We had the good fortune of connecting with Donella Barcelo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Donella, how do you think about risk?
I embrace the idea of risk-taking and know firsthand the benefits it can have on ones life. Without risk, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Taking risks throughout my life has given me opportunities I would have otherwise thought were impossible, it also provided me with financial freedom at the current age of 26, and has given me the confidence and ability to trust and believe in myself in every waking moment. The first risk I took was at the age of 18, I decided to leave the comforts of my small hometown on the island of Hawai’i to start my adult life in a large city, Las Vegas. Shortly after arriving to Vegas the relationship I was in ended badly, which ultimately led to me being homeless for a period of time, 2 months to be exact. Long story short, I left that abusive relationship and ended up on the streets for over month before I found the courage to ask some friends for help. I couched surfed for a couple of weeks before making my most significant risk to date, moving to San Diego, CA. I say it’s my most significant risk to date because that decision shaped my entire life. I learned a lot about myself through the struggles I endured and during that lowest period of my life I had to come face-to-face with emotions I had suppressed when I was just a child in the foster care system. Fast forwarding a bit, I found a room for rent, started working an entry-level sales job that kept me afloat and put myself through school and received my BS in Computer Science. Since then I have been working as a contractor for companies such as Verizon, Experian, The Walt Disney Company to name a few, and went from an entry-level sales position with a $12.50 hourly wage to a senior level software engineer position making a generous six figure salary. None of this would have been possible if I hadn’t taken that risk and left my small hometown in Hawai’i, took the risk of being homeless and left that abusive relationship, let go and faced the mental blockers from my childhood traumas, and accepted the experiences I went through and took that knowledge that it provided me to make impactful decisions in the future. To top it off, taking all of those risks back then has now given me the opportunity to pursue my passions as a film score composer today, allowing me to follow my dreams and learn more about music composition while not being financially burdened.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
A few things that got me to where I’m at today is my connection with God, my love for music, taking risks when I had little to nothing and learning early on that through failure there is always a valuable lesson that you can learn from, that’ll help you grow and make better decisions in the future. Getting to where I’m at was a mental battle, the only person that has prevented me from anything was myself because of my doubts, fears and insecurities; childhood trauma played into it as well and it’s something that I’m working on and trying to understand till this day. I’ve learned how to overcome adversity at a very young age and speaking from my own experience, when you grow up in the foster care system you realize that you only have yourself to depend on especially when you age out of the system. When I became an adult, trusting myself and depending on myself came naturally, I didn’t know all of the nuances of what it meant to be an adult, but I knew the type of person I wanted to be and what I stood for. My culture as a Native Hawaiian plays a large role into what I stand for and helped shaped my core values, which are honesty, kindness, and love & respect for others without expecting anything in return. Many decisions I’ve made thus far have been strategic, half of them impulsive to be honest, but overall decisions that have helped me grow into the person that I am today.

I’m proud of the fact that I put myself through college and received my BS in computer science, paid for my extended education to receive my certificate as an iOS engineer, and worked my way up in companies to a senior-level position where I’ve been successful enough to have other companies notice me and offer me positions. My greatest success though, is the level of confidence I’ve found in myself to pursue my passion in music and continue my education as a film score composer. I have been a musician since I was five, playing the ukulele, piano, then the drums, bass, guitar, cello, etc.. and while I moved around and jumped from family to family as a kid, music has always been a constant thing in my life, it has never let me down. Music has gotten me through some of my hardest moments and it’s given me the ability to tap into my emotions and express them in a healthy way during my creative process. I truly don’t know where I would be today without music being the center of my life.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m from a town called Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawai’i aka the Big Island, and I believe it’s one of the most magical places on earth. You can get the freshest fish, witness an active volcano, see the prettiest beaches and depending on what time of the year it is, you can also ski/snowboard the top of Mauna Loa or Mauna Kea. There’s the dry side of the island, the luscious green side and waterfalls you can view in between them. There’s a rich and diverse amount of cultures in Hawaii, it’s like a melting pot, but the most fascinating culture in those lands are the kanaka maoli’s aka the native Hawaiians, my culture. Despite my childhood, I am so lucky to have grown up in Hawaii and be able to learn more about my culture through the Hawaiian immersion schools I went to where they taught us hula (song/dance), the history of our people, the real history of Hawaii and how to read, write, and speak in Hawaiian.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A HUGE shoutout to all of my friends and people I consider family, thank you for picking me up when I was down, being there to listen when I needed someone to talk to, being the voice of reason and for speaking some sense into me when I needed it the most. Thank you all for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself. As we like to say it in Hawai’i, Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much), I wouldn’t be here without you!

Instagram: @nellabarcelo

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nellabarcelo/

Other: My link tree: https://linktr.ee/nellabarcelo

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutSocal is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.