looks like
the same ones from the WestCoast or from the Southwest.
(11:40):
All the love to my brothers outthere.
No me, maten despues, forsaying that, but you know, it's
just the truth.
I'm trying to embody my ownessence of who I am in the place
where I live, which is the BigApple you know, new York City
and then also understanding thatthat impacts the work and how
people see me and also how thework is represented, because as
a leader, I have to make surethat I'm holding the space for
(12:01):
everyone, not just for some ofus.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
So you know, let's go back to kind of your earlier,
your youth, right?
So let's talk a little bitabout where you were born,
growing up and at age 16, didyou have a vision of what you
wanted to do with your career orwith your life, or how did that
look like at that point?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, no, so growing up.
So I was born here in the USand at the age of two my parents
actually decided to move backto Mexico.
So most people don't know thatI lived in Mexico from the age
of two to eight and that duringthat period of time I actually
witnessed what working in reallypoor and harsh conditions look
like, because my parents livedin a home where you know, if it
(12:45):
rained, which is this likelittle cover, that's like a
metal cover, so when it rainedyou would hear those raindrops
on that roof.
If it was cold, that wind isgoing through, because the whole
house wasn't fully cemented.
And so there's just thesepieces of, like my journey when
I was in Mexico that most peopledon't know and that I never
bothered to talk about, mostlybecause I was young, right, like
it was the first six years ofmy life that I had consciousness
(13:07):
.
But eventually, you know, andthrough a lot of struggle, right
, my parents just navigating alot of domestic violence, you
know, a lot of issues withalcohol, which spans the whole
my family, not just my dad, butultimately a lot of those issues
led to me sort of internalizingthat this is the way of life,
right, that, like we live inpoor conditions, that we have no
(13:29):
other means but to work in thefields like and ultimately part
of what happened in that one.
That was the first time that Ihad ever flown on a plane, but
(13:49):
never realizing that my parentsnever flown a plane, I didn't
know that they crossed in a waythat, again, was very different
than the way that I did, becauseI was a US citizen, and so when
I was here in the US, my momused to work in sweatshops,
right Like making clothes, justlike really experiencing all
that life that people talk aboutas like sweating in some of
these really harsh conditions,creating clothes that, like you
(14:10):
know, sense an hour.
And my dad worked at arestaurant, you know, making
pizza, and to this day the manstill does and he makes him the
bomb ass pizza.
But that's all I thought that Icould ever do, to be quite
honest.
And so up until 16, which isright around the time when I got
(14:31):
incarcerated my only vision forliterally what life was going
to be like was either sellingdrugs on the street, which I was
pretty efficient at doing, orjust really doing, you know,
some nine to five job that paidvery little and just made ends
meet.
So I never really aspired toanything more.
Did I have dreams of beingsomething at some point?
Yeah, I think by 16, I wasreally into computers and I
really wanted to do tech at somepoint, before tech became a hip
(14:51):
thing that everybody does now.
And at some point when I wasyounger, I also wanted to be a
firefighter.
You know, I had dreams, butnone of those were the ones that
I pursued and I really want tomake sure that I now strive to
really think about what I wantto do, because even in this
present moment, I'm like I haveI fully found a career that I
want to settle on.
(15:11):
No, and I feel like some ofthat is also why I call myself a
social entrepreneur.
I'm like I always want to findways to do good and do well at
the same time.
I love that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I think that's very important, right, and I think,
especially as, like, people seeyou now and they might say, oh,
you're an executive director,you probably have worked in the
nonprofit space for a long timeand known exactly how this
trajectory was going to go, andI just think it's important for
people to realize, like, no,there were times when I
literally sounds cool, right,but not like actively planning
that roadmap, right, and then ittakes for you to have that
(15:49):
experience where you go in andget incarcerated.
And then you mentioned theimportance of mentorship, right,
and how someone there, likehelped you change your mindset,
which would then lead you downthis different path, right, can
you talk a little bit about kindof what that transition, both
physically and in mindset, looklike as you're getting ready to
come back home, like how doesthat?
(16:09):
What did that mean to you?
What did you think you weregoing to do when you got out and
what actually happened?
Speaker 1 (16:14):
It's really I'm.
Hopefully I don't go into rantabout it, because you know,
meeting Mr McCain in prison wasthe best thing that ever
happened to me and to this day,you know, thinking about him
does get me a little emotionalbecause, you know, this man
looked beyond the angry Latinoyou know, formerly a gang member
kid who came into his programand saw potential that I didn't
(16:37):
see in myself.
Right, and I say that assomeone who like realizing who
he was right, he was a white man, ex-military, 22-year veteran
and ultimately had this reallyhard persona to who he was.
But in the core of who he washe was also very loving and
caring and wanted all of us tosucceed.
And so there was just thistenacity that he had of not
giving up on any of us,especially those of us who came
(17:00):
in with the more seriousfelonies, because most of the
guys who went into the collegeprogram had a lot more time to
serve, which meant that he had alot more time to work with us,
and ultimately he spent a lot oftime convincing me, to be
honest, that I was worthy ofopportunities beyond the ones
that I was accustomed to.
At some point, you know, Iactually quit his program three
times.
The first time I quit becausehe gave me an F on a paper that
(17:23):
I wrote right in the first timeof meeting him and I literally
got pissed off, you know,crumbled up the paper, threw it
at him and I'm like I used toget an A's on this.
I don't know how the hell yougot me an F and then walked out
with a fit, came at some pointback to my cell in my unit and
ultimately had a conversationwith me and told me why did you
(17:43):
walk out?
And I was like because Ideserved an A.
I don't know why you gave me anF.
Like that literally means thismeant nothing, like I wrote it
for no reason.
He's like why did you think youdeserved an A?
And I was like because I wrotea similar paper in a different
class that I got right at thebeginning and I got A's for them
.
So I don't understand.
And he looked at me dead in theface zero smile, zero, anything
(18:03):
.
It was just like whoever gaveyou those A's thought that you
were going to amount to anythingand that that's why you got
those A's.
And I was like why?
And the main thing for him wasone maybe they didn't think that
you were going to go out andcontinue college.
Two, maybe they felt sorry foryou.
Three, I don't know, butultimately your writing level is
that of a middle schooler.
Your writing level is that of amiddle schooler, and if you go
(18:27):
out there and write a paper likethat in college, you're going
to get laughed at, and I don'twant that to happen to you.
So if you want to be a betterwriter, let me teach you how to
be a better writer and set youup for success.
And so I.
You know I was baffled by whathe said, but also found some
level of connection to thereality that, like this, man
genuinely wants to help me, andso I leaned into that right and
went again back to the collegeprogram, quit a second time,
(18:49):
this time for the exact thingthat I'm doing with you right
now, which is public speaking.
Like I had to do a presentationfor my English 102 course and
it was supposed to be fiveminutes on any topic that I
wanted, and I was terrified ofspeaking, just speaking out loud
, speaking to a crowd.
I was not capable of it, andagain, that came from a lot of
(19:09):
background, of just beingsilenced and not having space to
be able to do that.
But again walked into my cell.
The same thing after I walkedout and quit on this program and
was like why did you do thisnow?
And I'm like, well, I justdon't want to do it.
And he's like are you scared ofpresenting, are you scared of
speaking?
And I was like, no, it's notthat I try to deny it.
Eventually he got me to admitthat that was the case and he
(19:31):
told me again why do you do this?
Who do you do this for?
And I'm like would you be doingthis for?
And I got pissed off at him atfirst because I'm like how could
you say that?
Right, like I do have family.
(19:52):
Like God forbid, somethinghappens to them.
And ultimately, at some point,you know, I realized what he was
asking me and what he wanted meto say was that I was doing
this for me.
And so I did.
You know, I went back withshaky legs and my hands
literally sweaty and my friggingarmpits, just like you know,
just pulsating with sweat.
I walked back in there and Igave a presentation for the
(20:13):
first time in my life and that,I think, was the moment where I
started seeing a shift in mypersonality and, like my
charisma, my confidence.
And then the third time that Iquit was really the breaking
point.
Because I had quit, because Iwent to the parole board with
about 40 something collegecredits, having been in the
fatherhood program, having beenin custodian maintenance, having
worked in the kitchen, havingworked in the library, having
(20:36):
done every bit of programmingthat that facility could offer,
and thinking that I might bereleased at two years, down the
line of the sentence that I wasgiven.
And no, I walked in there and aday later was told that I line
of the sentence that I was given, and no, I walked in there and
a day later was told that I wasdenied parole and that I was a
serious threat to the community,capable of violence.
Like.
The description of me was onethat was different from the one
that I walked in, thinking thatI was going to get, and I came
(20:59):
back and said F.
This Started flippingeverything, literally threatened
.
The facility director, did notcare about it anymore.
I was just like what was thepoint of doing all of this and
also in believing in myself if,at the end of the day, other
people are still going to lookat me as the same monster that
walked in and I quit the programagain, but this time in the
most cruel way, because I endedup spitting at him.
(21:21):
I ended up cursing everyoneelse and my peers out, saying
this is a waste of time.
Everybody get out.
And to this day you know I willnever forget how bad I felt
doing that in the moment, buthow angry I felt and how much I
didn't care, and that was alwaysmy history.
Right Like when the going getstough, I just kind of quit and
eventually I ended up realizingwhile I was in my cell that this
(21:42):
isn't the path that I wanted totake, that I had really fucked
up for lack of better wording.
Apologies for everyone listening, but I really messed up and I
got staff to reach back out tohim.
I got you know all of them totry to get him to talk to me and
he didn't want to.
Eventually he did talk to meand he told me straight up he's
(22:05):
like Hernan, I'm sorry but Ican't allow you back into the
program.
If I allow you back after whatyou just pulled, I'm setting the
bar lower for everyone else.
I'm letting everyone else knowthat this is acceptable behavior
and that they can come backwhenever they want.
And you have quit now for thethird time.
And it's not.
It's, that's it.
You can't just make a choice,make a mistake and expect that
things are going to be the sameafter it.
(22:25):
And that was the biggest lessonthat I got taught about not only
being accountable for my ownactions, but also the reality
that an opportunity that youdon't take advantage of when you
have it can be a missedopportunity that you will never
have again.
And so I begged this man foralmost a week back and forth,
like you know, just causing ahavoc, just trying to get his
attention, and then eventuallygetting tired of hearing.
(22:48):
You know that I was like justtrying to get his attention, to
get me back.
He came back to myself for thefinal time and that conversation
rings very much in my ears tothis day, because he told me
straight up he's like, why doyou want back?
And I told him I'm like becauseI have another two years to
serve here, maybe four.
I don't know if I'm going tofinish my whole sentence, but
(23:09):
ultimately I would rather spendit trying to continue improving
myself, doing better for myselfand helping my peers than to sit
in a cell playing spades allday and just wasting my time.
And so he told me straight up,you know he was like okay, I'll
let you back into the programwith three conditions.
The first condition was that Iwas going to mentor all of my
(23:30):
peers, whoever the new ones werecoming in, that I would have to
be a mentor to them.
Going forward, I was like, ok,I'm down, for that was Governor
Patterson to essentially expandhigher education inside of
juvenile facilities.
And talking about my journey andthe work of the Brookwood
College program is what thatprogram was called.
(23:51):
I'm like okay, easy.
And then the third one wasyou're going to take four
college courses, do all of theclasswork and participate fully
in class, and you will get nocredit for any of those classes.
And that one, that one, Istumbled on.
I'm like what do you mean forclasses?
Like that's a lot of credits.
And he's like take it or leaveit.
(24:12):
That is my offer.
We're not negotiating it.
This is your way of makingamends and coming back.
And I sat there and reallydebated the whole process.
In a span of like a minute Ihad to decide and I'm like you
know what?
Fine, I want to do this and Ideserve to do this.
And you know, maybe not getcredit for it, but at least I'll
have the learning under my belt.
(24:33):
And I still remember he gave mea smile, he's like, all right,
I'll see you tomorrow, man, andwent about his way.
But I ended up doing all ofthose things, I ended up
finishing the four courses, andhe still gave me the credit.
He just wanted me to activelydecide to want it and finish it
through, no matter what.
And ever since that it's beenreally hard, to be honest, to
(24:54):
look at anything difficult andjust merely walk away, because I
believe that if, as long as Iput my best foot forward, the
best effort, that I'm going todo a great job, but that I
really need to want it andbelieve in it.
And I think that's the lesson,the turning point in my life,
because after all of thosetrials and tribulations, I
navigated life a littledifferently and I still made
(25:14):
mistakes after the fact.
Right, I'm not a perfect humanbeing or a perfect leader, but
that was my turning point, thatled me to a path that felt a lot
more wholesome than the onethat I was living before, which
felt like I was denying myselfthe opportunity to just be a
better human, for myself and forno one else.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
You know, I appreciate stories like that
because sometimes it takespeople believing in you to help
you see something differently inyourself.
Right, and this person while inthe moment you may not have
always realized how good thisperson was in your life or how
good this program was for yourlife and your trajectory.
Right, and you quitting on itand this person allowing you
(25:52):
back and then doing that overthree times right, like three
times.
And then the fourth time.
Now he's like all right, dude,like this is literally it.
Uh, but the lessons that you,that you came away with from
that and the trajectory, andeven someone at that moment in
your life talking to you aboutlike no, when you get out and go
to college, when you do thisand like just setting your
mindset up for like this is whyyou're here now, but like you
(26:14):
have so much further to go, andI want you to make sure that
when you get into these collegecourses, you're able to write
well, you're able to likearticulate yourself, you're able
to present yourself, and justsetting you up and giving you
the tools at that point likereal, active, intentional
mentorship.
You know that most of us onlywish we have.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, no, and I think after that that's that's part
of the reason why I became soadamant about helping young
people and or just supportingthose who other people tend to
walk away from because they'rehard to deal with or just don't
don't have it in them toapproach.
I've never been one to do thatbecause of LeCain, but again,
it's also influenced myleadership style, right, like
I'm a pretty adamant and I speakmy mind and I don't have a
(26:54):
problem, you know, really beingoutspoken about something that
is unjust for my community orjust feels like it's a dynamic
that's preventing certain peoplefrom stepping into their light,
right, and I always say thisabout spaces that say they're
about young people but there'sno young people present, or the
young people that are there aremerely there, just listening,
never being asked to speak ornever, you know, having had
(27:16):
their opinions taken, turnedinto an actual idea or project
and then executed in some way,shape or form that's meaningful.
So I'm always about coming intospaces.
Now, because of of like Kane,to be honest, and that journey
he put me through, of, yeah, I'mgoing to speak my mind and I'm
going to make sure I advocatefor my peers and make sure also
that sometimes I just challengedthe powers that be to create
more opportunities for peoplelike me and others who've gone
(27:39):
through the system so that theycan be successful, because we
all have the potential forchange, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
And when you think about it's not just the words,
right, that were said to you,but like literally putting you
in a leadership position andmaybe without you noticing,
right, which is like all right,cool, everyone else that comes
to this program.
You're going to mentor them andnow you're going to become a
policy advocate, without knowingit right, you're going to write
a letter to the governor andlike in the moment, you're just
like sure I'll write a letter tothe governor, but like, in
(28:05):
practicality, like what thatreally means is that you are now
advocating for policy change inthe state of New York and you
are using your experience tochange the lives of others and
to use that narrative as avehicle and as a tool for change
.
Right, and like I feel likethat's really powerful because
it's not just mentorship throughwhat is said, but the positions
(28:27):
that they're putting you in.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
That's absolutely true.
Actually, that's the first time, roddy, that anyone has
dissected it at that level, andyou just made me appreciate Mr
Lucan more, if that was evenpossible, than before.
I didn't.
Yeah, I never thought of itthat way.
Actually, when you break itdown, like just the different
elements of setting me up to bethe leader and person that I am
now right, because that'sessentially what I do full time,
(28:50):
you know, I do still advocatefor policies, I do still go out
there and give public speakingopportunities a chance and I
just really try to take all ofthose skills and lessons that I
took from those moments andapply them to my day-to-day life
every day forward, you know,and that's that's been a journey
.
But thank you for saying that,that you just made me appreciate
Mr Lakin even more.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Absolutely so.
Tell me about what happens whenyou're getting ready to
transition out of incarcerationsystem and, like, do you have a
plan in place?
Do you know where you're?
Like, are you going back home?
Are you, do you have a joblined up?
I know you mentioned earlierkind of applying to different
jobs and that being a challenge,but like, were there programs
(29:31):
in place to support that?
Like, what was that?
What was that?
What did that look like at thetop?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah, no so.
So the sad part is that, no, Iwasn't fully prepared to come
back home.
I literally my experience wasgetting $50 in cash, a pat on
the back and being told goodluck, as I was stepping into a
van to be dropped off at theAmtrak in Hudson and literally
drove that train wearing theclothes that I had.
Mr LeCain gave me a shirt withthe Brookwood College Program
(29:57):
logo, so I wasn't wearing thered and white khakis that the
facility used to have us wear,so at least I didn't look like I
had just come out fresh fromthat facility.
But yeah, I came into GrandCentral Terminal and for those
of you who've ever been in GrandCentral Terminal, it's
overwhelming, when the trainsare coming, how many people step
out of those trains, and it wasthe first time in four years
(30:19):
that I had been around that manypeople.
I remember coming out of thetrain feeling like I was getting
pushed left and right, that Iwas just like the slowest person
walking.
And again, I am now 20 yearsold.
You know it's been four years.
I went in at 16, came out at 20and had no clue what I was
getting myself into.
I didn't have a job lined up,which is why I had a hard time
finding one.
To begin with, I had appliedfor colleges.
(30:40):
The only college who has sentme a letter of acceptance
without you know asking me formy background or just in general
having sent me a letter, wasJohn Jay College of Criminal
Justice.
I had a couple of SUNY campusesgive me a preliminary
acceptance, but all of themwanted to ask me about my
criminal conviction or wanted meto get my rap sheet, like a
whole bunch of other steps,before I could even get an
(31:03):
acceptance.
And John Jay was the onlyschool that didn't ask about
that and gave me a chance, whichmakes sense.
John Jay is a school ofcriminal justice, so shout out
to my bloodhounds out there,fellow John Jay people.
But yeah, I ended up just notreally knowing what I was going
to do.
Roddy, I was afraid.
I was terrified, to be honest.
(31:23):
Even that moment walking out ofthe train, I remember I had a
borderline, an anxiety attackbecause it was just too much,
and I went to like a littlecorner and kind of gathered
myself.
I was like literally shaking.
I was giving back everythingthat I had been stripped of.
So imagine that for some of mybrothers and sisters who are in
there for 10, 20 years, and thencoming home to the reality of
(31:44):
the world or technology that'sfurther advanced.
So at that time, you know, itfelt like I was set up to fail
and I was on parole, which meantthat my parole officer was also
on me.
Luckily, I had a really niceone, pio McRae.
I won't forget her name becauseI ultimately also went through
so many challenges trying tofind anger management programs
or substance abuse programs thatI could do that were close to
(32:07):
my school or close to theinternships that I found after
the fact.
And luckily she was flexibleand gave me time and if it
wasn't for that, I would havelikely violated parole and been
right back in the facility,potentially an adult one,
because I would have been overage as well.
But yeah, things were not easy.
Walking home, I had no plan, noreal anything lined up.
(32:28):
I didn't have a vision for whatI wanted to do.
I did know that I wanted tocome out and do something at
some point to, you know, supportmy community or just be more
outspoken about the issues thatI witnessed in there, but I
didn't think that I was going todo that right off the grip I
thought I was going to like geta job, have some stable kind of
income, you know, be OK firstand then kind of get involved in
(32:49):
that, not get involved in it,because off the grip I was going
right into other issues.
You know that the system put onus which included, you know,
lack of reentry opportunities,lack of services that could
really support formerlyincarcerated young people and
adults who had been convicted ofviolent felonies the violent
felony topic is a wholeconversation in and of itself,
(33:09):
because it seems that everywherearound the country we are more
comfortable with offeringsupport to people who've been
convicted of a nonviolent felonyand we've always forgotten or
thrown under the bus in policyor just completely ignored folks
who've been convicted ofviolent felonies because we
deemed them as people who shouldbe serving the time because
they did the crime.
And I don't believe in thatright, because, if I believe
(33:31):
that, I believe that I shouldn'thave come out, that I shouldn't
have gone through college whilein there, that I shouldn't have
been afforded a lot of theopportunities that I have up
until now, but even despite that, I hustled, made things happen,
sold my story for a bit, playedalong the dog and pony show of
policy as a formerlyincarcerated person and
(33:52):
eventually just realized likehey, that's, that's not who I am
anymore and I can be more.
I can be more, and that meansincreasing my skills and
stepping into otheropportunities.
So eventually I did plug intofellowships and other things
down the line, but this was longafter graduation Right, I came
home in 2012.
The first fellowship that Iever fully got was with the New
(34:13):
Leaders Council, which is asocial political
entrepreneurship program thatsets up people for potential
pathways into politics or justto accelerate their career
growth by, you know, putting youin touch with a group of other
people from other sectors.
At some point in 2017, I alsowent through the Just Leadership
USA Leading with Convictionprogram, which is a leadership
(34:34):
development program specificallyfor formerly incarcerated folks
, particularly those who've beenout for five plus years and who
have a track record of being inadvocacy and policy, and it was
the first time that I everreceived professional coaching
out to David Mensah, who was ourtrainer and facilitator at that
time.
But I learned something reallyimportant during that program,
which was how to be responsiblefor my leadership, how to
(34:57):
reflect on my leadership and,more importantly, how to invite
feedback on my leadership, which, again, we don't tend to do
often, and that's why, asleaders, sometimes we continue
to make the same mistakes,because we either do it from a
place of ego, from a place offeeling like we can't make a
mistake, or just realizing thatat some point we just forget to
invite the very people who we'reworking with to tell us how we
(35:19):
can be better leaders or betterpeople for them and for the work
that we want to do.
So JLUSA was really supportivein a lot of that.
And then, yeah, I just keptgoing into different
opportunities beyond that toreally excel myself, which is
advisory boards, boards likeactual professional boards, or
be involved in other things thatI was interested in.
Like, at some point I took apodcasting course, which is why
(35:40):
I also have this mic here.
At some point I did, you know,python coding, because I was
like really trying to also dothat on the side.
So, like I said before, I'm ahustler man.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
I will go out and find ways to get involved, but
there is no way you're going tolimit me and my opportunities,
and so that's, that's been thename of the game Hustle, hustle,
that's great and you have sucha beautiful story of kind of
what it means to make mistakeswhen you're young, learn from
them, and now it's like no,that's who that person is and
like the person that's speakingto me today seems so far removed
(36:11):
from that right, and, likeyou've done, you've gone through
this journey of learning andunlearning and growing and even
coming out with that mindset ofall right, I'm going to, I don't
know what's happening in thisworld, I'm about to have a panic
attack and, at the same time,feeling like I'm going to enroll
in college, I'm going to figureout what school to go to, I'm
going to put my head down andfigure out how to get
(36:32):
internships.
I'm going to figure out whatfellowships are and which ones
to apply to and how to getsomething from them.
Right, and I think you've donesuch a good job at
professionally developingyourself.
So, like, consistently, you'vedone multiple fellowships,
you've done different things toactually like, continue to like,
progress, right, and that'sjust something that is super
admirable, right, because whileearlier in the story you
(36:53):
mentioned, you didn't know whatyou wanted to do when you were
younger and even today you mightstill be refining that Like
you've grown into, like a verysuccessful, successful leader,
right Like leading anorganization now that does
national work, that is impactingthe lives of others, and it's
just I'm in awe of.
You know some of what you'resharing here, so thank you for
(37:14):
that.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
No, thank you.
Yeah, and I and I agree, and Iagree I think it's been a hard
journey to get to this point.
I did mention earlier that,despite the success, despite the
fellowships I've had, they'vecome at the right time, and I
think that that sometimes is aconversation that, as leaders,
we forget to have.
Sometimes you need alignmentwith things and the right
(37:35):
opportunities come to you when aneed for realignment needs to
happen.
And so, whether it was NLC,just Leadership USA, or even now
in my more recent, like thelast year, I went through two
other fellowships with ForwardPromise, which really focuses on
this concept of rest as a formof liberation for leaders,
particularly those working incommunities where trauma and
(37:56):
violence is very real, and itwas the first time in a long
time that I was actually forcedto think about like, what are my
methods of care and rest formyself?
And I realized last year Iended the year pre-diabetic,
burnt out, not in the best place, and I only realized that
because I went through thisprogram.
That forced me to think aboutwhat does rest as a form of
(38:16):
liberation look like for me as aleader, but also for my
organization and the work thatwe do and how we take care of
the very people that are doingthe work.
And then I also went throughthe Institute for Nonprofit
Practice, which shout out to IMP, because they came at a time
when I did not know.
First of all, I think peopleassume that because I went
through a lot of opportunities,that I was set up to be an
executive director of anonprofit.
(38:36):
I had no fucking clue how torun a nonprofit, let alone
manage a books, do programming,I've done, strategies, I've done
, you know, implementation ofthat.
But it's usually been mefollowing the vision of a
different leader and being likeI see what you're doing, I got
you with the young people, endof things.
But to hold your ownorganization, your own vision,
and actually build the vision,the strategy, find the finance,
(38:59):
the budget for it and make ithappen is a whole other beast
that can get very lonely.
And so having that communityfrom IMP, having these like
opportunities to upskill aroundyou know, fundraising board
development, building effectiveteams, just having these really
in-depth conversations withother leaders who would also say
the same thing Half of us don'tknow what we're doing and half
(39:23):
of us are still know some ofwhat we're doing but still need
to figure out other things,because we don't know everything
, and I think that it'simportant as leaders to always
recognize your limitations, toalways recognize when there's a
need for realignment, and alsoto recognize when it's time to
walk away from an opportunitybecause you've learned all that
you could or because it's notmaking you happy anymore, and
that neither one is quittingthat.
(39:44):
It is an opportunity to moveforward or move on to something
that actually fills your spirit,that lights you up and that,
more than anything you know,gives you an opportunity to do
impactful work.
And if impact isn't just yourthing but also you want to do
well, an opportunity that doesboth right, because you can do
both, and I really emphasizethat now because I've seen other
(40:05):
amazing leaders in differentspaces do that and not be
ashamed of it.
You know, and I really want toget to that point too.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
What are you most proud of in your career to date?
Speaker 1 (40:15):
I think what I'm most proud of right now is
recognizing that, despite all ofthe struggle that I've gone
through, I've been hellaresilient and hella adaptable
and, more importantly, justhella courageous to get this far
.
I think at some point peopledon't realize that I was
struggling a lot.
I am a survivor of a suicideattempt, I was in the darkest
(40:38):
points of my life and my careerall at once and at one point I
wanted out and that somehow Iwent through that, still came
out of it, still got the helpthat I needed, still grew out of
that even more right, Like Ibecame even more of a leader and
an advocate for wellness andmental health, but more
importantly, to take care ofmyself while doing this work.
(40:59):
And I think that's what I'mmost proud of that no matter
what struggle, what challengehas been put in my way, I keep
sometimes going a little tooheadfirst into it, right and,
like you know, slamming rightagainst the wall.
But then I recognize I pullback and I'm like, okay, I can
go around this wall, Like Idon't need to be bashing my head
into the same wall over andover.
And I think for me that's beenthe biggest thing that I'm
(41:21):
grateful for and that I'm gladthat I've been able to do and
I'm proud of myself for that,and it's been really hard to say
that in the past.
So I'm really glad that I cansay it now and that I feel it
and that I know what it means tomyself.
Because other people have saidI'm proud of you, I'm really
proud of all you've done.
You should be proud.
But it's a completely differentthing to sit there and actually
(41:42):
be proud about the growth, theleadership and the person that
you've become, and to be able toreflect on your mistakes and
not feel like you're grabbing awhiplash and just like smacking
yourself over it with it becauseyou can't accept those mistakes
or just because they'remistakes that you think you
thought that you would never beable to do better for.
And here I am still stillmaking mistakes on the occasion,
(42:04):
not as big, but you know I'm alot more wholesome and a lot
more human and that's thebiggest thing that I'm proud of,
along with, like, the realitythat I've made impact in
different spaces.
You know, when you talk aboutthe justice field, when people
talk about compensation foryoung people, treating young
people as experts, youth adultpartnerships, you know these
models that have existed withyou know some of these
(42:27):
foundations, coalitions, like Iwas there as like a seed.
You know, for a lot of it Idon't go around, you know,
taking credit for anything,because I don't really care
about credit, I don't care wheremy name is.
What I care about is thatopportunities are laid out for
the next generation of youngpeople that are coming in and to
challenge the adults sometimesto shut the fuck up and listen
to young people.
Apologies to all my fellowadults, but that's what I'm most
(42:50):
proud of too, which is thatpeople know what I'm in the room
I am going to speak my mindthat my integrity is above all
else to young people and thatI'm never going to change who I
am, just to you know, suit, avision, a mission of some
foundation or a governmentagency, and that's just the
reality.
So when you get me, you getwhat you get.
You know this is who you getand I'm proud of that.
(43:12):
You know that I can stand on myown two feet now, with
financial stability, with youknow, an apartment, living with
my daughter, and be able to doall of those things without
feeling like I'm still in thatsurvival, unstable place that I
was before.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
That's great.
Aside from the fellowships andother programs, are there any
other resources or forms ofmedia books, podcasts, anything
that have helped you along yourjourney, personally or
professionally?
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Yeah, I mean, you see all the books in the back.
No, I'm just kidding.
Yeah, I mean, I've literallyspent a lot of time just
absorbing different content andmaterial from different places.
Right, all the books by BellHooks, I've read all of them.
Emerging Strategy by AndreaMarie Brown powerful book around
strategy and movement building.
(44:02):
I've also listened to differentpodcasts along the way.
I started recently listening toyours too now, and I'm
listening to some bad-ass peopleyou know who are out here just
doing amazing work.
But I've also listened to theLatinx therapy podcast and that
one really centers on, like, thestories of folks who've gone
through mental health struggleand what are that, what that
means, and it's given me a lotof hope for different parts of
(44:25):
this work.
But also feature someprofessionals that talk about
the different elements oftherapy and what it, what, what
it looks like for differentcommunities.
And that's my, my friend,adriana Alejandrez, who who runs
that.
Shout out to her, she's abadass leader in this work.
And then, you know, I really tryto find spaces where I feel
like I'm in community a lot, andthat to me just feels like
(44:52):
oftentimes.
I'm constantly looking forplaces like that, right, so I
haven't married myself to one,but you know there's.
There's other spaces out thereLatino Dad Connection, modern
Macho.
There's other spaces where Itry to find men too All Kings,
which is out here in New YorkCity doing dope work with men
around healing.
So, yeah, these are placeswhere I also go for further
character and personaldevelopment, because it's not
just about professionaldevelopment.
(45:12):
For me these days it's like howelse can I improve who I am as
a person by further crackingopen some of the other parts of
me that I thought had alreadybeen cracked open but have not,
and really finding places to dothat.
So if you want a list of things, for sure hit me up.
Y'all I have things, butsometimes I have a hard time
remembering names off the grip.
(45:33):
But there's a lot more thanjust those for sure.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
How can people connect with or learn more about
partnering with Alianza forOpportunity?
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Yeah, so you can totally find us on most social
media platforms as Alianza forOpportunity, as our tag,
literally on LinkedIn, instagram, x, everything.
We're on most platforms.
And then, in terms of ourwebsite, it's also
wwwalianzaforopportunityorg, andwe just rebranded the website
(46:02):
last year, so it's fresh, itlooks new, it really shares a
lot of what we're aspiring to doand some of what we're already
doing.
And, yeah, if you ever want toget in contact with me as well,
it's literally Carvente Hernanon all platforms as well, and I
really try to merge what I'mdoing in any organization
together with my personalplatform, because they're all
(46:22):
parts of me, you know, and Ireally want to make sure that
Alianza is also getting the duevisibility that it deserves.
But those are the main ways andif you want to email us, for
sure, admin atalianzaforopportunityorg and me
and my colleague Julia well,either of us will be the ones to
reply back.
But yeah, and soon enough, soonenough, young people in our
(46:46):
emerging leaders cohort thatjust graduated are actually
thinking of starting a podcaston behalf of Alianza, so you all
might find those out here tobring in Rady in talking about
his work and the Latinocommunity and, like you, know
what his impact has been.
But, for sure, stay tuned forthat, because we're excited to
have young people leave that andI'm just going to be a
supporter and facilitator withthem.
I ain't going to be the.
You know, this is my podcast,it's their podcast, but it will
(47:08):
be Alianza sponsored and we willbe doing that together.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
That's great.
Is there anything else wehaven't spoken about today that
the world should know about?
Speaker 1 (47:21):
No, haven't spoken about today that the world
should know about right now.
No, I think the main thing thatI would love for folks who
listen to this is to consider if, after you've heard my journey
or the work that I'm doing atAlianza, that if something calls
you to reach out or to connectwith me, please do.
I'm actively looking for folksto continue building community
with, to continue building thevision of Alianza with and, more
importantly, people who cancome and speak to the emerging
leaders that are going throughour programs.
Right, like I want them to meetleaders from different sectors,
(47:45):
from different backgrounds, toshow them the beauty of the
tapestry that is our Latinodiaspora and like what it really
means, and then also just likeconnecting with me on an
individual level, like I thriveon people connections.
That's how I've made it thisfar.
Without network or peoplecapital, as some like to call it
, I wouldn't have made it thisfar because I don't come from
(48:06):
wealth, as I, as I shared withyou all, I literally come from
uh, you know, the crops and inthe field, with my family in
mexico.
So I'm out here just kind ofbuilding my own type of capital,
and that means just knowing theright, the right amazing people
in the world who want to make adifference and staying
connected to them.
So please, please, please, doreach out, connect in whatever
way.
And then the last thing wouldbe to the emerging leaders or to
(48:29):
the young people who listen tothis other amazing people that
Roddy has brought in.
And just remember, you know,it's all about the future and
young people are going to be thefuture of our world, and so we
should keep investing in them.
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (48:46):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Thank you for joining us todayand for sharing your story with
us.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
No, thank you, brother.
I appreciate you.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
If you did and believe on themission we're on, please like,
rate and subscribe to thispodcast on whatever platform
you're using, and share thispodcast with your friends and
your networks.
Make sure you follow us onInstagram and LinkedIn at career
cheat code and tell us peopleor careers you would like to see
highlighted.
See you next week with somemore cheat codes.
Peace.
And ever since that it's been really hard to be
honest, to look at anythingdifficult and just merely walk
away, because I believe that ifas long as I put my best foot
forward, the best effort, thatI'm going to do a great job, but
that I really need to want itand believe in it.
And I think that's the lesson,the turning point in my life,
because after all of thosetrials and tribulations, I
(00:22):
navigated life a littledifferently and I still made
mistakes after the fact, right,like I'm not a perfect human
being or a perfect leader, butthat was my turning point, that
led me to a path that felt a lotmore wholesome than the one
that I was living before, whichfelt like I was denying myself
the opportunity to just be be abetter human, for myself and for
no one else.
Welcome to Career G-Code.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
In this podcast, you'll hear how everyday people
impact the world through theircareers.
Learn about their journey,career hacks and obstacles along
the way.
Whether you're already havingthe impact you want or are
searching for it, this is thepodcast for you.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
All right, welcome to the show.
Thank you, yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I'm excited.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, I'm excited to have you here.
But you know, let's dive rightin.
Let's tell the world who youare and what you do for a living
.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
For sure.
So, hey everyone, my name isHernan Carvente Martinez.
I use he, they, el, ellapronouns and I'm the executive
director of Alianza forOpportunity, which is a national
nonprofit really dedicated tobuilding thriving communities
for Latina, afro-latina andindigenous groups around the
country.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Got it.
So what does that mean on amore molecular level, right?
So like what's an example ofsomething that the organization
does for this youth.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
For sure.
So at the present moment wehave a training program that's
dedicated to emerging leadersages 18 to 25.
I really prioritize trying tomake sure that we're empowering
another generation of leaders tonot just lead us in the present
work but also lead us inconversations in the future.
As an organization, you know wereally strive to support any
(01:53):
conversations or narratives thatare around the Latino,
afro-latino and Indigenousdiaspora, understanding that
those terms don't fully captureall of our diaspora right.
It doesn't always includeCaribbean folk, asian folk, so
shout out to those communitiesas well.
We pick these terms becausethese are the terms that
government tends to use or thatfolks in the nonprofit sector
use, but I know that thediaspora is much bigger than
(02:15):
that and overall, as anorganization, we really strive
to do work that centers that andthat really is about uplifting
what, for example, safety lookslike for Latino communities,
what healthy communities looklike.
And when we say that, what doesit mean for our people?
Not for what governmentofficials, academics or other
folk may say, unless they looklike us right and come from our
(02:37):
community.
So it's like if it's not aboutus, if it's about us but without
us.
That's one of the conversationsthat I'm always trying to strive
to challenge but also pokearound and trying to make sure
that our people are beingincluded more effectively.
So that's a little bit, and youknow what I do on a day to day
sometimes looks like getting upresponding to emails or jumping
right into a Zoom, and a lot ofit is with partners that we have
(03:00):
around the country inCalifornia, illinois, new Mexico
, colorado, dc.
So we are a nationalorganization and that means that
a lot of my life is oftentimessitting in a computer, which, as
you know, that might be bad foryour back, but we try to do our
best to work remotely.
And the other half of my team,my other half, the person who
completes this organization, isJulia Ramirez, who is based out
(03:20):
in California, so we're a smalland mighty team, and who
completes this organization isJulia Ramirez, who is based out
in California, so we're a smalland mighty team.
We also have a facilitator,yvonne Pulido, who is in
Illinois, in Chicago, illinois.
So, yeah, we're out here justtrying to build with a small but
mighty team.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
That's great.
How long has the organizationbeen around and how long have
you been as the executivedirector?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
there.
So the organization actuallyhas a really long history.
We've been around for over adecade.
However, challenges and otherthings that the organization
went through really preventedits growth at a pace that maybe
we wanted to as a collective.
But I took over theorganization literally almost
three years ago now, so it'sbeen around two years, eight
months, who's counting.
(04:01):
But I took it over when it wasoriginally named Alianza for
Youth Justice because we reallyfocused on the juvenile justice
system.
But I took it over when it wasoriginally named Alianza for
Youth Justice because we reallyfocused on the juvenile justice
system.
And I am now here for thisamount of time where I rebranded
the organization.
I changed our mission statement.
I really wanted to create anopportunity for us to be a
little bit more versatile, morenimble, but also just more
(04:21):
strategic in what conversationswe got involved in.
And it couldn't have happenedat the best time because,
walking into this administrationand everything that's been
happening, it's made us moreflexible and able to survive the
current tide of cuts in fundingand other things happening in
the world.
So it's been hard, but two anda half years and plus running
(04:45):
and hoping to be here until Ican make sure that this
organization is stable andsuccessful.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So what brings you to this work?
Why are you doing this work?
Why are you even involved inthis?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
space for personal reasons, and then some of it
also now has to do with just thepassion for making sure that
young people and families, youknow, are included in the
conversations that we're talkingabout.
So I'm actually someone who'sformerly incarcerated.
I spent about four years in ajuvenile prison in New York
State for the crime of attemptedmurder.
(05:19):
Not saying that to glorify itfor anyone listening.
I say that to acknowledge thatit is a point in my life where I
was at my lowest, but I wasalso at my youngest, making the
worst mistakes and really notthinking about the consequences
of those mistakes.
And so I was 16 at the time ofthat offense and I went into the
system and experienced what itwas really like to house young
(05:40):
people in spaces far away fromcommunity, far away from family,
and really also saw just thegaps in services, support and
the things that could reallyhelp a young people thrive.
And so I got lucky, though,because I ended up in a college
program while I was in thefacility and I say luck I used
to say luck.
I think some part of me reallywanted to find opportunities,
(06:02):
and so I got my GED, took 57college courses while I was
incarcerated, and then Ieventually came home after doing
all of that and, you know,having had my life saved by a
man in there his name is JamesMcCain.
He's no longer with us, butultimately that man really
helped me see a life beyond ganglife, a life beyond drugs and
just a life beyond everythingthat I had known up until that
(06:23):
point.
And when I came home, I'm outhere trying to be an
aspirational, you know, like letme go work at a restaurant or
let me work at retail or let mejust do something to put some
money on the table.
And I ended up realizing thatnobody wanted to hire the
formerly incarcerated kid fromQueens with an attempted murder
charge.
Around that time, you know, weall had to check off that box
(06:44):
that asked for the felonyconviction.
And so every time I checked offthat box it was like an
immediate what did you do?
And the moment that I had toexplain there's no light way to
explain oh I, you know,attempted against someone's life
.
That is about the lightest waythat I could frame it.
And you know so people justkind of looked down on me
because of that.
And eventually I found the workof criminal justice, I found
(07:06):
advocacy, I found people whowere out there in reentry, folks
who were also advancing thesekinds of things, and I started
getting involved by just likeparticipating on panels sharing
my story, talking about thiskind of work.
And then over time I startedsharing my story not just in New
York but nationally.
So I started sharing it as partof national platforms, with the
Coalition for Juvenile Justice,the National Academies of
(07:27):
Science, you know, the AnnieCasey Foundation, macarthur
Foundation, right Like I startedexpanding the audiences to
where my story was being sharedand over time I just kept
getting more and more involved.
You know, I ended up being apart of advocacy campaigns to
really include young people andfamilies in state policy reform.
I went on to then do work inabolishing youth prisons.
(07:50):
So I ended up working at theYouth First Initiative, trying
to close down youth facilitiesaround the country and
reinvesting that money intocommunity alternatives.
And I'm in this position aftertrying my own endeavor, which
was Healing Ninjas, which reallycentered healing and wellness.
It was a social enterprise, butit was really hard to build a
social enterprise and you know,and I think that's one of the
(08:11):
struggles and journeys that I'mstill walking because I still
haven't given up on that project.
But Alianza was sort of a placewhere I went because I was
asked by my predecessor, a goodfriend of mine, to come to the
organization and support it inthe transition phase.
And so I came into thisposition merely because I really
wanted to explore, hey, whatwould it look like for me to be
(08:34):
an interim executive director?
Right, could I get some skillsthere that I might then apply to
the project that I was workingon before?
And, truth be told, what shouldhave been a four-month contract
is now a two and a half yearperiod of my life.
So you know, it's been ajourney and there are so many
things that I'm leaving out inthat, but that's sort of like
the fast track to how I ended upwhere I'm at in the present
(08:55):
moment and some of the careerjourney that I've had.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I think that's great, right, because you bring lived
experience, real ability torelate to the work, real like
innate love and passion for thepeople that you're serving,
right, and you just show updifferently, like that shows,
right, this is not like just ajob for you, right?
Like it's not.
It seems like you know youmaybe went in there like, ah
sure, let's take this contractand see where it goes, right,
(09:19):
and it seems like you've nowfallen in love with the work and
you're like, oh no, I see itlike a mission here.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I do see it as a mission and, more importantly,
what I failed to share was thatwhen I walked into Alianza, you
know and I mentioned thisearlier, which is that this
organization is really focusingon Latine, afro-latine and
indigenous communities, and allthat time that I was doing
advocacy work that I mentionedat Youth First, killing Ninjas,
(09:50):
you know, at the Vera Instituteof Justice, all of these
different positions that I'veheld, all the committees that
I've been on, I've really failedto own my Chicano background,
me being Mexican, me havingundocumented parents, me being
brown skin.
I didn't own any of thosethings in like a very aggressive
manner, for lack of betterwording, right Like I stepped
into spaces, holding that blackand white paradigm and treating
the issue of criminal justicejust like many of the academics
do, which is always listing outthe black and white statistics
(10:12):
which all the love to you knowmy black and African-American,
you know brothers and sisters,because the system impacts them
in a much more disproportionateway.
The brown folk are alsoimpacted and I never really
bothered to think about it thatway or bring it up.
And so being at Alianza nowreally means I have to really
think about that right, like,what does it mean for me to
represent mi comunidad and thenalso understand that, as a
(10:35):
leader of an org, as a Chicanoleader of an org, as someone who
represents predominantly theMexican diaspora, I also don't
want to get into this likerabbit hole of suddenly only
pairing up or working withMexican or folks who represent
that diaspora and understandingthat when we say Latina,
afro-latina and indigenous, thatdiaspora is bigger, right?
So really bringing in folk whoare from the central, from
(10:58):
Central America, from SouthAmerica, and understanding that
you know we have Guatemalans,honduranos, salvadoranos,
cubanos, dominicanos, right Like, and even then, right Like,
it's not representative there,right, because the folks that I
just mentioned to some of themare actually on islands that are
off the coast of the majorcontinents.
So it's important to me becauseit's making me learn more, but
(11:19):
it's also helping me show upeven more authentically.
That I did in the past.
It's like I'm a Chicano fromthe Big Apple, is what I say now
, right, and that means that Idon't carry the same Chicano
swag or heritage that everyonedoes who are from the Southwest
or from California, and thatmeans I'm just a different kind
of Chicano.
I'm not trying to force myselfto be the one that looks like
the same ones from the WestCoast or from the Southwest.
(11:40):
All the love to my brothers outthere.
No me, maten despues, forsaying that, but you know, it's
just the truth.
I'm trying to embody my ownessence of who I am in the place
where I live, which is the BigApple you know, new York City
and then also understanding thatthat impacts the work and how
people see me and also how thework is represented, because as
a leader, I have to make surethat I'm holding the space for
(12:01):
everyone, not just for some ofus.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
So you know, let's go back to kind of your earlier,
your youth, right?
So let's talk a little bitabout where you were born,
growing up and at age 16, didyou have a vision of what you
wanted to do with your career orwith your life, or how did that
look like at that point?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, no, so growing up.
So I was born here in the USand at the age of two my parents
actually decided to move backto Mexico.
So most people don't know thatI lived in Mexico from the age
of two to eight and that duringthat period of time I actually
witnessed what working in reallypoor and harsh conditions look
like, because my parents livedin a home where you know, if it
(12:45):
rained, which is this likelittle cover, that's like a
metal cover, so when it rainedyou would hear those raindrops
on that roof.
If it was cold, that wind isgoing through, because the whole
house wasn't fully cemented.
And so there's just thesepieces of, like my journey when
I was in Mexico that most peopledon't know and that I never
bothered to talk about, mostlybecause I was young, right, like
it was the first six years ofmy life that I had consciousness
(13:07):
.
But eventually, you know, andthrough a lot of struggle, right
, my parents just navigating alot of domestic violence, you
know, a lot of issues withalcohol, which spans the whole
my family, not just my dad, butultimately a lot of those issues
led to me sort of internalizingthat this is the way of life,
right, that, like we live inpoor conditions, that we have no
(13:29):
other means but to work in thefields like and ultimately part
of what happened in that one.
That was the first time that Ihad ever flown on a plane, but
(13:49):
never realizing that my parentsnever flown a plane, I didn't
know that they crossed in a waythat, again, was very different
than the way that I did, becauseI was a US citizen, and so when
I was here in the US, my momused to work in sweatshops,
right Like making clothes, justlike really experiencing all
that life that people talk aboutas like sweating in some of
these really harsh conditions,creating clothes that, like you
(14:10):
know, sense an hour.
And my dad worked at arestaurant, you know, making
pizza, and to this day the manstill does and he makes him the
bomb ass pizza.
But that's all I thought that Icould ever do, to be quite
honest.
And so up until 16, which isright around the time when I got
(14:31):
incarcerated my only vision forliterally what life was going
to be like was either sellingdrugs on the street, which I was
pretty efficient at doing, orjust really doing, you know,
some nine to five job that paidvery little and just made ends
meet.
So I never really aspired toanything more.
Did I have dreams of beingsomething at some point?
Yeah, I think by 16, I wasreally into computers and I
really wanted to do tech at somepoint, before tech became a hip
(14:51):
thing that everybody does now.
And at some point when I wasyounger, I also wanted to be a
firefighter.
You know, I had dreams, butnone of those were the ones that
I pursued and I really want tomake sure that I now strive to
really think about what I wantto do, because even in this
present moment, I'm like I haveI fully found a career that I
want to settle on.
(15:11):
No, and I feel like some ofthat is also why I call myself a
social entrepreneur.
I'm like I always want to findways to do good and do well at
the same time.
I love that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
I think that's very important, right, and I think,
especially as, like, people seeyou now and they might say, oh,
you're an executive director,you probably have worked in the
nonprofit space for a long timeand known exactly how this
trajectory was going to go, andI just think it's important for
people to realize, like, no,there were times when I
literally sounds cool, right,but not like actively planning
that roadmap, right, and then ittakes for you to have that
(15:49):
experience where you go in andget incarcerated.
And then you mentioned theimportance of mentorship, right,
and how someone there, likehelped you change your mindset,
which would then lead you downthis different path, right, can
you talk a little bit about kindof what that transition, both
physically and in mindset, looklike as you're getting ready to
come back home, like how doesthat?
(16:09):
What did that mean to you?
What did you think you weregoing to do when you got out and
what actually happened?
Speaker 1 (16:14):
It's really I'm.
Hopefully I don't go into rantabout it, because you know,
meeting Mr McCain in prison wasthe best thing that ever
happened to me and to this day,you know, thinking about him
does get me a little emotionalbecause, you know, this man
looked beyond the angry Latinoyou know, formerly a gang member
kid who came into his programand saw potential that I didn't
(16:37):
see in myself.
Right, and I say that assomeone who like realizing who
he was right, he was a white man, ex-military, 22-year veteran
and ultimately had this reallyhard persona to who he was.
But in the core of who he washe was also very loving and
caring and wanted all of us tosucceed.
And so there was just thistenacity that he had of not
giving up on any of us,especially those of us who came
(17:00):
in with the more seriousfelonies, because most of the
guys who went into the collegeprogram had a lot more time to
serve, which meant that he had alot more time to work with us,
and ultimately he spent a lot oftime convincing me, to be
honest, that I was worthy ofopportunities beyond the ones
that I was accustomed to.
At some point, you know, Iactually quit his program three
times.
The first time I quit becausehe gave me an F on a paper that
(17:23):
I wrote right in the first timeof meeting him and I literally
got pissed off, you know,crumbled up the paper, threw it
at him and I'm like I used toget an A's on this.
I don't know how the hell yougot me an F and then walked out
with a fit, came at some pointback to my cell in my unit and
ultimately had a conversationwith me and told me why did you
(17:43):
walk out?
And I was like because Ideserved an A.
I don't know why you gave me anF.
Like that literally means thismeant nothing, like I wrote it
for no reason.
He's like why did you think youdeserved an A?
And I was like because I wrotea similar paper in a different
class that I got right at thebeginning and I got A's for them
.
So I don't understand.
And he looked at me dead in theface zero smile, zero, anything
(18:03):
.
It was just like whoever gaveyou those A's thought that you
were going to amount to anythingand that that's why you got
those A's.
And I was like why?
And the main thing for him wasone maybe they didn't think that
you were going to go out andcontinue college.
Two, maybe they felt sorry foryou.
Three, I don't know, butultimately your writing level is
that of a middle schooler.
Your writing level is that of amiddle schooler, and if you go
(18:27):
out there and write a paper likethat in college, you're going
to get laughed at, and I don'twant that to happen to you.
So if you want to be a betterwriter, let me teach you how to
be a better writer and set youup for success.
And so I.
You know I was baffled by whathe said, but also found some
level of connection to thereality that, like this, man
genuinely wants to help me, andso I leaned into that right and
went again back to the collegeprogram, quit a second time,
(18:49):
this time for the exact thingthat I'm doing with you right
now, which is public speaking.
Like I had to do a presentationfor my English 102 course and
it was supposed to be fiveminutes on any topic that I
wanted, and I was terrified ofspeaking, just speaking out loud
, speaking to a crowd.
I was not capable of it, andagain, that came from a lot of
(19:09):
background, of just beingsilenced and not having space to
be able to do that.
But again walked into my cell.
The same thing after I walkedout and quit on this program and
was like why did you do thisnow?
And I'm like, well, I justdon't want to do it.
And he's like are you scared ofpresenting, are you scared of
speaking?
And I was like, no, it's notthat I try to deny it.
Eventually he got me to admitthat that was the case and he
(19:31):
told me again why do you do this?
Who do you do this for?
And I'm like would you be doingthis for?
And I got pissed off at him atfirst because I'm like how could
you say that?
Right, like I do have family.
(19:52):
Like God forbid, somethinghappens to them.
And ultimately, at some point,you know, I realized what he was
asking me and what he wanted meto say was that I was doing
this for me.
And so I did.
You know, I went back withshaky legs and my hands
literally sweaty and my friggingarmpits, just like you know,
just pulsating with sweat.
I walked back in there and Igave a presentation for the
(20:13):
first time in my life and that,I think, was the moment where I
started seeing a shift in mypersonality and, like my
charisma, my confidence.
And then the third time that Iquit was really the breaking
point.
Because I had quit, because Iwent to the parole board with
about 40 something collegecredits, having been in the
fatherhood program, having beenin custodian maintenance, having
worked in the kitchen, havingworked in the library, having
(20:36):
done every bit of programmingthat that facility could offer,
and thinking that I might bereleased at two years, down the
line of the sentence that I wasgiven.
And no, I walked in there and aday later was told that I line
of the sentence that I was given, and no, I walked in there and
a day later was told that I wasdenied parole and that I was a
serious threat to the community,capable of violence.
Like.
The description of me was onethat was different from the one
that I walked in, thinking thatI was going to get, and I came
(20:59):
back and said F.
This Started flippingeverything, literally threatened
.
The facility director, did notcare about it anymore.
I was just like what was thepoint of doing all of this and
also in believing in myself if,at the end of the day, other
people are still going to lookat me as the same monster that
walked in and I quit the programagain, but this time in the
most cruel way, because I endedup spitting at him.
(21:21):
I ended up cursing everyoneelse and my peers out, saying
this is a waste of time.
Everybody get out.
And to this day you know I willnever forget how bad I felt
doing that in the moment, buthow angry I felt and how much I
didn't care, and that was alwaysmy history.
Right Like when the going getstough, I just kind of quit and
eventually I ended up realizingwhile I was in my cell that this
(21:42):
isn't the path that I wanted totake, that I had really fucked
up for lack of better wording.
Apologies for everyone listening, but I really messed up and I
got staff to reach back out tohim.
I got you know all of them totry to get him to talk to me and
he didn't want to.
Eventually he did talk to meand he told me straight up he's
(22:05):
like Hernan, I'm sorry but Ican't allow you back into the
program.
If I allow you back after whatyou just pulled, I'm setting the
bar lower for everyone else.
I'm letting everyone else knowthat this is acceptable behavior
and that they can come backwhenever they want.
And you have quit now for thethird time.
And it's not.
It's, that's it.
You can't just make a choice,make a mistake and expect that
things are going to be the sameafter it.
(22:25):
And that was the biggest lessonthat I got taught about not only
being accountable for my ownactions, but also the reality
that an opportunity that youdon't take advantage of when you
have it can be a missedopportunity that you will never
have again.
And so I begged this man foralmost a week back and forth,
like you know, just causing ahavoc, just trying to get his
attention, and then eventuallygetting tired of hearing.
(22:48):
You know that I was like justtrying to get his attention, to
get me back.
He came back to myself for thefinal time and that conversation
rings very much in my ears tothis day, because he told me
straight up he's like, why doyou want back?
And I told him I'm like becauseI have another two years to
serve here, maybe four.
I don't know if I'm going tofinish my whole sentence, but
(23:09):
ultimately I would rather spendit trying to continue improving
myself, doing better for myselfand helping my peers than to sit
in a cell playing spades allday and just wasting my time.
And so he told me straight up,you know he was like okay, I'll
let you back into the programwith three conditions.
The first condition was that Iwas going to mentor all of my
(23:30):
peers, whoever the new ones werecoming in, that I would have to
be a mentor to them.
Going forward, I was like, ok,I'm down, for that was Governor
Patterson to essentially expandhigher education inside of
juvenile facilities.
And talking about my journey andthe work of the Brookwood
College program is what thatprogram was called.
(23:51):
I'm like okay, easy.
And then the third one wasyou're going to take four
college courses, do all of theclasswork and participate fully
in class, and you will get nocredit for any of those classes.
And that one, that one, Istumbled on.
I'm like what do you mean forclasses?
Like that's a lot of credits.
And he's like take it or leaveit.
(24:12):
That is my offer.
We're not negotiating it.
This is your way of makingamends and coming back.
And I sat there and reallydebated the whole process.
In a span of like a minute Ihad to decide and I'm like you
know what?
Fine, I want to do this and Ideserve to do this.
And you know, maybe not getcredit for it, but at least I'll
have the learning under my belt.
(24:33):
And I still remember he gave mea smile, he's like, all right,
I'll see you tomorrow, man, andwent about his way.
But I ended up doing all ofthose things, I ended up
finishing the four courses, andhe still gave me the credit.
He just wanted me to activelydecide to want it and finish it
through, no matter what.
And ever since that it's beenreally hard, to be honest, to
(24:54):
look at anything difficult andjust merely walk away, because I
believe that if, as long as Iput my best foot forward, the
best effort, that I'm going todo a great job, but that I
really need to want it andbelieve in it.
And I think that's the lesson,the turning point in my life,
because after all of thosetrials and tribulations, I
navigated life a littledifferently and I still made
(25:14):
mistakes after the fact.
Right, I'm not a perfect humanbeing or a perfect leader, but
that was my turning point, thatled me to a path that felt a lot
more wholesome than the onethat I was living before, which
felt like I was denying myselfthe opportunity to just be a
better human, for myself and forno one else.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
You know, I appreciate stories like that
because sometimes it takespeople believing in you to help
you see something differently inyourself.
Right, and this person while inthe moment you may not have
always realized how good thisperson was in your life or how
good this program was for yourlife and your trajectory.
Right, and you quitting on itand this person allowing you
(25:52):
back and then doing that overthree times right, like three
times.
And then the fourth time.
Now he's like all right, dude,like this is literally it.
Uh, but the lessons that you,that you came away with from
that and the trajectory, andeven someone at that moment in
your life talking to you aboutlike no, when you get out and go
to college, when you do thisand like just setting your
mindset up for like this is whyyou're here now, but like you
(26:14):
have so much further to go, andI want you to make sure that
when you get into these collegecourses, you're able to write
well, you're able to likearticulate yourself, you're able
to present yourself, and justsetting you up and giving you
the tools at that point likereal, active, intentional
mentorship.
You know that most of us onlywish we have.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah, no, and I think after that that's that's part
of the reason why I became soadamant about helping young
people and or just supportingthose who other people tend to
walk away from because they'rehard to deal with or just don't
don't have it in them toapproach.
I've never been one to do thatbecause of LeCain, but again,
it's also influenced myleadership style, right, like
I'm a pretty adamant and I speakmy mind and I don't have a
(26:54):
problem, you know, really beingoutspoken about something that
is unjust for my community orjust feels like it's a dynamic
that's preventing certain peoplefrom stepping into their light,
right, and I always say thisabout spaces that say they're
about young people but there'sno young people present, or the
young people that are there aremerely there, just listening,
never being asked to speak ornever, you know, having had
(27:16):
their opinions taken, turnedinto an actual idea or project
and then executed in some way,shape or form that's meaningful.
So I'm always about coming intospaces.
Now, because of of like Kane,to be honest, and that journey
he put me through, of, yeah, I'mgoing to speak my mind and I'm
going to make sure I advocatefor my peers and make sure also
that sometimes I just challengedthe powers that be to create
more opportunities for peoplelike me and others who've gone
(27:39):
through the system so that theycan be successful, because we
all have the potential forchange, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
And when you think about it's not just the words,
right, that were said to you,but like literally putting you
in a leadership position andmaybe without you noticing,
right, which is like all right,cool, everyone else that comes
to this program.
You're going to mentor them andnow you're going to become a
policy advocate, without knowingit right, you're going to write
a letter to the governor andlike in the moment, you're just
like sure I'll write a letter tothe governor, but like, in
(28:05):
practicality, like what thatreally means is that you are now
advocating for policy change inthe state of New York and you
are using your experience tochange the lives of others and
to use that narrative as avehicle and as a tool for change
.
Right, and like I feel likethat's really powerful because
it's not just mentorship throughwhat is said, but the positions
(28:27):
that they're putting you in.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
That's absolutely true.
Actually, that's the first time, roddy, that anyone has
dissected it at that level, andyou just made me appreciate Mr
Lucan more, if that was evenpossible, than before.
I didn't.
Yeah, I never thought of itthat way.
Actually, when you break itdown, like just the different
elements of setting me up to bethe leader and person that I am
now right, because that'sessentially what I do full time,
(28:50):
you know, I do still advocatefor policies, I do still go out
there and give public speakingopportunities a chance and I
just really try to take all ofthose skills and lessons that I
took from those moments andapply them to my day-to-day life
every day forward, you know,and that's that's been a journey
.
But thank you for saying that,that you just made me appreciate
Mr Lakin even more.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Absolutely so.
Tell me about what happens whenyou're getting ready to
transition out of incarcerationsystem and, like, do you have a
plan in place?
Do you know where you're?
Like, are you going back home?
Are you, do you have a joblined up?
I know you mentioned earlierkind of applying to different
jobs and that being a challenge,but like, were there programs
(29:31):
in place to support that?
Like, what was that?
What was that?
What did that look like at thetop?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah, no so.
So the sad part is that, no, Iwasn't fully prepared to come
back home.
I literally my experience wasgetting $50 in cash, a pat on
the back and being told goodluck, as I was stepping into a
van to be dropped off at theAmtrak in Hudson and literally
drove that train wearing theclothes that I had.
Mr LeCain gave me a shirt withthe Brookwood College Program
(29:57):
logo, so I wasn't wearing thered and white khakis that the
facility used to have us wear,so at least I didn't look like I
had just come out fresh fromthat facility.
But yeah, I came into GrandCentral Terminal and for those
of you who've ever been in GrandCentral Terminal, it's
overwhelming, when the trainsare coming, how many people step
out of those trains, and it wasthe first time in four years
(30:19):
that I had been around that manypeople.
I remember coming out of thetrain feeling like I was getting
pushed left and right, that Iwas just like the slowest person
walking.
And again, I am now 20 yearsold.
You know it's been four years.
I went in at 16, came out at 20and had no clue what I was
getting myself into.
I didn't have a job lined up,which is why I had a hard time
finding one.
To begin with, I had appliedfor colleges.
(30:40):
The only college who has sentme a letter of acceptance
without you know asking me formy background or just in general
having sent me a letter, wasJohn Jay College of Criminal
Justice.
I had a couple of SUNY campusesgive me a preliminary
acceptance, but all of themwanted to ask me about my
criminal conviction or wanted meto get my rap sheet, like a
whole bunch of other steps,before I could even get an
(31:03):
acceptance.
And John Jay was the onlyschool that didn't ask about
that and gave me a chance, whichmakes sense.
John Jay is a school ofcriminal justice, so shout out
to my bloodhounds out there,fellow John Jay people.
But yeah, I ended up just notreally knowing what I was going
to do.
Roddy, I was afraid.
I was terrified, to be honest.
(31:23):
Even that moment walking out ofthe train, I remember I had a
borderline, an anxiety attackbecause it was just too much,
and I went to like a littlecorner and kind of gathered
myself.
I was like literally shaking.
I was giving back everythingthat I had been stripped of.
So imagine that for some of mybrothers and sisters who are in
there for 10, 20 years, and thencoming home to the reality of
(31:44):
the world or technology that'sfurther advanced.
So at that time, you know, itfelt like I was set up to fail
and I was on parole, which meantthat my parole officer was also
on me.
Luckily, I had a really niceone, pio McRae.
I won't forget her name becauseI ultimately also went through
so many challenges trying tofind anger management programs
or substance abuse programs thatI could do that were close to
(32:07):
my school or close to theinternships that I found after
the fact.
And luckily she was flexibleand gave me time and if it
wasn't for that, I would havelikely violated parole and been
right back in the facility,potentially an adult one,
because I would have been overage as well.
But yeah, things were not easy.
Walking home, I had no plan, noreal anything lined up.
(32:28):
I didn't have a vision for whatI wanted to do.
I did know that I wanted tocome out and do something at
some point to, you know, supportmy community or just be more
outspoken about the issues thatI witnessed in there, but I
didn't think that I was going todo that right off the grip I
thought I was going to like geta job, have some stable kind of
income, you know, be OK firstand then kind of get involved in
(32:49):
that, not get involved in it,because off the grip I was going
right into other issues.
You know that the system put onus which included, you know,
lack of reentry opportunities,lack of services that could
really support formerlyincarcerated young people and
adults who had been convicted ofviolent felonies the violent
felony topic is a wholeconversation in and of itself,
(33:09):
because it seems that everywherearound the country we are more
comfortable with offeringsupport to people who've been
convicted of a nonviolent felonyand we've always forgotten or
thrown under the bus in policyor just completely ignored folks
who've been convicted ofviolent felonies because we
deemed them as people who shouldbe serving the time because
they did the crime.
And I don't believe in thatright, because, if I believe
(33:31):
that, I believe that I shouldn'thave come out, that I shouldn't
have gone through college whilein there, that I shouldn't have
been afforded a lot of theopportunities that I have up
until now, but even despite that, I hustled, made things happen,
sold my story for a bit, playedalong the dog and pony show of
policy as a formerlyincarcerated person and
(33:52):
eventually just realized likehey, that's, that's not who I am
anymore and I can be more.
I can be more, and that meansincreasing my skills and
stepping into otheropportunities.
So eventually I did plug intofellowships and other things
down the line, but this was longafter graduation Right, I came
home in 2012.
The first fellowship that Iever fully got was with the New
(34:13):
Leaders Council, which is asocial political
entrepreneurship program thatsets up people for potential
pathways into politics or justto accelerate their career
growth by, you know, putting youin touch with a group of other
people from other sectors.
At some point in 2017, I alsowent through the Just Leadership
USA Leading with Convictionprogram, which is a leadership
(34:34):
development program specificallyfor formerly incarcerated folks
, particularly those who've beenout for five plus years and who
have a track record of being inadvocacy and policy, and it was
the first time that I everreceived professional coaching
out to David Mensah, who was ourtrainer and facilitator at that
time.
But I learned something reallyimportant during that program,
which was how to be responsiblefor my leadership, how to
(34:57):
reflect on my leadership and,more importantly, how to invite
feedback on my leadership, which, again, we don't tend to do
often, and that's why, asleaders, sometimes we continue
to make the same mistakes,because we either do it from a
place of ego, from a place offeeling like we can't make a
mistake, or just realizing thatat some point we just forget to
invite the very people who we'reworking with to tell us how we
(35:19):
can be better leaders or betterpeople for them and for the work
that we want to do.
So JLUSA was really supportivein a lot of that.
And then, yeah, I just keptgoing into different
opportunities beyond that toreally excel myself, which is
advisory boards, boards likeactual professional boards, or
be involved in other things thatI was interested in.
Like, at some point I took apodcasting course, which is why
(35:40):
I also have this mic here.
At some point I did, you know,python coding, because I was
like really trying to also dothat on the side.
So, like I said before, I'm ahustler man.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
I will go out and find ways to get involved, but
there is no way you're going tolimit me and my opportunities,
and so that's, that's been thename of the game Hustle, hustle,
that's great and you have sucha beautiful story of kind of
what it means to make mistakeswhen you're young, learn from
them, and now it's like no,that's who that person is and
like the person that's speakingto me today seems so far removed
(36:11):
from that right, and, likeyou've done, you've gone through
this journey of learning andunlearning and growing and even
coming out with that mindset ofall right, I'm going to, I don't
know what's happening in thisworld, I'm about to have a panic
attack and, at the same time,feeling like I'm going to enroll
in college, I'm going to figureout what school to go to, I'm
going to put my head down andfigure out how to get
(36:32):
internships.
I'm going to figure out whatfellowships are and which ones
to apply to and how to getsomething from them.
Right, and I think you've donesuch a good job at
professionally developingyourself.
So, like, consistently, you'vedone multiple fellowships,
you've done different things toactually like, continue to like,
progress, right, and that'sjust something that is super
admirable, right, because whileearlier in the story you
(36:53):
mentioned, you didn't know whatyou wanted to do when you were
younger and even today you mightstill be refining that Like
you've grown into, like a verysuccessful, successful leader,
right Like leading anorganization now that does
national work, that is impactingthe lives of others, and it's
just I'm in awe of.
You know some of what you'resharing here, so thank you for
(37:14):
that.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
No, thank you.
Yeah, and I and I agree, and Iagree I think it's been a hard
journey to get to this point.
I did mention earlier that,despite the success, despite the
fellowships I've had, they'vecome at the right time, and I
think that that sometimes is aconversation that, as leaders,
we forget to have.
Sometimes you need alignmentwith things and the right
(37:35):
opportunities come to you when aneed for realignment needs to
happen.
And so, whether it was NLC,just Leadership USA, or even now
in my more recent, like thelast year, I went through two
other fellowships with ForwardPromise, which really focuses on
this concept of rest as a formof liberation for leaders,
particularly those working incommunities where trauma and
(37:56):
violence is very real, and itwas the first time in a long
time that I was actually forcedto think about like, what are my
methods of care and rest formyself?
And I realized last year Iended the year pre-diabetic,
burnt out, not in the best place, and I only realized that
because I went through thisprogram.
That forced me to think aboutwhat does rest as a form of
(38:16):
liberation look like for me as aleader, but also for my
organization and the work thatwe do and how we take care of
the very people that are doingthe work.
And then I also went throughthe Institute for Nonprofit
Practice, which shout out to IMP, because they came at a time
when I did not know.
First of all, I think peopleassume that because I went
through a lot of opportunities,that I was set up to be an
executive director of anonprofit.
(38:36):
I had no fucking clue how torun a nonprofit, let alone
manage a books, do programming,I've done, strategies, I've done
, you know, implementation ofthat.
But it's usually been mefollowing the vision of a
different leader and being likeI see what you're doing, I got
you with the young people, endof things.
But to hold your ownorganization, your own vision,
and actually build the vision,the strategy, find the finance,
(38:59):
the budget for it and make ithappen is a whole other beast
that can get very lonely.
And so having that communityfrom IMP, having these like
opportunities to upskill aroundyou know, fundraising board
development, building effectiveteams, just having these really
in-depth conversations withother leaders who would also say
the same thing Half of us don'tknow what we're doing and half
(39:23):
of us are still know some ofwhat we're doing but still need
to figure out other things,because we don't know everything
, and I think that it'simportant as leaders to always
recognize your limitations, toalways recognize when there's a
need for realignment, and alsoto recognize when it's time to
walk away from an opportunitybecause you've learned all that
you could or because it's notmaking you happy anymore, and
that neither one is quittingthat.
(39:44):
It is an opportunity to moveforward or move on to something
that actually fills your spirit,that lights you up and that,
more than anything you know,gives you an opportunity to do
impactful work.
And if impact isn't just yourthing but also you want to do
well, an opportunity that doesboth right, because you can do
both, and I really emphasizethat now because I've seen other
(40:05):
amazing leaders in differentspaces do that and not be
ashamed of it.
You know, and I really want toget to that point too.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
What are you most proud of in your career to date?
Speaker 1 (40:15):
I think what I'm most proud of right now is
recognizing that, despite all ofthe struggle that I've gone
through, I've been hellaresilient and hella adaptable
and, more importantly, justhella courageous to get this far
.
I think at some point peopledon't realize that I was
struggling a lot.
I am a survivor of a suicideattempt, I was in the darkest
(40:38):
points of my life and my careerall at once and at one point I
wanted out and that somehow Iwent through that, still came
out of it, still got the helpthat I needed, still grew out of
that even more right, Like Ibecame even more of a leader and
an advocate for wellness andmental health, but more
importantly, to take care ofmyself while doing this work.
(40:59):
And I think that's what I'mmost proud of that no matter
what struggle, what challengehas been put in my way, I keep
sometimes going a little tooheadfirst into it, right and,
like you know, slamming rightagainst the wall.
But then I recognize I pullback and I'm like, okay, I can
go around this wall, Like Idon't need to be bashing my head
into the same wall over andover.
And I think for me that's beenthe biggest thing that I'm
(41:21):
grateful for and that I'm gladthat I've been able to do and
I'm proud of myself for that,and it's been really hard to say
that in the past.
So I'm really glad that I cansay it now and that I feel it
and that I know what it means tomyself.
Because other people have saidI'm proud of you, I'm really
proud of all you've done.
You should be proud.
But it's a completely differentthing to sit there and actually
(41:42):
be proud about the growth, theleadership and the person that
you've become, and to be able toreflect on your mistakes and
not feel like you're grabbing awhiplash and just like smacking
yourself over it with it becauseyou can't accept those mistakes
or just because they'remistakes that you think you
thought that you would never beable to do better for.
And here I am still stillmaking mistakes on the occasion,
(42:04):
not as big, but you know I'm alot more wholesome and a lot
more human and that's thebiggest thing that I'm proud of,
along with, like, the realitythat I've made impact in
different spaces.
You know, when you talk aboutthe justice field, when people
talk about compensation foryoung people, treating young
people as experts, youth adultpartnerships, you know these
models that have existed withyou know some of these
(42:27):
foundations, coalitions, like Iwas there as like a seed.
You know, for a lot of it Idon't go around, you know,
taking credit for anything,because I don't really care
about credit, I don't care wheremy name is.
What I care about is thatopportunities are laid out for
the next generation of youngpeople that are coming in and to
challenge the adults sometimesto shut the fuck up and listen
to young people.
Apologies to all my fellowadults, but that's what I'm most
(42:50):
proud of too, which is thatpeople know what I'm in the room
I am going to speak my mindthat my integrity is above all
else to young people and thatI'm never going to change who I
am, just to you know, suit, avision, a mission of some
foundation or a governmentagency, and that's just the
reality.
So when you get me, you getwhat you get.
You know this is who you getand I'm proud of that.
(43:12):
You know that I can stand on myown two feet now, with
financial stability, with youknow, an apartment, living with
my daughter, and be able to doall of those things without
feeling like I'm still in thatsurvival, unstable place that I
was before.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
That's great.
Aside from the fellowships andother programs, are there any
other resources or forms ofmedia books, podcasts, anything
that have helped you along yourjourney, personally or
professionally?
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Yeah, I mean, you see all the books in the back.
No, I'm just kidding.
Yeah, I mean, I've literallyspent a lot of time just
absorbing different content andmaterial from different places.
Right, all the books by BellHooks, I've read all of them.
Emerging Strategy by AndreaMarie Brown powerful book around
strategy and movement building.
(44:02):
I've also listened to differentpodcasts along the way.
I started recently listening toyours too now, and I'm
listening to some bad-ass peopleyou know who are out here just
doing amazing work.
But I've also listened to theLatinx therapy podcast and that
one really centers on, like, thestories of folks who've gone
through mental health struggleand what are that, what that
means, and it's given me a lotof hope for different parts of
(44:25):
this work.
But also feature someprofessionals that talk about
the different elements oftherapy and what it, what, what
it looks like for differentcommunities.
And that's my, my friend,adriana Alejandrez, who who runs
that.
Shout out to her, she's abadass leader in this work.
And then, you know, I really tryto find spaces where I feel
like I'm in community a lot, andthat to me just feels like
(44:52):
oftentimes.
I'm constantly looking forplaces like that, right, so I
haven't married myself to one,but you know there's.
There's other spaces out thereLatino Dad Connection, modern
Macho.
There's other spaces where Itry to find men too All Kings,
which is out here in New YorkCity doing dope work with men
around healing.
So, yeah, these are placeswhere I also go for further
character and personaldevelopment, because it's not
just about professionaldevelopment.
(45:12):
For me these days it's like howelse can I improve who I am as
a person by further crackingopen some of the other parts of
me that I thought had alreadybeen cracked open but have not,
and really finding places to dothat.
So if you want a list of things, for sure hit me up.
Y'all I have things, butsometimes I have a hard time
remembering names off the grip.
(45:33):
But there's a lot more thanjust those for sure.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
How can people connect with or learn more about
partnering with Alianza forOpportunity?
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Yeah, so you can totally find us on most social
media platforms as Alianza forOpportunity, as our tag,
literally on LinkedIn, instagram, x, everything.
We're on most platforms.
And then, in terms of ourwebsite, it's also
wwwalianzaforopportunityorg, andwe just rebranded the website
(46:02):
last year, so it's fresh, itlooks new, it really shares a
lot of what we're aspiring to doand some of what we're already
doing.
And, yeah, if you ever want toget in contact with me as well,
it's literally Carvente Hernanon all platforms as well, and I
really try to merge what I'mdoing in any organization
together with my personalplatform, because they're all
(46:22):
parts of me, you know, and Ireally want to make sure that
Alianza is also getting the duevisibility that it deserves.
But those are the main ways andif you want to email us, for
sure, admin atalianzaforopportunityorg and me
and my colleague Julia well,either of us will be the ones to
reply back.
But yeah, and soon enough, soonenough, young people in our
(46:46):
emerging leaders cohort thatjust graduated are actually
thinking of starting a podcaston behalf of Alianza, so you all
might find those out here tobring in Rady in talking about
his work and the Latinocommunity and, like you, know
what his impact has been.
But, for sure, stay tuned forthat, because we're excited to
have young people leave that andI'm just going to be a
supporter and facilitator withthem.
I ain't going to be the.
You know, this is my podcast,it's their podcast, but it will
(47:08):
be Alianza sponsored and we willbe doing that together.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
That's great.
Is there anything else wehaven't spoken about today that
the world should know about?
Speaker 1 (47:21):
No, haven't spoken about today that the world
should know about right now.
No, I think the main thing thatI would love for folks who
listen to this is to consider if, after you've heard my journey
or the work that I'm doing atAlianza, that if something calls
you to reach out or to connectwith me, please do.
I'm actively looking for folksto continue building community
with, to continue building thevision of Alianza with and, more
importantly, people who cancome and speak to the emerging
leaders that are going throughour programs.
Right, like I want them to meetleaders from different sectors,
(47:45):
from different backgrounds, toshow them the beauty of the
tapestry that is our Latinodiaspora and like what it really
means, and then also just likeconnecting with me on an
individual level, like I thriveon people connections.
That's how I've made it thisfar.
Without network or peoplecapital, as some like to call it
, I wouldn't have made it thisfar because I don't come from
(48:06):
wealth, as I, as I shared withyou all, I literally come from
uh, you know, the crops and inthe field, with my family in
mexico.
So I'm out here just kind ofbuilding my own type of capital,
and that means just knowing theright, the right amazing people
in the world who want to make adifference and staying
connected to them.
So please, please, please, doreach out, connect in whatever
way.
And then the last thing wouldbe to the emerging leaders or to
(48:29):
the young people who listen tothis other amazing people that
Roddy has brought in.
And just remember, you know,it's all about the future and
young people are going to be thefuture of our world, and so we
should keep investing in them.
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (48:46):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Thank you for joining us todayand for sharing your story with
us.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
No, thank you, brother.
I appreciate you.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
If you did and believe on themission we're on, please like,
rate and subscribe to thispodcast on whatever platform
you're using, and share thispodcast with your friends and
your networks.
Make sure you follow us onInstagram and LinkedIn at career
cheat code and tell us peopleor careers you would like to see
highlighted.
See you next week with somemore cheat codes.
Peace.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.