Meet Byron Roman: Community Outreach & Social Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Byron Roman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Byron, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Ironically, it was the Social Impact that created my non-profit Planet A Challenge. It was back in March of 2019 when I shared a photo of a young man that had cleaned up a littered area, because the caption was in Spanish, I translated to English but instead of “challenging” 2 friends, as requested, I challenged “bored teens”; By the end of the week, my post had been shared several hundred thousand times on social media and people from around the world took to the streets, parks, beaches, lakes, rivers, etc, to do cleanups and used the hashtags trashtag, trashtagchallenge, and basurachallenge. While these types of cleanups are nothing new, it was very inspiring to watch people from all types of life taking responsibility for the ecological disaster we have all helped create. The purpose and mission of Planet A Challenge is to engage communities in social, cultural, and environmental education and responsibility. 

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
One can say that the road taken to where I am now has been everything but smooth. There used to be more challenges when I thought success was a destination but over the years I have learned that it is better to focus on the outcome, without being too attached to it, and the things I can control. After a few career changes I have realized that I just don’t fit in a mold; it hinders my creativity and though I have always done the best job possible for my boss or a client, at the end of the day, I always felt as if I had not accomplished anything. This year, 2020, made me realize that in order to have the perfect career, I had to create it myself. With Planet A Challenge, every lesson learned on social, cultural, economical, political, moral, ethical, environmental, and other issues will come into play.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
It’s all about the journey and not the destination. If time is not a factor, the best way to travel is to stay off the Interstate; the small highways or side roads have so much to offer when it comes to views, historic sites, food, and just peace and some quiet. To the north, there is Jerome, Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon. That alone could take 2-3 days. Another nice ride is going thru Payson to the Petrified Forest and then again north to Four Corners and Monument Valley. Heading south, there is Tucson, Tombstone, and Bisbee but the best place to spend a few hours is the Pima Air & Space Museum; so much history there. As for places to eat, no favorites but I would stay away from fast food and chain restaurants.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
If it comes down to one person, then it would be my wife of 31 years, Jennifer. Marriage does not come with a “happily ever after” fairy tale guarantee but we have worked thru the ups and downs together and have made the best out of every bad scenario we have faced in life.

Website: www.planetachallenge.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/planet_a_challenge/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/planet-a-challenge
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ByronARoman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlanetAchallenge