Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Cuadras.
Hi Daniel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Daniel Cuadras and I am 28 years old, born in San Diego, California but grew up in Tijuana, Baja California. My parents are Mexican/American and I have an older brother who is 31 in which all of my family live in Tijuana as well. Spanish is my first language since I grew up in Tijuana and went to school here from kindergarten to 3rd grade until my parents decided for me to get an education in Chula Vista in a public school. I was born in San Diego but lived my entire life in Tijuana (except when I went to college for 4 years) so I guess you can say that is why my podcast is called El Border Kid since the border has impacted so much of my life growing up. My mom would wake us up every weekday at 4;15 AM to cross the border to Chula Vista for school and back to Tijuana since we didn’t have SENTRY, a faster way of crossing, for 8 years. For people that aren’t border kids, living in this town is such a shock of distinct cultures, music, food, beliefs, jobs, careers, and people that I believe their voices deserve to be heard through a social media platform just like a podcast. Nowadays, it’s really easy to upload your content through all these social media platforms whereas, 20 years ago you needed to go through loops and holes to get your voice heard or at least be considered to be part of a TV channel or news broadcast company. Thankfully to my brother that recommended me to take my first High School elective class, called KORtv Broadcasting Media with Mrs. Ecklund at Otay Ranch High School, I started to learn creative, editing, and storytelling skills to deliver a worthwhile news video package. From there on, I found a creative passion behind this elective class that inspired me to major in Film and Digital Media with an emphasis in production at University of California, Santa Cruz in 2015.
I started listening to podcasts maybe around 2018 when I was commuting from Tijuana, Baja California all the way to La Mesa, CA for work which with the border wait and traffic, took more than an hour to get to work. I started listening to JRE (The Joe Rogan Experience) and the first episode I listened to was with Tom Delonge (guitarist from Blink-182) and I found it really interesting that it was just a casual free-flow conversation, not scripted just naturally conversing. This captivated my attention immediately because I felt like I was part of the conversation even though I was driving on the freeway with traffic bumper to bumper. From then on, I started pondering on potentially starting a podcast because as I listened to more episodes, I noticed that even though Joe Rogan interviews celebrities, artists, actors, authors, activists, yes, they are all unique but at the same time they are as similar as average human beings that can have a casual conversation. As the year went by, I had the idea of starting the podcast but I was afraid and not really as motivated to execute the idea because I didn’t know where to start. I want to say after listening to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast for more than a year, I started listening to the Pat McAfee Show on YouTube as well which is more sports show revolving around football with a unique and humorous way of presenting sports news and opinions. Being submerged to the podcast world, I started learning more things that would get my desire to initiate this podcast but it wasn’t until the pandemic started in March 2020, I listened to Roberto Martinez podcast called Creativo from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, which has a similar format as JRE podcast but in Spanish. Researching a bit more about Podcasts and the way Joe Rogan and Roberto Martinez prepared for their shows, I started to think about potentially starting a show myself. I’ve always have had an interest in meeting people from different backgrounds and that have different perspectives about life than I do, it has always fascinated me knowing the fact the way we think is not the “only” way and that there are billions of people out there that have a story to tell. Now that I have these interviewing skills, editing skills, and creative skills from all the way in high school to college, all I need to do is execute an idea/project of the podcast but I had self-doubt in thinking who is going to listen and if people were going to make fun of me but I had to find a true essence behind the project.
It took me around almost two years to execute my project because of lack of motivation and being scared of taking that leap of faith. In July 18, 2021, I had a near-death experience running the SD Half Marathon where I encountered a set of unfavorable factors of dehydration that led me to a heat stroke, seizure, and other symptoms in which I ended up in the emergency room. I was in the hospital replenishing my body with nutrients, vitamins, electrolytes, for a course of 5 days which I finally was able to leave the hospital. Being unconscious for about 8 hours and coming back to being awake definitely taught me a life lesson about listening to my body before taking it to the next level and knowing when is the right time to stop doing an over extensive exercise. It also taught me that we are only here one time in our lives and luckily and thankfully to the doctors that helped me, I was able to get a second chance and we have to make it count and live our lives to the fullest and enjoy every moment. After I came out of the hospital, I took a medical leave of absence from my job for three months in which I just stayed home and relaxed. This is where I saw the window of opportunity of starting the podcast because I knew that if I came back to work, things would get back to a routine pace and it was going to be hard. I immediately contacted one of my best friends, Fernando Nuñez, which is a great graphic designer here in Tijuana/San Diego, and pitched him my idea. The next two months we came up with the podcast logo and templates for social media platforms including Spotify and Apple Music. This is where I explained to Fernando that the essence of this project was basically what I experienced all my life, living in a border town between two similar yet so distinct countries El Border Kid is a podcast that emerges from my creative mind looking to bring entrepreneurs, creatives, and unique individuals of this multicultural region for an original take on storytelling about the border. At the moment, all the 25 episodes I have done are in Spanish, but soon I will start getting next guests that will be English speakers to expand this project since I fluent in both languages. I am really excited of where this project will take me creatively and personally.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think there is ever a smooth road and if there is, it is temporary, but it has definitely a fun roller coaster to be part of. In the beginning, the first two episodes I released was only on audio with obviously having the idea of purchasing a camera in a near future. A couple of listeners definitely asked and recommended me to have audiovisual content for a podcast which I knew that was the next step. Luckily, a great high school friend, Cesar Rodriguez (creator of Petnah Luxury Pet Products), contacted me after listening the first two episodes and was told me that this project had a lot of great potential and wanted to help me by borrowing his creative studio, Cero Photography Studio whenever I was going to record a new episode. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I’m truly grateful for the opportunity and privilege he has given me throughout the course of this project and I definitely know we will continue on to make bigger things in a near future.
Since I work Monday through Friday in San Diego and I get back to Tijuana around 7:30 PM on weekdays, the days I record my podcasts are on weekends so that can be somewhat of a struggle. Since most people have their days off on the weekends, it can definitely be an obstacle but honestly, all my guests have been pretty flexible with being invited on weekends. If need be, I am definitely willing to create an episode after work on a weekday.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
During the week I work for SBCS, a non-profit organization, in downtown San Diego by East Village. I am a case manager for an after-school program for youth that are on formal probation, as well as youth around the community of the central region of San Diego. The program is called Achievement Center in which youth come in to have productive extracurricular activities in which help expand their social skills, improve behavioral skills, earn community service hours, obtain a job through work readiness programs, and contribute to ending their probation. Youth are often referred from San Diego Juvenile Probation Department, as well as other non-profit agencies around the Central Region of San Diego.
My duties as a case manager are to connect with the youth’s family and interact all together to improve and complete their process and individual goals while being at the program. For youth that are on probation, I have to be in contact with their probation officer and give any updates and summarize their progress in the program. It can be good progress or bad progress depending on their endeavors. Our program consists of having three case managers, one therapist on site (youth are also offered one on one counseling), program supervisor, and program director. I am really proud of what we have accomplished due to each of the team having unique skills that set them apart from each other in order to strive and connect in a different way with the youth that we work with as well as their families. I love this job because it is such a unique job where every single youth comes from a different background along with a different situation that they are dealing with in which we are more than happy to help improve. It is very self-rewarding as well since it is human lives which we are working with and helping them re-establish to society/community in a positive way by graduating high school, getting off probation, obtaining a job, or even just having sense of belonging to a program.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
As I shared my story on how I started my podcast, I feel like the pandemic definitely put a pause to everything we were doing in our daily routines and it was a time to ponder and realize what actually brings us together as human beings and what makes us happy aside from our jobs. Unfortunately, many of us lost loved individuals, small businesses went bankrupt during the crisis but many people (including guests in my podcasts) took initiative on their projects/businesses in the pandemic due to having a window of time to execute ideas that they weren’t able to when they were tied up in their daily routing of work. I also learned that if Joe Rogan, Roberto Martinez, and other people I admire with their creative projects, started at one point or another, why not me? If I failed, then at least I tried but if I never have executed my idea then nothing would have happened and this interview would’ve never been made.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.elborderkid.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/el_borderkid/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elborderkid
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9fUXi5LghnT-vQDJa9VAlA
Image Credits
Daniel Cuadras
Cesar Rodriguez
Luis Oviedo
Fernando Nuñez
Marcella Ruiz Fematt
