ISDI Student Spotlight ft. Matt Reyes
In this weekly series, we’ll be highlighting the student journeys and accomplishments of our future leaders in digital business.
This week features Matt, one of our students whose curiosity for the galactic world has lead him to some truly unique experiences. From hosting the Burning Man Webcast to working at NASA to getting his questions answered by Stephen Hawking — read on to find out more about Matthew F. Reyes!
1. Tell us a little bit about your background and why you decided to make ISDI a part of your journey?
So I was going to grad school for molecular biology because I wanted to become an astronaut and learn how to grow plants in space, however as I was taking this course the space shuttle Columbia unfortunately crashed.
After that, the funding for life sciences dried up and I saw a career path I had spent my whole life heading toward essentially evaporate. So I dropped out of grad school and pursued a close second dream — one that lead me to kick off and create Zero Gravity Corporation in 2004. Our mission was to help get passengers and researchers onto a cargo aircraft that could simulate micro gravity. This was related to a capacity I had worked on at grad school for NASA called the Vomit Comet that simulated micro-gravity (if you ever saw Apollo 13, when Tom Hanks is floating around a space capsule that shot in the Vomit Comet). Zero Gravity Corporation was essentially the public equivalent of NASA’s Vomit Comet and in 2007 we made a commitment to Stephen Hawking to fly him in micro gravity for an outer-space training flight. Hawkins had struck a deal with Richard Branson that he’d be on the first Virgin Galactic Spacecraft so he wanted to experience micro-gravity beforehand.
When I met him, you could tell he had a sense of humor and I got the unique opportunity to carry him on board the aircraft itself. Out of everyone present, I was the only person he answered a question for and I asked: “If you had the opportunity to float in micro gravity sooner in your career (or if Einstein had the opportunity) do you think you would’ve come up with your theories faster?”— And he said yes.
In how this brought me to ISDI, starting my own company I helped train and manage internship programs at NASA Ames and I always preached to our interns to keep their education current and learn everything they possibly could, even after grad school. However, I realized I wasn’t taking my own advice so when a good friend and current mentor at ISDI, Kriselle Laran, invited me to an ISDI Talks event, I was intrigued. Two things really sealed the deal — I wanted to learn the tools and I wanted to get the network and so far I have received great value from both!
2. If your friends and family had to use 3 words to describe you what would they be?
Nerdy, Extroverted, Authentic/Genuine
3. What is your proudest work accomplishment? Life accomplishment?
Work: Besides carrying Stephen Hawking onto our Zero Gravity aircraft to fly in micro gravity — which was absolutely a team effort — when I worked for GoPro we produced a VR video piece of a wing suit flight over the great wall of China in 2017 — that was pretty amazing.
Life: Still being alive — I’ve dared a lot of things with life — my coined username @motorbikematt is @motorbikematt for a reason.
Honestly besides that producing the webcast on Playa for Burning Man. Even though a webcast is not even close to the same as being there, giving people some access through a webcast is better than no access at all.
There’s also something really cool I’ve started doing the past few years of me being there. Most people know “The Man” burn party on Saturday and then the next day, that Sunday is the last day people go to church and afterward you burn the church down (everything burns at the end of Burning Man). Throughout the week though people put pieces of their art, notes, and letters all throughout the church expressing their loss, they put pictures of friends, Robin Williams Prince etc….In recent years I’ve put out a memo to people who couldn’t make it to Burning Man— if you create a piece of art or a letter — I’ll deliver it for you and place it in the church so it can be a part of the burn ceremony at the end of the week. That has been a very moving and inspiring experience to connect with the Burning Man community.
4. What is a surprising fact not many people know about you or something you wish more people knew about you?
I wish more people knew I have managed more programs as a volunteer than I have as an employee. I’ve done a lot of work advising start ups, several art heavy projects, heavy engineering projects, crowd funding work etc.
Although in my mind I have decent “official” work experience my volunteer experience is even broader than that.
5. If you had to write a book about something and you knew it would be an all time best seller (as in this message would be seen by millions of people) what would it be and why?
I would write a book on how to not take no for an answer. It would be about not accepting the status quo and not letting what you perceive around you get you down a or be an obstacle to fulfilling your dreams. Because I’ve people say they are pushed down by the man, society, the spouse, the culture, the job, or whatever, but if you can find some way to not be pushed down and move past that — you’re going to freaking rock it.
Flexibility is really the key to getting what you want out of life. If the answer you keep getting is “No”, keep asking “What about this?” or “What if this?” — that tenacity and challenge to keep asking — that’s how you get what you eventually want.
6. If you decided to start a business tomorrow what would it be and why?
I would start a consulting firm for people who want to start businesses that involve outer-space exploration. It’s the ultimate dream and so many people think it’s impossible to do, but I’m here to tell you you can do it and you should.
7. What is a piece of advice you’d give to the younger version of yourself?
I’d say to my younger self don’t procrastinate and let too much time slip by before chasing what you really want. Just DO the things you know you have to do to get you to where you want to go.
I.e., I could send this email or I could finish this song…STOP DOING THE UNIMPORTANT. That’s what I’d say to my younger self.
8. What is a product, service, company, book, activity you WOM (word of mouth) advertise all the time to family and friends?
Burning Man of course. Also international travel — because I think that without international travel you don’t have perspective on your own country and you don’t get exposed to different ways of thinking that allow you to be creative and empathetic for other people. Burning Man is an aspect of that because I look at it as a different country in and of itself. I really think international travel should be a requirement — just like we are required to learn math or reading.
9. Give us a digital tip or trick you’ve learned at ISDI!
Find a way to implement design thinking in your work and life in general. Some of the tools I’ve researched thanks to Greg Petroff in terms of design thinking have been really great.
Some tools specifically: StormBoard and Balsamiq.
Thanks for joining us on our Student Spotlight Series! For more ISDI blog posts written by our amazing students and our esteemed academic board, check them out at our ISDI Blog here.
