Transcripts For CSPAN2 Elio 20240703

She specializes in fostering long term partnerships with her clients and is responsible for leading Water Treatment services across Southern California using filtration technologies as a highly valued employee, heidi has been commended with the sales eagle award in 2019. Value Service Awards for 2019 and 2020, and has been part of the sales team of the light of the year. The last three or four years and elliotts journey as a Space Systems engineer has taken him from the far reaches of ecuador, puerto rico and nyc to the cutting edge lunar and Martian Program with a Strong Foundation in mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the university michigan, elio has played an instrumental in groundbreaking missions like nasa jpls mars 2020, where he contributed to the success of the perseverance rover and ingenuity mars helicopter. Most recently, he has worked on blue lunar human landing system, a product of diverse cultural experiences. Elio is driven by a deep passion for exploration expansion and creating opportunities for all to access the wonders of space. When hes not busy pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, elio shares his insights through talks, volunteer work and, mentorship. Join elio on his quest to reach for the stars and empower others to do the same. So everyone, please, a warm welcome to our featured guests. So needless to say youre a badass. Can i say that surrounded by them to me. But i want to start first and foremost by saying thank you, elio, for sharing your story with all of us. Thank you all for being here and supporting leo and thank you for including me here tonight. Im honored and humbled and you know that i love you. So i was going to start by asking you to share with us what you think will surprise most of the readers. But i figured im going to share what surprised me the most we instead and im going to when i met you we both serving on the National Board of directors with the society of hispanic professional engineers. As i was a professional board member, Vice President of region two and elio was the undergraduate student representative and he was this feisty, young man that was intent on accomplishing all the goals that he had set out for the student representatives. And i thought to myself, who is this kid with this passion, you know, you go and hes shared a lot of his story me throughout the years. You know, a lot of times after cocktails. But i think what has surprised me the most is to let listen and read because i did both with the book, the tenacity and the grit that have that i wasnt fully aware i mean, i had a feeling, but i wasnt fully aware of the trajectory that you had to go through, get to where you are and you have the ghana to keep going and with that youve inspired me to reconnect with my ganas and to reconnect with the tenacity and the grit that i think we all have growing up as kids of immigrant race or whatever our stories are, because we all have stories to reconnect with the garners, the want the need to to persevere and be tenacious about the passions that we. So for that, i want to say thank you my goodness and make me cry too early not yes. And you know theyre recording so im one of the passages that really hit home me when to be you know that really made it evident to me that you were about to embark a very ambitious journey and as a child is in chapter six, which is fittingly titled or page 67. So well get to that page. And i had it here and it went away. But chapter six is titled built to be tougher than expected. So why dont you share that passage . Us i this is emotional because mean first of all im so that youre here we were chatting and i daddy knows me like knows me and its super special to share this moment with you and i hope we we keep doing this keep writing. Okay this this passage in particular is very special because it it talks, it touches upon one of the most difficult moments in my life was my transition in between cultures, between puerto rico, moving to new york city and at the same time highlights the the love that around me were ready to give me. And with that ill just start in 2006 when we arrived in new york on cusp of winter, when the long, blustery nights ate away, precious hours. My dear oscar and his wife jenny took us. This time in mill basin, brooklyn. Mommy bunked with my dear miriam, who also living there at the time in the room of his three bedroom house. I slept on an inflatable mattress in the living room downstairs, their cargo with their cocker spaniel gringa, where id stay up late. American Ninja Warrior george lopez the fresh prince of belair, as on g4. If anyone catches that until i dozed off by, then my allergies had subsided. Earlier in the book, i describe a terrible asthma attack that i had puerto rico. That wasnt to too long before this, but at that point, asthma was kind of gone. When morning came, i lug the inflated mattress up to moms room and leave it there until it was time to call it a night again. As the days slowly tick by, my lips were permanently chapped by the frosty weather cracking and bleeding like my heart. I connected with my friends online. The chats were tinged with knowing that there were more than i thought that they were more than a thousand miles apart with no Winter Clothes to keep us warm. My uncle gave me a hoodie and soon after my aunt bought me a green lands end jacket that i carried with me for several about a week ago, week or so, after our arrival, my dp let us swung by, pick me up and innocently took me to claus to see a santa claus at a mall as a middle school boys loved santa, i then that she still saw me as that same little kid from seven years before we had a lot of readjusting and reacquaint ahead of us. I still lived in spanish in my head often, catching myself, saying, compromiso in a store instead of excuse me, i bet my tongue to resist greeting on the street. The hugs acquaintances offered instead of a quick kiss on the cheek, threw me off. I missed my island. So boricua, im going to cnn luna although born in ecuador im boricua through and through i speak spanish like a puerto rican and i know where to go for the best. So out in area, suddenly i was no longer perceived as simply alien. I was different. I a foreigner, i was an immigrant. Was this what my mom had always felt . Maybe now it was my turn to face around in the ongoing battle of others perceive me versus who i am beautiful. I think what struck me most about that past passage was the perception in that you talk about perception of who you are versus the perception that others have of ours. And its very telling of kids, not just kids of immigrants, also immigrants coming. Right. They have a perception of themselves that they dont often share with others shame or for belittled or whatever their feelings are. I think that applies not to immigrants but also to all of us. We all have a perception of ourselves versus the perception that others have that can play to our or play to our insecurities. So theres another passage along the same lines of that right there, like for you to share page 81 that paints a story of how many immigrant s and children of immigrants like what we go through sometimes thats and i think right before i go into that not too many spoilers but a moving to new york was incredibly challenging and this is a story i share often is that i was faced with immediate backlash for my grades being too good because i was an immigrant and who could believe that an immigrant was so smart and deserve of being accepted into prestigious schools in new york city . And my grades deflated at the time and. I always wonder if my mom with out knowing any english if she have fought for me with uncle in the district as she did and those grades wouldnt have been change what my life would have been like. And its one of those things that i can imagine how many kids are out there, right, that are being held back their own counselors and we dont really know because maybe their parents dont know how to fight these things and they take as is. Right. So i think its its really important for us that are involved in the community to kind of Pay Attention to these things and empower themselves. And if we can, their parents as well to fight for their children. So with that being said, yeah, the next page, 80, this one is about my mom. And if you read my book, you could tell that i love my mom quite a bit. Its dedicated to her. All right. So lets see here. Lily candela, right when i was in high school and this is kind of what is about i. I was kind of a troublemaker, although she probably didnt have much of a choice. Mom was with me taking public transportation, which meant i was gripped by a freedom had never felt before. My mom was working two jobs. This is while i was in high school in new york city. She was working two jobs as a home attendant, the elderly and cleaning offices with my. I will keep in mind this she had nearly a 30 year career teaching in ecuador before and and in puerto rico before we had to move to new york city. When i arrived home early school, shed ask me to start chopping some vegetables and prep the kitchen for dinner, which i enjoyed because i like cooking. But most of all, i like lending her hand when i could a few times a month. And those days, when she was overworked and exhausted and knew i didnt have any important Extracurricular Activities going on, shed give me a call and ask me to meet her. At one of the offices in the flat iron area to help her finish that days cleaning shift. To that note i have for my friends that have been to my to my house, my apartment, i have right in front of my bed this massive black and white photo of the flat iron building, which is really cool it looks beautiful. But to me its a constant reminder of like that area is where i would go clean offices with. My mom, i lost myself here knowing the enormous effort she made for us. I dropped what. I was doing and headed straight over. As much as i appreciated her hard work when i left my friends to join my mom, i usually i usually excuse by saying, see you later, i have to go help my mom at the office deliberately giving them just enough info so that not to incite follow up questions. Sometimes that didnt work and someone would pipe up and ask more about her job. Id answer works in an office for some doctors. Never specifying that she was there to clean. I wish i could say the contrary, but i felt a sense of shame about her jobs. Mostly because thats how she felt about them herself. My sentiment, a reflection of her own frustrations. After all, she was a College Graduate who had been a teacher and a principal influencing. The lives of hundreds of students. And now she was cleaning offices again, taking care of old people. It me years to recognize mommys hustle. She swallowed her pride and dealt with her shame just to give me a better shot of life perception or as we call it. Ill tell you one is an enormous burden and a barrier in. Hispanic communities, it keeps us in line with preconceived beliefs of restraint and fear of the unknown and can prevent us from finding our own voice and using it. Only time and experience have allowed to unlearn these beliefs and take control of my narrative. Staying on my goals, rather than how others perceive me, which is beyond my control. In retrospect, i wish would have had the wisdom then to tell that there was absolutely nothing be ashamed of. But i was too young to understand this at the time. Yeah. So i tell this all the time and shes my inspiration that she i am where i am. Thanks to her. We talk nearly every and right now shes in new york city. I was just hanging out with her last week and yeah its a its been redefining relationship with my mom too recently and we may we may dive into that a bit more. Yeah, but its yeah, shes incredible. So its very throughout the book that your mom is your rock and your found and has been. Your role dog, you know, and understand that because im also you have a brother and you share a lot very eloquently about your brother but you really were raised as a child by your mom. So you guys have very special bond of, single child, single mom that i understand as well. Im also a single mom and a single mom child. So i understand and the ebbs and flows of that. How has it changed throughout the years because in the its like were thick, were together and were going to fight through anything that comes our way. But were also comes responsibilities that you took on that are clear in the and so how are you with for sure its and her health yeah yeah weve been navigating this especially in recent. Throughout my life she has always been present and ive fortunate enough to be able to support her in financial ways more now than than ever so so there are times i can now tell her like or well since she stopped working she can chill and if anything like i can support whatever she needs, if she needs to travel its she still holds on to this idea that its going to cost money. Im like, dont even worry about it. Like that is no a problem. Like, we can fly between the coasts. However, there are some Health Issues prevent that from happening. So so theres a bit of a game that i have to play to figure out how to get to the east coast often or to how does my mom travel accompanied by someone . Because you get on a plane by herself. So its been difficult. Its been very tough challenge, particularly because as i am gaining all this freedom that we didnt have as i was growing up, she has become in a way, more restricted and suspended and dependent and, dependent and part of it is navigating that while not being not acting as a parent for me has been something that ive been trying to stop and empower her to make decisions her own and in a way inspiring her by the stuff that ive been through, especially and and talking with her more like a son which has interesting and these past six months in particular because ive really needed her in an emotional ways something that i do talk about is that you growing up as as close as we were we didnt really about emotions and we werent necessarily game for it had no time and it was just of go about theres things that have to be done and she admitted just a few weeks ago that ive ive taught her how to express herself and, express love to not just me but our family. So thats been a beautiful thing about the book, too, is that only has the relationship with my mom changed in a i think very positive ways. But the relationship with the rest of the family too. Weve been going through some hard situations cancer sucks and the family is tighter than i think weve ever been. So its its been difficult to have some conversations that led to this book to clarify some memories. But at the same time, an incredible process, not just for i think its fair enough to say ive seen some family members repair their relationships, too. So its been very special. So speaking of repairing relationship keeps you very, very eloquently. Im saying that word again because it was eloquent, talked about your distant relationship with your father. How intense of redeveloping and redefining relationship with their parents, because i think their ebbs flows with parents. Right. Where were the kids . And then somehow they sort of become dependent on us, especially kids of immigrants. And we were translators were like, you know all kinds of things to our parents. And that relationship of changes or flip flops like are you parent, am i the parent whose parents sometimes yeah. Aside from that relationships with our parents change over time and and you shared very nicely that the distant relationship with your father and how your mom encouraged you to still have a relationship with him comes in from afar. Yeah thats very important because it allowed you to reach as you were ready. Yeah how is that going now. Its hard its incredibly difficult. Specially with the book. Yeah. So some have actually happened in the last few weeks and i mean, im working through this actively with with my dad in particular throughout my life. I will say and just highlight like my mom is this is an angel. Like despite the emotion and all abuse because really thats what it is if you read between the lines like she never made it. She was never a villain to me in any way or form. If she would always push for me to buy phone cards, that was still a thing in the 2000, right . By cards for Long Distance calls and stay connected and, have conversations, even if that was once a month or whatever it so as an adult, we talked about this her recently she sees how as an adult its been weighing on me because now i see the injustice. I see the effects i see what has led ultimately to some suffering. My mom and i that was like, i cant put it aside. It was it wasnt due to to my fact to my my dad being an and i fortunate, i was protected from that as a kid. But now its just like, what can i do it . And there are things that im actively working on and. Part of that is also being careful not to be a parent with my mom and being there as a son and seeing whatever, you know, figuring what she wants to do and respecting that to, creating healthy boundaries. Yes so my got so much of that and and at same time asking my tough questions. I think in the book i share the story of the first time i saw him after not seeing him since was in kindergarten. And i saw him when i was a sophomore in college 14 years ago. Some suspect Something Like that. And it was weird because i wasnt sure what he was even going to look like. And i had a distinct version of him in my head that i kind of held on to. There werent many pictures. Hes not all that active on social media. So at the he had recently gone, he had just had an accident. So he was in a cane and whatnot. So he is like, i get my height him. Hes still tall, green man. Um, and that was a bit surreal when. I met him in person then and, uh, it was superficial and kind of stayed that way for many years until i confronted him again later in like 29, 2017, i think is when i went down to ecuador for a wedding and at that point i confronted him with some stories. Im like, i want to know more like, why did you do the things that you do . And he carries himself an arrogance that i cant fully explain. And hes very proud he has like eight children with four different women. Stereotype latino machista you like it is what it is and hes of that so under standing that thats just how he is and then im probably never going to get a true emotional apology from him its something ive had to learn to accept. And now that. Im way more conscious of how these things make me feel, trying to figure out what kind of relationship i want to have with him. So navigating that, were doing that live and been, its been empowering im still and its made me grateful for the male figures in my life the men that have showed up have been incredible to me throughout my entire life and now its its its part of that part of some of my incredible like, male friends. Uh community, some that are right here. Yeah. That just express love and look out for each and theres theres. Ive been protected from the typical toxic masculinity because of it. Its something that ive learned to realize and also what i read in the book was how you were surrounded throughout the periods in your life you really gravitated to posit people and youve built this like what we call our board of directors in our life. You have very well that by happenstance most of the time. Yeah, but its very important. We all surround ourselves with those people, influence us, and the positives because not everyone, we dont have that one friend, right, thats going to meet all of needs. We have several people that different needs at different times, so we like to call it our board of directors. But you also called it your community, your nurturing community, and you really shared that very nicely. But with that also a lot of growing and youve shared a lot Mental Health and youve actually been quite you shared openly getting burnt out at work, which is part of the cycle with kids and also immigrants. The the hustle that they go through is unreal right two or three jobs to support the family. So why dont you share a little bit about that hustle . No its im page 8183. I see kareem close your years and and. Why i you he was my Group Supervisor jpl he basically disciplined manager fantastic he left us he was an incredible ally during my my years for sure. But okay with that being said, this is kind of where it gets real, right . I think something its been its been interesting. If youve been following me on social media recently, some people thought i was no longer an engineer because i havent been posting anything about space really and ive gotten way more conscious about posting things about Mental Health and then a few weeks ago, i spoke with someone and they thought i would just become a public speaker and that i was no doing engineering. I was like, hold on, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, im glad giving that perception because theres multiple aspects to my identity. But that being said, im ive been very open about. The struggles that ive been going through in terms of Mental Health and with that as immigrants and first generation kids, most of us have grown up seeing our families work themselves, the bone, sacrificing everything to keep afloat. There were no vacations, no beach getaways, oftentimes no free sundays were usually for church going, cleaning, cooking and prepping the next weeks daily grind. The breaks came a few times a year, special occasions and holidays, but those were usually relegated to an afternoon or day at most. The overriding message was that stopping not an option. Stopping could mean everything weve worked so hard to create and accomplish crumble before our eyes. When our families, our parents, our moms sacrificed everything to give us a better life, we become a vital part of what will lead our of what will . Lead our circle out of poverty. They pass the torch on to us and we are meant to reach the finish and at long last, attain the american. And so we focus on Mission Success and believe we are in until were not because we are not robots. We are not machines, we are humans. And as we need to take a breather recalculate, pivot, find that elusive thing called balance. And as humans need to feel, laugh, have fun risk, vulnerability, show up for ourselves and others, we need to experience the fullness of our humanity. Throughout the years, my mentors always landed on one piece of common advice dont be so hard on yourself. You. I didnt get it. I found insulting as if they were saying i couldnt handle my workload. What the heck is this person talking about . Slow down. Who are they to tell me this . I wish our man here because that was a conversation with our men. The message was there, but i wasnt listening. I took on way too much for many years and relied on my managers to tell me when to cut back and to boundaries that should have been established by me. A part of me felt i had to prove prove that i deserved to there, not just to make my family, but also to show the rest of the world that i was worthy of taking up that space. This is still a challenge for me sometimes when i look at my achievements, i cant believe im in this position. I cant believe that its me in. The room. With all these incredible minds, i feel like, im nothing compared to them. Imposter is real. Continuing to an unwelcome companion on my journey. Its a crazy loop that feeds into what for me has become a cycle of anxiety. I have begun to actively recognize and work on dismantling these thoughts so i can be present in the moment, which is often hard for someone who has learned to constantly and solve problems for living. I remind myself that those Brilliant Minds dont treat me differently as if am inferior, that i have earned my in this space. I deserve be here. So the question is not how am i of all people here, but rather how do i want to show up finding my Center Required time and patience. But it eventually happened. I to develop more empathy for those around me and set out to unlearn unhealthy patterns of behavior that exist in our society at large but also in my family, including my mom. Mommy taught me to do better to be, better to seek excellent excellence. But her actions also taught me to avoid my emotions and to turn to work as a coping strategy, which of course is a message affirmed in society and culture. For a while i was angry at her for not doing something about these detrimental habits, for not prioritizing wellbeing. But now i realize, was also angry at myself for repeating very cycle in my life. The fractures that appeared in our relationship soon. Paths to healing as. I was able to empathize with her understanding that as humans we are more nuanced than i previously realized, in turn, i began offer myself the same compassion and empathy that i was extending to mommy. Hmm. While mission to mars may pack more, punch and get more air time, their journey onto the unexplored spaces within myself has become equally meaningful, revealing that on the outside i am space mechanic a technical expert, an engineer who thrives on outreach and innovation but on the inside i just want to be a good loving friend, partner, son and human both the inside and outside compassion. I carry the same weight and importance in a humans life Mission Success often requires sacrifice, but the moment we feel like we are relinquishing our control and neglecting what puts a smile on face and gives us peace is moment. Our selfawareness has to kick in put our work brain on automatic pilot and grant us the time and space. Investigate the issue course correcting to find our balance once again there is such a thing as good and we need to embrace that type of compassion in our lives and ourselves. Some slack, because sometimes will be hard to manage. Sometimes sacrifice will be required and sometimes objectives will shift. And that is okay. No and the last sentence, the next sentence is that is what it means to be human. That is what means and thats what i loved. Is your vulnerability in the book on Mental Health. But were going to pivot a little bit and talk technical because we are engineers and also on the notion that we are humans. Right. Were not machines. Were robots. So how do you think we need to or you know, that were talking about traveling to mars beyond i mean, you have worked on the mars that went to mars and you are following the path of exploring outer space. So tell us about that trait. Mars was fun, but the shorter to the moon is a bit more reasonable for humans, at least in the short term. And im actively working on that mission with nowadays and its a its a different technical problem. I think mars taught me quite a bit because mars is incredibly difficult and very inhospitable and not meant for us to be there and think similar challenges get flowed to the moon and we often romanticize what its going to be like to in space and to leave our beautiful blue planet. And i think that the reality is the earth is meant for us and. We will explore. Dont get me wrong. But that being said, we have to methodical, we have to protect the human lives that will go and venture. We cant make we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. If dig into both the United States Space Program and the soviet programs, a lot of people died to get us to the moon and both ways and theres stories that arent necessarily popular and that being said were at a point in history and a point in the economy where where we can be more careful and, its going to take time. And i know people are rushing to get to the moon and beyond and for those of us who are living in that space, i least like to think that im bringing consciousness into our design and in human centered design, both not not just for the astronauts that are going to be exploring the moon, but also for us on the ground who have to support their their objectives and their missions. I think theres a its a holistic system that often we when we on mars. Thats my opinion opinion. But i think were going to be better and theres a lot of work to be done. Its a creative space. There are difficult challenges ahead of us, but its also very exciting because expanding to the stars, hope means that we get to, in my idealized universe, move heavy industry off planet and make this earth more pristine. Really hope thats what ends up happening now. That is a idealized goal. Well see. That goes. But its an exciting time for the space industry. Yeah, thank you. I earlier when it gets to be like southwest going to the moon, then thats maybe when ill go. Im hoping to go to the moon. Other than that, you can go first. Yeah, no problem. No, we should. All right, so we have 5 minutes left. So going to just ask you a twofold question, because i think theyre both related. You talked. Healing a lot of relationships, writing this book, but what was the most surprising about that process in uncovering your history, going through that and and then what do you want us what do you want to leave your readers with . Personally, i think. The most surprising aspect to the relationships in my family that i really wasnt aware about was my brother, my brother on my on my moms side. He has as i was so theres stuff that i dont include in the book thats not my story to tell. But i almost the way we up because he lived across the street most of my time in puerto rico but i never i cant say i grew up with an older brother he was raising a family he my two nieces who are seven and eight years younger than i am so was very busy. He was working he was supporting his family and i didnt necessarily see that it was an to me growing up and the sacrifices he had made because ultimately we ended up following him to puerto rico and he recently told me because weve been opening more and more, especially when were in person. And he recently told me that his dream was to be an Aerospace Engineer and for reasons he couldnt make that happen. So he expressed his gratitude that im pursuing this and that in a way hes living. Hes living through me. That that was that was incredibly special special. Yeah. So thats beautiful, i think. And thats not explicitly written here for a variety of reasons, but he knows i didnt get that. I mean, i got the book that you didnt grow up with him and you know, it was a relationship that needed nurturing but what you just shared i think really epitomizes how important it is to have access to educational resources. Yeah, yeah. What tell about that. Yeah. So i think because we talk about this, the, the big difference between correspondence, our corresponding is that he went to a school in brooklyn. He also was in high school in new york. And he has his own story. But he went to a school, brooklyn, that was way more gang. There was way more Gang Activity going on. And he had to play tough. He had to way more Gang Activity going on and he had to play tough and not be a part of that and he ultimately couldnt pursue the same College Education for a variety of reasons that made college and accessible to him. At the end of the day he didnt have mentors and or friends like i did. Part of that as i, in a way, did did get lucky with the high school and up going to. My mom was there to protect me, she wasnt in new york at the time when he was off to college so that made a big difference for a variety of reasons, that is how it played out. It is evident that having a supportive parent, even just one, made a huge difference for me, being surrounded by incredible friends who were incredibly supportive even if we were competitive with each other, at the end of the day we looked out for each other and shared resources and pushed each other to do things like the sat, to do well, to do those subjects. The overachievers thing is real. If you look at my High School Friends i love to say that i am the dumb one of the group. Theyve gone off to become lawyers, gone to get their mbas, some got their phds, these are the people i am surrounded by and we feed off of each other and that makes a difference. I didnt know consciously that i was building that. I was in a way attracted to that ambitious circle and almost wanted to imitate it and i didnt have much money. I was surrounded by friends who had money but seeing how they lived their lives and were pushed by their parents and we pushed each other, made a big difference and we had incredible teachers as well which showed us resources and pushed us to do things like research. My brother didnt have any of that. It just shows how impactful relationships can be. Host also the nudge from people in the community, that is the message we talked about, how important it is for us to list every time because you never know what life you can impact, you never know it but you can impact that life tremendously by giving a word of advice, dont let that counselor tell you you cant go to college, you can go to carriage, dont tell your parents tell you its too expensive, theres all these nuanced messages that in Todays Society dont need to be said because there are immigrants and kids of immigrants and kids that dont have the resources. If you were born in this country not everybody goe research, you need that help. I am going to end it. Guest what do i hope people get from the book . Its an open indication for people to pursue their dreams and at the same time, space is pretty accessible is what i am hoping to show and if anything, the Engineering Industries are in a way accessible into in high demand right now and the biggest number that angers me nowadays is that right now the population of the country is 20 hispanic and we are at about 7 representation in stem. Theres a clear disparity and by the 2,050s it will be closer to 50 of the population and that number keeps on hopefully shrinks, that gap keeps closing but theres a lot of work to be done. At the end of the day i see the Financial Freedom im getting is ultimately the wellness that comes with being financially secure in the country. I dont want people to get left behind and it is one of those things i think this country can do better at it is worth criticizing and worth pushing our Education System to get better and not leave students behind. With the advent of ai and what is to come we have to get creative very quickly. In ways that i think we still cant fully envision but ultimately going to improve education and within our communities i know for a fact terrified by the concept of ai. We need to change the narrative and keep pushing through, so we dont get left further behind. That being said, that is what i am hoping the platform of the book is creating for me enables. I am very hopeful for the future. Host i am going to end with, you end your introduction very nicely. Elio morillo, i hope my story inspires you to launch into space as you never explored, so we can create a Better Future for humanity, our planet and this expansive universe in which we play a very small and yet profound role. Through hardship, to the stars. Thank you. [applause] host lets open it up to questions, what do you guys want to ask, dont be shy please. We will start with jesse. This is one of the first memoirs i ever read where as an engineer, to go into space, you explain a lot of stuff from junior high on because of the content and take it from an engineering perspective. As an immigrant, i get emotional in regards to that because a lot of us are immigrants in our own way whether we come from a neighborhood where we lack the resources so thank you for writing this book and i cant wait for the second one. The question is what message do you have 4 young kids, middle school age when they pull you from puerto rico and take you back to new york, most of us get pooled, from bad neighborhoods and it is traumatic. What message do you have 4 adult kids, that 13yearold boy . From ecuador to new york, new york to puerto rico and puerto rico back to new york the change that you had was nonthing. Guest the first one, navigating a little bit of this as a child with my therapist, i had hidden for a long time. It was a story i learned writing this, i dont remember it, guy guess i blocked it out of my head, my entire experience when i moved from ecuador when i was just 4. I was described as the saddest little boy and i do not remember any of that time period. But that was due to the separation from my father and theres a reason i watched the lion king over and over and over again, the connection i made. That was very difficult and i think that moved to puerto rico wasnt as bad because it was going on vacation and second grade, i dont think that was too difficult but leaving puerto rico was one of the most difficult experiences ive been through and i talk about this in the book, the site of an airplane would just break me down to the point where kids would try to bully me for things like wearing the same shoe every day. I would just be like what are you doing . I was too much at the time, called them out, they would tell me things like why dont you just go back, what do you think i want to do . Why i dont want to be here in this room with you. That shut down the bullying pretty quickly. But i wish i would have had more skills to process what i was feeling at the time. I learned how to cope on my own, i didnt have anyone to talk about those things back then. Its one of those things that i did not exist. It was difficult. Host what would you tell little elio morillo now . Guest dont get me wrong, i admire my younger self a lot because despite the challenges, i wanted to keep going. I wanted the world to be mine. I carried myself with a lot of arrogance, something im trying to unlearn because part of it is it protected me from being poor and i only had that realization relatively recently where i didnt have much and comments like my shoes with the stuff that i would wear didnt affect me because i would fall back on the you are dumb, i got better grades than you. Thats what i believed and i carried myself with that mentality for a very long time and i realized i dont have to be that way. Over the last two years that has been a thing. My friends call me out which is great, it still happens. If anything, thank you, elio morillo, for being so resilient, for keeping your head up, working as hard as you did, surrounding your self with incredible people and always, despite not knowing for a long time loving the people around you and accepting and learn how to receive love and that, something i wish i had been told earlier because its difficult. I never heard that. One of the questions i explored recently as one was the first time i was asked how do you feel, i cant remember being asked to that question as a kid. As an adult those conversations that in my circle are happening often now but as a kid i didnt have that and i wish i did, nonetheless, i turned out all right. Next question. I appreciate what you were saying about exploration to the lunar and mars, doing that methodically and human centered. I do feel that i see in Society Money is power and money will trump over those decisions often times, people in power will do what they want regardless what science says are the experts will say. So i dont know. Are you curious to hear your thoughts on that and what will happen, will we explore irresponsibly . Im bankrolled by the richest man on the planet so i struggle with this question a lot. Because you are working now . Guest yes. Im working at blue origin so sometimes i hope we dont fall in a place where decisions are made because this person just wants to do things their way. But it is something that as we expand into the solar system, we constantly question, and theres People Like Us in those decisionmaking rooms. We can fall back into what we fallen back in thousands of years, wealth may end up concentrating in a small group and we will see how that ends up heading out but i think this is part of the importance of bringing people of very diverse cultures and mindsets and thoughts so that our design as we go into space is as equitable as we can possibly make it, thats my hope. Actively working on it as im helping design this lunar lander. We will see. Great question. Any other questions . Whats most interesting thing about space . Guest the most interesting thing about space, how infinite it is and how ultimately insignificant and yet so significant we are. Im a true believer but we are the universe trying to understand itself, because we are made of stars. It is so infinite and so beautiful that we have the consciousness to look up and just be curious and at the same time, i hope with that at least personally it has helped me appreciate this planet even more because at the end of the day we are incredibly special. Infinite universe and how unique and beautiful this planet is. Host we have time for one more question. In your professional opinion i dont know if you have pondered this but intelligent life forms out there in the universe . Host i hope so. Guest i would love to meet them. Theres a documentary coming out by pixar calledelio, the story of me when i was 11 years old. It is a funny one. Host keep going. Guest i hope so. That is the cool thing about working on the mars mission is we are scientifically trying to figure out if we are alone in the universe, if theres evidence that something independently formed on mars and we figure that out in the next 10 years and we get those samples back, then i think imagination is the limit. What can happen in that infinite universe . I dont know. Im hoping someone visits us one day and they are friendly and come in peace. Host one more question. I have a question. I have a son who wants to pursue engineering, what advice can you give to motivate him on your path . Guest i would motivate him to be on his own path, whatever that means for him. As far as engineering, i think, realistically, to be prepared for the hard work that comes with engineering school. He will enjoy his time after words. Theres a lot of sacrifice that will come with the decision to take his time and build his own story and not get lost in the numbers. Thats incredibly important. Remember to live a little while they are in college. One of the biggest most beautiful experiences, the technical preparation, fantastic, i went to university of michigan, one of the best universities in the world and it was very much work hard play hard kind of place and you feel it on campus where almost everyone is focused and concentrated, whatever their major is but also there was a lot of fun. We had a Football Team before the games, we had a great social life despite the winter and that balance is something to seek out, whatever that means for them, to go explore it, to build your own story. Host if i could add to that. One of the things that elio morillo was doing Engineering Projects very very young. So my comments to you would be give him as much exposure as you can to the various engineering disciplines that there are. Whether it is a science fair or taking him to jpl for a tour, whatever it is, the more you can expose him the more curious hes going to be to stay in that field and once he is leaning there, support support support, it is going to be hard. As long as, this goes for all of us in the field, we tell students it is going to end, these 5 years of college, four to six years, whatever you choose to do, it is going to end. Its not going to be this hard all the time. Just stick to it. The night will come because it does. It doesnt stay that hard forever. Just pay your dues so you can then have host you say learning. Guest it doesnt just end in school ends. The beautiful part is we not only get to design whatever for some of the most difficult problems in the world but get to be creative, get to work with a lot of people, get to change lives and explore space, we get to impact so many people in the medical fields, whichever field you can imagine, energy et cetera, its an exciting time for stem at the end of the day and it will keep expanding. Going to have fun. Host you inspired me to want to learn more, that wasnt the best engineering student, i wasnt the best that is the best at math, we werent the best. But had i been exposed to what that really meant, how is math really used. We dont get, wheat and have that exposure so the more you can get him to be curious, he will be fine. With that funny story, i love this passage. This was your teacher who told stories and cracked jokes cents one time he was introducing everyone to a new student and walked over and stood behind elio morillo and said this is elio morillo, helio, a play on the name with the spanish word for helium and he said hes the lightest man in the world, didnt places big head on my head and added, he could float away if we dont hold him down. Floated away to the stars. [applause] reporter thank you, everyone, for coming by, stick around, we are going to go across the street. Host we will have some appetizers. As things trickle down, those that want to go have some appetizers can go over there, we will have a room set up for everyone to join us for appetizers and cocktails. This year, booktv marks 25 years of shining a spotlight on reading nonfiction authors and their books, with talks from 22,000 authors, nearly 900 cities and festivals visited and 16,000 events. Booktv provided viewers with 92,000 hours of programming on