eWork’s community team members are the soul of the We community. Heart of We highlights how their hard work and passion improves the daily lives of WeWork members around the globe.
Jose Carrillo’s brother had wanted him to join him in the United States for years. Carrillo did not speak English, and had never strayed far from his hometown of 3,000 people in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. He was nervous about moving to a place with a different culture and language, but ultimately “his heart wanted to go,” he says.
Carrillo joined his brother in San Francisco in 2008, arriving on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. “I felt a lot of emotions,” says Carrillo, who is Mayan. He says he thought he’d be coming to a foreign culture, but he realized that as an indigenous person, he actually had a lot in common with people in the U.S. “I thought that I didn’t belong here, but I realized I do,” Carrillo says.
After going to school to improve his English and holding down cashier and kitchen jobs, Carrillo applied for the position of community service associate at WeWork. Although he didn’t have experience in this kind of role, in his interview he expressed a desire to learn, and WeWork gave him a shot.