John Arboleda ’96

When John Arboleda was attending community college, transferring to UCLA was the furthest thing from his mind. It wasn’t until a UCLA recruiter urged him to apply that Arboleda set his sights on the university. He knew very little then about how his decisions would influence him to take the road less traveled more than once in his life.

Arboleda currently serves as the UCLA Barcelona alumni network contact in Spain. He owns a successful global education management consulting business and lives a “global” life. He has traveled to more than 40 countries and is recognized professionally as an expert in the international education arena, something he began to do while attending UCLA.

As a first-generation college student, Arboleda graduated in Latin American studies in 1996. He realized the more he was on campus and around academia, the more he was inspired to excel, both personally and professionally. He volunteered to help recruit other transfer students and helped them understand and navigate the campus. Another opportunity came in the form of the UCLA Education Abroad Program. He desired to go to Chile and Argentina and studying abroad gave him that chance.

Still unsure about his career path, Arboleda’s network of friends and colleagues helped him recognize his abilities to do more. After studying abroad and through his volunteer work with transfer students he discovered a career in education. He started by working with the UC office of the president (UCOP) to lay the groundwork for what is now the UC Merced campus. For two years, he did student outreach and helped close the gap between prospective students in the San Joaquin Valley and the UC system, cultivating his experiences in higher education outreach, admissions and public relations work.

Arboleda went on to work with community college student programs at Mount San Antonio College and Cerritos College where he continued to gain experience in education, working with students, recruitment and community engagement programs. His experience with the Coro Fellows Program in Leadership and Public Affairs introduced him to different types of individuals across the country where he learned to understand how society and the world works, how it’s all interconnected. The program, which prides itself in leadership skill building and real-world experiences using each of their city locations as the classroom for learning, was a big influence in Arboleda’s professional and personal life.

Arboleda deferred graduate school in fall of 2000 in the newly opened School of Public Affairs at UCLA, in order to continue to travel. “I had the travel bug, and wanted to travel independently, on my own terms” he says. He embarked on a six month backpacking trip through Tierra del Fuego in Chile, navigating up the Amazon River from Brazil to Colombia, where his family is from originally. He then travelled to Europe where he spent the next few months exploring Spain, France and Italy and concluded his trip traveling across the U.S. Apart from meeting countless people along the way, he was regularly tapping into his UCLA network for insights and tips.

Arboleda recognized his global transformation began as a UCLA student studying abroad and continued as he immersed himself through his travels, sharing life experiences with other travelers and locals, benefitting from the openness and kindness of people he had just met and discovering there were other ways of living that differed from what he knew in the U.S. He made the unconventional decision to rescind his admission to graduate school and pursue a life in Europe. He initially learned Italian in Southern Italy, worked in a wine harvest in France, hiked the Swiss Alps and met friends that would eventually become business associates, godparents to his children and an extended family as he continued his travels along the way.

At age 32, he relocated to Munich, despite only knowing a few people, having no residency permit, no job, or knowledge of how to speak German. Arboleda volunteered for the U.S. 2004 presidential campaign registering overseas voters, joining expat groups and gradually building a network. He eventually landed his first job with the help from a German traveler he befriended in 2001, which translated into a working permit and residency visa.

Eventually, Arboleda was able to continue his work in education. He was recruited to join the German team that was co-launching the Duke Goethe EMBA program in Frankfurt. Over the next few years his work led him to travel all over Europe recruiting students and expanding his educational expertise in management education, program management, career services, international student and alumni engagement. He became familiar with global business, working across cultures and increasing his global IQ. He was also able to take what he learned from his experience as a student and professional in the U.S. and combine it with his international experience to develop innovative ways in which programs could be administered, delivered and marketed to students, faculty and alumni.

Arboleda’s work in education led him to a position with ESADE Business School in Spain in 2010 leading M.B.A. recruitment efforts across Europe. He was recruited to be Director of International Alumni Affairs at ESADE, putting him in charge of over 10,000 alumni overseas, involved in 32 international chapters fostering stakeholder engagement on behalf of ESADE´s international community.

After years of being an employee, he pursued his desire to become an entrepreneur in 2013 launching NOYO with his partner. NOYO is a global education consulting company based in Barcelona and London that helps higher education, business and government clients develop innovative stakeholder engagement models. NOYO stands for “Not On Your Own” following one of Arboleda’s philosophies, that through his networks someone has always been there to aid him.

Eleven years after his first step toward an unknown trail Arboleda’s life is something he never imagined. He met his wife, who is Italian, in Germany. They married in Las Vegas and in Vatican City. His son was born in Germany before they moved to Spain, and his daughter was born in Barcelona. Arboleda speaks four languages and his two children now speak three languages at home and attend the Italian School. His office is a block away from his home yet his work is global. His quality of life and passions are at the forefront of his personal and professional choices, and he lives life with integrity and purpose, striving to always make it meaningful and contribute toward society.

His involvement with the Barcelona Bruin alumni network fulfills him as well, creating a UCLA experience with a diverse and international group of people. He and his wife hosted the first Barcelona Bruin network event in their house and the group has grown from there. As part of his work with the network he helped create the Living Globally Series with the Alumni Association. With it he hopes to reach and encourage other alumni who like him, may seek international experiences and opportunities. The series is also an ideal way of connecting with alumni abroad who are engaged and have great valuable networks and resources which may benefit the UCLA community. It can be very useful for young alumni who seek a change to meet and hear alumni sharing their stories of working and living abroad. This can inspire those who are based in the U.S. to make the move and know there’s a global UCLA alumni network to help.

His personal journey can best be summed up in his words: “Traveling was learning about, John, the person, without the perceptions or tags placed on me. I learned to navigate the world learning to balance my acquired experience and trusting my gut feelings. And, thanks to countless people that have crossed my path, I have never felt on my own, in turn, allowing me to feel empowered to take risks, and keep doing so.”