Matt Cacioppo had zero kayaking experience when he decided to paddle the entire Río Magdalena, Colombia's longest river, from source to sea. Months later, he did it. Over 2,000 kilometers. 28 days. Alone.

In this episode, Matt returns to Nemology to give the full, unfiltered account of what went down. Unexpected rain that turned class 4 rapids into class 5. A capsize in the dark, floating through toxic water at 18km/h with no shore in sight. Navigating guerrilla-controlled territory. Reaching the finish line only to hear fishermen screaming "¡Tiburón!" as sharks circled the river mouth. He made it, and now he's figuring out something arguably harder: staying in one place.

Matt opens up about his shift from non-stop adventurer to community builder: a chess club with 50 members in Medellín, a Bourdain-inspired cooking show called Matt's Way, a recipe book built from strangers he met on the road, and volunteering with kids who remind him why roots matter.

Harlow Newton has lived more lives than most: BMX racing champion in El Salvador, dot-com pioneer building websites in Notepad back in 1996, and founder of a $3M retreat center in Costa Rica that vanished overnight in a 2017 hurricane.

In this episode, Harlow shares how he sold his tech company to fund his dream, financed land purchases on credit cards, and rebuilt from scratch after losing everything, his house, his passports, his life's work, with no insurance to fall back on.

He opens up about his darkest moment, the mentors who shaped him, and his philosophy on wealth, family, and what really matters when everything falls apart. Now running VIDA Blue Clay and Tico Guide Travel, Harlow is proof that reinvention is always possible.

A masterclass in resilience, risk, and rebuilding from zero.

Nick Manderfield walked away from managing a Cheesecake Factory in Chicago to start a nonprofit in Medellín from scratch. What followed was 80 tons of food distributed during a pandemic, a bead jewelry business selling 20,000 units a year on Amazon, and a daily reality most nonprofit founders are too burnt out to talk about.

In this episode, Nick breaks down what it actually looks like to work with the Embera indigenous community people displaced from Chocó, surviving on 25,000 pesos a day, navigating a city that was never built for them. He gets into the mothers program born from finding black mold in baby bottles, the business mistake that quietly killed their revenue, and why donating money almost never gets to the root of anything.

Unfiltered, uncomfortable, and worth every minute.

Find Nick at reincorporated.org or search Embera Bead Project on Instagram and Amazon. Follow Nemology Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for new episodes every week.

Mena Cardenas left Colombia as a refugee at 17 with no English, no money, and no plan and built a successful corporate career in Canada from scratch. Then, at the top of her game, she walked away from all of it on purpose.

In this episode, we get into the real cost of chasing someone else's version of success, why self-doubt, not fear, is what actually keeps people stuck, and what it looks like to design a life on your own terms. Mena breaks down how to silence the inner critic using evidence instead of empty affirmations, why ambition from a place of "enoughness" hits different, and what she learned about identity when the job title was gone.

A raw, honest conversation about reinvention, resilience, and the uncomfortable decisions that actually move you forward.

Follow Nemology to catch every episode and connect with Mena at @soymenacardenas on Instagram.

Karl Lashkari didn't choose this path, it chose him. After years in hedge funds and management consulting, his body collapsed under the weight of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, leaving him bedridden and written off by the medical system. What came next wasn't a recovery plan. It was a complete reinvention, through biohacking the mind, mastering pain, and rebuilding his identity as a man from the inside out.

Today, Karl is a mental performance coach and founder of Men of Mastery, a brotherhood community operating across the US, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic. In this episode, we get into why struggle is non-negotiable for growth, why the coaching industry is flooded with marketers pretending to be mentors, and why most men are quietly losing themselves to overthinking, comfort, and disconnection. Karl doesn't believe in shortcuts. He believes in experience, inner mastery, and brotherhood as the foundation of a life well lived.

If you're serious about becoming the man you know you're capable of being, this one's for you.

Find Karl on Instagram at karllashkari and on YouTube at menofmasteryglobal.

Nemology Podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. New episodes every week.

Juan Chavez is a 6x Inc. 5000 honoree, serial entrepreneur, and operator of Medellin VIP and JMC Equipment, businesses spanning luxury travel, automotive equipment distribution, real estate, and digital services across Latin America and the United States.

In this episode, Juan gets raw about the real cost of building empires: the hiring systems that actually work, a betrayal that nearly broke him financially and emotionally, and the moment, sick with Covid, alone on a bike, that launched his triathlon journey and rebuilt his identity as a leader. We cover the 1-3-1 leadership rule, why visionaries must stop running operations, emotional control under pressure, and how endurance sports train you for the long game in business. If you're building something serious, this one hits different.

Seth Stell built GOOD.BRAND. into a multi-country creative studio operating across Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and Spain, not because the path was clear, but because he was willing to take the risk when no one else was watching. In this episode, Seth and Nemo go deep on what real leadership actually costs: the instincts you stop trusting, the generations you're either breaking or repeating, and the moment you realize that creating stability for others means absorbing uncertainty yourself.

They unpack the hidden rules of entrepreneurship in Latin America, the discipline Seth carried from his Eagle Scout years into building businesses across borders, and why most people are waiting for a guarantee before they take the first step. Seth also opens up about nearly leaving Colombia, his evolution on relationships and partnership, and the single mindset shift that separates the entrepreneurs who build lasting brands from those who burn out chasing the wrong version of success.

If you're building something real, a brand, a team, a legacy, this conversation will challenge how you think about risk, curiosity, and the life you're choosing every day.

Seth Stell is the founder of GOOD.BRAND. and creative director of nobadbrands. Find him at sethianstell.com and on Instagram @nobadbrands.

Juan Ortega built his career learning the Colombian financial system from the inside out starting with his father, an accountant who taught him one rule above all: do it the right way or pay the price later. Today he runs Whole Real Estate Accounting, a cross-border advisory firm serving founders, real estate investors, and global entrepreneurs navigating U.S. and Latin American tax strategy, compliance, and entity structuring.

In this episode Juan breaks down what most foreign investors get dangerously wrong when they arrive in Colombia from building credit history from zero, to the legal traps hidden inside employee contracts, to the real difference between buying a SAS versus buying assets outright. He also shares the story of going bankrupt with a hotel in Copacabana, losing everything, and what he found on the other side of that collapse.

If you operate across borders, invest in Colombia, or are building a business in Latin America, this conversation will change how you think about money, compliance, and playing the long game.

Find Juan at whole4u.com or on Instagram as @juancaortegac.

Andrew Macia was deported from the U.S. in 2010 with nothing but a suitcase. Today he runs three businesses in Medellín, a real estate agency, a relocation service, and a digital marketing company serving U.S. clients remotely.

In this episode, Andrew breaks down how he rebuilt from zero, why YouTube subscribers don't matter as much as most creators think, and what it actually takes to buy property and build a business in Colombia as an expat. He also gets honest about stoicism, bad partnerships, losing focus when money gets comfortable, and becoming a father at 43.

If you're thinking about relocating to Medellín, investing in Colombian real estate, or building a content-driven business in a niche market, this is the episode to listen to first.

He quit his corporate job in Chicago, flew to Medellín with no business plan, and built a luxury travel concierge from scratch using nothing but TikTok and raw hustle. This is Robbie Schwert's first interview ever.

Robbie is the founder of Luxe Liaisons a high-end travel concierge operating out of Medellín, Colombia. Under his alter ego "Remote Roberto," he built an entire client pipeline through short-form content alone. No website. No paid ads. Just content and DMs.

In this episode he breaks down how he turned a frozen car door in a Chicago winter into a one-way ticket to Colombia, why 150 targeted views beat 100,000 random ones, how he navigates Medellín's crackdown on foreign tourism operators, and what it actually takes to build a real service business alone in a foreign country at 27.

He also shares his wildest travel story chased by dogs on a private beach in Santa Marta, forced to swim to another shore, broke and barefoot, hitchhiking home on a motorcycle in a thunderstorm. Colombia isn't dangerous, he says. It's just unscripted.

If you've ever thought about moving abroad, building a business around your lifestyle, or using short-form video to generate real income — this one's your blueprint.

"Don't chase followers. Followers are the byproduct of the value you provide."

Guest: Robbie Schwert — Founder, Luxe LiaisonsTikTok: @remoterobertoInstagram (Personal): @robbielifestyleInstagram (Business): @luxe_liaisons_hq

Follow Nemology: @nemologypodcast on Instagram & TikTokFull episodes on YouTube: @nemologypodcast

Real conversations about mindset, entrepreneurship, and the life most people are too afraid to build.