The Fire Within: Leo Rochman’s Story of Resilience

One thing that Leo Rochman learned from studying philosophy is that human beings persevere through adversity. This life lesson has shaped his journey to the graduation stage this June after a tragic twist of fate. And yet, he marches on, filled with gratitude for where he has been and feeling at ease for where he is now.

Born and raised in Pacific Palisades, California, a hillside seaside community between Santa Monica and Malibu, Rochman dreamed of playing baseball in college. However, COVID restrictions in 2021 cast some doubt on whether he would get playing time in California schools so he went to play for Oberlin College, located in rural Ohio. He said, “It was a total culture shock. It wasn’t easy at times, but I ended up meeting some of my best friends that I’m still connected with to this day. I played a lot as a freshman and had that competitive atmosphere that I was looking for. But I also realized I’m a California kid.” With the passing of the coach who recruited him that year — and a new business opportunity with friends emerging — he made the decision to return to California.

Still interested in playing collegiate baseball, in his second year he enrolled in Santa Monica College and College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, but his passion was drifting elsewhere. Collaborating with his friend Dan, they worked on a YouTube channel called DSARM where they were able to tell stories about baseball. By November 2022, he said, “I decided to quit baseball, commit to pursuing an academic degree at the best school I could in the Los Angeles area and go all in on our YouTube channel at the same time. I saw a career in this and really enjoyed every second of it.”

Despite being accepted to Berkeley, UCLA had always been his dream school growing up. Both his father and aunt went to UCLA, as did his sister Sadie, who just completed her first year in law school. For Rochman, it was a no brainer: stay in Los Angeles, get a degree from the number one public school in the country and grow his business. He said, “It was the perfect culmination of everything.”

Following in his father’s footsteps, he chose to major in philosophy, which was a subject that’s always interested him. He said, “It helps in all ways of life. You understand people at a deeper level, you understand why you do certain things, how to get people to think certain ways and why people do what they do. I've always been someone who likes to have deep talks with my friends or thinks about abstract concepts.” Undoubtedly, when life took a dark turn down the road, philosophy gave him a deeper understanding about the human experience and overcoming tragedy.

By Rochman’s third year in college and first at UCLA, business was booming for him and his partners.  They had launched three brand media ventures, the first being DSARM, which was a multimedia baseball YouTube channel with over half a million subscribers. The videos feature player interviews, game experiences and challenges throughout the sport. The second media conglomerate, Enjoy the Show, is two-pronged featuring creative YouTube videos and a podcast.

This past September, they launched their third venture, a sub-platform called DSARM Elite, which is a youth travel ball organization that he and his partners run together. Rochman described it this way: “Basically, we pull some of the best baseball players from around the country and bring them to a tournament for a weekend. They pay for their flights and hotels, but we give them a ton of gear with sponsors that we work with, like Nike and Rawlings, and get them cool custom packages.”

Rochman enjoys what this does for the kids. “We’re building the most fun weekend of their lives. They get to meet all these different kids, be on camera, see these stories told about them and it kind of prepares them for this new era in sports. It helps build their brand, because these kids are already building brands with their parents.”

"There's just no way my house would burn. It would have to burn through hundreds of homes to get to my house."

With his passion projects hitting their stride and Rochman attending his dream school, it was then that life took an unexpected turn. On the morning of Jan. 7, 2025, Rochman was in class on the first day of winter quarter. He knew that fire had broken out near his family's home in the Palisades, but didn’t think much of it since fires were a common occurrence when he was growing up.

At first there was denial from himself, his friends and family members that the fire could get that bad. Their exchanged text messages kept repeating the phrases “Everything’s going to be okay,” and “Our house is going to be fine.” Until the message came: “Mandatory evacuation for all of Pacific Palisades.” Stepping outside near Royce Hall, he saw the mountain of smoke in the distance and thought, “Oh my God, this is really bad!”

He hopped in his car to go home as fast as he could. His mother had left their house to gas up their car, but was unable to return due to roadblocks. His father was at work but would also hit the same closures. Out of caution, his sister had taken their dog and some clothing to a friend’s house when the fire was just beginning. Meanwhile, his friends were texting him, “These cars are stuck, and they're being bulldozed out of the way, because this fire is jumping erratically and completely out of control, flying down the mountain, burning houses and stores." The fire went from 0 to 100.

Rochman brushed aside the hysteria and kept telling himself, “My house is gonna be totally fine. They're gonna put this fire out. There's probably helicopters picking up water as we speak and dropping it. There's just no way my house would burn. It would have to burn through hundreds of homes to get to my house.”

"As we got closer, we were looking at unfathomable destruction that could never be unseen."

When his mother told him she couldn’t return home and their two cats were still inside the house, he knew he needed to save them. At this point, he ran into a police checkpoint where cars were not being let through. The officer told him, “I can't let you drive through, but you can park here, and I'll look the other way, and you can walk past me.”

So Rochman proceeded to walk a mile and a half on the side of the highway and up a hill towards his house. He said, “I'm passing an exodus of people coming down, like gardeners and neighbors, who were coughing from the smoke. They had masks, and this gardener told me, ‘Oh, it's bad, it’s bad, it’s bad! Here, take this,’ and he gave me his mask, because I didn't have anything, which was really nice of him.”

When Rochman reached his house, it was filled with smoke because all the windows were open and he looked for his cats. He grabbed a couple of photo albums and the cat carrier but couldn’t corral the cats inside it. He recalled, “I'm freaking out at this point. I'm like, ‘Mom, I can't get these cats in!’ I'm lifting up beds, but they're hiding because they're scared of the smoke, and there's fire trucks and people everywhere. There's also police in the street with bullhorns yelling, ‘You need to leave!’”

Luckily, Rochman was able to recruit a lady who was walking down the street to help him. She held the carrier while he put the cats inside. With cats and albums in tow, he made his way down the hill back to his car and drove to his godfather’s house where he and his family watched the horrifying news unfold.

The strong winds prevented the planes from flying, which meant the fire spread uncontrollably, burning down his elementary school and Palisades High School, wiping out entire neighborhoods. It was an emotional night for their family.

The next morning at 6 a.m., Rochman, his father, godfather and two friends went to Home Depot to pick up some safety supplies and they made their way back to their house to try and save it. Using the Watch Duty app, they were able to monitor the fire’s exact location and keep themselves safe. This time, the scene was much different than the day before. He said, “As we got closer, we were looking at unfathomable destruction that could never be unseen. It was so bad, there were structures on the beach that were burnt. And then you look to your right, and there's an entire mountain where houses used to be and mobile homes that were completely burnt and cars melted.”

"I felt like there was truly a sense of community of people who cared about each other at a deeper level."

When they reached the street where their house was located, they saw their neighbor’s house completely engulfed in flames with the windows blowing out. He said, “I witnessed some of the craziest stuff. I saw their walls falling down and propane tanks flying out of a yard and exploding in the air. It was madness.”

They finally saw their house, which was still standing, but it was surrounded by houses already on fire and they could see fire in their backyard. They hoped to use water to put out some fires, but there was none. They contemplated going inside but thought better of it fearing the walls could collapse in on them. In a last-ditch effort, they called 9-1-1 in hopes firefighters could be sent to save their home while it was still standing. The dispatcher’s response was, “I’m sorry. Firefighters are where they need to be right now.” 

With fire raging all around, the situation became dangerous for them. There was only one safe road out of their neighborhood and they couldn’t risk getting stuck. They started to drive down the hill when all of a sudden, a burning tree fell on the road, blocking their path. Near panic ensued. They immediately jumped out of the car and pushed a part of the tree that wasn’t on fire out of the way.

Rochman, his family and friends were able to get out safely. But he found out some devastating news. “My cousin had called his friend, who was a news reporter, and asked him to go to our house to see if there's anything else that he could do. When he got there, he said our whole backyard was on fire and everything was engulfed in flames. Basically, five minutes after we had left, it all burned.”

 In the immediate aftermath of the fire, their family was filled with sadness and shock. They stayed with family friends for a while and gathered basic survival necessities like clothing and toiletries from victim resource pop-ups, store giveaways and community events. People were generous and gave nice brand-name clothing, along with new hair dryers, makeup, skincare, etc. He said, “I felt like there was truly a sense of community and people who cared about each other at a deeper level. They rallied together for the people who needed support. That was a really heartwarming experience.”

Rochman explained it was difficult to feel like a victim, because it took a sense of vulnerability to receive help, but he said it was needed, and their family was very grateful for that stability. Moreover, he understood the privilege his family had because there were more people who had it worse, especially those who lost loved ones in the Altadena fire or had fewer resources to aid in recovery.

"My first priority was to support my family as much as I could and take care of myself mentally."

Keeping up with school was another matter. Trying to run a business, meeting course deadlines or focusing in class was nearly impossible after running around L.A. collecting supplies and dealing with the aftermath of the fire, including the mental and emotional trauma. Rochman took about a month and a half off from school and then came back part-time. He said, “My first priority was to support my family as much as I could and take care of myself mentally. I also tried to do my job, because that felt like something that kept me happy and creatively fulfilled during such a dark time. And I also worked towards finishing my degree, which was of the utmost importance.”

Rochman credits UCLA for being incredibly supportive during this time. Unbeknownst to him, he was assigned a case manager who met with him and helped him figure out how to navigate his academic responsibilities. He said, “They reached out to all my professors for me, and told them, ‘Leo has a tense situation, he's gonna provide more context as soon as possible, but we're letting you know he's not gonna be at school for the foreseeable future. And if you could coordinate sending any notes to him or any assignments, he wants to stay on top of it to the best of his ability, but UCLA is supporting him through this difficult time.’ That's possibly the best thing that happened for me.” Rochman met with his professors and counselors over Zoom without having to over-explain anything and they were all very understanding. He felt reassured he wasn’t going to fall behind completely.

Nearly a year and a half later, Rochman and his family are in the midst of recovery and rebuilding. His family is renting a place, while he stays in the Valley with his roommates. While dealing with insurance was not a smooth process, they did receive some money and plan to rebuild on the same property. His brand media business is thriving, and in a few weeks, he will close his UCLA chapter and graduate with the Class of 2026. It will be a moment filled with gratitude — not just for his family and friends, but also for the lady who helped him save his cats, for the gardener who gave him a mask so he could breathe, for the UCLA advocate who helped save him from having a mental breakdown, and for the countless community members and organizations who supported them in a time of crisis. Rochman carries with him a newfound resilience and philosophy, “No matter how stressful or how hard things get, you know you’ll always be able to figure things out. Everything’s gonna be ok. There's always a light at the end of the tunnel.”   

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