TEDxUCLA: ‘How are you going to change the world if you can’t even flush the toilets?’

For 15 years, Daniel Estrada has spent his nights moving quietly through UCLA's hallways and classrooms, cleaning up after a whole generation of students long after most of campus has gone home, gleaning knowledge along the way.

Now, the senior custodian will step into the spotlight as one of 10 speakers at TEDxUCLA on May 26, offering a perspective shaped not by lecture halls or laboratories but by years spent observing university life behind the scenes.

Over thousands of late-night shifts, Estrada has developed a candid philosophy about responsibility, shaped as much by abandoned e-scooters in elevators and clogged toilets as by the students he has quietly watched grow up on campus.

His critique comes with real affection for the students he encounters, including those he has seen studying into the early morning hours or those who reach out after graduation to thank him for the conversations they shared during late-night shifts.

Still, years spent cleaning up the consequences of small acts of carelessness and disregard for simple building rules eventually helped shape the blunt musing that now anchors parts of his TEDx talk:

"How are you going to change the world if you can't even flush the toilets?" Estrada said with a laugh during a recent interview, recalling some of the stranger moments of campus custodial life.

Estrada's question captures the spirit of the talk he has been developing with TEDxUCLA organizers and coaches in recent months. The presentation, which Estrada wrote with help from the UCLA Writing Programs, reflects on personal responsibility, work ethic and the importance of taking ownership of even the smallest tasks.

"I clock in at 5 p.m. and clock out at 2 a.m.," Estrada said. "I sign my name to every hallway, every bathroom, every room I walk out of."

Taking responsibility, taking pride

For him, that philosophy of personal ownership dates back decades before UCLA, to his early years working in the printing trade, where senior workers taught him to take pride in craftsmanship and accountability.

Those values stayed with him through the collapse of the traditional print industry and into his current life, where he helps care for his aging parents while remaining deeply devoted to his two children, both now in their 20s. The same values also show up in his work ethic in UCLA Facilities Management. Today, Estrada oversees portions of Boelter Hall and the Mathematical Sciences Building, where his responsibilities range from cleaning classrooms and bathrooms to stocking supplies and handling maintenance requests.

But over time, the work also turned him into what TEDxUCLA lead student organizer, Cylin Wang, describes as "the most honest witness in the room."

Wang first met Estrada unexpectedly while wandering through the upper floors of the Mathematical Sciences Building with several other students. Estrada offered to show the group the rarely accessed 10th-floor view.

Afterward, the conversation continued.

"She was like, 'After talking to you, it really changed my point of view and my thought process,'" Estrada recalled. "And I'm like, me?"

Estrada's version of the story leaves out one detail Wang freely admits: The students had been playing hide-and-seek in campus buildings that night, trying not to get caught.

The 'invisible' labor that makes the university run

At the time, Wang had not yet begun reviving TEDxUCLA for the campus community. But when she later began organizing the event, Estrada was one of the first people she knew she wanted on stage.

"I was like, 'Danny has to speak,'" Wang said. "He's a custodian who's been here for 15 years, and one conversation with him in the hallways just opened my world so much."

Part of what struck Wang was Estrada's ability to articulate the invisible labor that keeps a university functioning - from custodians to groundskeepers, from plumbers and painters to food service workers - along with the candid view it offers into student behavior.

Estrada jokes that UCLA is filled with "the dumbest smart people I've ever met," a line that has become the centerpiece of his TEDxUCLA talk. The examples he gives feel almost slapstick at times, from students walking directly past wet floor signs and over the newly cleaned linoleum to bathrooms left in baffling conditions.

But he insists the observations are rooted less in cynicism than in admiration. Estrada says he has been moved by both how hard UCLA students work and how much they grow during their time on campus, watching many evolve from overwhelmed first-years navigating unfamiliar hallways into confident graduates.

For Wang, whose TEDxUCLA revival was inspired in part by a desire to bring together perspectives from across campus life, Estrada represents the kind of voice the event organizers hope to elevate.

"We don't want to put people on a pedestal," she said. "We really look forward to having them be there as community members and for it to be a big conversation."

Estrada, meanwhile, still seems faintly amused that he ended up here at all.

" I've been watching a generation of future world-changers who - quite a few - have never learned to sign their name to anything. I'm gonna try and change that."

TEDxUCLA details and speakers

The event will run from 6 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, at UCLA's Northwest Auditorium. Tickets are available on the website. Speakers will include:

Brett Brewer
UCLA alumnus and co-founder of MySpace, speaking about redesigning social media for future generations.

Jaimie Krems
UCLA friendship researcher and professor of psychology, discussing the importance of friendship and human connection.

Sharad Aggarwal
UCLA alumnus and global head of strategy and operations at Google Cloud, reflecting on artificial intelligence and what 2026 could mean for the technology's future.

Tiffany Barber
UCLA art historian, exploring W.E.B. Du Bois, the Harlem Renaissance and "data consciousness" in the AI era.

Celine Shaw
UCLA alumna and engineer who is also a professional ballerina, speaking about creativity and learning.

V. Kelly Turner
UCLA professor of urban planning and geography, discussing how cities can be designed for urban cooling and climate resilience.

Corey Crossfield
UCLA Executive MBA student with synesthesia, reflecting on music, color and perception.

Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda
UCLA professor and chair of the UCLA Department of Chicana and Chicano and Central American Studies, exploring AI, migration and global economic rebalancing.

Daniel Estrada
UCLA senior custodian, sharing reflections from 15 years working overnight shifts across campus.

Martin Burns
UCLA alumnus who's working to advance a UCLA-developed medical technology aimed at preventing bed sores, discussing innovation and healthcare accessibility.