Artist, musician, and archivist Paul Rucker shares one of the messiest moments that shaped his life and work. Paul opens up about the first time he experienced explicit racism as a young classical musician—an experience that derailed an audition and revealed the deep inequities embedded in the systems he aspired to join. From everyday microaggressions to structural exclusion in classical music auditions, Paul explains how these injuries became fuel for his life’s mission: to uncover what has been erased from our collective memory and to help us see our histories—and one another—more clearly. His work urges us to confront the sanitized stories we’ve inherited and to embrace historical truth, no matter how uncomfortable, as a pathway to empathy, accountability, and better decisions for the future.

A self-taught cellist turned visual artist and archivist, Paul Rucker thrives by moving beyond the limitations of expectations. In this episode of A Life Worth Working, you’ll learn how Paul has woven storytelling, music, and history into a career defined by curiosity and creative defiance.

In this episode, Vriti Saraf shares how tough feedback from a VC and repeated rejection led to the creation of a new nonprofit helping educators navigate emerging tech. Make sure you listen to this powerful story about reinvention.