We have all have heard of the corporate executive who gets so lost in his world of power and money that he finally takes a break and finds his inner self and true meaning. Well Richer Poorer co-founders, Iva Pawling and Tim Morse aren’t exactly old Wall Street badgers, but they do strive to be continually inspired, hence their recent ‘Honest Hustle’ excursion.
Medellin, Colombia was the destination with El Camino Travel, along with some dope influencers such as Tag Cristof, Master Williams, Mister Spoils, Ben Schuyler and more. They headed down to Medellin to seek out the honest hustlers of Colombia with the opportunity for Richer Poorer to be an amplifier of their messages and knowledge.
On their trip, a few of the honest hustlers they met include:
- Federico Rios Escobar – a photojournalist that has spent the last three years embedded with the FARC, the militia who has been fighting the government of Colombia for almost 60 years.
- Maria Paulina – Creative Director of MÂKUA Jewelry, which creates hundreds of jobs for people in Colombia.
- Julian Caesar – A dancer who uses dance as a form of healing and processing emotions with young, sexually abused girls.
We asked the owners to elaborate on their recent adventure:
How did the concept of Honest Hustle come about?
We started Richer Poorer from scratch, with little more than an idea, a few dollars and a mountain of inspiration. We had to be really thoughtful, humble and scrappy to move the brand forward and that’s the essence of the honest hustle. It’s the cornerstone of the culture we’ve created at Richer Poorer, and what we want to champion in those around us.
If we can inspire the next group of hustlers to find their own path and forge down it with mostly certainty, a little bit of doubt, and a whole lot of honesty, then we’ve done our jobs.
Is this your first ‘Honest Hustle’ trip?
It is! We spend so much time telling the stories of the people in our backyard who are hustling hard to further their passions. We all have the same wins and losses, moment of exuberance and failure. We believed that this was a common thread in all of us regardless of geographical location and means, and that it would make for amazing exploration and content creation if we could take our hustlers to places afar and outside of our comfort zone.
Who is El Camino Travel and how did this partnership happen?
The founder of El Camino Travel, Katalina, is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. She follows her passion and hustles harder and more honestly than anyone. I had seen the magic she was creating with the El Camino trips and was completely inspired to have her plan one for Richer Poorer. Her message is to be a traveler, not a tourist. That’s a powerful way to see the world and we wanted to plan our first Honest Hustle trip with her filter in place. After a few conversations, we crafted the trip quickly and built it around meeting local entrepreneurs, makers and creatives in Medellin. We were then lucky enough to get the perfect cast of characters to join us on the journey.
Why Colombia?
Medellin has been through incredible struggle over the last few decades, and the people of the city have come out of it in such a compassionate way with unmatchable strength. There has been an explosion of local business growth there, being dubbed as the Silicon Valley of South America. The script of what we read here domestically is so narrowly focused on Narcos, Pablo Escobar, and drugs, which we wanted to be a part of changing and telling the stories of all the immensely talented people that are there today.
How did you discover these local ‘hustlers’ in Colombia and is Richer Poorer helping them in any way?
Katalina made all the connections for us through her vast network of people in Colombia. We got to know such a varied group of individuals that were all so very inspiring – a photojournalist who has been embedded with the FARQ for the last three years and is documenting the process of an almost truce between them and the government for the first time in 60 years – to an entrepreneur bringing great coffee back to Colombia and creating an actual café culture, which, believe it or not hasn’t ever existed since all the best beans that are grown there are exported – to a lighting designer and manufacturer who works with local artisans to create incredible lamps at reasonable prices because she believes everyone deserves beautiful things.
The biggest take away that I hope people see from our trips, and the message of the honest hustle, is that we are traveling to places afar and new to be inspired and gain these human connections. These relationships are being built with equals and we are putting these people together to grow and learn from the experience. While someone from our group may be able to help someone with tips on their Instagram account, in return we’re finding our passions reinvigorated. Hustlers + Hustlers = Magic.
