In November 2003, I was spiraling at MIT when my dad showed up unannounced, shared his own freshman-year collapse, and quietly steadied me. I scraped through the semester, then left MIT and wandered abroad; minimalist travel and a first motorcycle adventure in Southeast Asia rekindled my drive and taught me to work with institutions instead of against them. Back home, I finished a hands-on master’s, joined JPL, and—pushed by LA smog and new asthma—built eMoto, a silent electric motorcycle that drew attention and clarified my purpose. Buoyed but not blinded by that success, I chose a PhD in electric vehicles, took one last recharge trip across Asia, and found my tribe with the MIT Electric Vehicle Team.