We’re looking forward to introducing you to Arnold Lopez. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Arnold, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Visualization. I have been working so much more intently on my mental health, remembering that our brain is a muscle and working it out through visualization in the mornings has been instrumental to my career progression. Meditation, Chess, Journaling has been the 3 pillars fueling my early mornings!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Arnold Lopez, Founder of The Humble Investment and more recently the CEO and Founder of Nexus Edu. My lives mission has always been to increase access and opportunity to socioeconomic mobility for marginalized communities across the world. I believe that access to quality and dynamic education is the key to obtaining the knowledge necessary to live a fulfilling life. However, we are seeing the value of a college degree diminish more and more at accelerated rates due to the widening skills gap associated with AI. Being the first in ones family to pursue higher education with the intent of creating a better life for themselves and their families is becoming more of a risk than it is a reward. The urgency to solve this issue is dire as generations of those most vulnerable will be impacted disproportionately with no systemic plans for mediation in sight. My vision with Nexus is to rebuild the college to career infrastructure by optimizing the education taught in the classroom to meet the needs of the workforce in real-time. Whats unique about this concept is that it not only build a solution that can prevent a pending socioeconomic crisis, but it creates more institutional capacity through its self-sustainable model. Getting my students to and through college and into their careers has been at the forefront of my career for years. With The Humble Investment and Nexus Edu, I am proud of the work I have the privilege to do as I know waking up and loving what I do is a blessing we don’t all get to experience, yet! Thats where Nexus and The Humble Investment shine the brightest.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
I have always had an internal conflict on what I believed was my purpose in life. I grew up thinking that my community and friends were everything to me. That I would one day come back and have all the answers and save everyone from what we thought was unsolvable. I placed so much value on others and the problem with that was I forgot to first place value on myself. Coming back home to San Diego, I thought I was going to have something like a “Home Coming” experience, reunited with friends and welcomed with open arms. This was far from the truth and it broke me and all perceptions I had of “community”. Those I once looked up to were more envious than they were proud. Those who saw me at my lowest and knew the extremes I had to overcome were now quick to undermine my journey. I felt ashamed of my accomplishments and made myself feel smaller just to avoid tension. This was such an eye opening period for me because I realized the work on myself was nowhere near over. The finish line I crossed was not the end of the race but a milestone in lives marathon. But my family and girlfriend were so critical in picking me back up and reminding me who I am and what is still to come. I realized in this moment that to truly see the world fully is to find it from within. The world is to be experienced, not explained.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
This may need a trigger warning but this chapter of struggle and resilience for me is so critical to the person I am today. Years ago during the pandemic I was struggling immensely dealing with the symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury that I developed after a big car accident earlier in my life. I was quarantined in isolation away from family and friends trying to battling severe depression and anxiety. I didn’t have the right people in my life and I didn’t know how to seek help from those who tried to be there for me. I almost gave up because I felt like no one in the world could possibly understand what I was going through. But through my work with high schoolers who shared deeply personal stories that spoke to what I was going through, I found purpose through service. I opened up to my mentors and they lit a fire within me that I can never repay them for. I had something to prove, but it was to no one other than myself. That I can be the difference.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The biggest lie the Education industry tells itself is that a college degree still holds the same value. What we learn in the classroom has little to no value to us in the careers we end up in. This issue used to be passable as we would learn the skills we need on the job, but the rate in which AI will force a mandatory upskilling of employers will shock our system into monumental inequities for the most vulnerable communities of workers. All eyes will be on educational institutions for solutions but they just do not have the infrastructure to handle such a demanding technological revolution.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
That I was born from wealth or success. The truth is I was born with all odds against me. Separated and incarcerated parents, first-generation low-income, undiagnosed medical and learning disabilities. Yet my desire and ambition has always been to give back. It was never about myself, and regardless of how I was treated or perceived my mission has always been “For Us, By Us”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nexusedu.ai
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arnoldalopez/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnoldlopez619/
