The Maverick Show: Global Travel Stories & Life Beyond Borders

Hear how confronting her privilege reshaped her approach to human rights, global advocacy, and learning across cultures.

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Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds.

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ON THIS EPISODE

Sarah Rapp talks about growing up in Germany in a homogenous, privileged, cultural bubble and shares her journey of becoming a world traveler, learning from other cultures, and giving back.  She explains why Mexico and Albania are her two favorite countries, and how joining JA Worldwide changed her life and set her on the path to becoming a global citizen.  She shares her experience living in Malta, and her transformative trip to Ghana.  Sarah opens up about how her social and political consciousness developed, and why she is so passionate about human rights around the world. She talks about launching the “How to Be Global’ podcast, and reflects on what she has learned from her guests over the first 100 episodes.  Sarah then talks about her involvement with the UN Foundation’s “Equal Everywhere Campaign” and her role as head of PR at “Nomad’s Giving Back”.  She then reflects on navigating the dynamics around her own privilege when doing global advocacy, and the importance of listening and learning from other cultures.  She also reflects on the transformative impact of travel on her own life, and what travel means to her today.

→ Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here.

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FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE

Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests.

============================

FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU

See my Top 10 Travel Apps

See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel

See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual)

Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn

See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend

See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use)

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Learn what eight million podcast downloads taught him about audience growth and why deeper travel still matters most.

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Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds.

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ON THIS EPISODE

Jason Moore shares his journey growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and creating an unconventional path to start traveling the world.  He shares mishaps from his first backpacking trip and highlights from a hitchhiking race around Scotland.  He reflects on the impact of his travel experiences and gives some tips on ‘traveling deeper’ and connecting with locals.  He then talks about founding the “Location Indie” community and the “Lifestyle Launch Academy” where he has mentored hundreds of location independent entrepreneurs.  Jason also talks about his podcast, Zero to Travel.  He reflects on how he got over 8 million downloads and distills down some actionable tips for other podcasters.  He also talks about founding “Camp Indie” and how you can attend the next live event!

→ Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here.

============================

FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE

Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests.

============================

FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU

See my Top 10 Travel Apps

See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel

See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual)

Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn

See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend

See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use)

============================

ENJOYING THE SHOW?

Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation

Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally

Support the show by buying me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes!

Learn how sleeping on a school floor shaped his approach to bootstrapping, remote teams, SEO, and business leadership.

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Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds.

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ON THIS EPISODE

Ray Blakney takes us on his journey being born in the Philippines, growing up mostly in Turkey, and then moving to the US for the end of high school and college. He reflects on feeling culturally out of place in the U.S., and more at home in other countries. Ray opens up about how he was on the traditional corporate path and abruptly chose to change his life course, join the Peace Corps, sell all his belongings and move to Chiapas, Mexico. He tells the story of how he met his wife in Mexico, got married, and started his first business with her—opening a school together with $2,000 in savings and sleeping on the floor of the school for the first 6 months. Ray then explains how and why he moved the business online and eventually scaled “Live Lingua” to 7-figures. He reflects on the multiple 6 and 7-figures businesses he has bootstrapped, and shares his tips on hiring and managing a fully-distributed team, building company culture in a remote business, executive leadership, and the most effective SEO tactics that are working today. Ray then shares his process for bootstrapping and scaling 6 and 7 figure businesses, how he launched and grew one of the top daily language learning podcasts, and explains his groundbreaking new business, “Podcast Hawk”. Finally, he shares how he optimizes his time and productivity, what his stress management techniques are, what Kendo means to him, and his path to becoming a semi-professional sword fighter.

→ Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here.

============================

FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE

Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests.

============================

FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU

See my Top 10 Travel Apps

See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel

See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual)

Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn

See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend

See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use)

============================

ENJOYING THE SHOW?

Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation

Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally

Support the show by buying me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes!

Hear how growing up amid institutional racism shaped his storytelling, travel writing, and thoughtful view of the world.

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Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds.

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ON THIS EPISODE

Ernest White II talks about his parents’ experience growing up in the Jim Crow American South, and then reflects on his upbringing in Jacksonville, Florida, and his desire to travel the world even as a kid. He then shares his experience attending Florida A&M University, explains the historical significance of HBCUs, and opens up about how his college experience really shaped his views on the reality of institutionalized racism and policing in the U.S.. Ernest then talks about his study abroad experience in the Dominican Republic, and reflects on the racial and power dynamics of being able to “pass” for a local. He then shares what he loves about Sao Paulo, Brazil and why the city is so special and unique. Ernest then offers his thoughts on the gender-fluidity on display during Carnival in Brazil, and also reflects on LGBTQIA+ travel to places like Morocco where homosexuality is officially illegal. He also reflects on the unique brilliance of James Baldwin and shares this thoughts on the transformative impact of travel. Ernest then talks about the power of words, storytelling, travel writing and discusses “Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel”. He explains how and why to write memoir with an edge, and offers tips on honing the craft and becoming a great travel writer. He then talks about his journey producing the PBS Docu-Series “Fly Brother with Ernest White II”, and the unique points of differentiation that separate the series from other travel shows. And, finally, he offers his thoughts and tips on how to travel the world more thoughtfully and sustainably.

→ Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here.

============================

FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE

Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests.

============================

FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU

See my Top 10 Travel Apps

See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel

See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual)

Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn

See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend

See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use)

============================

ENJOYING THE SHOW?

Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation

Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally

Support the show by buying me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes!

Learn how race, class, and identity can impact travel safety advice and why thoughtful travelers should question it.

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Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds.

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ON THIS EPISODE

Beth Santos takes us on her journey growing up in the U.S., studying abroad in Portugal, re-connecting with her heritage, and then moving to the West African island-nation of Sao Tome and Principe at age 22. She reflects on her work in the non-profit sector, her experiences in Sao Tome, as well as her subsequent travels to Brazil and other places around the world, and how it all contributed to the development of her social and political consciousness.  Beth talks about the importance of reconsidering dominant narratives around “travel safety”, especially for solo female travelers, and explains how travel safety rankings and warnings are often overly-broad and tend to homogenize entire countries.  She also explains how “travel safety” discussions are frequently laden with the race, class, culture and identity bias of the person writing the article, or being interviewed for it, and that such rankings are often limited to considering the safety concerns of only certain groups of people and not others.  Beth then goes on to explain the importance of understanding travel as a political act, and how to be a more thoughtful and socially conscious traveler.  Next, she explains the origins of her company, Wanderful, and how it aims to help all women and gender-diverse people travel the world.  Beth talks about her choice to build a diverse team, and to center intersectional anti-oppression politics into Wanderful’s community-building, empowerment of content creators, and advocacy within the travel industry.  And, finally, Beth opens up about her own entrepreneurial journey as a mother with two kids, and gives tips on how to run multiple businesses as a “Start Up Mama”.

→ Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here.

============================

FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE

Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests.

============================

FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU

See my Top 10 Travel Apps

See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel

See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual)

Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn

See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend

See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use)

============================

ENJOYING THE SHOW?

Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation

Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally

Support the show by buying me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes!

Learn how failures, mentors, and hands-on experience shaped his framework for building sustainable remote businesses.

============================

Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds.

============================

ON THIS EPISODE

Mitko Karshovski takes us on his journey growing up in Varna, Bulgaria and then moving to the U.S. at 10 years old and navigating the immigrant experience.  He then opens up about his life path and how he decided to drop out of college to pursue entrepreneurship.  He shares his failures and pivots, how he bought courses, found mentors, created partnerships, and learned  through doing.  He then talks about his path to becoming a digital nomad and reflects on the 5 year journey of full time world travel that he and his wife have been on together.  He shares their travel cadence, lifestyle design, destination selection process, and gives tips for traveling full time with a spouse.  He also talks about Bulgaria as an optimal destination for digital nomads and why Varna, in particular, is so underrated.  He then talks about his concept of “The Business Ladder” and breaks down the steps for location-independent entrepreneurs.  He also talks about his new company, Parable—a membership community that studies real business case studies from 6, 7 and 8 figure location-independent companies.  He then talks about his podcast, That Remote Life, and reflects on the most profound lessons he has learned from his guests. And, finally, he shares his thoughts on the sustainability pillars for long-term world travel.

→ Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here.

============================

FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE

Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests.

============================

FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU

See my Top 10 Travel Apps

See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel

See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual)

Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn

See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend

See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use)

============================

ENJOYING THE SHOW?

Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation

Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally

Support the show by buying me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes!

Hear how years of world travel shaped my approach to purpose, sustainability, and building a global life without a base.

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Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds.

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ON THIS EPISODE

In this episode, the tables are turned and Lydia Lee of “Screw the Cubicle” interviews Matt Bowles. Matt talks about how his Irish-American cultural background and his time living in Ireland impacted his politics, identity and world view.  He then shares the behind the scenes story of how he co-founded Maverick Investor Group to help people buy cash-flowing rental properties in the best U.S. real estate markets from anywhere in the world.  Matt explains how he and his business partners built the company as a fully-remote real estate brokerage from day 1, and how Maverick’s location-independent infrastructure provides unique benefits to their clients.  He then explains how Maverick empowers all their clients to conduct independent due diligence on their rental properties before buying them, without actually having to see the properties in person.  Matt then shares how Maverick was intentionally built on “4 Pillars of Purpose” and how that provides multiple layers of motivation for the company to succeed.  And, finally, Matt reflects on his 8 years of full-time world travel with no base, and shares his thoughts on some of the key sustainability pillars for a healthy life of long-term world travel.

→ Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here.

============================

FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE

Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests.

============================

FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU

See my Top 10 Travel Apps

See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel

See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual)

Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn

See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend

See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use)

============================

ENJOYING THE SHOW?

Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation

Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally

Support the show by buying me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes!

Learn the LinkedIn, networking, and interview tactics that can help remote job seekers stand out from the competition.

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Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds.

============================

ON THIS EPISODE

In this episode Jordan Carroll talks about growing up in the Bay Area of Northern California, desiring to travel, and starting to work remotely in various capacities. He opens up about how his location independence saved his life and how travel helped him emerge from struggles with substance abuse, suicidal thoughts and other mental health challenges. He then shares how he landed his dream job with his dream company through entirely unconventional strategies. He explains how he subsequently identified a need in the market for remote job coaching, started his own business and became “The Remote Job Coach”. He breaks down the biggest challenges, obstacles and mistakes that remote job seekers are making today, and explains why traditional methods of job searching are not effective today. He then goes on to share some advanced LinkedIn strategies, the most effective techniques for virtual networking, his 3-Step non-traditional approach for landing a remote job interview, and his top tips for crushing the interview. Jordan then talks about his “Road to Remote” Facebook group, where to access his free content on finding remote jobs, and how his “Remote Job Club” and coaching services work.

→ Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here.

============================

FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE

Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests.

============================

FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU

See my Top 10 Travel Apps

See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel

See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual)

Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn

See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend

See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use)

============================

ENJOYING THE SHOW?

Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation

Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally

Support the show by buying me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes!

In this episode Jordan Carroll talks about growing up in the Bay Area of Northern California, desiring to travel, and starting to work remotely in various capacities. He opens up about how his location independence saved his life and how travel helped him emerge from struggles with substance abuse, suicidal thoughts and other mental health challenges. He then shares how he landed his dream job with his dream company through entirely unconventional strategies. He explains how he subsequently identified a need in the market for remote job coaching, started his own business and became “The Remote Job Coach”. He breaks down the biggest challenges, obstacles and mistakes that remote job seekers are making today, and explains why traditional methods of job searching are not effective today. He then goes on to share some advanced LinkedIn strategies, the most effective techniques for virtual networking, his 3-Step non-traditional approach for landing a remote job interview, and his top tips for crushing the interview. Jordan then talks about his “Road to Remote” Facebook group, where to access his free content on finding remote jobs, and how his “Remote Job Club” and coaching services work. FULL SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT www.TheMaverickShow.com

Learn how anti-Muslim racism connects across countries and what meaningful anti-racist allyship looks like in practice.

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Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds.

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ON THIS EPISODE

Arsalan Iftikhar reflects on growing up in a Pakistani immigrant family in Chicago, experiencing racism, and being inspired to pursue a life of anti-racist advocacy work. He talks about his Punjabi cultural heritage, makes Bhangra music recommendations, and shares tips for traveling to Pakistan. He then talks about his experience in South Africa and the inspiration he drew from Nelson Mandela in his decision to become a civil rights lawyer and focus on Islamophobia in post 9-11 America. He then goes on to discuss his new book “Fear of a Muslim Planet” and explains various manifestations of Islamophobia around the world and their inter-connection to other forms of racism. He then unpacks “The Great Replacement” white-supremacist conspiracy theory, and gives examples of anti-Muslim case studies around the globe ranging from Hijab bans in France to Uyghur internment camps in China to right-wing Hindu nationalism in India to the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar. He then talks about his experience as a global media commentator and reflects on the time CNN’s Don Lemon asked him on prime time television if he supported ISIS. He also talks about the influence of Islam in hip hop culture and names his Top 10 hip hop MCs of all time. Finally, he discusses how we can all be better anti- racist allies.

→ Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here.

============================

FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE

Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests.

============================

FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU

See my Top 10 Travel Apps

See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel

See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual)

Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn

See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend

See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use)

============================

ENJOYING THE SHOW?

Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation

Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally

Support the show by buying me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes!