My name is Alberto Linares. I’m originally from Peru, but I’m currently living in North Carolina. I graduated from Appalachian State University, but my journey to getting here wasn't a straight line.

When I was a kid, my only dream was to become a professional soccer player. But after moving to the United States, seeing that the country lacked interest in the sport—and even called it by a different name made me slowly lose that passion. It made me realize how hard it is to achieve a dream like that when the culture around you doesn't match it.

Eventually, I was left not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I went to a community college, and when the time came to choose a real career path, I had a lot on my plate. I needed something that would allow me to keep working 40 hours a week, because helping my mom pay the bills was hard enough while doing school remotely. I was torn between Finance and Advertising. Looking back, finance probably would've been an excellent choice, but unfortunately, numbers and I are not good friends. The more I looked into advertising, the more I fell in love with it. I realized it was a creative path where I could build new worlds and tell stories—and that’s exactly the kind of thing passion can do.

Aside from advertising, I’ve always loved music. Even though I never learned how to play a real instrument, I know a little bit of how to use Logic Pro and I even have a DJ set. To be honest, I’m terrible at it and my girlfriend constantly makes fun of me for it, but I love it anyway. My taste is all over the place—rock, pop, reggaeton, salsa, cumbia, and plenty of others. If I had to pick my favorites, it would be Joji, Alvaro Diaz, Radiohead, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, The Beatles, Flying Colors, and I absolutely love George Harrison’s music.

I’m also a big fan of technology and video games. When it comes to TV, How I Met Your Mother is easily the best show ever made and my ultimate comfort watch. I also love movies—The Wolf of Wall Street is probably my favorite, but if I’m feeling nostalgic, I’ll always put on Spider-Man 2 (the Tobey Maguire one).

If you don't catch me sleeping, playing soccer, watching soccer, or playing video games, you can probably find me watching a history documentary or hanging out with my family and my girlfriend.