Words matter, and that's exactly what Jonathan Medina uses to inspire others.

Medina didn't have a traditional up-bringing. But now he spends his days traveling to schools across the country to share his story. 

His hope is to inspire other students. 

“I was always actually kind of ashamed of my background,” Medina said. “I grew up without my parents in the house, I grew up being a migrant field worker, and we were really low income."

Medina turned that shame into something positive. 

For more Made in the 956 stories, click here.

“I never envisioned that I would then go on and speak at over a thousand places, over a million students would hear my personal story of overcoming that,” Medina said

Medina is a motivational speaker. He recently spoke to a group of seniors at his alma mater — Rio Hondo High School."

“One of the cool things is I get to go travel the country sharing the message, sharing how a student from the Valley has gone to live out his dreams — live out my dreams,” Medina said.

All that traveling came to a stop in 2020.

“During the pandemic I had to change, I had to adjust,” Medina recalled. “I was able to write my first book during the pandemic. It was really successful, it went on to become the number one successful book on student leadership.”

Medina's pandemic creations didn't stop there. 

“I also created social emotional learning curriculum that schools are now using across the country,” Medina added. “I now manage a team of speakers and I send them all across the country. So, 20 years from now, I imagine that number has gone...we've reached about a million a year, but my goal is to be at a million schools per year."

“It all goes through my company, topschoolspeakers.com and there, people can come and book a speaker,” Medina explained. “They can get the curriculum. We have an athletic curriculum, we have a leadership curriculum, we really want to help our schools dream big."

It’s a dream Medina knows can come true.

Medina is also giving away books to every single kid in the Rio Grande Valley at freegiftfromjonathan.com.

“I love The Rio Grande Valley.” Medina said. "I'm from here, and even though I get to travel the country and inspire people — all of that comes from being raised here in the Rio Grande Valley. Thank you all so much.")

Jonathan Medina, Made In The 956.