[Female narrator #1] Everywhere you turn, people try to tell you who to be and what to do, but what about deciding for yourself?
Roadtrip Nation is a movement that empowers people to define their own roads in life.
Every summer we bring together three people from different backgrounds.
Together they explore the country interviewing inspiring individuals from all walks of life.
They hit the road in search of wisdom and guidance to find what it actually takes to build a life around doing what you love.
This is what they found, this is Roadtrip Nation.
[Martha] We're in Colorado Springs.
We've pretty much started heading east in a pretty significant way.
I looked at the map today, and I guess I didn't realize how far west Colorado was.
I thought it was like Washington was like here, and it was like here and then the rest of the country, but it's like here.
[Sofaya] I'm trying to soak it in as best as I can, but it's like whizzing by, and I'm like, "wait, no I didn't get that, come back."
We're talking to Jessica today, she's a glass blower.
We have an interview and then we also get to blow something and have our own pieces to take home, so, it's really exciting.
[Ben] She taught us how to handle liquid glass.
That was something that I was like, a little hesitant about.
Like, okay, we're about to play with liquid glass and fire.
[Jessica] I went to school for welding, design, pouring metal, and working in the foundry and all of these crazy things and I thought it was like everything to me.
So I ended up working at the world's biggest studio.
We made the biggest sculptures.
I was on the welding team, and we were making really big pieces for Rome, and Chicago, and California, How old were you at that point?
Um 22, 23.
And I was the only girl, basically, in the building.
It was a really difficult situation.
I think it put a lot of stress on me as far as, not making my own work, being the only woman there, getting sick every day from the fumes, and there was this moment I remember just thinking like, "this is not me."
I really just had to drop everything and start over, and just move.
And I just took some time off, and I was just doing my thing, traveling out here to Colorado, and experimenting with different processes.
And I ended up blowing glass and trying it for the first time and falling in love and it was like "that's it.
That's my life."
You know?
It changed everything for me.
[Ben] Jess was really good at coaching us through it, but not being too overwhelming.
And she let us really give it a go.
[Sofaya] I may or may not ever have another opportunity to do something like this.
Like its just, why not?
Like Martha was like "oh this'll make a really great gift."
And I'm like, "a really great gift for myself.
I'm keeping this."
[Martha] What do you think you've learned about life through the process of glass blowing.
[Jessica] Everything.
Kind of a very holistic thing for me.
It incorporates everything.
It's a way of life.
Glass is more about being able to slow down.
During college I was so fast, I wanted to make a lot of work.
Whereas glass blowing is a little bit different where you step back a little bit and you assess what needs to be done.
I think that awareness really changed my life significantly.
Its really interesting too because I started to notice that some of the most beautiful work that I was making is kind of when I'm removed a little bit.
Almost like, in the routine and I don't even really know what I'm doing.
It just kinda flows.
You have the moments where its just kinda calm and you just kinda go with it.
Finding music in the art.
The best experiences I've ever had have been that leap of faith where you're like, "you know what?
Screw it I'm just gonna go for it."
I think the best route is doing what all of you are doing.
Just traveling.
Seeing what you like, finding those niches.
I think that's kind of the key.
[Ben] She's not that much older than me, but has taken some really serious steps to making her own business.
She worked other jobs since art school and quit them.
Walked out because it wasn't right.
Not to mention moved way across the country to pursue that dream.
I love love love Rhode Island.
I love my home, but it's so small compared to everything else.
Being out here on the road and seeing huge huge amounts of this country, it just gives you perspective as like, "wow, this place I've been living in, its like, it doesn't even have its own color on the map, dude.
Like we don't even uhhh It's covered by an I-95 symbol.
Right now we're outside of Colorado Springs.
We're about a 15 hour drive from Austin, Texas, which is our next destination.
So we got quite a bit of time on the road coming up.
I don't really know what to expect, though.
Probably, a lot more of this.
[Sofaya] To get to Austin, we drove through like a bit of New Mexico, and most of Texas.
We have another three and a half weeks.
In those three and half weeks we have Austin, Texas, New Orleans, Chicago, New York.
[Ben] We've had so much good experience so far, I can just only hope that in the second half going back to the northeast where I'm from it continues to be that way.
So the extent of our plan for Austin was to find somewhere to swim.
That was it.
We didn't have any interviews booked.
It's like a phone needs to be in a fridge to not overheat kind of hot.
[Sofaya] Back months ago when we were planning this trip, we didn't know if we were gonna do Houston, and then New Orleans or Austin and New Orleans.
That entire section of the trip was just kind of a weird lesson in adaptability because we didn't know what we were going to do going in, and we were just gonna wing it and we did.
[Martha] We are in Austin, Texas.
We are about to go swim our sweaty bodies.
Well, I found my home.
I think I would live there.
We did some street interviews.
Which was fun and challenging in its own way.
[Ben] We don't have any interviews, so were just going to make some on the street.
Because, who knows?
Maybe we'll meet a genius.
[Martha] My naturally introverted side probably came out a little bit.
Ben and Sofaya were both just like "sign!
sign!
Come talk to us!"
And i was just like "okay" [Ben] Hi, how you guys doing?
You guys wanna be on a documentary?
[female #1] No thank you.
[Ben] You guys have some advice for the world?
That's all we need.
[Martha] It felt more kind of like camaraderie building between the three of us, too.
[Sofaya] So we got like a couple silly ones.
[female #2] Do whatever the [censored] you want.
[Ben] Ohhh thats a good one.
[Sofaya] A couple weird ones that we didn't understand.
[Male #1] Yeah.
My best advice has been, "always admit to a fart."
[Ben] Okay, I did not see that advice coming.
That was pretty funny.
[Sofaya] But we did end up getting some really good nuggets of wisdom.
[Martha] Everyone has a story and I like listening to people's stories, no matter what.
So once you get past the people looking for camera attention, you can find some pretty cool people.
[male #2] I've been a sergeant before.
Of course, as an officer, that's the guys that lead.
And so, you really can't be a leader without knowing what they go through.
So in order to be a leader, you need to be a follower as well.
[male #3] Just surround myself with older mentors in my life.
To kind of keep me on the correct path.
You know the same road you're walking, they've already walked.
[female #3] I was really close to my grandmother when I was growing up and she encouraged me to be self-sufficient and uh, get an education.
I don't think I'd be living the life I live now if I hadn't listened to her.
[female #4] We all should do what makes us fulfilled.
You shouldn't give up.
[Ben] Don't give up.
[female #4] Yeah, don't give up.
[Martha] I'm the morning riser.
So, it's usually me doing the morning drive which i really like, i think it's really meditative.
You don't necessarily feel like you need to be blasting music yet.
When you're meeting people and interacting with new people there's this social stress.
And so I really like getting into the rhythm of like, okay drive for a couple hours.
That's what makes pulling into a city feel more special.
It's that you feel more like a blank slate than a chaotic brain coming into 5,000,000 other chaotic brains.
[Ben] New Orleans was really cool.
We had a lot of time to really dive into the city and just walk around and just experience the culture there.
The arts on the street and the street performers.
You can't help but just be intrigued by just every group of people you walk by.
[Susan] I had graduated from high school and went to a year of college and just was restless.
Moved around the states a little bit.
I came back to New Orleans and eventually starting cooking socially.
It was sort of an epiphany, it was like "this is what I've been looking for."
The prime example of that is just the crawfish boil.
There's just nothing more fun than standing around a big table, newspaper, hot steaming crawfish, stuff dripping down your arms.
And you know just talking to people across the table or next to you.
It's fun to kind of see what their experience is or what they bring to the table.
[Sofaya] Gotta get my hands on one of these.
[Ben] Oooo, spicy.
[Susan] This is a medium that I'm very comfortable with.
You know I was kind of looking for something that i wanted to do.
I kinda knew that it was out there in the world somewhere, I guess, kinda like you guys, but I just didn't know what it was.
[Sofaya] We have come up to the same point in every story where its like, and then I dropped everything that I had and I went to the other side of the world, or the other side of the country, or whatever.
And I'm starting to see just how valuable that kind of experience can be.
[Ben] I've been joking around about moving to California, or just doing something to just get out and try something different.
So, move out of Rhode Island.
But, who knows?
You guys want to go to Cafe Dumont?
For donuts and coffee?
[Martha] Cafe Dumont?
We ended up saying, okay lets do something really New Orleans.
Do we want to go get our palms read?
[Sofaya] So, Martha really wanted to do some voodoo.
We went on this quest to find someone to tell our fortune in some whatever conduit they're most comfortable with.
They're going to tell us our futures.
[Martha] We're like two blocks away from the voodoo spot.
Do we wanna just walk in and ask if they would wanna do it?
[Ben] Wanna go scope it out?
[Martha] It's on the way to Cafe Dumont [Sofaya] Ben was like not feeling it.
[Martha] When in Rome, right?
[Ben] Yeah...
I don't know.
I just don't...
I never had any thoughts about getting my palm read.
I don't know.
[Otis] My name's Otis, pleased to meet you.
[Martha] Martha.
Nice to meet you.
[Otis] All right, wanna shuffle the cards for me please.
[Martha] Sure [Otis] You want prosperity.
Good.
Very good.
But what you get is money, fame, fortune, career.
Things are gonna work out.
That's the biggest money card in the whole deck.
Right there.
Very good.
[Ben] I can't say I was all for it at first.
Its not something I've ever considered.
It's not something I'm into.
Let somebody read your palm and tell you your future.
I don't know this dude!
[Otis] Flowers.
Moonlight and roses.
Have you got a man in your life?
[Sofaya] No.
[Otis] He'll find you.
[Sofaya] Apparently, I'm going to have a lot of financial stability, and I'm going to find a wonderful husband one day.
And don't look for him, he's gonna find you.
[Otis] Caretaker.
Good good.
Home.
I do see some kind of move coming up for you.
That's a good thing.
[Ben] Okay.
[Sofaya] They made a really specific reference to Ben needs to move now.
And we're just like "okay, Ben.
It's in the cards."
[Martha] How did you get into this?
What's your background?
[Otis] I was intrigued with this as a child.
But, uh, I came here at 18 and forgot to go home.
I said, oh I am home!"
I'm where I want to be doing what I' wanna do.
That's the key to happiness.
Nobody can make you happy but you, right?
[Ben] So Otis is just another one of those examples of how you can do your own thing.
He really has a passion for what he does.
i mean, I'm not gonna be a tarot card reading guy.
That's not me.
But he's got his own thing going on and he's happy, man.
So there's something commendable about that.
[Martha] I think it's definitely a reminder that you have power to influence or change based on who you are.
[Ben] Yeah, that's why I was laughing at one point.
Or it was like, the thing he said about moving.
Like thats something I've been literally contemplating.
Like that specific thing.
[Martha] Yeah.
[Ben] They kind of expose the things you already know inside of you.
[Martha] Yeah, it's more ourselves than we realize.
[Otis] There'll be a lot of happiness, a lot of success.
But remember, it's all up to you.
You are what you think, you are what you create.
Life has everything to do with attitude.
Go forward and make your life the way you want it to be.
Huh?
Very good.
[Martha] After all those cornfields, it felt good to be in the city.
[Sofaya] So, we're in Chicago at Threadless Tees headquarters.
We're about to interview Jake Nickell who's the founder/CEO of the company.
Threadless Tees is a company that sells a bunch of t-shirts, but they all have really cool designs on it.
And they're always open for people to design t-shirts and send their designs in.
[Martha] You walk into the main room and there's just t-shirts hanging everywhere.
And I totally forgotten that I had gone through a huge threadless phase.
So I was like, "oh yeah, thread less."
But then I got there and I was like, "I have that shirt, and that shirt, and that shirt."
[Sofaya] Personality-wise, you expect the mogul of a t-shirt company to be this really cool scary guy thats just like "aww" [Martha] But he especially is just this kind of subdued, a little teddy-bear-y, but like really cool, you can tell.
This guys you know he's cool cuz he started an awesome t-shirt line.
[Jake] It's funny sometimes when people ask what I do I'll just be like, oh I have a t-shirt company.
That doesn't really explain it, but.
Right?
"That's cool..." I was on this website called dreamlist that was a forum for artists around the world.
I started a thread on there saying post up artwork on this thread, and I'll make t-shirts and posters out of the best designs.
And so i would just store them under my desk at my apartment, and whenever somebody want one, I'd ship to them on my lunch break while at work.
It was a very small thing that wasn't even meant to be a business in the beginning.
[Martha] What kind of first inspired you to just start doing that?
[Jake] They held this event in London called New Media Underground Festival.
For the event they did a challenge to design the official event t-shirt, and my design won.
And I started Threadless literally like an hour after that.
But i didn't know like how to make tshirts.
I didn't know how to charge people's credit cards online.
I didn't know what I was doing.
[Ben] So how long ago was that?
[Jake] That was in 2000.
So it's been like 14 years almost.
[Martha] Do you ever just look around and be like, I made this!
[Sofaya] Can you talk about growth?
Like how it started off in the beginning and now its kind of a bigger exploding kind of deal?
[Jake] Yeah, in the very early days of extreme explosive growth, it was very difficult in the operation side of the business.
And we didn't know how to keep up with ourselves for awhile.
[Martha] So how did you figure it out?
[Jake] I just slowly figured it out my own way, I guess.
I mean I literally we were looking in phone books for screen printers.
I would dial up a 1-800 number and type in people's credit card numbers into the phone to charge their credit card.
Our payment processor thought we were a scam basically.
[Martha] What do you think has been the largest obstacle or the most difficult thing you've had to overcome?
[Jake] I think for me its probably, I was a total introvert and not popular in high school.
And like, I guess, building a team both internally here and making sure I keep good relationships with the whole community.
Like, how much of my role is about interacting with other people.
And how uncomfortable I was with that growing up.
Yeah, I'd say that's the biggest thing.
[Ben] On the other side of the spectrum, what do you think is the most rewarding experience through all that?
[Jake] It's weird, I guess, ironically, the same thing.
Being able to do a lot of great things for a lot of great people.
Like help artists actually get their work to be shown in the world.
When an artist knows theres like 5,000 people around the world wearing their shirt, that's awesome.
And how proud they are of that and how exciting it is for them just makes it.
[Ben] You obviously were in a similar situation with us.
Finding your way in life and finding your passion.
What advice would you give to us?
[Jake] One thing thats always been important for me, is always having a personal project, like, something you're doing on the side.
Because you never know what it's going to turn into.
[Ben] And that worked out for you, cuz here we are.
This was your little hobby on the side.
[Jake] Make friends and then make things with your friends.
[Martha] Make friends and then make things with your friends.
I think that should be just my motto for life.
[Sofaya] We went to the top of Sears Tower.
It's one of those things you have to do.
if you visit Chicago.
103 stories.
Up at the very very top.
It was the skylight.
So imagine a glass box thats just sticking out the side of a building thats just way up in the air.
Thats what that was.
Don't let anyone tell you that I don't face my fears.
[Martha] You can do it!
A little farther!
[Sofaya] Pretty crazy.
Yeah, I don't even know what to say.
You just you see everything.
[Ben] We've been given so much knowledge and so much wisdom, so much to think about, so many places to analyze, so many different stories to remember.
[Sofaya] At this point in the trip, what I'm realizing is, they are so different, the people that I've met.
So i feel like no matter what it is I want to do, that's cool just do it.
It's all very possible.
There's a sense of possibility.
[Martha] We're closing in on a week left in the trip pretty much.
[Olivia] You know so when you get to the end of the whole processes and you'e like well there's door one door two, I want to create door number three and walk through that one.
[Ben] New York!
[Ben K] You know if you believe something is right and you go and convince the people around you, you know I believe in this.
and wonderful things happen.
[Ben] Today is helicopter day.
We are going to go experience the city from a helicopter Roadtrip Nation is a movement that empowers people to define their own roads in life.
Here's a quick snapshot of "Why Not Us?"
a roadtrip that featured first-generation college students [roadtripper #1] What's so different about us?
That we're able to be on this roadtrip and other people are not able to be?
[roadtripper #2] Right, like why us?
[roadtripper #3] You know, we are first generation kids.
[roadtripper #2] All of us really want to find what direction we want to go.
[Arne] Being the first in your family going to college, i really believe you aren't just changing your lives, but the lives of your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren.
You're changing a generation of lives.
[Roadtripper #4] this is a once in a lifetime chance.
[roadtripper #1] To be in a room with another person, that comes from a similar background to what I come from, here's your opportunity to ask all the questions you always wanted to ask.
[roadtripper #4] Its amazing to meet people with that type of history to become business owners, CEOs.
It puts hope into other people.
[roadtripper #3] I think this whole trip is me stepping out of that conservative hole that I've put myself in.
[leader #1] it's gonna be tough.
There's gonna be times where you fall down.
But your job is not to avoid falling down, its to make sure that each time it happens that you get up and move in the only direction that matters, and that's forward.
[John] It's gonna be harder for you than for other people.
What's going to make you successful, is if you, despite these challenges, figure out a way to make it work.
And you can do it.
[roadtripper #1] When we started this trip I'm asking "why us?
why us?"
Now I'm asking "why not us?"
[female #1] No matter what you do.
[male #2] or where you come from [male #3] You've got wisdom to pass down.
[male narrator #3] Help young people find their way by sharing the lessons you've learned.
Take 15 minutes to tell us what you love to do.
[male #2] the doors open [male #3] we're all ears
