Part 1 Of A 2 Part Series…

My name is Carlos Arevalo, I’m originally from Barranquilla, Colombia; the land of Shakira, great coffee, and the famous Carnaval de Barranquilla, an annual carnival comparable to Mardi Gras or the Carnaval do Rio, which attracts people from all over the world and as my mom always says…

“If you go to the Carnaval de Barranquilla, you will fall in love and never want to leave.”

A photograph of 3 year old me in the center and my brother to the right in the 1997 Carnaval de Barranquilla

June 2000

I was 6 years old when I came to Miami, the place I’d call home for the following 18 years of my life… Despite Colombia’s beauty and irresistible festivities, my mom wanted to provide a better life for my brother and I. Being that I grew up here in Miami, I never questioned my “legality”… I didn’t have a reason to, this was the only home I knew. It wasn’t until I was looking to obtain a license and applying for college that I realized I was undocumented.

June 2012

Fast forward to June of 2012…

After tons of hard work and physical training, I was awarded an athletic scholarship to play Rugby at Wheeling Jesuit University. I was grateful for the ¾ tuition coverage, however without having legal status in the US, I was not eligible for financial aid.

I knew covering the remaining cost of tuition was out of my reach.

I hit a low point during this time, I didn’t know what to do. I wondered… How am I going to go to college? How am I going to work? Should I move back to Colombia?

Then within a matter of days, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was introduced by the Obama administration. This policy allowed me to obtain a permit to work, a driver’s license and the ability to attend college (THANKS OBAMA!). I made the decision to attend Miami Dade College and take humanities, science and computer-aided design classes.

One thing led to another and I decided to pursue a career in architecture, something that had lingered in my mind since I was a child. I felt as if everything in life had prepared me for this. I wanted to help people recover from catastrophic events, create a sustainable living for people all over the world, and create pleasant experiences for others. Truly, I felt that through a career in architecture I would be helping change the world!

I was accepted to an accelerated Masters in Architecture program at Florida International University. While school was fulfilling and exciting, I was introduced to challenges that required a lot of creativity and critical thinking skills. However, the biggest challenge of all was my reality outside of school.

As a family, we were struggling financially which led to uncomfortable situations. To help provide for my Mom it was necessary to put my degree on hold. During this time I was working full-time as a barback, searching for freelance graphic design work, and learning programming languages online to continue my education. I knew technology was king, the internet is connecting the world and I wanted to be part of that in some way. Thanks to innovative companies like Uber and Amazon, transportation and shopping have become more efficient and the world’s problems such as the ones that I wanted to address through architecture are being solved by tech startups and companies around the world.

January 2018

I took an Uber ride that would change my life forever. Ironhack, a global coding boot camp had partnered with Uber to offer $200,000 in full and partial scholarships. The winners were able to attend Ironhack and pursue a career in Web Development or UX/UI design.

I didn’t even think twice about this; after I came across the ad in the Uber app and applied for the scholarship immediately. I proceeded to call Adrianne, my girlfriend and told her what I had done and since she is the amazing person she is, she said she would support me in whatever decision I made.

And so the journey began!

After submitting my application, I received an email stating that I had passed the first round and that I was invited to participate in a technical assessment at Ironhack. After an assessment, several interviews and sleepless nights; I woke to a phone call from Alia, the Ironhack Miami General Manager, letting me know that I won a full scholarship!

Once I was accepted, I dedicated every single day, to truly understand UX/UI Design. The more I learned about UX/UI, there more it resonated with me. Coming from a design background through architecture I understood the connection.

In June 2018, I began the UX/UI program. Here I was introduced to a unique group of individuals coming from backgrounds in architecture, research, and education just to name a few. We were all strangers in a room on the first day and grew together as a family in the coming months.