A reminder to the ambitious and the lost

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you seriously sat down and thought about what you were doing? Where you're going with your life? Or most importantly, if you're actually happy?

I had that moment this week after I got a call from my mom letting me know that my Grandfather was being taken to the emergency room and that he wasn't responding. Without a moment's hesitation I headed straight there.

To give a quick background story on this, and why this is significant, my grandfather has been through a LOT....he disproves the whole "nine lives" theory. The man has survived a broken back, two heart attacks, a stroke, a diabetic induced coma, multiple leg operations that have put him in a wheel chair, he's currently battling Alzheimer's and Dementia, and now has survived two seizures..so when my family was notified about what had happened...you can bet that we were all scared.

Thankfully he's better now. The entire time I was with him though I couldn't help but feel how odd it must have been for people working at the hospital to see so many people waiting to see one patient. The whole situation began to make me think about where I currently am in my life and what I want, how many people's lives have I impacted? Am I happy with where I am at right now? Or better yet...am I satisfied with this?

At the moment, I have absolutely no excuse or reason to complain, in fact I am happy and blessed beyond anything, I have a new apartment, new car, an amazing job close to where I live, I am near my family, and I have an amazing woman by my side. HOWEVER, I am not satisfied...let me explain.

I think it all started when I first moved into my new apartment, I went up three flights of stairs and was breathing like I just finished running a marathon...I was embarrassed, ashamed, but most of all I was angry...I remember looking at myself in the mirror and asking myself a question that I think a lot of people start asking themselves before a big life change  "WHAT AM I GOING TO DO TO CHANGE THIS?"

Immediately I started looking up different diets, workouts, and finally found the right programs to help me start getting to where I want to be. Two months later, I'm in a lot better shape, and more productive at work, BUT still not satisfied and kind of frustrated that I can't push myself further right now.

I'm at a point in my life where I can't help but realize I have the potential to do and be so much more and it's frustrating because there is no fast track to get there, it's taking things step by step and having an unrivaled work ethic in everything I do. It's like having something within your grasp but you just can't get to it...

However, this takes me to the whole point of why I'm writing all of this in the first place...HAPPINESS.

While I was in the middle of my run the other night, one of my childhood best friend's called me to tell me something important...that he was happy for the first time in years!  Weird know but just listen...

A few years ago he unfortunately lost his mother when she was hit by a drunk driver. His entire world shattered...he started suffering a lot from depression and anger as a result...and since then has been struggling to actually be happy...until that phone call.

He has been offered a really good job opportunity that would require him to move, but, after a weekend in Georgia for a big music festival he came back and did a lot of self-reflection and is now realizing how happier he is with his life and that he may not even want to move.

Now the thing him and I talked about wasn't that the music festival was the sole reason he was happier, it was what he discovered, the environment of happiness he was put in and the affect it had on him. While it took him awhile to get accustomed to it, he eventually joined in on the fun and began being happy again. Even more now, he took that same happy energy and brought it back with him to Connecticut where he told me: "I was dancing at 8am on my friend's porch with no music"....this is the kind of stuff you only hear about in movies or from a Kevin Hart joke.

He realized that he didn't necessarily want a life where he's rolling in money but rather where he's happy and content with himself and everyone around him, hence why now he's reconsidering his offer.

This mentality goes against the way I was raised since my whole life my family has struggled financially and I couldn't get the thought out of my head ever since I was little: "If only we had the money..." While money was a bigger motivator for me to do well it wasn't the only one, I still have a lot of goals, like making a big impact on the world and trying to get more minds involved in STEM.

Anyways, after he heard everything I'm going through and what my current ambitions are he reminded me of something that I think a lot of us, especially in my circle of friends who are all very driven and ambitious need to hear. We need to be able to stop being so "GO GO GO" and remember to enjoy the little things on our journey to our dreams.

I'll never forget what he said to me: "Clemente you have the kind of focus where you will shut out the whole world to the point where people get concerned about you. You don't just desire perfection for whatever you're pursuing, you aim to get one step above it, and it's awesome but you need to remember to enjoy time with everyone around you and comeback down to earth." And especially after nearly losing my grandfather I think its about time I try to connect more with those around me and appreciate my time with them even more.

The thing to always remember and the main thing that I want everyone to take away from this is to take time to enjoy your life and those around you, cause you may never know when those people or relationships may be gone, and just as important, make sure that you spread positive energy to those around you...you never know what battles people in your daily life may be facing and the impact a few simple words from you could have.

And one of the last things I will say is for those of you struggling to find direction or your passion. Ask yourself this: What can you do with your time that is important? What activity or kind of work makes you forget to eat? But most importantly, what makes you happy?  Truly take time to think and reflect about this, it may help prevent you from being stuck in a job you hate.

If anything that I've written so far has impacted you or if you know someone who you think needs to read this, please share and pass it on, I want to impact as many lives as possible!

For now, I can't say I will have a set time when I post up more of these blogs but I can say to expect more as I continue chasing my dreams!  Thank you for reading!

Challenges and Reflections of Being a Leader

Leadership...it's probably one of the biggest concepts and part of my own life that I am still trying to define and learn about...and now I find myself reflecting on challenges I've personally had to overcome to get where I am today.

Throughout my undergraduate career I've held a leadership position within the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and can fortunately say that it has brought me an incredible amount of experience that I am utilizing today and hoping to pass on to others.

One the earliest challenges I had to deal with was learning to meet certain expectations as a leader and learning what it meant to be a leader. To be honest, had it not been for some of my amazing mentors and friends I would have been lost.

Now I often find myself having the same thoughts....What am I leaving behind?...What impression do I give or am I leaving?...Am I doing my very best?...What is it that defines a good leader?...

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams 

During those times as a leader and even now in my term as the Region 7 Student Representative I find myself reflecting on the challenges I've had to overcome, expectations I've had to meet, and analyzing what I've done so far and trying to figure out if I had made an impact...if I had made a difference or inspired anyone to go higher....

When I attended the National Institute of Leadership Advancement Conference this past summer in Colorado the most interesting thing happened to me.

It happened a little after we had leadership roundtable discussions where attendees of the conference could take the chance to get to know regional and national leaders such as myself and some of the challenges that we've had to face so far. One of the younger attendees approached me and told me how much some of my responses during the discussion motivated and inspired him to do better and to improve his chapter and own leadership style...

For me, this was the first time, ever, that I think anyone had told me that I had inspired them to do better and that they wanted to improve themselves because of something that I had said.

It was from that day onward that I made it a personal goal to try and do the same to others and to bring us together to strive towards a common goal.  

"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent." - Douglas MacArthur

If you read my earlier blogpost on failure, one of the biggest failures as a leader so far has been the failure to recognize some of the people closest to me for delivering work and results that others do not see and cannot comprehend.

Failure, is one of the most difficult challenges of being a leader...regardless of how amazing you are at the end of the day you're still human and you're going to make mistakes...

However, the thing that I have learned the hard way is that when you make mistakes as a leader of an organization, several people can be affected. For me, this is still a very difficult thing to deal with because I care a lot about the people I'm trying to lead and how my actions affect them.

It was when I was confronted about this mistake that I realized I had been so focused about trying to set out to be a leader that I had forgotten why I worked so hard to get the position I have today...to help others, and to give them the recognition and rewards that they deserve.

I promised the individual who confronted me that day that I would work hard to make sure that I set things right, not just with him, but with several others who I know I hurt from my mistake. My only hope right now is that the individuals who I know I hurt realize that.

This also taught me another important lesson...and something that I recommend anyone who takes on leadership role pay attention to carefully....you're not going to be able to please everybody....it's a harsh and difficult reality to deal with but it's almost impossible.

Ask any President, any CEO, any leader in fact, there's always going to be a certain amount of people that will disagree or be displeased with you.

"I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people."

- Mahatma Gandhi 

Learning to get along with difficult and diverse people is a big key to success that I recommend you start learning now if you haven't done so already.

When I campaigned to be RSR, I had to make several calls to the new and current president's of chapters all across the southeast. The challenge I had to overcome at that time was explaining who I was, what I was doing, and why they should vote for me as well as get them on board for the ideas that I was proposing.

The real difficult part came when I had to explain all of this to chapter executive boards that had never even heard of the position I was running for or what it meant to be involved in the elections.

Now, I need to learn to be able to get along with and support roughly 25 different chapters across the southeast and getting everyone on the same page whenever we try to strive towards certain goals.

Again, not everyone is going to agree with you, and everyone is definitely not going to do things the way you want them to. I've seen what happens when people try to dictate and micro manage...it gets ugly and its counter-productive....

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." - John C. Maxwell 

I can't begin to tell you how much I wish there was someone to help guide me and mentor me my freshmen year...

I could visually see myself falling behind the other freshmen during career expos because of the amount of success they had with interviewing and simply connecting with people...

It wasn't until my sophomore year that I met someone who helped prepare me for the conference and that I successfully earned a co-op. However, it was from that experience my freshmen year that I learned the impact that a simple resume critique, interview preparation, an introduction....a mentor can all have

Observe and learn from others, look at their best practices for handling certain situations, how they talk to people, what works what doesn't work, then apply that to your own set of skills and make it your own. 

It wasn't until I spent hours watching some of the most famous and best speeches in history that I become more comfortable with public speaking, even more so after I gave a few in front of my mentors who critiqued me and told me how to improve. 

"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality." - Warren Bennis

I grew getting made fun of for my Hispanic Heritage and being underestimated cause of it. My dream back then was to become more successful and wealthy than anyone to be able to come back and show off and laugh in their faces.

However...after watching several people I care about go down the wrong path and watching the struggles and conditions they have to go through everyday...my dream....my vision changed....

I didn't want to be better than anyone anymore, I didn't care about wealth, power, or status, the only thing that I had wanted was to be able to live in a world where we can actually get along....where the images that Hispanics and other minorities are not perceived as negative...

Everything I do is because I want to make this world a happier one for everyone, even if I'm standing alone working towards it I'll stick to my convictions till the very end, and just maybe...inspire someone to continue this goal and mission.

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." - John F. Kennedy

I am still young, I have a lot left to learn and a lot of growing I still need to go through as a person and as a leader. 

However, if there is anything that I've learned from my experiences as a leader, its to never stop learning. Always keep an open-mind and observe others, you'll be able to learn from their mistakes and successes.

Additionally, whenever you find yourself thinking "I quit"   "I give up"  "I'm too burnt out"   take a break from everything you're doing, go somewhere for a little while and always remember why you're here? What are you working so hard for? What do I hope to accomplish? When you remember your dreams, passions, and goals and stick to them there's absolutely nothing that can stop you. 

NEVER....EVER let anyone tell you "you can't do it", not me, not your family, loved ones, ANYONE....you're the only one in control of your life and you're the one who decides where you want to end up. If you had told me when I was younger that I would be graduating from the #3 Civil Engineering School in the country with several leadership roles, work and research experience I would never have believed you. 

It was through the belief others had in me, the belief I had in myself, the dream I wanted to accomplish, and through so many amazing people that I am where I am today and couldn't be happier! 

Finally, the most important thing that I can say is, make sure that whatever it is that you're doing, that you're passionate about it and that it makes you happy, and more so remember to give back. When you're doing something that you're passionate about everyday of your life....you will never have to work a day in your life. 

Trials, Failure, and Character

Failure...easily one of my greatest fears...failing to accomplish my goals, to serve others, to be happy, to make others happy, and much more...but more than anything the failure of not succeeding or making a positive impact....


For the longest time I was terrified of failure since one of the biggest things I don't want to happen is to have to come face-to-face with my family and loved ones and see a look of absolute disappointment in what I failed to do...what I failed to accomplish...


“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” 
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

I dream of changing the world and trying to leave a positive legacy, its a big dream and its something that I cannot accomplish on my own.

During the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers National Conference in Indianapolis I got a rejection notification from one of the top companies I wanted to work for, and who I had also recently interviewed with. On top of that, I failed to recognize a chapter I hold very dear to me along with several others for a simple concept that I didn't even think about solely because I was so focused on top performance, numbers, and statistics I had forgotten about so many other factors to take into consideration...

The rejection from the company for me was a huge blow since I had been following this company, networking my way around all their HR recruiters and having my resume critiqued and interview skills as polished as they can be for the past two years. Based on their feedback, I had done everything correctly, I interviewed well, my background was impressive and they had nothing negative to say. The only reason I wasn't selected was because compared to those who were selected they were the better candidates, they had a better fit.


I'll admit it, I was frustrated, however, after speaking with a man at the conference who I consider a mentor he told me that I could sit there in my hotel room depressed and let it ruin my conference. OR I could take time, get a grip on everything and analyze what happened and what I can do to make myself a better and make things right.

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” 
― Thomas A. Edison

If you don't believe me about learning to view your failures as learning experiences ask any CEO about a time they failed....they will go on about how they grew the most as a result of mistakes they have made.

During a leadership panel three corporate leaders were asked "We've all heard and read about your successes, what about a time when you failed?"  The look on all three of their faces looked like they had a bad war flashback. However, one of them even stated: "Which one? There's so many to chose from"

The greatest of the greatest have experienced failure, what sets them apart is how they get back up and what they learned from their failure.

When it comes to the people I am indebted to and the people who have invested in me, there's nothing I can do within my lifetime that can repay everything they've given me. This goes back to the SHPE Chapters that I failed to recognize properly and for those who have worked tirelessly to set new milestones for their members...

I'm not perfect, nor do I strive to be. I strive to bring people together, to create a sense of unity, and most importantly to use all my skills and strengths to inspire everyone to strive to reach a common goal. 

I still have a very long road ahead of me and a lot to learn...I apologize for anyone who had to suffer from my mistakes during my learning process and know that I am working to fix that as well as make things right in everything I do.

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” 
― Maya Angelou

We learn best from our mistakes, and I have made plenty of them...for those reading this and for those especially who work with me know that I will continue to learn and grow to exceed the expectations set of me as a leader and as a friend.