I remember stepping foot into a nonprofit for the first time. The organization invited me to come after hearing my interview on OPB. I walked into an old brick building and met a group of people I would never forget. There I was, surrounded by people who cared about the same issues I did and who were organizing to do something about it. The feeling was electric.

I was just ten years old.

I spent the next six years of my life working to pass climate policy with my best friend. I grew up around activists, community leaders, and elected officials. The first time I spoke with our governor, I wore a clip-on-tie and was eleven years old. Six years later, she gave me a handwritten letter which I still have on my wall today.

I dropped out to leave America and reconnect with my Italian heritage. I wanted to learn Italian and connect with the culture my mom grew up in. Luckily, I brought my camera with me. I started creating videos and posting them online to a YouTube channel called State of Mind.

I began to post videos on travel, languages, and life, rooted in the belief that the most important thing you have is your state of mind. The channel grew quickly with my fourth video posted having now received over 1.8 million views.

Once again, I returned to Portland. This time, to take responsibility for leading an organization of my own. I wanted to combine my years of advocacy, my expertise in storytelling, and my ability to connect with others into one initiative: Recycled Living. Recycled Living is a dream I have to recycle plastic waste into innovative building materials. Our mission is to transform the crisis of plastic pollution into an opportunity to support housing initiatives. Just two years ago, I was the only member of Recycled Living. Since then, 60+ volunteers have helped to build our first tiny home for Cultivate Initiatives, a series of 13 patio covers for WeShine, and a plastic recycling machine designed and built by ourselves. Our project is still young and volunteer-led. I want to devote my career to housing advocacy whether it is by growing Recycled Living or by working for another nonprofit that I care about.

I have this deep gratitude that this work has allowed me to return to that feeling of excitement, community, and meaning that I grew up in.

- Charlie Abrams

As I grew up, I felt the urge to document our work. I began to create videos about our grassroots movement and fell in love with the art of videography. I found myself at the intersection of social change and storytelling. I felt the power it had and how much it meant to me.

In 2020, we were cheated on the climate policy we had spent years fighting for. The Republican Senate walked out to avoid voting on a bill they knew would pass. For me, this was heartbreaking and deeply discouraging. At the same time, COVID began, and I went into my second year of high school. These three things profoundly impacted me. It felt like we lost our fight at the capitol, the pandemic was just beginning, and I hated the American high school system. I shifted my focus from climate policy to local housing advocacy and I dropped out of high school.

When I came back to Portland, Oregon, I found another life passion; meditation. I walked into a Zen Buddhist Temple at 18 years old, and was overcome with wonder and awe. During my first weeklong silent meditation retreat, I was flooded with all these memories from my childhood. My best friend, the activists, the brick building where it all began—I was taken aback by the sheer beauty of the life I had lived. For the next three years, I meditated ardently at this temple and even lived with the monastics for a three-month period.

I continued traveling to new cultures to learn languages and connect with more of our world. I spent half a year in Colombia on a motorcycle trip and joined a fundraiser in Ukraine during the war. These experiences have shaped who I am as a person and my ability to connect with others.