Today we’d like to introduce you to John Carey.
John, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is John Maurice Carey, and I was born in upstate New York in Oct of 1986. I moved to NC when I was two.
My father and uncles are men of many trades, and they all owned their own businesses. They are mechanics, farmers, tree workers, electricians, contractors, roofers, etc. I apprenticed in all these trades. My mother ran her own business cleaning houses, and my sister and I lived with her until I went off to college. I was able to float from mentor to mentor learning how to learn and learning to work when no one is watching.
Since middle school, I have worked full-time with my summers with the aforementioned mentors. I taught a sailing camp for 4 years, went to school at NC State for engineering, worked in direct sales for a decade, have been practicing yoga for almost 15 years, and have my teaching certification.
Growing up with a mother who made 15k a year, getting free lunch at school, and going to college completely on financial aid taught me to be resourceful. In college, I earned 6 figures working with the Southwestern Advantage Program, and the resources and skills earned through that endeavor taught me resources aren’t the key to happiness.
Most people aren’t lucky enough to have a mid-life crisis when they are 25, but it gave me the opportunity to ask, “What would I do if I knew I could not fail?” and after a lot of thought, it seemed the most beneficial and rewarding way I could invest my life was to add as much value as possible to as many lives as possible. While exploring these thoughts, it became clear that all work requires energy and that without work there is no progress, so expanding access to a nearly limitless source of energy seemed like a great way to add as much value as possible to as many lives as possible.
In 2014, I moved to California to learn about solar, and for the last nine years, I’ve invested in learning every detail of the industry and removing the biggest obstacles holding back solar adoption (lack of education, customer acquisition cost). And recently, with the Inflation Reduction Act, we’ve been serving rural, low-income farmers and small business owners due to the incentives and the impact solar + storage has on the belief and grid for those communities.
Along with growing Ovanova’s ability to serve the solar industry, we are developing Regenerative Centers. Havens for artists, scientists, and healers. Regen Centers are focused on food, peace, and work. We intend on building 1000 in the next 20 years.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I heard a story once of a person who goes on a whale-watching tour. They start to feel woozy. They tell the captain. The captain says, “What did you come out on this boat for?” And the person replies, “To see the whales.” And the captain then says, “Where will you see them?” And the person points toward the horizon. And the captain says, “Keep your eye on why you came here.” Having been a sailing instructor, that’s always resonated with me, bc if you’re looking at the choppy waves over the edge of the boat, it’s easy to get sick. But if you keep your eye on the horizon, the big picture, the same ride seems a lot less choppy, even if there are some strong swells during the journey. It hasn’t been smooth or easy, but it’s always been worth it.
It’s been less of a road and more of a roller coaster. At points, we slowly climbed up hills. Sometimes we were moving fast through the dark. We sometimes got flipped upside down and spun around, and it felt like we were gonna die. But bc I was fortunate enough to have consciously chosen this path to fulfill a personal mission rather than “attempting it as a career change,” I strapped in for the entire ride at the beginning.
The struggles are the same as they have been and will be, people and resources. It just so happens I have been working diligently with both those things for quite some time now. It is never as good as it seems and never as bad as it seems.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work in building Regenerative Centers holds most of my passion. It comes from thinking long-term, I like to think 1000 years into the future when making decisions. The mission: to add as much value as possible to as many lives as possible naturally creates the question of how to accomplish this mission. Regen Centers are key to that. These physical places will serve to create a consciousness shift from competition to collaboration. Opportunity, immersion, and community create the possibility of abundant food, peace, and work.
I’m different because I think long-term. This leads me to see the downfalls of going through life with the “more for me is good” mentality most of us have. I’m grateful. I can keep the fact that there is a lot of work to do and the fact that we have all the time in the world to this work in my mind at the same time. Urgency and Abundance.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Growing up on the water with little supervision made my whole childhood and pleasurable memory. Wakeboarding, sailing, fishing, playing with friends in the woods and water, sports, etc. I can tell fun stories all day.
Contact Info:
- Website: Ovanova.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ovanova.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/voiceofsolar
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ovanova
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLBUXVUE6p6SJXc2EIiX38w
