Building the future of Community-Centric Businesses
Brand, Marketing, Communications, Community & Presale Strategy for Startups
Well, Hello…
It’s great to meet you. My name is Jonathan, and I appreciate you dropping by to check out my work.
When people ask me “what do you do”, I’ll be honest. There’s no easy answer. My journey has been a rather unconventional one; not a single linear path of upward achievement, but a messy, exciting, lifelong pursuit of growth, meaning, and adventure culminating in a wild portfolio of experiences that have given me a unique perspective on the world we live in. What drives me is human-centric innovation, a deep respect for nature, and the power of global communities.
Feel free to poke around, and get in touch if you’d like to learn more!
THE Long Story, Short.
Over the past two decades, I've been a CEO, foreign correspondent, photojournalist, community builder, social entrepreneur, brand strategist, marketer, experience designer, Wall Street analyst, startup advisor, facilitator, TED speaker, sailboat skipper, ice cream slinger, failed (sort-of) chicken farmer… and a few other things that won’t quite fit here. I’ve spent my career asking big questions and relentlessly searching for new perspectives.
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What sums my journey up best is something a friend once said: I am a lifelong student of the unknown. I’m a creative thinker and passionate builder who thrives in uncertainty. My work often centers around the intersection of community, nature, and technology.
My career has taken me to over 80 countries, documenting everything from political revolutions, the future of megacities, and Africa’s space ambitions to Rwanda’s coffee economy, Saudi’s post-oil ambitions, and internet cafe culture in Somalia. Throughout all of it, I have developed a reputation for pushing boundaries and testing limits, and challenging people to see the world - and their role in it - differently.
Along the way, I’ve founded a few values-driven ventures across media, technology and travel, been a TED Speaker and Resident, BBC columnist, Founding Editor-in-Chief of Timeline.com, and first VP of Brand and Experience for the world’s original smart bird feeder ($8M+ raised on Kickstarter) . I was also co-founder and CEO of Unsettled, an award-winning global travel community & experience company for independent professionals navigating the future of work, life, and community in the 21st century.
My editorial work has been published in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, NPR, The Guardian and The Associated Press among others, and my teams have won awards and recognition from The World Bank, United Nations, Apple, SXSW, CES, Fast Company, Skift and more. I'm a proud member of the Explorers Club, as well as the global Sandbox Network.
Outside of work, I'm usually found sailing, searching for the nearest surf break, climbing a mountain, or spearfishing in the bluest waters I can find. I’m always open to meeting values-driven people who are relentlessly pursuing something they believe will improve humanity.