#66: Rocio Lopez - A Product Designer & a DACA Recipient is Standing Up for All DREAMers
Breaking Into Startups1 Loka 2017

#66: Rocio Lopez - A Product Designer & a DACA Recipient is Standing Up for All DREAMers

Rocio Lopez came to the U.S. as an undocumented minor and lived on the East Side of Palo Alto. For years, she and her family have gone through so much struggle until the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA was signed by President Obama, a program granting temporary work permits to immigrants who came to the U.S. as children illegally. Recently, DACA, has been repealed by the Trump administration. And Rocio is one of the 800,000 DREAMers that are going to be affected by this decision. The average DACA recipient is 26 years old who came to the U.S. at 6 years. 91% are employed, and 100% have no criminal record. They pay $500 to renew every two years and contribute $800 M per year to the government. Rocio is a Product Designer and an amazing speaker. She considers herself an American who is willing to die for her country. But why is America trying to persecute her along with other hundreds of thousands of DREAMers? Now is the time for you to show you care. We hope for you to bring two takeaways from this episode: 1. Meet other DREAMers. 2. Make sure you call your members of Congress to pass the DREAM Act over the next six months.

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#20: Nick DeWilde - Program Director at Tradecraft which teaches Biz dev, Product Design and Growth

#20: Nick DeWilde - Program Director at Tradecraft which teaches Biz dev, Product Design and Growth

A San Francisco-native, Nick deWilde was so certain he wanted to make movies but he ended up taking on a different path that impacts people’s lives. Nick is now the Program Director at Tradecraft, an ...

28 Tammi 201749min

#19: Matthew Dean Brooks - An Artist who became a Software Engineer

#19: Matthew Dean Brooks - An Artist who became a Software Engineer

Transitioning from arts to engineering was not a smooth ride for Matt Brooks, but he never allowed obstacles to get in the way because he was willing to embrace failures. Matt started out as a fine ...

25 Tammi 201731min

#18: Preethi Kasireddy - How Investment Banker & a VC quit her job to became a Software Engineer

#18: Preethi Kasireddy - How Investment Banker & a VC quit her job to became a Software Engineer

After excelling at Goldman Sachs and top venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Preethi Kasireddy decided she wanted to leave “the best job in the world” to become a software engineer. In her blo...

23 Tammi 201743min

#17: Ina Herlihy - How a young journalist hustled her way into Growth Marketing

#17: Ina Herlihy - How a young journalist hustled her way into Growth Marketing

Ina Herlihy is a San Francisco local who knows what’s it like to hustle your way to get the thing that you want right at a very early age. She is passionate about journalism and was an editor-in-chief...

18 Tammi 201731min

#16: Edgar Pabon - Army Captain who became an Engineer at Amazon Music

#16: Edgar Pabon - Army Captain who became an Engineer at Amazon Music

Edgar Pabon is a New York-native who, prior to his current position as a software engineer at Amazon Music, was a rapper, a communications degree graduate, and an active duty military. He knew that ...

16 Tammi 201738min

#15: Kush Patel - Founder of App Academy

#15: Kush Patel - Founder of App Academy

Kush Patel is the Founder of App Academy, which is considered to be the MIT of coding bootcamps. Prior to breaking into startup, Kush previously worked at hedge funds until he finally decided to pursu...

11 Tammi 201745min

#14: Chia Lin - From a Pastry Chef at a Michelin Star Restaurant to a Product Designer at a Startup

#14: Chia Lin - From a Pastry Chef at a Michelin Star Restaurant to a Product Designer at a Startup

Born and raised in Taiwan, Chia Lin has traveled far and wide. She came to Tennessee when she was 11, moved to California in high school and college, and lived in Tokyo for a year. Her love of food an...

9 Tammi 201743min

#12: Shawn Drost - Founder of Hack Reactor

#12: Shawn Drost - Founder of Hack Reactor

Shawn Drost is the Co-Founder of Hack Reactor, a coding bootcamp founded in 2012 along with his college friends Tony Phillips, Marcus Phillips, and Douglas Calhoun with the primary motive to set peopl...

3 Tammi 201748min