The author, Erik Alston, as a result of personal life experiences growing up in a small city (Pittsburg, CA) on the outskirts of the San Francisco Bay Area. He would return home after graduation from college (Howard University) to his childhood neighborhood and reflect on how others helped him change his life and felt the need to do the same for the youth as he saw a lot of himself in them when he was their age. Raised in a single-family home at a young age, Erik found himself engaging in truancy and affiliations with groups that negatively impacted his life in his younger years. It was in high school that Erik began to turn his life around. He developed a love of composing music and playing sports - thus, he committed himself to becoming the best image of himself he could while focusing on his writing.
Erik believes that if all youth are given an opportunity and provided with the appropriate tools and support resources, they would be able to turn their lives around or make them even better. The creation of TurtleRAM became a means of bringing a hero to communities to help the youth and young adults stay on track in life and grow better, safer communities and social relationships within a community. TurtleRAM symbolizes safety, people's excellence, and unconditional protection - to deescalate and put an end to adolescent bullying, discrimination, at-risk individuals, racism, and
potential violent acts against others and simply spread joy, love, and happiness for people and their families on a global scale.