On a recent afternoon in Medellín, Colombia, a group of 22 out-of-towners gathered to brainstorm and then met up with locals.
But as The New York Times reports, they weren’t on vacation. Nor had they met by coincidence. Instead, they were participants in a program run by Unsettled, a new startup that organizes 30-day coworking experiences around the world for creative people, entrepreneurs and other professionals seeking to combine work, travel and redefining themselves.
The company is one of dozens of new work-tourism programs that aim to help workers known as digital nomads navigate living and working in far-off places.
“If we could be somewhere, experiencing the world in a beautiful setting while working, challenging ourselves, growing professionally, enjoying a community of like-minded people and connecting locally, what’s stopping us?” says Michael Youngblood, 32, who founded Unsettled with another digital nomad, Jonathan Kalan, 29.
The name Unsettled “is about turning something perceived as a negative into a positive,” Kalan adds. “Everybody feels unsettled at some point. If you’re unsettled by a 9-to-5 job, then why not embrace the uncertainty?”
