{"id":65938,"date":"2025-02-11T09:13:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T14:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fxv.digital\/cool\/?p=65938"},"modified":"2026-07-25T15:16:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T19:16:53","slug":"trio-qa-with-carlos-ojeda-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fxv.digital\/cool\/2025\/02\/11\/trio-qa-with-carlos-ojeda-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"From TRIO Student to CEO: 5 Powerful Questions with Carlos Ojeda Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"

Celebrating <\/span>National TRIO Day<\/span><\/a> resonates deeply with the <\/span>CoolSpeak<\/span><\/a> team as a time to celebrate the transformative impact of federally funded college access programs on the lives of students across the country\u2026 including two of our own. CoolSpeak Founder and CEO <\/span>Carlos Ojeda Jr.<\/span><\/a> and CoolSpeaker <\/span>Lilyan Prado Carrillo<\/span><\/a> are proud TRIO alumni.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You already know CoolSpeakers share our stories, so we wanted to shine a spotlight on our team's stories to highlight how our team has a shared lived experience with the TRIO community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carlos, who you might know as Chu, participated in TRIO Talent Search, which made a lasting impact on his educational journey.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What specific challenges were you facing in your educational journey before joining TRIO, and how did the program help you address them?
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I don\u2019t know if joining TRIO was the best word for it, but I\u2019d say it was more like being drafted. After our neighborhood became unsafe to raise me, my parents packed me up, left everything we knew and loved, and moved from Newark, New Jersey to Pennsylvania. When my mother took me to the local elementary school to enroll me, they looked at her, heard her accent and our last name, and they put me in a bilingual class. There was one problem: I was fluent in English and Spanish. My parents intervened, but from that point on, my view of school changed.<\/p>\n

School didn\u2019t like me, so I didn\u2019t like school. I was labeled a troublemaker, called garbage, and told I would never graduate. By the time I found my TRIO program, I was a lost kid who had long stopped dreaming and believing I could do any more than what I was told I was. I was full of potential that was unrealized and untapped. But the program quickly changed that.<\/p>\n

What role did TRIO staff members play in your success? Are there any staff members you\u2019d like to highlight for their support or mentorship?
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The staff members and everyone I met through them completely changed my perspective on life. No longer was my vision limited to the four corners of my neighborhood. They taught me to look past the horizon. They told me that not only was I allowed to dream, but I was allowed to make it a reality. They were the first educators to love me and see me for who I was and could be. I wasn\u2019t garbage; I was the hope and dream of my family. They taught me to believe in myself, gave me the tools to succeed, and were there every step of the way in success and failure. They showed me that persistence beats resistance every time.<\/span><\/p>\n

What lessons or skills did you gain from TRIO that you still use today in your career or personal life?<\/h4>\n

In my earlier work as a college admissions rep and my work now with young people today, trying to inspire them to go to college. I lean on what TRIO did for me:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n