I’m not just interested in how we can create community within our organizations, businesses, and teams. My entire life has become centered around a single question: How do we live better together?
Escaping the City Life
The path to this question wasn’t straightforward. In 2015, I found myself drowning in London’s chaos – endless commutes on packed tubes, astronomical rent, and the relentless pressure to be constantly productive. Every morning, as I squeezed onto the Central Line, I felt further from the life I wanted to live.
Embracing Nomadic Freedom
So I did what seemed crazy at the time: I packed my bags and left. Not for another city or another job, but for a completely different way of living. I became nomadic, imagining a life filled with cultural experiences, local foods, and the freedom to work on my own terms.
What I found was both more and less than what I’d imagined.
Finding My Rhythm
The freedom was intoxicating at first. I could trade Monday meetings for morning snorkeling sessions. My office became beachside cafes with ocean views. Instead of rushed lunch breaks, I shared lengthy meals with fascinating people from around the world. When I started organizing meetups, I discovered a global circle of friends who became my traveling companions.
A rhythm emerged naturally. Summers in Europe, winters in Latin America or Asia. I’d often reconnect with the same faces in different corners of the world. These weren’t just casual friendships – when you share daily life with people for months, cooking together, working side by side, exploring new places, the bonds grow deep. It feels like family.
But the nomad life comes with its own peculiar heartache: constant goodbyes. Those same people who become like family eventually follow their own paths. Daily shared coffees become yearly reunions, if you’re lucky.
The COVID Pause
Then COVID hit, forcing a pause I didn’t know I needed.
I stayed in Lisbon, where many of my nomad friends had also chosen to weather the storm. For a year and a half, we created our own bubble of mutual support. And of course, our work for the Lisbon Digital Nomads Community was very much alive and kicking. We kept our community alive through virtual events and careful gatherings. But without the constant movement and new experiences to distract me, something else emerged – burnout, and the weight of unaddressed trauma I’d been outrunning.
The Paradise Paradox
When travel restrictions finally lifted, I fled to Koh Phangan, one of my favorite places in the world. But something had fundamentally shifted. Sitting on what I once considered a paradise beach, I realized it wasn’t enough anymore. The “endless freedom” I’d chased for years suddenly felt hollow.
Being a nomad had opened my eyes to possibilities beyond the conventional 9-to-5 life—and I needed that realization. But I began to see how individualistic this journey had been. Despite all the connections I’d made, I wasn’t deeply woven into anyone’s life. I wasn’t contributing to a greater good or helping heal our planet. I was free, yes, but free in a way that started to feel purposeless.
What I truly longed for wasn’t another destination – it was deep, lasting, committed community.
Discovering a New Path
This realization opened my eyes to a different vision of life: one where we share the responsibility of raising children and caring for elders. Where learning and healing happen collectively. Where we eat food grown nearby by people we know. Where we live in harmony with nature, not just as visitors. Where wealth is measured in relationships and impact, not just money.
Learning from Intentional Communities
This search led me to discover ecovillages and intentional communities – places that were already building what I’d been dreaming of. I spent time in communities across the world:
- Tamera in Portugal, exploring new systems of peaceful coexistence
- Piracanga in Brazil, focusing on sustainability and spiritual growth
- Huehuecoyotl in Mexico, blending artistic expression with ecological living
- Hapori in Mexico, a co-housing initiative with a strong focus on NVC
- Traditional Dream Factory, a regenerative co-living community with their own crypto token
- And others who showed me different facets of collaborative living
Transforming Personal into Professional
Each community taught me something profound about what’s possible when people commit to living differently together. I learned about communication practices that transform conflicts into opportunities for growth. I saw how shared purpose creates resilience. I experienced firsthand how community can heal both the land and our relationships. I know know that by creating a new system, the existing one can become obsolete.
This journey has completely transformed my professional life too. Now, when I work with businesses and organizations to build community, I bring these deeper principles of care, collaboration, and connection. Because whether it’s a remote team or a local network, the foundations of true community remain the same – genuine care for each other and a shared vision of a better way to live.
The Journey Continues
I’m still learning, still exploring, still asking questions. But for the first time, I feel like I’m walking a path that aligns with my deepest values. A path that leads not just to personal fulfillment, but to tangible positive change in the world.
Have you felt this pull toward deeper community too? I’d love to hear your story.