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About six years ago, knee deep into the travel-bug / minimalist life, I created an outdoorsy, travel, and life journal to document my trips and new boundless life on the road, occasionally sharing on Facebook. Slowly but surely, it evolved into a personal brand. During that evolution, it gave birth to a blog, an Instagram account with thousands of followers, and today a podcast. However, the true challenge is designing a personal brand… How do you create a brand for your worst critic? That worst critic being yourself…
The answer is more complex than simple. Nonetheless, this online travel journal and podcast was meant to satiate a specific portion of my life and the demographic that I network with, being the outdoorsy, road-trippers, foodies, wander-lusters and philosophizers of life. While living in Texas, I experienced a horrid life changing event, yet one of the most wonderful life lessons, and in turn I realized it granted me a second chance in life. I learned to embrace my duality… On one side, I have the creative, business minded, fast paced and savvy New Yorker; but on the other side, I have the grunt, outdoors loving, amateur craft beer brewer, hunter and fisherman that questions life, and thrives on being brutally honest.
When I decided to begin this new journey in life, and say “au-revoir” to life in the NYC metro area, I also said goobye to the normal conventions of life, and embraced the open road, and all the ups-and-downs that came with that life filled with uncertainty — it was on a pit-stop to Houston, TX where the nickname was introduced by a friend within my travel network, confronting my lifestyle at the time , as that of a NOMAD. It was also in Texas, that I used a very scary downtime to reflect, and turn that frown upside down and create the genesis of NOMADS RULE.
Several years down the road, wonderful rich opportunities and lessons in tow, led to the evolution of the FFBN (forward forever backwards never) podcast, and a true positive / optimistic lifestyle. The many states, and borders crossed allowed me to live out the most individually rich chapter of my life, and it allowed me more than beautiful memories and scenery to recall — it granted me the unique opportunity to meet and engage on a deep level with so many amazing, diverse, out-of-this world people. It is through those many unique experiences that I learned about myself, crossed boundaries, broke stereotypes, and even influenced ignorance to accept change. Through my words, and as a raconteur I realized their is a power that comes with being a modern day explorer, conversationalist, and bridge the many gaps that come with oblivion and the unknown in this country and others.
To this day the NOMADS RULE brand and FFBN podcast lives. The blog and podcast serves as an escape to the new norm, ambassador to paint rich diverse profiles, of not only the many amazing and diverse people I have come to know, but of the rich landscapes of which they hail from. More important, it invites many more opportunities for future guests that I am confident will provide me with more growth, better outlooks on life, and help chip away at the many boundaries that exist in this world, on a reciprocal level. I do wish it can be a full time mainstay, however, the other duality is taking priority, and that is my creative side that now thrives; and through that creative nature, I am able to push the boundaries, find balance, and constantly evolve the brand model. The motto rings true, and will always ring true – I not only move forward, but strive to move forward forever, backwards never!
