Through the Valley: Streets, Schizophrenia, and Success in Tech

By: Dr. Apollo I. Ellis

Narrated by: Maxx Pinkins

Apollo Ellis's journey from the streets of the 1990s San Francisco Bay Area to the heights of Silicon Valley is a tale of extraordinary resilience. Growing up in a world dominated by hip-hop and street culture, he faced daunting circumstances. Narrow escapes from the drug game and gang violence left their marks in the form of PTSD and addiction. Homeless at the age of twenty, Apollo made the pivotal decision to return to school. Choosing education as his lifeline, he began to reconstruct himself. When a diagnosis of acute paranoid schizophrenia threatened his story again, he stayed his course, and went on to graduate from UC Berkeley.

Today, Dr. Apollo Ellis is a renowned expert in computer science technology. He has earned a Master’s degree and a PhD from the best institutions in the world, and worked at many Fortune 500 tech giants like Intel, Apple, Sony PlayStation, and Facebook.

In Through the Valley, we accompany him on this journey from the precarious streets, through schizophrenia, to Silicon Valley's pinnacle. It is truly a testament to the power of determination, and of an unyielding pursuit of the right to chase one’s dreams.

©2021 Apollo Ellis (P)2021 Apollo Ellis