As a young kid, New York Times Bestselling author and Veteran J.D. Vance moved from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio where his grandparent’s, aunt, uncle, sister, and most of all his mother, struggled with the upward mobility to a middle-class life and was never fully able to escape the history of abuse, alcoholism and poverty. The thought of becoming a tech icon was far from a realism for Vance. It wasn’t until he entered the Marine Corps after high school and went on to graduate from the Ohio State University and Yale Law School that he saw the world in a different light. In his new book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis Vance takes a deep look into the white working-class Americans who exist in the Rust Belt from the perspective of someone who was raised in that environment. Vance writes using his own personal experience and understanding of this group of people to deliver an insightful exploration of what it’s like to be in such a struggle of class, society, and region. Vance uses his roots in Middletown, Ohio to paint the picture of how difficult it is to experience upward mobility in such dismal circumstances and meditate on why and how the American dream is falling out of grasp for so many Americans.
I’m at the inaugural Rise of the Rest Summit with J.D. Vance discussing the urgency and importance of Rise of the Rest. Posted by Steve Case on Thursday, March 30, 2017 At the Rise of the Rest Summit, Steve Case talked with J.D. Vance about how to bridge ecosystems around entrepreneurship. Vance shared his deep rooted passion to help people in rural areas realize opportunities and possibilities out in the world as well as help smaller communities build companies and create jobs. Vance stressed the importance of those working in the larger tech ecosystems to take the time and connect with young people in their rural cities to bridge the gap and shine a light on what is possible. Around the country, there are startups in the most unlikely cities creating amazing companies and innovations, but we don’t hear enough about them. Vance said that each ecosystem needs to start making noise and spreading the information throughout their communities that innovation is happening and in turn the noise could attract more investments. Co-authored with Jacob Faber Photo: Flickr / Fusion-of-Horizons
