TRANS4M Boyle Heights 2012. Photo by Ciro Cesar / La Opinión
By Lesly Juarez
Whether producing the next top-rated song, coming up with a recycling idea for Coca-Cola, singing to sold out crowds or heading up creative innovation at Intel, will.i.am keeps returning to the neighborhood where he was raised: Boyle Heights.
The Black Eyed Peas musician and producer says giving back to his community has strengthened his career and is much more important than anything else. “To know where you’re going, you got to know where you came from. To know where you are, you got to know what your environment is like,” will.i.am says to Boyle Heights Beat.
Will.i.am’s goal is to motivate students with the same background. Last year, he introduced the I.am.College Track program at Boyle Heights’ Theodore Roosevelt High School to help students pursue their dreams of post-secondary education. It’s the sixth site of a national educational non-profit co-founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple’s founder Steve Jobs.
Read at Boyle Heights Beat