Cesar Gonzalez Staff 2012....

Tell us your Unreasonable Story?

By the age of sixteen, I had lived in 11 cities on 4 continents, experienced our world’s amazing cultural richness, and witnessed wealth, poverty, privilege and prejudice. I felt fundamentally uneasy about the world we live in but without a clue as to my role in creating change.

So instead, I chose to focus on things I did know, and armed with a computer engineering degree from Caltech, I started my career writing code for tech startups, then mammoths like Nissan, Thermador, and the US Army. But in my free time I yearned for meaning, and spent hours reading the stories of Muhammad Yunus, Paul Polak, Ingrid Munro, and Jessica Jackley.

With luck, I eventually met many of my heroes and felt inspired to start a social venture helping low-income Peruvians finance the construction of new, safe homes. Through this work, I landed a spot in the inaugural class of the Unreasonable Institute and within the first week there, I knew I had found my place in the Universe.

For the first time I understood what problems I wanted to work on, and perhaps more importantly, who I wanted to be working with. Today, I get to work with people I deeply admire on work that I find truly meaningful.