The Maverick Show

385: How Spanish Immersion Changed Her Life: Kylah Williams on Language, Culture & Living Abroad from Chile to Spain

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 04:15:21 +0000

Hear how studying, living and working abroad helped Kylah reinvent herself across cultures and continents. Kylah Williams shares how Spanish immersion shaped her global journey—from growing up in a bilingual program in Sacramento to studying, living, and working abroad in Chile and Spain. She reflects on how language opened doors to deeper cross-cultural connection, from comparing Tagalog and Spanish during her travels in the Philippines to navigating the cultural, business, and marketing nuances across Latin America and Europe. Kylah also discusses her experience living in Chile during the 2019 uprising, building community through sports, and ultimately reinventing herself abroad. Along the way, she breaks down how culture shapes communication, trust, and consumer behavior—and how speaking multiple languages can transform not just how you travel, but how you see the world.

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384: From Antarctica to South India to Indigenous Communities in Costa Rica: Priyanka Surio on Regenerative Travel in Practice

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 04:15:22 +0000

Learn how real travel experiences can transform the way you see impact, responsibility and your role in the world. In Part 3 of this conversation, Priyanka Surio shares how her travels across Antarctica, South India, and Costa Rica reshaped her understanding of what it means to travel responsibly. She reflects on how the fragile ecosystems of Antarctica shaped her blueprint for “sustainable travel,” and how participating in a community-led travel caravan in South India demonstrated what regenerative travel looks like in practice. Priyanka also recounts her experience engaging with Indigenous communities in Costa Rica and how those encounters challenged her to rethink tourism, reciprocity, and the role of travelers in local ecosystems. Along the way, she explores how music can create meaningful cross-cultural connection and explains how she builds community in an itinerant nomadic lifestyle. This episode offers a grounded look at how real-world travel experiences can transform the way we think about impact, responsibility, and connection across cultures.

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383: Travel as Activism: Priyanka Surio’s Framework for Sustainable and Regenerative Travel

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 04:15:05 +0000

Learn how to make travel choices that support local communities, avoid harm, and meaningfully give back around the world. In Part 2 of this conversation, Priyanka Surio shares her framework for thinking about travel as a form of activism and breaks down the difference between sustainable and regenerative travel. She outlines an 8-part model built around four sustainable mindsets and four world-changing forces that can help travelers make more intentional decisions about where they go, how they spend time, and who benefits from their presence. Drawing on examples from places like Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Comuna 13 in Medellín, Priyanka examines how tourism can either extract from or support local communities, and offers a more conscious approach to cross-cultural travel and global exploration. She also reflects on her own activism journey—including being arrested at Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, DC—and how these experiences shaped her belief that travel can be a tool for solidarity and collective impact. This episode explores how to align your travel lifestyle with your values and contribute meaningfully to the places you visit.

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382: Indian Diaspora Stories & Lessons from Ghana, Ethiopia and Nomadic Cultures with Priyanka Surio

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 04:15:34 +0000

Learn how global diaspora connections & nomadic traditions can unlock new ways of building community across cultures. Priyanka Surio reflects on growing up in Florida navigating a mixed Indian and Hungarian identity, and how early experiences of not fully belonging shaped her relationship to culture, travel, and self-expression. She shares stories from reconnecting with her heritage, including time spent in Hungary, studying abroad in India, and how these experiences informed her evolving sense of identity. Priyanka reflects on studying the Year of Return in Ghana as a model for reconnecting diasporas and considers how similar frameworks could strengthen ties within Indian communities around the world. She also discusses her travels in Ethiopia and her encounters with historically nomadic cultures in Mongolia and Morocco, examining how these experiences reshaped her thinking about movement, cross-cultural travel, and building community. She closes by reflecting on minimalism, intentional living, and how a life of travel can transform the way we understand identity, belonging, and connection across cultures.

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381: Anti-Blackness in Latin America, the Mestizaje Myth & Visiting Equatorial Guinea with Dash Harris

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 04:15:04 +0000

Hear travel stories from Equatorial Guinea to Brazil & how Dash works to dismantle anti-Blackness in Latinx communities. In Part 2 of this conversation, Peabody Award–winning producer and historian Dash Harris unpacks the ideology of mestizaje and explains how narratives of racial mixing have obscured anti-Blackness across Latin America and its diaspora. She discusses why she rejects the umbrella identity of “Latina,” drawing on Black feminist scholarship, her workshops on dismantling anti-Blackness in Latinx communities, and her own experiences traveling and researching Afro-descendant cultures around the world. Dash tells stories from visiting Equatorial Guinea—the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa—and compares Afro-diasporic histories across continents. She also shares observations from Salvador, Brazil about tourism, memory, and the politics of Black cultural spaces. Finally, she recommends some of her favorite music—from Afro-Cuban traditions to Afro-Colombian and Brazilian sounds.

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380: Black Latinx Identity and Culture: Dash Harris on Diaspora Storytelling & Co-Founding AfroLatinx Travel

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 04:15:16 +0000

Learn how growing up between Brooklyn and Panama shaped Dash’s journey into documentary storytelling and global travel. Peabody Award–winning producer and historian Dash Harris tells stories about coming of age between 1990s Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn and Panama. She reflects on navigating Black and Afro-Panamanian identity across cultures and how those experiences shaped her understanding of race, identity, and the global Black diaspora. Dash tells the backstory of filming Negro, her groundbreaking docu-series exploring race and anti-Blackness across Latin America. She also explains how filming the docu-series ultimately led her to co-found AfroLatinx Travel, a company that organizes trips centering the African roots of Latin America and connecting travelers with Black communities, histories, and cultural traditions.

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379: Queer Travel & Jewish Anti-Zionism: Cara Laban on Identity, Community & Collective Liberation

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 04:15:17 +0000

Learn how Cara came out as queer while living abroad and built community, belonging, and solidarity with Palestine. In Part 2 of this conversation, Cara Laban reflects on the intersections of queer identity, Jewish history, and political solidarity while living and traveling around the world. She shares how coming out as queer while living abroad helped her find community and belonging across cultures, while a deeper engagement with Jewish history and contemporary politics shaped her journey toward anti-Zionism and solidarity with Palestinians. Cara also recounts navigating male-dominated digital nomad spaces, attending feminist protests, and encountering police violence. She then tells travel stories from Italy, the Dominican Republic, the Galapagos Islands, attending Carnival in Rio and seeing pink dolphins in the Amazon. Cara reflects on how living between cultures can expand the way we think about identity, community, and collective liberation. And finally she shares lessons from Jewish history about our collective responsibility to confront the rise of fascism in the U.S. and around the world.

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378: From Almost Jumping to Building a Life Across Continents: Cara Laban on Depression, Travel & Reinvention

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 04:15:27 +0000

Learn how Cara stopped escaping and designed a sustainable world travel lifestyle that works for her brain. Cara Laban left New York chasing a childhood dream of Australia, but what began as an escape from burnout turned into a two-year immersion in life overseas, from bar shifts in Melbourne to bakery work in the outback. In this candid conversation, she shares the mental health lows that followed her across continents, the road-trip mishap that left her stranded without gas in remote Australia, and the moment in Thailand when she realized travel alone wouldn’t fix what she was carrying internally. We trace her evolution from working local hospitality jobs to building a sustainable travel lifestyle online after discovering Hannah Dixon’s Virtual Excellence Academy. That reinvention eventually led her to found Travel Reddi, an AI-powered travel logistics platform designed to simplify global mobility. Cara opens up about depression on the road, the difference between analog and digital nomad life, and how systems thinking became the foundation of both her business and her forthcoming book: “How to Do Anything Even if You’re Lazy”. This is a story about reinvention, self-honesty, and designing a life overseas that actually works for your brain.

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377: Skydiving Around the World: Taylor Wallace on Risk, Fear & Finding Freedom in the Sky

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 04:15:03 +0000

Hear stories of balloon jumps, zoo dives, flipping out of planes & the personal growth and life lessons behind it all. In the final part of the conversation, Taylor Wallace shares how a spontaneous first jump in Brazil led to a passion for skydiving that has taken her across the world, from beach jumps outside Rio to balloon jumps over Cappadocia and massive skydiving festivals in the United States. She explains the discipline, humility, and constant learning required to stay safe in a high-risk sport, and reflects on how skydiving mirrors entrepreneurship and travel—requiring courage, adaptability, and trust in yourself when things don’t go as planned. The episode closes with Taylor reflecting on how global travel and adventure have shaped her resilience, perspective, and desire to keep pushing beyond her comfort zone.

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376: Japan, Remote Entrepreneurship & The Fit Founder Lifestyle with Taylor Wallace

Maverick Podcast Producer — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 04:15:18 +0000

Hear how Japan, startup life, and global travel shaped Taylor’s approach to entrepreneurship and intentional living. In Part 2 of the conversation, Taylor Wallace reflects on how her deep connection with Japan shaped her worldview and confidence as a global traveler, sharing stories from Kyoto, Mount Fuji, and the cultural experiences that made the country feel like a second home. She then traces her path into entrepreneurship, the sale of her startup while living abroad, and how community and global mobility helped launch her location-independent life. Taylor also breaks down her concept of the Fit Founder Lifestyle, offering practical insights on balancing business ambition with health, travel, and intentional living while building a career on the road.

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