Louis De Barraicua has lived in Los Angeles for 34 years, ever since he came to the University of Southern California to study political science and storytelling. Before settling in Los Angeles, his life was shaped by constant movement. As the son of an Air Force officer, he lived in Alabama, Texas, Northern California, Panama, and Spain. He also traveled widely through France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and India. All of this gave him a broad perspective on people, cultures, and how communities function.

But it was his time inside the Los Angeles Unified School District that changed the course of his life. There, he saw how many problems remained unsolved—how schools and communities struggled with needs that leaders rarely addressed. This pushed him to consider something bold: launching a political career as an outsider, with a new tool that could help communities tell their own stories and shape their own futures.

He called this vision OptomystiK.

From it grew The Yello Bit Road, a golden path toward a new kind of “Emerald City.” Not one built on illusions, but on justice, creativity, and real understanding. Louis believed that real change couldn’t just come from the top down. It had to be built from within communities themselves. His plan was to create small, connected groups of about 200 people, where everyone could play a role in building civic life together.

In doing so, Louis became something unusual: both storyteller and citizen, leader and listener. His mission is to improve California’s experience of education, transportation, and opportunity.

And with his political movement, OptomystiX, he doesn’t just want to offer promises for the year 2026. He wants to offer something more powerful: a story.

A story in which every Californian has a part to play.