You work toward something like a game,
why don't you work toward something in life,
“getting towards the steps to do their getting skills,”
no matter what kind of game it is that you're practicing, a lot of things in life are like that as well. And that's exactly the kind of metaphor analogy that I like to use and say, hey, use this as you're progressing,
use it in a way that you're really not only enjoying it, you're gamifying it and then also making progress. - Allison Dungo is an insightful and forward-thinking technologist and the founder of Dungo Digital, anchored by his research as a doctoral student
and smart scholar, he empowers everyday individuals and local organizations to actively shape the future of AI policy, creating a lasting legacy of inclusive innovation, ethical technology, and grassroots empowerment.
- My one of my mission goals and my businesses is we share STEM across all generations and we may not know everything, but we know that we want to help people. All my life I've definitely went through
a lot of struggles, different stages, whether it was being a kid, whether it was being a teenager, college, now in a dull, I've faced a lot of different things in my teenage hood, I lost my older sister whenever I was 13,
I've lost my, one of my mentors, and I really just struggled,
“but none of that was to define who I was and say,”
hey, just because you're getting thrown, these things in life does not mean that you can't still succeed. I find myself saying that a lot of this year is full circle, you know, where did it start?
What's the problem? How do we fix it and what's the solution? (dramatic music) It spans the globe, like a super high school, internet Elvis,
today, Apple is going to reinvent the globe. It's our over, I'm telling how we're, the living your legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy. (crowd cheering)
(crowd cheering) Oh, that is sensational to open. - You come up with the latest info in the box is not on the planet, you can live your dream. - Welcome back to another episode of Living Your Legacy,
I am your host for Inside Success, Ray Goot Harris. Joining me today is a man that definitely doesn't need an introduction 'cause I love his ink and I love the fact that we're both striped matching, but he is the leader of two of my favorite things.
Video games and mental health and STEM research. I'll dungo, how are you, my friend? - I'm great, today, thank you so much for asking. - Yeah, but you can bring it that lot closer. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, it's got swivels and all sorts of engineering quirks in there. Dude, who are you?
You look amazing already, I'm intrigued.
- Yeah, yeah, so thanks for having me. My name's Al Dungo from Ubalty, Texas. Born and raised there, and like you said, a big lover of video games, but also an advocate for mental health,
especially in today's world. And all of that to tie together, STEM education, kind of investing in the next generation is what I want to be able to focus on. - Right on, so when you say STEM STE,
that's actually an acronym for something. - Right. - You educated me right before this podcast. Can you educate our viewers in case they just need-- - Yeah, so STEM stands for science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics. I'm actually a computer science major, and so that's actually where I kind of tied my knowledge with my passion. Video games are created by things of the STEM,
chilled computer engineering, computer programming, and things like that. So that's exactly the focus that I want to have in giving that to the next generation, 'cause that's what everyone's about.
We're all about the technology, we're all about the games. And that's exactly where I want to be able to focus. - So where does your story be get? Is it mental health or is it video games?
“- Honestly, it is, I would say it's mental health.”
- Cool. - Because all my life, I've definitely went through a lot of struggles, different stages, whether it was being a kid, whether it was being a teenager, college, now an adult.
I always found that safety and security and just,
hey, let me just have something to escape, you know, take my mind off and enjoy. You know, it could be a hobby, it could be now these, it turns into a career, if people really wanted it to.
And so I use that really, like you said, where does the start is being able to find that comfort? And then now that I'm older, you know, you can choose to do what you want, you can really take grasp of that,
and it's video games that I want to be able to tell everyone that, hey, lots of benefits, and you can really be productive, you can enjoy yourself, you can also learn a lot. - For sure.
- You're meant to help while doing all of that. - At the risk of making this video game podcast, what kind of game are you? Like, we can go into a deep rabbit hole or an iceberg here, but when folks hear video games,
they're like, oh, you mean the Atari, the Nintendo, or that Xbox thing. I'm like, no, there's quite the lore and quite a culture that is actually the spearheading leading entertainment. Can you just give us a brief intro
of what video games mean to you? - Right, right, yeah, so you're definitely right. You could fall into the rabbit hole of talking about a bunch of different things that come to video games, the way that it's grown,
video games are actually not super old in terms of history, but they've just continued to grow.
And so me personally, I've always been,
you know, since that was more of like a 2000s kid, I was really big and tuned Nintendo for sure. You know, I loved Mario, I love all of that swords,
As I grew older, and became more into technology,
I really got into the scene of PC gaming.
“So you know, building my own PC or getting everything”
all set up and it's kind of like that universal aspect. It doesn't matter if your Xbox player, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC's kind of like that centralized. Some people want to say, oh, you're definitely a gamer, if you really wait into by yourself a gaming PC.
But then that's kind of where I like to really dive into all of that. So I love the old school stuff. I'm really big into like Tetris. You know, like you said, the older type games,
but then I love definitely like to be on the trend
of the newer stuff, you know, the first person shooters,
educational games, you know, explorative games, survival, and all of that. So I really like to be genuinely knowledgeable and touch into all of that, if I can. - Right on, besides graphics and frames per second
and all sorts of fun technical talk, what, how do you merge your studies with gaming and how do you proceed from there? - Right. So the way that I like to really tie it in together
with like you said studies and gaming is actually whenever I really dove into the broad of business in terms of educating the way that I call it is gameifying. So one way that people don't really realize is that whenever gamers, a language that a lot of young people
already know is working towards something, leveling up as they call it. And so that's exactly how I like to use it in my education system or even just as a personal mentor. What kind of just growing and just say,
hey, you know, you work towards something
like in a game, why don't you work towards something in life?
You know, getting towards the steps to do there, getting skills, no matter what kind of game it is that you're practicing, a lot of things in life are like that as well. And that's exactly the kind of metaphor analogy
that I like to use and say, hey, use this as you're progressing, use it in a way that you're really not only enjoying it, you're gamifying it and then also making progress.
“And so that's how I really like to tie it in”
with the aspect of games. 'Cause it makes people kind of take it down level, relax a little bit and be like, hey, whatever reason that I'm doing this, I'm gamifying it and making it something that I enjoy.
And I definitely think that people are able to have more passion, more drive when they approach it that way. - So when you say gamify, I'm assuming you're going beyond just, you know, textile controller, you're probably thinking, I, to hand coordination, musical rhythm,
like talk about the different ways you've gamified it, but also merge science. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you're exactly right with the hand-died coordination. And so it's a matter of, you know, turning it into,
for example, there's like a project that we are actively working on where it could just be seen as regular modern day solution where, you know, you're kind of keeping track of how many people are going to a certain area. - Sure. - Right.
That doesn't seem like a big thing, but it doesn't seem like much. Whenever you turn it into gamifying, make it into something that people say, hey, this seems like a fun thing to do.
Even if it's indirectly related, even if it doesn't seem like it has anything to do with it at all, it's using today's modern technology to really be able and say, hey, this is a fun concept that people are already doing.
Let's make it into something that they're trying to achieve, get achievements, give them accomplishments, give them goals to go towards. And that's just one aspect. As well as, you know, with my programming classes
and with the things that I teach, I'm actually actually working on fundamental courses for programming where it's actually more of a video game based, so that people, since there are already gamers
who like to do coding, it kind of goes hand in hand together, where not only are you learning to code, but you're also gaming and it kind of just ties in together. So it's that blend that really attracts people to being, hey, this is technology.
This is just one little thing that I enjoy doing, how much more about when you want to introduce them to that, you can give them into the whole world of, hey, technology is actually everywhere, and it helps people.
“And so that's how we really like to just start,”
you know, segue it in and tie it in for people. - What's your design philosophy? Are you unity? Are you on a real, are you open source? Like, how are you community based?
Are you doing community based? - Sure. - So we're really big on being community based in our hometown area. We actually associate with a lot of gaming societies.
And those are the best people. Not only do you have your gamers who are there for fun, you've got your tech nerd, you've got your teachers, you've got your developers, you even have your artists. - Oh yeah.
- And so I really like that community based because in just like everything, some places, some industries,
you're always gonna have that toxic or that negativity.
And I don't like the competitive aspect of it. I like more of the feeling of, hey, we're all working towards something together, not against each other. I think there's enough cutthroat in the world for it. It's especially in technology.
- Sure, sure. - And so I really like the idea of it being community based. So one thing that I actually do is my approach in designing. I actually say, hey, what do you use? I go up to someone that wants to collaborate
and say, what do you do where are you strong? Because at the end of the day, everyone's gonna be using different tools. I definitely have used unity and college. I definitely did some game development with unity.
I have plenty of colleagues in friends who want to try new tools,
Sure, things keep modernizing.
So that's definitely where we like to focus. - It's just here in my notes that you were home schooled
and you were an early achiever by second grade.
So when folks here at home schooled, I have a partner and they were home schooled as well. They think, well, you don't have any waves. You don't have no social skills. Like that's quite the contrary.
Like you were developed in a different way. Talk about that experience of being home schooled. - Right, yeah. - A school you're totally right that has a certain stigma that sometimes you don't have that exposure.
“I think the amount of people I've met in my life”
that have also been home schooled is very little. And of course, they've also faced those conventions as well. I think that my representation for it is different because the way that I was home schooled, it was taught to be your being home schooled
so that you can be ahead. Let's not limit to you to whatever system there are is or any hindrances or what others are doing. My parents wanted me to be ahead. And so, yes, socialization can definitely be kind of like,
you know, you wonder if home schooled kids are getting the same as they do in public. And just like with anything else, you really, it's about how you do it. And the way that my parents wanted to approach it
would also definitely, I could see that those patterns would carry with me as I returned to public school as I would grow into like the social person I was. And honestly, I don't think I missed the beat because I was more than just school.
My parents were big on doing extra curriculars,
even at that young age, as you mentioned, second grade.
It was about the exposure and how you become well-rounded in different areas. Also, again, while enjoying it thoroughly. - Yeah, my first language was Spanish. I couldn't spell purple and second grade.
I was an East Old Kid. So, I'm quite proud of how far I've come so. So, I completely hear you as a home school kid. I'm an only child. So, things I interpreted reality very, very differently,
especially as about Thino and Miami. It also says here that you had a mentor, which was your band director. You returned to regular society, as they say. My mentor was my drama teachers,
my TV professor.
“Talk about how important it is to have a mentor,”
especially in an extra curriculativity like band. - Right, and I love that you mentioned that because that mentor of mine actually passed away actively while I was, people who was my mentor. - Well.
- And I knew him from the ages of 12 until he passed away in a row of 17. - Pretty clearly. - Yeah, it's pretty clearly. - Yeah, it's just like he mentioned, you know, having someone that may not necessarily be a family member,
or maybe some because, you know, everyone in your life becomes an influential, but whenever it comes to that external person, like you said a teacher, a band director or whatever, it's super influential because it's that,
especially in the teenage years, it's that person outside who may not know you since you were little, but sees you for who you are right than in there in those teenage moments. Sees your talent, sees whatever you're pursuing,
and impression because they're there for that too. My band director was there because he loved being a drummer. The minute that he saw me, he's like, you're gonna be a drummer. And one of my core things that has stayed with me
to this day is an example of one time when I went to state, and that's bigger than the small town that it was in. - Oh, I know where. - Great example. - That was just as a drum line as well.
- Yeah, exactly. - I was wondering if you'd be in a drum line. - They're so cool. - Oh my God. - I'm a band nerd.
(laughing) - The hype behind it is definitely up. - Oh, yeah. - Oh, there. - I'm like, what are they doing for my money?
That's exactly where it is.
And so he would always hype me up.
He was always the one that taught me. He made me hit accomplishments that people in our town haven't. And then when I went to state where you're exposed to the outside world, which is exactly my whole point
with like, you value. In the short sum, it basically felt like I could perform. You're like, oh, that wasn't the best, you know, shrug it off. And as a teenager, I was like, dang,
I worked so hard. How did I get to that point to only just be like, that's what they thought of it? And he pulled me to the side of me that he was like, do not listen to them.
- Nope. - He was like, you worked every single day towards this piece. You did every single thing that you can. And that rating is nothing.
He said, I see you, you see you, your town sees you, you did this. - The best advice anyone's ever told was like, just keep doing it. Just keep doing what you're doing, trust me.
Just keep doing it. - Yep. - Just stay on that trajectory. Speaking of which, we are literally about to film your episode for Legacy Makers.
“What do we got to learn about you in this Legacy Makers episode?”
- Yeah, so some awesome things that you're going to be able to learn about me is really just where I come from. I want to be able to tell you about the small hometown that I was really born and raised in.
And although you grow up with a certain perception, it's about coming from what feels like not much and being able to get out. I can't express enough how much that exposure is so important. And for people of my town,
but also the rest of the world who care about their communities, who care about the small people to say, you can really go out there and still come back to your roots. - Absolutely. - You can really go back there and still leave that name behind
and see, no make that impact to those who may not think that they can do it or aren't sure how to. And so I want to be able to approach that also while taking the tragedy that happened. And not just how it affected me
because I was already out of my town when it happened. But again, whenever it's something that hits so close to home, like I said, I've faced a lot of different things
In my teenage hood.
I lost my older sister whenever I was 13.
I've lost my one of my mentors. And I really just struggled. But none of that was to define who I was and say, hey, just because you're getting thrown, these things in life does not mean that you can't still succeed.
- So I want to be able to talk about that also talk about where I've been now and the awesome plans that I have for my future endeavors and ways that I'm going to kind of go full circle. I find myself saying that a lot this year is full circle.
Where did it start? What's the problem? How do we fix it in what's the solution? - I don't know. - So just circling back on that
and that's really what I want to be able to share again to just make that impact and really be able to help others.
“That's what my one of my mission goals and my businesses”
is we share STEM across all generations. And we may not know everything but we know that we want to help people.
- Remember, how do people find you?
How do people look you up? How do people find your services? - So services, yeah. So really what we're big on and I actually have legacy makers and living the red life
to really think that because it's that encouragement, it's that advice. I think that's exactly what this business is trying to do is spread that word of entrepreneurship on the business. And so I'm actually taking a lot of advice
and strategy from this and that's social media. It's social media. Putting ourselves out there because that's where everything is. It was even crazy because whenever I was in college, I used to be like, oh, website, website, website.
Which is true, it's still true. - Oh, absolutely. - But today it's like almost all websites can be very close to like landing site and you're gonna be directed towards
a couple of videos. - Yeah, that's all right. - So that's exactly how we are trying to be found as well. We actually take the approaches are very modern, very similar. So anything that you can find just like you do now
look us up on Google, you know, find this right there. We're gonna be able to find this on Instagram social media, Facebook, you know, don't go digital right there.
“So that's how we get reached out and we're really”
a home grown person also, you know, for the services that we provide. And especially like for those of my home town, you know, we have a direct phone number, very, you know, open to the conversations
trying to make it really personal felt. And so that's how we like to communicate. - Who's your standard customer or client or soul that calls you up and go, what do they ask for? - Honestly, right now, we're really big
in the young adult area and also that teenage that really key stage of like 17, 18 and then you adult because that's where, I mean, you're figuring out life. That's where like the next stage really happens. And so those tend to be the audiences
where just just like, hey, you know, what direction can I go to, you know, where am I gonna lead to? But also audiences really have just any of the gaming type, any of the nerd, you know, those computer lovers out there is because if you love to, if you want to dump on technology,
then that's where, you know, you can right come straight to us because again, there's so much direction. There's a lot of places to go. It's almost overwhelming, what you don't mind. - Sure.
- But we, you know, bringing any of those people who are just looking for, hey, what's the latest technology or, you know, hey, what's the coolest game to play? It doesn't matter what age you are, you know, we have young people that we can get along with.
Also as well as, you know, people who are already established, well grown, have families, older people, you know, anyone can really use the help of technology, and that's exactly who we like to aim for. - Right on, brother. So for anyone in the gaming industry that stumbles on this video,
what are you playing now? What is a gamer playing right now? - Believe it or not, actually, which is kind of old school, not old school, but like, it feels like there's been hype and trends of it, like fluctuating.
It's actually, I'm really big on, well, one of the biggest trend games right now is Marvel rivals. Yeah, so that's really big, because I'm big on superheroes. - Oh, right on.
- Yeah, but within the company, we're actually trying to have different categories of games. So kind of just again, because there's different groups of people, right, there's different communities that like and are drawn to games like that.
So another big community that we're really into is like Minecraft. - Right on, of course. - Classic, yeah. - Roblox.
“- Roblox, yeah, that's what everyone's into.”
I keep you not, I will play Minecraft with my eight-year-old nephew. - Of course. - Just as I will with my 30-year-old cousin. - It's amazing, good. It's really just like, it's an engine with an engine.
It's quite brilliant what they've achieved with Minecraft. It's, I, I developed my first website in 1995. I'm like, I learned my top myself H2ML back then. Part of the Webby's team, I don't hate myself. But I was just like, it's very much Minecraft.
I wish, like I, Mr. Shamanka, another white dude that played computer games.
I was always in the computer lag, another mentor.
And like he discovered me and like, dude, it's that Minecraft community of today back then, but a completely different wrapping. - Right. - Dude, it was such an honor and a pleasure to hang out
with you and kick it. Good luck in your episode, break a leg. - Yeah, I think that's about it, man. Thanks again for your time. I'm looking forward to your journey.
That concludes yet another episode of Living Your Legacy. I'm Regoutirez for Insight Success. (upbeat music)
