> hello

Hi, I’m Ernan. I’m an Engineer turned Product Manager, which is really just another way of saying I am obsessed with solving problems for more than one person.

And there are problems everywhere. The world is full of things that are broken, inefficient, or just plain annoying. I’ve always believed that you have a choice. You either have the mindset to roll up your sleeves and actually do something about it, or you can just accept it. I’m firmly in the first camp.

To understand why I have this mindset, we have to go back to where it all started.

I am proudly from Banning, California. For those of you who don’t know (which is probably most), it’s a relatively small town tucked into the San Gorgonio Pass in Southern California. It’s the exact kind of place where if you sneeze while driving on the 10 freeway on your way to the desert, or heading west into LA, you’ll completely miss it.

Growing up there shaped me in so many ways. I grew up in close proximity to some tough socioeconomic realities, and seeing that firsthand was a constant reminder of what can be. I was incredibly lucky to have my family and my teachers pushing me to aim higher. But honestly, and it sounds harsh to say out loud, my primary motivation, just like my classmates, was that I needed to grow outside of Banning. We needed to go beyond this small town.

Here’s the funny thing about hometowns, though: you never really know what you have until you don’t have it anymore.

When I look back now and reminisce, I can see that growing up there was actually pretty damn good. I have lifelong friends and my parents have this rich and vibrant community to call home. Banning gave me the grit, drive, and perspective I rely on every single day to tackle the problems in front of me. Living in the Bay Area now is definitely different from my hometown. The differences might outweigh what’s similar, but to an extent, the experiences and stories that people go through are exactly the same.