WELCOME TO ENGAGING IN MOLDING CHOICES (EMC)
Shaping Choices. Building Relationships. Creating Legacies.
Together We Learn. Together We Grow. Together We Shape Our Future.
🌟 Welcome to EMC
Imagine a community where children, young adults, adults, parents, and mentors come together to learn from one another, build meaningful relationships, and develop the life skills needed to shape positive choices for themselves and future generations.
Engaging In Molding Choices (EMC) is a community-based life skills and leadership development program that brings people of all ages and backgrounds together through education, mentorship, communication, and real-world experiences.
At EMC, we believe every choice we make helps shape who we become, the relationships we build, and the legacy we leave behind.
Our purpose is to bring people together to develop confidence, humility, respect, understanding, and the ability to make intentional choices that strengthen individuals, families, and communities. We are not simply teaching life skills—we are shaping choices, developing character, building relationships, and creating legacies that last for generations.
🤝 Different Journeys. One Community. A Shared Future.
Every one of us has a different story. We come from different families, cultures, neighborhoods, backgrounds, and life experiences. Some of us have received guidance and opportunities throughout life, while others have learned through personal challenges, mistakes, and experiences. These differences shape how we think, communicate, build relationships, and make decisions.
At EMC, we believe our differences are not barriers—they are opportunities to learn from one another, gain understanding, and grow together.
No one knows everything, but everyone has something to teach and something to learn.
Through humility, patience, respect, and open communication, we begin shaping choices that lead to stronger relationships and a more connected community.
🎯 Our Mission — Shaping Choices That Build Stronger Lives
EMC was created to help individuals develop essential life skills that are not always taught in traditional classrooms or everyday life. Our mission is to provide the knowledge, guidance, mentorship, and real-world experiences that empower individuals to make thoughtful, intentional choices.
Through interactive learning and community involvement, participants develop the skills needed to:
Shape Positive Choices: Understand how decisions directly influence the future.
Communicate Effectively: Learn to listen, express thoughts clearly, and understand others.
Build Meaningful Relationships: Cultivate humility, respect, empathy, honesty, and trust.
Develop Financial Confidence & Independence: Master budgeting, money management, opening Checking & Savings Accounts, and building financial confidence.
Strengthen Mental & Emotional Wellness: Foster self-awareness, resilience, stress management, and healthy coping skills.
Practice Leadership & Responsibility: Build team building & life skills, accountability, and service through community service hours.
Prepare for Life's Opportunities: Gain career planning, future goal setting, interview skills, résumé & job application assistance, and help securing essentials like a California ID and Passport.
Our goal is not simply to provide information, but to help participants understand when, why, and how to apply these life skills to shape better choices in everyday situations—because the choices we shape today influence the lives we build tomorrow.
🛠️ Practical Life Services & Hands-On Support
To ensure our participants are fully equipped for independent living and personal success, EMC provides direct support and guidance in essential life milestones:
Identity & Documentation: California ID Assistance • Passport Guidance
Financial Foundations: Money Management • Checking Account Setup • Savings Account Setup
Career & Workforce Readiness: Resume Preparation • Job Applications • Interview Skills • Career Planning & Future Goals
Life & Community Engagement: Independent Living Skills • Team Building & Life Skills • Community Service Hours
❓ Three Questions That Shape Our Choices & Our Future
At EMC, we encourage every participant to reflect on three core questions:
What do you want to be? Explore your interests, talents, dreams, and opportunities while learning to shape the choices that help you reach your goals.
Who do you want to become? Reflect on your character, humility, values, relationships, and the example you want to set through your everyday choices.
Who would you like to help or support throughout your life? Consider how your choices and actions can positively influence your family, friends, community, and future generations.
Success is not only about what you accomplish. It is about the choices you make, the person you become, the relationships you build, and the legacy you create.
🌱 One Community. Four Levels of Growth.
EMC welcomes individuals at every stage of life, offering age-appropriate programs that help participants develop the skills to shape positive choices as they grow.
Program Level Age Group Focus & Key Outcomes
Elementary Program Ages 8–11
Shaping the Foundation
Introducing children to kindness, respect, confidence, communication, teamwork, emotional awareness, and positive decision-making.
Junior High Program Ages 11–13
Shaping Character & Confidence
Developing self-awareness, healthy friendships, financial foundations, emotional understanding, responsibility, and leadership.
High School Program Ages 14–18
Shaping Independence & Opportunity
Preparing teenagers for adulthood through leadership, communication, financial literacy, mental wellness, career readiness, résumé prep, and independent living skills.
Young Adults & Adults Ages 18+
Shaping Leadership & Lasting Legacies
Supporting continuous personal and professional development through workforce development, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and community leadership.
Personal growth is a lifelong journey, and every stage of life presents an opportunity to learn, improve, and inspire others.
🗓️ A Six-Week Journey of Shaping Choices Together
Our six-week program brings individuals together through interactive discussions, hands-on activities, mentorship, and real-world experiences. Participants learn to recognize how their thoughts, attitudes, communication, and actions influence their daily choices.
Throughout the program, we practice listening, understanding different perspectives, solving problems, managing responsibilities, and developing healthy relationships. Parents, guardians, mentors, and community members are invited to support this journey—because shaping positive choices becomes more meaningful when we learn and grow together.
One Commitment. Six Weeks. A Lifetime of Shaping Better Choices.
🤝 Our Shared Commitment
Positive change begins with individual responsibility, but becomes stronger through community support.
Participants: Commit to learning, listening, showing respect, practicing humility, and making intentional choices.
Parents & Guardians: Help reinforce positive choices through encouragement, open communication, understanding, and guidance at home.
Mentors & Community Partners: Share knowledge, experiences, and opportunities that help participants develop confidence and responsibility.
Together, we create an environment where everyone is valued, heard, respected, and encouraged to grow.
🚀 Beyond the Classroom — Turning Choices Into Opportunities
Life skills become more meaningful when participants have opportunities to put them into practice.
Through the EMC Leadership & Account Management Pathway, participants develop real-world experience in:
Communication & Customer Relationships
Leadership & Teamwork
Entrepreneurship & Account Management
As participants grow, they gain opportunities to mentor others, lead teams, support community projects, and build practical work experience. Our vision is to create a continuous pathway where today's learners become tomorrow's leaders and positive role models for the next generation.
🔮 Our Vision — Shaping Choices & Building Legacies for Generations
We envision communities where children, young adults, and adults come together to learn, grow, communicate, and support one another.
As EMC expands, our long-term vision includes developing community centers that connect life skills education with sports, career development, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and opportunities for individuals to discover and pursue their personal interests.
Our vision is not simply to build successful individuals—it is to shape choices that develop stronger character, healthier relationships, more connected communities, and lasting legacies for generations to come.
💡 We Invite You to Help Shape the Future With Us
Whether you are a child discovering your potential, a teenager preparing for adulthood, a young adult finding your direction, a parent strengthening your family, or an adult seeking personal growth—there is a place for you at EMC.
You do not need to have all the answers or know exactly where your journey will take you. You only need a willingness to learn, listen, grow, respect others, and become part of a community committed to shaping positive choices.
Every choice shapes a direction.
Every relationship creates an opportunity.
Every generation has the ability to build a legacy.
Shaping Choices. Building Relationships. Creating Legacies.
Together We Learn. Together We Grow. Together We Shape Our Future.
Engaging In Molding Choices (EMC)
Empowering Individuals • Building Confidence • Creating Stronger Futures
Program Team
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Shawn Parker
CEO • Founder • Executive Director
Engaging In Molding Choices (EMC)
Shawn D. Parker founded Engaging In Molding Choices (EMC) to provide others with the life tools he wishes he had growing up.
Raised without a father and facing many childhood challenges, Shawn learned that while hard work is important, it is not enough. He was never taught how to communicate effectively, manage money, build healthy relationships, understand his emotions, or navigate life's setbacks. Instead, he learned many of life's hardest lessons through personal struggles, disappointments, and experience.
Today, Shawn asks every EMC participant three important questions:
What do you want to be?
Who do you want to become?
Who would you like to help or support throughout your life?
Whether your goals include building a successful career, creating a strong family, becoming a respectful and compassionate person, strengthening your spiritual life, or making a positive difference in the lives of others, Shawn believes those goals begin with learning the right life skills.
That belief became the foundation of EMC.
A turning point in Shawn's life came on his 33rd birthday when he realized the pain he had carried from growing up without a father. Instead of allowing his past to define him, he chose to grow from it. With the guidance and mentorship of Mr. Charles Oxton, Shawn discovered the life-changing value of having someone who believes in you, encourages you, and helps you become the person you are capable of becoming.
Throughout his career, Shawn worked in retail, customer service, management, and business ownership, experiencing both success and failure. Those experiences reinforced one important lesson: success is built not only on hard work, but also on communication, financial understanding, emotional awareness, healthy relationships, and positive mentorship.
Today, as the founder of Engaging In Molding Choices (EMC), Shawn's mission is to help youth, young adults, adults, and families develop the skills, confidence, and character needed to become the person they want to be—and to positively impact the people around them.
His goal is simple: to help others learn through education and mentorship so they can build the future they want and help others along the way, without having to learn life's toughest lessons the hard way.
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Fysal Safieh
Associate Director
Fysal graduated from Binghamton University in New York with a degree in Political Anthropology and directly started working for EF International, the world’s largest International Education and Language Instruction organization. As a leader in both of EF’s non-profit divisions he took on the role of School Director for EF’s English language school in Santa Barbara. He then went on to work for Santa Barbara Business College as their Director of International Operations. Fysal has since been active in consulting with developing businesses as well as volunteering with various community organizations.
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Iliana G. Gonzalez
Site Coordinator
Born in Mexico City and raised in Santa Barbara, California, Iliana Gonzalez has built a career centered on service, leadership, and creating opportunities for others. As a working single mother raising two sons, she learned early the value of resilience, perseverance, and leading by example. Guided by mentors like Janet Belch, a high school ROP teacher who believed in her potential and encouraged her growth, she developed a deep appreciation for servant leadership and the importance of lifting others along the way. Throughout her professional journey, she has worked across multiple industries—including banking, government contracting, nonprofit organizations, and entrepreneurship—developing a diverse background in operations, administration, community outreach, and client advocacy.
Advisory Team
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Darrel W. Tullis
Advisor
Mr. Tullis is a retired Air Force Veteran after serving 21 years on active duty from Jan. 1980 to Feb 2001. He was an F-4E/G Radar Technician before cross-training into Operations Resource Management for the 37 TFW, AWACS and JSTARS. In May of 2000 he completed a Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Services with a Minor in Psychology from Mercer University in Macon, GA. He became an Ordained Minister in June of 2007.
Rev Tullis grew up in Oxnard, CA where he graduated from Channel Islands High School in 1976. He Graduated from Ventura College in 1978 and as previously stated, entered the USAF in 1980. He comes from a service- oriented family. He has 4 children, 2 who are serving on active duty and 1 married to an active duty member (all USAF). His father, who was the Pastor at Grace Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Lompoc for 22 years, retired from the USAF after serving 20 years. Tullis’ father met his mother while he was serving at Scott AFB, Ill. in 1949. He has a niece and a nephew who were both medically retired from the Army, a nephew who served as a med tech in the Air Force and a great niece who graduated from West Point in May of 2016.
Rev. Tullis served for nearly 4 years as a Parks and Recreation Commissioner for the City of Lompoc from Nov 2006, Aug 2009 representing, then Mayor, the Honorable Dick DeWeese. He served as a Delegate at the California Democratic State Convention for 2 years, representing the Central Coast, from 2006 – 2008. In Oct of 2007, he was chosen by the Honorable Congresswoman Lois Capps to attend The Central Coast Faith Leaders Day in Washington DC, where he had the honor to meet and speak to several members of congress. He is a member of the NAACP and VFW Troop 570.
He is a counselor and he has a deep affection for what he believes is God greatest creation—all of mankind.
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Jared Overton
Advisor
Raised in the city of Denver Colorado, Jared Overton grew up as an underprivileged child. East Denver was not without its challenges and bad influences. Narrowly escaping the clutches of the judicial system, at age 18 Jared saw very quickly the ill effects that result from poor decision making. Inspired to make a difference, he relocated to LA where he began to use music as an outlet to incite his peers to positivity. In time Jared joined forces with his brothers and after signing a record deal with Universal Music Group, he used his platform to reach out to troubled youth. Currently volunteering 840 hours a year to a world-wide Bible education program, Jared is also a professional in the insurance industry. Endeavoring to pass on his experiences and advice on life and social skills to adolescence in the Santa Barbara community, Jared became involved with EMC alongside friend and partner Shawn Parker.
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Ivan Castelo
Advisor
“Mr. Castelo joined Union Bank (then Santa Barbara Bank & Trust) in 2008 and has held various positions throughout his career. Mr. Castelo oversees all managerial duties of his offices and customizes financial solutions for clients, specializing in small business and residential lending. His responsibilities include recruiting and interviewing employees for hire, and the ongoing development of branch personnel through evaluations and performance reviews. He provides leadership towards the achievement of branch performance and efficiency, in line with company vision and values. Helping local residents of various backgrounds reach their financial goals is his main priority. The oldest of three boys and a Central Coast native from Hollister, CA, Mr. Castelo was the first of his family to attend and graduate from a 4-year university. He received his B.A. in Mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2007, and is fluent in both English and Spanish. He was an active member of Hermanos Unidos, a non-profit organization founded in 1999, that promotes leadership development at the center of the Chicano/Latino community at UCSB. Mr. Castelo is actively involved in our community. He partners regularly with local schools and non-profit organizations to provide financial literacy workshops that focus on banking, budgeting, credit, and mortgage education. He enjoys spending his free time with his wife, his daughter, and his dog Coco. He is also an avid weightlifter.
Vice President, Branch Manager, Santa Barbara Mesa & San Roque