Leonel Caceres

he/him
Forest Technician
Forest Biodiversity Team

How do you stay motivated?

I’ve come to enjoy physical labor and pain. (Leonel laughs.) I’ve done construction and demolition, those are the most physically tough ones. I cleaned houses with my mom and remodeled houses with my dad. I’ve also been a UPS guy and I used to run a storage company in Davidson. So a lot of really heavy work. It’s gratifying for me. I’ve been doing labor jobs since I was a little kid, and I used to really hate it. Then I had this epiphany one day, that if I actually embrace it and focus on it and do the best job that I can, then it becomes very gratifying to push yourself. There’s an empowering feeling in it.

What might other Tyson teams not realize about your team?

That we have a good time in the field. I feel like there’s this idea that we go and just grind and suffer, which is true, but we have a good time. There’s a sort of camaraderie, and banter, that develops when you suffer with the same group of people. And then again, the suffering in itself makes you feel true, for lack of a better term.

What do you do outside of Tyson?

So when I get home, I do a workout. I really have to push through it. Then I shower, make myself a meal, read and write, stretch and go to bed. My go-to books are history and philosophy, or just good novels. Right now I’m reading Henry Miller, that guy’s crazy. (Leonel laughs again.) I’m also reading George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, which is his diary from when he was in the civil war in Spain. Very, very different writers. One of them’s very idealistic, wants to fight against fascism, wants to see a better world. The other one’s a complete nihilist. He just wants to experience life and if he dies, he dies. Very interesting to read those two simultaneously.