This week on Bucket Talk we chat with Kevin Martinez, an electrician who you might know as @_ksparky on social media. Hailing from San Diego, he’s long been an aspirational guy. After a frightening car accident turned his world upside down, Kevin bounced around a few different gigs before getting a job as a delivery driver at a San Diego electric company. After a while, Kevin worked up the guts to ask for an apprenticeship role, and the rest is history. Now, he’s a foreman and a testament to what hard work and perseverance can do for any tradesperson.

Kevin’s family moved to San Diego when he was in sixth grade and he lived the life most kids live through high school: he played soccer, got into graphic design and had to figure out what to do with his life. He decided to go to community college, where he wanted to major in Business Administration and minor in graphic design. However, after a tragic accident and some devastating injuries, he was forced to change his path. He takes this in stride, though, knowing that he learned a lot from the adversity.

“I don't feel like a lot of people have gone through anything close to that and I don't wish them to but it made me really realize and grow up as fast as I did, and mature as fast as I did. And you know, just start thinking about the way life is and all those things, right?”

After recovering, he linked up with a temp agency, he bounced around to businesses like Bose and Ashley Furniture. He did this for a while, but eventually he landed a gig working for an electric company in San Diego, delivering equipment to Northern California each week. He worked around the warehouse for a while, but then, thanks to some encouragement from his cousins, he got the guts to ask for a way into something bigger.

“So I got the guts, I went and asked them like, Hey, so what's up with the apprenticeship? And he just looked at me with a smile. He's like, Oh, so you're ready.”

Well, he landed the apprenticeship. Turns out having some gumption works. After patiently working his way through the apprenticeship, he was finally at the job site, like he wanted. This is where _ksparky was born. He was seeing people posting about the trades on Instagram and he decided he wanted to put his hat in the ring, too, sharing his day-to-day life in the electrician world.

“But it got me thinking, too, if I'm doing this every day, all these crazy job sites, you know, why not share my journey.”

This past April, Kevin got his certificate and was able to join his local union in San Diego — a huge step after a five year apprenticeship. Not only that, he’s already made it to foreman. He’s come a long way very quickly, but he knows he needs to keep growing and working hard every day to ensure he continues to be someone people can look up to, be it someone on social media or a lifelong tradesman who works for him.