73: “Unsettled” Co-Founder Jonathan Kalan on Building Lifestyle Incubators and Organizing Transformative Travel Adventures

The Maverick Show with Matt Bowles

Jonathan Kalan takes us on his journey of international travel, journalism, entrepreneurship and co-founding “Unsettled”—a global travel community of 2,000+ people from 80+ countries who are redefining the terms of their own work and lifestyle. Jonathan explains how, after college, he moved to Tanzania to open a pizza shop, and eventually transitioned into international journalism for major outlets like the BBC, Al Jazeera, and New York Times. After unexpectedly getting caught up in both the Egyptian coup in 2013 and the Al Shebab attack on the WestGate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and seeing dozens of people get killed, he began heavily reflecting on his ‘privilege’ and how he could make the biggest impact on the world. He tells the story of meeting his co-founder and ultimately doing a TED Residency to incubate the idea for his company “Unsettled”, and delivering a TED Talk at the end that. Jonathan then talks about the evolution of Unsettled, the steps taken to prioritize diversity and to ensure that participants are connected with locals in the ground, and how they facilitate that in places like Beirut, Lebanon. He then explains the types of travel experiences currently offered by Unsettled for one week, two weeks, and month-long durations. He then explains Unsettled’s virtual “Lifestyle Incubator” program that helps participants audit themselves, envision their ideal career and lifestyle, and then create an achievable action plan with timeline and accountability mechanisms to achieve it. FULL SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT www.TheMaverickShow.com