>>Narrator: How do I know which path is best for me?

Is it possible to take on these challenges and obstacles?

Where do I even start?

What should I do with my life?

Sometimes, the only way to find out is to go see what's possible Since 2001, we've been sharing the stories of people who ventured out and explored different career paths and different possibilities for their futures.

This is one of those stories.

This is Roadtrip Nation.

[MUSIC] >> Christian: What's going on here today, Chrisel?

>> Chrisel: Well we're at Buc-ee's and we're filling up gas, me for the first time.

>> Christian: Straight up, yep.

>> [MUSIC] >> Chrisel: We did it.

First, what is this called, gas pump [LAUGH] for the RV, well my first gas pumping ever actually.

I'm from New York.

For me as someone who's raised very family centered, the road trip is allowing me to break away and individuate and be who I wanna be and not who I feel I need to be.

>> [SOUND] >> Christian: We started in Washington DC, right now we are in Atlanta.

It's definitely been an adventure to say the least.

>> Tamia: Day eight.

>> Christian: Is it day eight?

We've done so much in that time.

We've gone through so many miles, so many different cities.

>> Tamia: Taking off, interviewing people within the different sectors of public service.

Been eye opening just how passionate they all are in their work.

I don't think anybody's just going through the motions with it.

>> Chrisel: It's so powerful to see people that look like you really doing the good work.

>> Christian: We're all kind of asking ourself the same question of what do we want in our career path?

I know I'm getting kind of led to something, but it's not quite clear what that's gonna be.

Even though I've applied for a lot of different positions, ranging from working in a museum, to conservation work and environmental work, some of those things just haven't panned out.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christian: I guess I'm hoping for some sort of sense of direction.

>> Tamia: I am still in school, just to learn public policy, studying criminal justice, and things like that.

As far as seeing myself where I see myself going, there's no clear picture for me.

Could be a lobbyist, I could go to law school, it's just so many things.

>> Chrisel: Definitely have a desire for law.

The largest part is having to reckon with systemic barriers that get in the way for a young Black woman from the hood.

Whether it's testing, whether it's affording school.

Even within myself creating that strength to get me there knowing that's a space that's not for me, but it needs me.

The fear I keep expressing is just associated with the fear of elevation that comes out when you still don't believe that you're worthy of something.

>> Tamia: We're outside the Atlanta Legal Aid Center, and we're gonna be interviewing Miss Jacki Payne.

She's been doing this work for over 30 years.

>> Jacki: Hello, I'm Jacki.

>> Chrisel: Hello Miss Jacki.

>> Jacki: You all come on in.

>> Christian: So, Legal Aid takes on civil cases for those that can't afford to have an attorney.

>> Tamia: In the building, the exhibit that they do, the pictures, I was just so taken in by it before we even I got to the actual interview.

>> Jacki: I have a sign that hangs in my office and it says, what good have I done today?

And so every day I look at that and reflect on it.

What, good have I done?

>> [MUSIC] >> Jacki: We are a nonprofit law firm and what that means is for our clients who come in, they don't pay anything.

We provide services in a wide variety of areas but it's all civil.

So everything from evictions, landlord-tenant problems, to I didn't get my food stamps.

Doing divorces for primarily women who have been victimized in one way or the other.

Getting a child support order for them, getting a custody order for them.

And a little bit of everything in between.

>> Chrisel: My thought is two-fold of what drew you to this type of positioning and this type of work and also what's kept you here knowing that there's a lot of traumatic experiences that you witness?

>> Jacki: I was probably like you guys, not really sure what I wanted to do.

My undergraduate major was sociology with kind of a minor in psychology and criminology, but I thought I would be a research person or maybe a college professor or some, I didn't think about law at all.

Senior year in college, I took a couple of courses with a professor.

He said to me, have you thought about law school and I was like, I wasn't gonna be somewhere arguing cases.

He was like, you need to go to law school.

And then when I was in law school, second year internship was here.

And during my summer, I got to really work on a couple of cases and kind of started me to think, I could do this.

I mean this could be where I wanna be because I feel like I'm helping the community, I'm giving a service that somebody might not otherwise get.

Then I applied for a position here.

>> Tamia: So just in speaking to that, my minor is criminal justice as well.

And I know you mentioned criminology.

I was always told, find something that makes money.

You want to be a lawyer, that'll make money.

Did you ever have people in your ear like that and did you struggle with that advice?

>> Jacki: I will tell you my dad was the biggest pusher of okay, well, you've done this for a few years now, when are you going to get into doing this?

Or he tried to send me clients, and I'd be like, dad, I can't do this.

But you're a lawyer, you ought to be able to do it, it's like no.

But I think because I was so strong in my belief that the reason I was doing this was to be able to help those who wouldn't be able to get the help otherwise.

I can't imagine reviewing contracts would make me feel that way.

I can't imagine anything else that I would want to do.

What resonates with you, what is speaking to your heart, what makes you feel passionate?

Does making money make you feel passionate?

Then, you know, go that route.

There are those people who where that is why they went to law school.

But there's a place also for people like us who are just like, no I want to do this so I can better society or I can help those in need or I can help someone who's experienced an injustice, get that remedied.

>> Chrisel: I have a personal question.

I have an interest in civil rights litigation.

I've been struggling with the LSAT for almost four years now and part of my struggle is this inability to surrender to academic structure that doesn't really service me or wasn't really created for me.

So there's so much hope and power that can be found in the legal structures and abilities to even restructure society that can start with the law.

So I would love to just hear your thoughts.

>> Jacki: Yeah, I mean, and you're right it's something that's not constructed for us so you have to figure out how to break through that.

For me, I think it was having taken some philosophy classes and done lots of logic models and that made it easier for me having done that.

But if you don't really want to go to law school, I mean, there are other ways you can be an advocate.

Think about alternate things that will get you to where you want to be as far as being able to help people.

So if you are determined to go to law school, you gotta free your mind up and say, okay, this is it for me.

What do I need to do to get through those gates?

>> Chrisel: It was really helpful to really gain that perspective.

She could speak to my desires for wanting to go to law school and gave me some practical points of studying logic and maybe doing these type of examinations to support you in the practicality of it.

And so it was helpful to have that grounding with someone who's really doing that work on the frontlines.

>> Tamia: Everyone, literally everyone who has spoken about nonprofits, it's not for the money and I'm like, yeah, of course.

But I think when you're truly into something and you wanna advocate for something, and it's something that you believe in, the money isn't gonna matter.

It's gonna be about what your personal input is into it and what you're getting out of it.

>> Chrisel: [LAUGH] >> Christian: There you go.

>> Tamia: This is the type of change that I wanna be a part of.

>> [SOUND] >> Chrisel: Yes.

>> Christian: We headed up towards St. Louis.

We stopped at Chattanooga, Tennessee, kind of spur the moment to stop at Ruby Falls.

Ruby Falls was a cave with a waterfall inside.

>> Tamia: It was beautiful.

I was a little scared because there's not really an emergency exit in the cave, so it was like, I'm gonna have to push down and get out of here.

>> Christian: It was really cool.

I had a really good time.

And I think all of us did.

Ended up being a good break.

>> Tamia: Just in meeting Christian, I didn't expect to have so much in common with him.

He's one of those people that kind of has to warm up to you for you to get to know him.

>> Christian: If you look to the right, these people have been trapped in here for the last couple decades.

>> Chrisel: [LAUGH].

>> Tamia: But I think as time was on, me talking about myself 24/7, he realized [LAUGH] that we have stuff in common and that we just like the most random things.

Because I mean, when I think of the Midwest, it's like dirt and like you know that tumbleweed that just goes through.

[LAUGH] Christian, shout out to him.

>> Chrisel: That's exhilarating, one time was not enough.

>> Christian: Yeah, that was definitely a highlight.

>> Chrisel: Let's find a spot that is suitable for this phenomenal sticker that we received.

>> Christian: [LAUGH] I'm sorry.

You do that, you do that, and then I'll just smack it, ready?

I'm gonna smack your hand.

>> Chrisel: Don't smack my hand, okay.

>> Christian: One, two, three.

>> Tamia: Ow!

>> Chrisel: [LAUGH] Yay!

>> Chrisel: And now we tap it every time we go out.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christian: I've spent years studying stuff relating to sustainability and climate change and the environment.

People have expectations for me too, high expectations.

Everybody that I'm friends with kinda knows that I've done landscaping since I was in high school.

Coming back to do more landscaping after finishing college kinda feels like I'm letting them down.

As much as I would love to be able to stay in my town, I don't see there being opportunities in terms of job outlook for my interests.

But at the same time I don't wanna disappoint anybody by making that choice to leave.

I'm definitely hoping that I can maybe whittle down the concern/worries that I have.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christian: Once we got into St. Louis, we interviewed Meredith Perkins of Forest ReLeaf.

>> Meridith: Going to college, it was like, what do you wanna do?

And I was like, well, I wanna know the names of these trees, so I'm just gonna go to school for forestry [LAUGH] >> [MUSIC] >> Meridith: I'm in charge of steering the ship, making sure that our great tree focused organization is making an impact in both people and places across the state of Missouri.

>> Chrisel: Thank you, thanks for having us.

>> Meridith: Absolutely.

As you can see, this park lacks a lot of trees.

It's so amazing to go for a jog in my own park and see our trees growing up from babies to, you know, 12, 20 year old trees.

>> Christian: What inspired you to get into forestry because it's like how did you come to find forestry being from an urban area?

>> Meridith: 40 years ago, in my neighborhood, St. Louis was pretty rough.

It was a lot of, you know, my parents moved there for opportunity.

It was old homes that they were restoring.

We didn't do a lot outside but I always kind of felt grounded in the park.

That was a place where even though there are sirens going by and there was all kinds of crazy happening, the park was always just a really nice place.

And now I know from my professional development all of the psychological and emotional reasons why nature does that to a kid.

We're learning more and more and more about the social aspects of trees.

How trees bring community, how trees improve test scores, and public safety.

And get people out congregating and talking to each other and ultimately developing deeper ties and commitments to their neighborhood and their sense of place.

Ultimately, urban forestry was really emerging as a kind of viable job.

A lot more people were looking at, how do we take care of the trees in our cities?

And so I kind of fell into that path because I wanted kind of the culture and the community around living in a city but also wanted that connection to the trees in the forest.

And then here I am.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christian: It's a simple thing, plant a tree, but that tree planting has chain reactions and events that most people never even think about.

>> [MUSIC] >> Tamia: We got to really learn about the trees and the investment that it takes, and just having an impact on the community was great.

It's not too hard, so I feel like anybody else who wants to get involved could do this as well.

>> Meridith: As I reflect on kind of my journey, all of the jobs that I've ever had were what you make of them.

If you're passionate about something, do it.

And I think just really thinking not only about what the job is that you're doing but also what you want it to do makes a big difference in the quality of your work.

And makes you wanna get up and go to work every day and do it because you're doing it for something you believe in.

I mean, that works in nonprofit really easily because everybody is so mission focused, but it works in everything.

>> Christian: That was a big takeaway.

There are positions out there that I could see myself in, especially urban forestry, because you can still live in a pretty awesome place.

But you're able to bring in nature, the environment, into communities and neighborhoods that really don't get a lot of that.

That'd be pretty awesome.

>> [MUSIC] [SOUND] >> Christian: [SOUND] I'm pretty pumped for Colorado, just the Rocky Mountains in general, and then beyond because we don't have that type of stuff in Galena, Illinois.

>> [MUSIC] >> Chrisel: There was craziness within these first initial two weeks of just adjusting and getting used to road life.

It has its complexities with driving and just getting from A to B.

>> [MUSIC] >> Tamia: It's like, okay, we're getting up at eight, and then next day is ten, then next day is like 6:30.

It's like, okay.

>> Chrisel: For me, as a city gal from New York, I think all of the things that I knew to be true in some way have been demystified.

>> [MUSIC] [SOUND] >> Tamia: [SOUND] [LAUGH] >> Chrisel: What, are you an expert?

Excuse me.

>> Tamia: I am an expert, look at me with the axe.

>> Chrisel: That was, I didn't even get to >> [MUSIC] >> Tamia: Y'all see me do that?

I did that.

I'm a lumberjack now.

Add that to lumberjack, comedian, stylist.

>> Chrisel: Took the opportunity to kind of grab some paper and just write out, I release this, I release insecurity, I release judgment.

And put it in the fire and being affirmed by Christian, who's like, I do the same thing when I'm by the fire and I'm like, yeah, right on.

And it just did, it did something, it brought us together.

>> Tamia: I'm definitely- >> Christian: You're Kelly.

>> Chrisel: Yo, you're Kelly.

>> Tamia: I'm such a Dwight!

Kelly?

>> Chrisel: We're all from different geographical points and all have different racial, religious, there's diversity on all parts.

We all come from really different walks of life.

>> Tamia: It becomes overwhelming sometimes, but then there'll be a moment when we're all laughing at something that makes no sense at all and it's, okay, I got a second wind, got my juice back.

>> Chrisel: [LAUGH] No, what's his name?

>> Tamia: Sometimes we need to sit down, have those conversations, and see where the other person is coming from.

And I think doing that has made us better as a team, definitely.

>> [MUSIC] >> Tamia: [LAUGH] >> [MUSIC] >> Christian: Community Rebuilds is sustainable construction.

Building houses for underserved people or people that are close to getting a home but just can't afford that expense.

>> Chrisel: So we met with Victoria Hoang.

>> Victoria: Currently I'm an apprentice with Community Rebuilds, doing this AmeriCorps position with them.

I was placed here for two months.

And then just decided to stay.

And yeah, learning about construction and sustainable natural building.

It just like blew my mind.

>> Chrisel: Were you exposed to natural building ever before, or was it?

>> Victoria: Did not know that was a thing.

>> [MUSIC] >> Victoria: So I studied public health in undergrad.

I wanted to just be involved with the housing crisis in America.

And specifically in MOAB, it's becoming a second home community.

So it's people don't actually live here, or people who do live here are struggling to find housing.

And this organization works for that in a safe and sustainable way.

It changed my perspective of building, cuz of just how much debris and toxic materials go into a home.

Kids are exposed to that and just how it affects them, affects anybody.

I've learned everything.

All the tools, solar panels, how to build a structure.

>> Joao: The upstairs was kind of an experiment of showing all the different types of walls.

That gives you a base to plaster over.

The wall is not obviously going to look like this, it's not finished.

But they're leaving a truth window here so you can see the inside of the wall.

It's all just straw.

And a lot of people will take old bottles and stuff and just stick them in the walls.

You use less plaster.

>> Christian: They're using old methods in a new way, using straw for insulation and kind of braiding in pieces of wood into other ones and then mudding and then plastering over that.

You were put here for two months and then you just kind of stayed.

>> Victoria: Yeah.

>> Christian: So what made you stay?

>> Victoria: I stayed because of never having any building experience.

Being a woman in construction, it can be very difficult.

But Community Rebuilds gave me that safe and really welcoming space.

I realized I like working with my hands.

I like seeing at least from the start of the day to the end what I have actually done.

And the people that it draws, that's the people that I wanna be with.

The people who want to be here and spend that time.

And yeah, money, we all need it to pay rent and food, but it's not what I'm chasing.

I want to see homes built that are safe, that are reliable, that are sustainable, and that they can say is theirs and feel secure.

>> [MUSIC] >> Chrisel: For me, it was really empowering, seeing a woman really doing work within a man-dominated space.

What she's doing is part of breaking barriers, right?

>> Tamia: It's a process where you can do it and learn along the way, which is kind of the way I learn and do things anyway, as it goes.

I related to her because I never saw myself doing it.

It was kind of something that I just discovered along the way and I feel like that's how it's gonna come to me, the career I want.

>> Christian: We've interviewed everybody in terms of stages of life in the public service industry, whether it's interns, apprentices, directors, coordinators.

It's just made me realize that there's so much out there.

>> [SOUND] >> Christian: But also a reoccurring theme that I found was how fulfilled everybody was in those stages.

>> Tamia: Every single interview in its own way surprised me.

It's just been great in how open people have been.

Definitely gives me the thing of, hey, you can do this.

>> Christian: Driving into Arches, I was kind of just starstruck in the moment because everything was so much more than I expected.

Actually being able to see it in person was just incredible.

>> Chrisel: Not only structures, the silence you heard or didn't hear, right?

Cuz it's a profound silence.

>> [MUSIC] >> Chrisel: And just the experience in general really left me in awe.

It was mind blowing.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christian: I'm really trying to make this look cinematic or however you call it.

But I don't really know what I'm doing, so we're just going for it.

>> [MUSIC] >> Christian: Going into the trip, I was just in a position where I had a lot of internal expectations with myself.

I don't wanna say others projected but just something that I picked up on for myself.

I've realized that I've kind of mentally limited myself and there's so much more out there.

>> Tamia: My community is a very small one in Louisiana.

So being out here, I've already explored just by getting on the plane and going on this journey, being a part of it.

>> Chrisel: When we get to Cali and we get to see the ocean and what that is gonna mean, we've made it all this way.

>> [MUSIC] >>Tamia: Getting to California.

I knew that was gonna be our last stop.

>>Christian: So we've gone through this amazing journey.

>>Chrisel: I'm much more aware of the work that I wanna do.

>>Tamia: In what ways would you say one person can organize when the work can seem like so intimidating?

>>Speaker 4: We can, all, we can all make a difference, Speaker 5: Do things because you want to do it, not to prove anybody wrong, cuz at the end of the day, your perspective and your opinion is the only thing that matters.

Not someone else's.

Wondering what to do with your life?

Well we've been there and we're here to help Our website has some awesome tools to help you find your path And you can check out all our documentaries, interviews and more Start exploring at roadtripnation.com