ABOUT ME

I’ve always been curious – about places, people, and ideas—and my dad saw this in me at a very young age. So he encouraged me to follow my curiosity and take risks, and to develop my resourcefulness. He did this in part by example, and by challenging me.

When I was growing up in Ecuador and New York, he and I spent a lot of time driving around together. In New York, especially, he would go to great lengths to get around bottlenecks in traffic—by getting lost. This taught me to never be afraid to get lost. I might have a general direction, and I’d get to my destination eventually, but it was likely I’d discover something unexpected and amazing along the way. I learned how to take what life gives me and make the best of it.

When I was 12 years old, I traveled with my dad to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. He was an economics professor, and he often traveled there for conferences and other business. We’d been there a couple of times before, and he would say to me, “Look at what I do. Pay attention to how we move around in a city.” It was different from being at home, driving to school, going to the market, or going on vacation. Although he and I were there for business, we also did some sightseeing, but we weren’t just wandering, we were going from point A to point B. On the second day of this particular trip, he handed me a map of the city and pointed to a spot. “Here’s where we’re going,” he said to me. “You’re going to take us there.”

I remember looking up, trying to meet my dad’s gaze, a little puzzled, I must confess. How am I going to do this? As uncertain and nervous as I was, I also felt confident I could take this challenge on. Dad hinted, sometimes just by nodding his head toward a person on the street, his way of encouraging me to “Go ask that person, that stranger.” I had seen him reach out to locals to ask, “Is this the bus going to old downtown?” and he’d get the answer, “No, take the one across the street.” And off we’d go again.

When the bus got there, I loudly asked the driver if this was the right route to take toward where we were heading. Every time I overcame a challenge, I noticed obstacles right after were less daunting. It was a matter of trying one thing at a time, seeing things with an ever-changing perspective. I was encouraged by my dad and motivated by my desire to prove myself.

I got us lost. Along the way, we got on a wrong bus, and when we got off, we had an extra-long walk ahead of us. I was tired, and I was scared because it had taken so long, and Dad encouraged me to be honest about how I felt. Eventually we took a cab to get to our destination. But instead of being miserable about it, we laughed it off. And we discovered a cute little neighborhood along the way. A couple of years later, my dad bought property there, for a family vacation place.

That pivotal adventure taught me so many lessons: Don’t be afraid to ask a stranger for help, because they may know a better way than you do. I’ve come to love connecting with people and learning from them. Dad also reinforced the importance of a child’s sense of curiosity, something I feel adults should hang on to. And when you get lost—because you will—look around. You never know what you’ll find, maybe a pretty building or a pretty garden.

A couple of years after my trip with Dad, I went on a school excursion to Quito. The other students were 11th and 12th graders, and as a 9th grader, I was the youngest person there. When we got to Quito, guess who was the one leading the group? “I know how to take the bus and move around the city,” I announced quite boldly. I applied everything I’d learned and made friends with the older students. When I told my dad, he said, “See? Being curious and resourceful pays off!”