#014: Nico Esguerra (25 yrs) on Traveling to 25+ Countries, Studying Abroad, and Making It In Media

Welcome to the hackiversity Podcast, where students learn how to achieve more by doing less in college. Learn the hacks from wildly successful recent college graduates as your host, Kyle Whiney explores the colleges, majors and paths that produce the biggest results in college using less effort. It's hacking time.

What's up all you beautiful people out there?

Welcome to the hackiversity Podcast where I, Kyle Whiney, show students how to achieve more by doing less in college today. Welcome to the show. Nico Esquera. Are you a student who has no idea what to do, no idea what to study? Or are you a student who has always dreamed of traveling extensively but are clueless how to do it without breaking the bank? Nico tells you how Nico has traveled to 25 different countries and toured all across the US and he's only 25 years old. Nico explains how he went from getting paid to work abroad with rebel groups in Mozambique to milking goats on a farm in rural America, to working for a New York City media company servicing heavy hitting clients like the Daily show and Comedy Central and the Wikimedia foundation who owns Wikipedia. How did Nico do this? Nico explains the tips and tricks to studying abroad and getting paid to do it while building out a world class resume. Learn from Nico as he explains how to negotiate a free stay in Mozambique, making money while in Beirut, and what he learned while milking goats in the U.S. without further ado, let's dig in.

Nico, thanks so much for joining me today.

No problem, Nico.

So we met through a mutual friend and it's crazy because I've chatted with you a lot previously, but it wasn't until very recently that I discovered how accomplished you are, which is really a testament to your humility. So I'm really excited to talk about all those things today. One of my favorite parts about doing this is just I get to get to meet people at a deeper level. So I'm excited to do that with you.

Thanks, man. Yeah, I appreciate the comment. Happy to talk about whatever you're interested to hear.

Cool. Just to set the stage, how old are you?

I'm 25.

You're 25. Okay. So Nico, let's start with your college experience. You graduated in 2014 from Columbia University with a degree in Middle Eastern, South Asian and African studies. I think that is probably the longest major I've ever encountered. So, Nico, in my book, I talk a lot about how so much of the value of these Ivy League colleges are locked away in the network of people. So have you seen the power of that network Play out in your college life and in your professional life so far.

Yeah. And so, I mean, in my. What has been my industry, it's mostly like media and communications. And so I did find that I had a lot of people when I was working at my last job, the communications firm in New York, where I could think, like. Oh, let me just pause and think about it. I actually have friends who work at most major media institutions, media outlets, publications, you know, at least one connection there who I could get in touch with. So I think that was definitely something that came out of the Columbia experience.

Yeah. Great. So, Nico, in my book, I very much caution students away from majors like Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies simply because they are not as marketable relative to some of the other majors.

That are out there.

But in my book, I cite one critical exception to this rule, and that is if you graduate from an elite college like Columbia, then feel free to major in something like this. And the reason why is that I have seen that people who graduate with liberal arts majors like this from elite colleges have a much wider range of employment opportunities relative to people who don't. And so my question to you is, do you think that you have been hamstrung or restrained in any way because you graduated with a liberal arts degree?

I think, like, I probably would have gone something a little more middle of the road, like, you know, history or something similar to that. Something that would have, like, left me with more of a discipline and wouldn't have pigeonholed me. But at the same time, I mean, that major has opened up opportunities based on its niche. So. And I've always been truly interested in it. So any sort of, you know, utility value that comes from a different major that I would have been less interested in would have been offset by the fact that I would have been less interested in it.

Yeah, yeah. So in essence, you weren't really limited by this major.

No, yeah, yeah.

I think that's really key because I see a lot of students majoring in something like this from, you know, a tier three school, and it doesn't open up the doors like this kind of major from an Ivy League school does. And so I think. I love your perspective that these liberal arts degrees have a ton of value when you're talking about elite colleges. So I think that's a real critical takeaway for students out there thinking about majoring in something like this. I think one of the first things you have to ask yourself is, what college am I at? And then select the major from there. So really Cool insight. Nico, I want to transition to your travel experience because I know that you are an international man of travel, and I just think this is so important. And here's why. I really emphasize how self awareness for college students is the game and how students need to know what they're passionate.

About, what their strengths are, and some.

Other things that I mentioned. One of the best ways, I believe, for students to develop the self awareness is to unlock these things by having experiences, including travel. So basically, get out of the library and start immersing yourself in a job or a place where you think you might want to launch a career. So, Nico, to set the stage, how many countries have you visited in your life?

25.

So, Nico, what did all these travel experiences teach you?

So I think, like, it's pretty cliche. I think, you know, in a sense, like, I've learned a lot from all of my travels, you know, that I've been fortunate enough to take. And I think, like, the overarching one is it's taught me a lot about myself, what I like, what I don't like.

And that taught you about the kind of lifestyle you want to live?

Maybe like, you know, the lifestyle I want to live or what I want to do with my life doesn't involve me sleeping on the street or. Or, you know, covering vast distances on, you know, not many dollars, which is. Which wasn't clear to me before that trip or the other trips. So, yeah, I mean, that's been cool. And I've also really focused on working when I've been traveling. So working abroad and spending a lot of time in one place, and a lot of time is relative to college student time. That's a season. It was a summer or a semester. And those experiences in working have taught me not only about different cultures and different places and those different lifestyles, but also work. What industry, type of organization, type of people.

So your international work experience, though, is basically like an internship, though, on steroids, because you got the work experience, and so you got to learn more about yourself in a work environment. But that was coupled with these travel experiences. So you're getting to learn more about life outside of work at the same time.

Yeah. So, I mean, getting into the specifics, I think that internationally, my first solo trip, like, you know, sort of major solo trip was I spent a summer in Lebanon in Beirut, and I was working for a news website there. And that was, you know, so, like, it's kind of hard to differentiate the level of, like, I mean, part of the romance of journalism abroad, which I was super interested in and it was sort of, it was my dream to become a foreign correspondent is that you. The travel and the adventure mix with the work. It's sort of inherent to that line of work. And so, yeah, I was able to sort of experience those jointly in terms of the rhythm of the work, the actual tasks, the toll it takes on a person and what it requires. And also that specific place in Lebanon. And a lot of that is learned secondhand. That's the way a lot of internships, like the learning is. You talk to people and you ask them about it and ask them about their experiences. And so that was, you know, that was eye opening for me.

So your experiences in Lebanon, among other places, confirmed for you that media and communications is the industry in which you want to pursue.

So I mean, for now it is and it has been and I think it will continue to be. But I also have had experiences working for for profit companies or consulting companies that have made me think about openness to other industries in the future. But yeah, I had a good time doing the work I was doing in Lebanon. And the following summer I had an internship at NPR at a program called Planet Money. And I'm sure that they were very interested in my work in Beirut.

Cool. So I want to get to your internship with NPR in a second, but let's hang on to the travel segment here. And so, Nico, you travel to over 25 countries and a lot of students are going to look at that and say, boy, traveling to one country is super expensive. How can I afford to travel to 25 of them? So tell the listeners out there how you made it happen.

Scholarships and jobs. And you know, when people wouldn't offer to pay me, I would sort of ask them for any other sort of help they could give in compensation. So throughout college I always had at least two or three part time jobs at any given time.

So you were working all throughout college to finance these travels?

Yeah, and during internships too, I would have part time jobs. So when I was in Beirut, I mean, I was freelancing for the publication on the side for some arts and culture pieces when I was. But during my freshman year I got a work study job and I was working at the political science department as a secretary. I also leapt into a bartending job which was really fun and was teaching some mixology classes. So those are a few of them.

Yeah. So you definitely recommend students to go out there and get a part time job, make it work in their schedule. 100%, yeah.

100%.

Cool.

Yeah. I think that, like, it also contributes to. I mean, depending on the job you get, you being a sort of normal human being too, it's easy to get wrapped up in schoolwork and feel like it's the end all, be all. But if you have a job, you. It's a sort of constant reminder that there are other important things in the world and there are other things happening around you. And if, you know, depending on the job, you might also be working with people who are not just fellow students, but are people with different lives. And I think that's a good reminder because a lot of college experiences can be. You live in a bubble the whole time.

Yeah. So, Nico, you think students who want to travel extensively like you did, you think a strategic play for them would be to work while they're in college, use that structure to drive their gpa, but at the same time make money to finance their travels?

That is what worked for me. So in that sense. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, cool. And Nico, how much do students need? Let me ask it this way. How much money did you need per day to travel at some of these countries?

You know, it always depends on the setup you can establish when you get there.

So what's the most economical setup that you found?

Well, one person couldn't offer to pay me, so I asked them if they could house me and feed me instead, and they said sure. So my boss became my roommate on day one, and I was.

What country was this?

That was in Mozambique where I had an internship for almost six months.

So you basically you interned and so you built your resume that way, but at the same time you got free room and board in Mozambique?

Yeah, and then that was also the spot where I got a fellowship for an unpaid internship. So I wrote an essay about this interesting internship opportunity I had, but how I wasn't being paid for it and I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship for it. So it's sort of like, I don't know how many wins that is, but it was like, win, win, win, win. Like housing board and. Yeah. And then also I actually got a scholarship amount that helped me financially.

Yeah. That's beautiful. I mean, that is exactly what Hackiversity is all about, is just finding these high leverage opportunities and running straight at them. So, Nico, for other students out there wanting to replicate exactly that move, what is the next step they should do.

Mine? The fellowship list at your college. That's assuming there is a fellowship list. If there isn't, go talk to a counselor or someone at the career center or something like that. And just go through them one by one. I did that a few times for every opportunity I had. Yeah, I mean, that's a huge one. I met people. I did network relentlessly to get the things I wanted. And I think, like, my networking was definitely. It was just based on really specific and sometimes esoteric interests. Like, you know, I. I met a lot of people through the radio station that I was working for at the. At Columbia, and one of them happened to be this professor. And, you know, I just, like, sort of identified him. Like, you know, we're just some of the stories I told to you. I mean, he was telling me the story of how he was, like, working with rebel groups in Mozambique, and I was like, that's so interesting, but if you don't mind me, like, let's take a step back. Like, how did you end up working for rebel groups in Mozambique? And then he was like, you know, he sort of backed up the story enough to where I was like, okay, now you are a person who I can understand rather than someone who is just, like, has a crazy story. And, you know, so then, like, that was one example of just pursuit. And I was like, this guy's gonna, you know, I'm gonna get copy. This guy. We're gonna, like, talk. And, you know, eventually ended up going to Mozambique based on a suggestion of his.

So, Nico, how do you advise a college student who's on a shoestring budget but really, really wants to travel the world?

I would say that they should get a job. And then, you know, I mean, you can. You can travel. I mean, check out some budget flight websites, stuff like that. You can travel the world on. Not much nowadays, and there's a lot of resources for how to do it. For me, I always enjoyed, you know, working abroad. So I would find. Try to find opportunities related to that, whether through like, school resources or just, like, asking connections or friends or professors and being somewhat relentless about it and then mining my university's resources and fellowships page. So that fellowship that I mentioned that I got while I was working in Mozambique, I found off a list of probably hundreds of fellowships or scholarship opportunities. And I just looked at them one by one by one until I found three or four or five that were related to me, and I was lucky enough to get one. So.

So, Nico, many students are thinking about picking up a second language. You have a working proficiency in both Spanish and Portuguese. So how have knowing those languages made a practical difference in your career and in your life?

There have been only lot of times where people have reached out to me based solely on my language experience or language knowledge for opportunities, some of which have panned out and some of which have not. But it definitely is like a huge ad for a resume.

So Nico, let's transition to your career. So you took a year off after.

College, is that right?

It didn't feel like a year off. I was working, but I wasn't making much money. But yeah, I think that it's fair to say that I did. It was sort of a year off from the trajectory of my career.

And what were you doing during that year off?

Based on one of my part time jobs, I'd been working at a farmer's market in New York. The farmer I worked for was like, why don't you just like come work on the farm for a little while and just sort of figure things out. So I went and lived in a cabin on a farm in Hudson valley for like 150 bucks a week and did that for a little while for I think that was almost six months. And then from there I had been sort of trying to work a job in natural resource management and had been wanting to combine these two interests of mine which were sort of like the international perspective, the focus on regions of the world like Africa and the Middle east that I'd studied and worked in and been interested in. And I wanted to combine that with like this new interest of mine which is still continued in climate change environmental issues. But I was like, I gotta beef up my resume on this environmental issue side because on the other side I seem pretty legit. I have like experience on the ground over there. Like I've done some interesting work, but I want to learn. And I think that a lot of jobs abroad, especially in development, can easily be like, here's a way, like, you don't have any experience doing this thing, but you happen to be an American and so you can come here and work at this project that you don't have much experience in. So I feel like that's a lot of development jobs. And I was instead interested in getting that experience in a more, I considered, legit basis here at home. So I applied for some jobs that mostly require manual labor, but for whatever reason, they also require a college degree from like different states, state governments and different departments within the federal government. So, you know, while I was like in this cabin on this farm and between shifts milking like 60 or so goats in the morning and then in the evening and doing whatever other chores I had, I was sending out these applications to numerous jobs as like a Wildlands firefighter or as a lab technician at different ecology labs and things like that. And one of them stuck. And I got a job, partially based on a connection through a professor. I got a job in an ecology lab in Utah. So traveled for two months. I went for a few months to the Hudson Valley, and then from there, based partially on my experience at the farm working with plants and working in greenhouses, I got a job at an ecology lab in Utah. So I drove out west and worked there for about four months and then decided that it wasn't exactly for me that, you know, the. I'd worked there for a whole field season and there was going to be a second field season that they wanted me to stay for. And I decided that one field season was enough. And then I came back and sort of when I say came back, I came back east and went back to New York and found a job at. I think, like, was less of a zig and zag and seemed more like the proper trajectory for my career, at least for an outsider, and I think for me as well.

And was that job Nico at Oliver Global?

Yeah, it was two partner firms. They were Oliver Global and Manassian Media. They were just these two partners that for whatever reason, for different clients, we used different names.

Yeah. And so when you were at Oliver Global, you conducted research for programs like the Daily Show. You worked for the Wikimedia foundation, who owns Wikipedia.

So what was it like to work.

At a media giant like the Oliver Global and its accompanying partner?

It was pretty cool. I mean, I guess I would just back up and say that there were two months where I worked for a small Nigerian news website in New York that had hired me out of Utah and was sort of my foot in the door back into New York. But when I had arrived, I had met someone who worked at these two firms. And so just based on my experience at that last job, and this was obviously a stellar opportunity, I took it. And I mean, it was amazing. I think we. They're not exactly giants, but they had very. They were small companies. They refer to themselves as boutique strategic communications firms, but they had these massive clients, and there was really prestigious projects I got to work on, as a few of my colleagues reminded me when I was working super late on for what felt like not always corresponding pay. But, you know, it was about the prestige or about, you know, the mission, which is for the. Luckily for our clients that I always felt like it was super admirable. So, I mean, it was hard. It was really hard. It's A lot of hard work.

And how did your international experience help you get a job at Oliver Global?

You know, it's one of those things where, like, luck just. Things just kind of pile on to each other sometimes. So the same way that working on a farm, which you would never expect to help you in your career, I would never have expected that helped me get a job in Utah. From there, I was wearing a National Park Service shirt, which I hadn't worked for the National Park Service, but just based on the community I lived in, I'd gotten one somehow. And when I showed up in New York, literally, I went from the airport to my sublet and then I walked five minutes to my friend's house and one of his roommates walked in and saw me wearing this National Park Service shirt and was like. We basically started the conversation on the basis of, like, hey, like, I also like the environment. Like, let's chat for a few minutes. And then he gave me his card and said that his company was hiring. And then then a couple months later, they hired me. So I think, like, yeah, so, I mean, it was very, like, stroke of luck, which, I mean, frankly, like, you know, I was leaving Utah, I'd been working for not much money on a farm. It felt like not much had been going for me for like the last amount of time. Whereas in. Sometimes in college, you know, there's so much structure and things just sort of fall into place and it. And also there's so much interaction with people who. A lot of whom are there to help you and your education. So that had been based on. Some of. It had been based on this one professor who I have come to see as sort of a mentor, had helped me get a couple of good gigs. And then, yeah, suddenly out of college, I didn't have that support, didn't have that background. And it took some getting used to. But then, you know, something stuck. I got lucky and someone saw me wearing this one shirt. But, you know, it also goes back to like, that was sort of a foot in the door. But my resume was. I think it. It just somehow matched perfectly with the stuff they did. And there's no way that I could have planned for that. But, you know, they had, you know, they're communications firms, they did a lot of PR work and a lot of other media related work. I had a background in media, both abroad and Lebanon at npr. I had worked in my college radio station all four years, and there were a couple other opportunities I had. And then also my sort of, at this point, budding Expertise in African issues based on my major and a couple of jobs I'd had. And then they had, in addition to being this sort of PR communications firm, some of their projects were very Africa specific. And that wasn't what I got hired for actually, but it's what I ended up working a lot on. So I ended up doing some really cool, prestigious projects for them. And it definitely was an eye catcher. I think when they were looking at resumes professionally, I have done some pretty legit stuff. The highest point of my career was the US Africa Business Forum. So I designed this event that was. Our clients were Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Department of Commerce. And I helped design this whole event with. It was a day long event where dozens of African heads of state came. Almost all of them came. It was during UN General assembly week in New York. President Obama spoke and four members of the cabinet and I met three of those members of the cabinet. I met the three richest men in Africa. I like met four or five African heads of state. And that was like, I mean, you know, to think that, you know, to think literally the whole time that you're there too. Right? Like the, the thing that's going through my head was like, yo, a year ago, a year ago I was in the dirt on a farm and now I'm shaking the hand of the richest man in Africa in the Plaza Hotel.

Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So, Nico, let's transition to the last section in the show. And that is what I like to call the rapid fire question section, which is where I offer up some quick hitting questions, but doesn't mean your answer needs to be quick hitting. Sound good?

All right.

All right. So Nico, would you say that there's.

A specific college track to get you.

Where you are today?

No.

Cool. I like it. Simple. Many ways to the top.

Yeah, yeah. There are many different kinds of success and to all of those kinds of success, there are many different paths.

Well, speaking about success, who is the first person that comes to mind when I say the word successful?

I think it would probably be that professor I mentioned who I sort of see as a mentor like figure. He's pretty young for being a professor and he has a sort of crazy path. But you know, I've talked to him about stuff. We've been real and you know, he's quit things. He's like, some things haven't worked out in his career and in his path, but he just sort of found his niche and made it work. And now he leads a pretty major institute at Columbia and runs Projects all over the world. And on any given day, I'll text him or email him, and he'll be. He has crazy spears about tribal groups in the Amazon, like shooting poison spears or throwing poison spears at the canoe of his research group. And, like, you know, I don't know, working with people who are working among Bedouins and who are attacking, you know, pipelines near Jordan and. Or he's, like, working in with former rebel groups in Mozambique. So, I mean, he's got a lot of really cool stuff. And, I mean, have I mentioned Papua New Guinea? Like, always sounds super cool. So, I mean, for a dude of his age, I think he's in his mid-30s, to be doing the stuff that he's doing at the level he's doing. I definitely imagine it as, like, one of the most successful people I know.

Nico, what is one thing you believe about college that most people don't?

Well, that it's never too late to start something new. And. But it also takes a long time to get good at something. So, like, you know, if you decide your junior year that you are, like, not on the track that you want to be on, it's not too late to abort and change gears. Like, it's not going to be easy, but I think that, you know, you're still young enough that you can make it work. But you. That doesn't mean that you can take it easy from there or that it will be easier for you. It means that you should sort of throw yourself headlong into it, maybe. I know a few people who've done some work, done, you know, made some dramatic life decisions like that, and they've had to reverse course again. But, like, I think that, yeah, you just kind of got to find your thing. And the argument that it's too late to change is. I mean, of course, it runs relative to, like, financial, you know, resources, and that is, of course, a factor. But there are ways to make things work or meet halfway between like, what would be perfect and what is actually realistic. And you just got to start heading in that direction.

Cool. Nico, what's the best lesson a teacher, a parent, or a mentor has taught you?

I think, like, my. My dad sort of has these, like, two expressions he uses, which, like, you know, he always talks about. He very much lives the ideal of, like, carpe diem, like, sort of seize the day, go, like, you know, take advantage of. Of your free time and of life and. But he also pairs that with. He constantly uses the expression that, you know, sometimes you got to put your Head down. And so, you know, every now and again in life, like it's not going to be fun, but sometimes you just gotta put your head down and bang out a bunch of work or work really hard. And so I think that, like, yeah, that would be it. Sort of that balance in both those expressions. So sometimes it's, you know, you gotta go all the way in both directions sometimes.

Yeah. Cool. Nico, what is one book that you think every high school senior should read?

Well, I'm a big reader, so it's kind of hard to pick one, but if I'm gonna pick one, I would say that's this book called the Rules of Civility by Amor Tals, which is a sort of weird name, A M O R. And then the last name is T O W L E S. And it's this book about this young woman who goes to New York city in the 30s. And it's all fiction, but it's really interesting sort of coming of age story. And I think it reflects a lot of the discovery that I feel like I went through when I went to school, especially going to school in a city where throughout the book the character sort of discovers her own naivete about life. Different subjects, people, you know, how complicated people can be. And. And I think that that is an experience that a lot of people in leaving home and going to school and encountering more of the real world will. That's an experience that they'll have. And they'll sometimes, you know, you sometimes feel like, how could I have been so stupid or so ignorant and, you know, you just got to live things before you learn them. And this book is sort of a good intro to that sensation that people get very used to.

Yeah, cool. Nico, what is one thing you want a college sophomore listening to this podcast to know?

Probably the thing I said earlier, I mean, it's not too late to change things up if you're a sophomore that you probably don't feel like it's too late. You might be wondering, like, how much you should be trying things out. In which case I would say try everything. You know, go to that first few classes of the physics period and make sure that you're not interested in it. Shop classes? Yeah, definitely. Shop classes.

Shop classes.

Cool. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my whole first two weeks were always an insane shopping period and I ended up being really happy with the classes I went to. And I think that, yeah, I mean, you don't know what you're going to fall into or what you're going to like.

Cool. Last question, Nico. If you could recommend something to to a college student in the form of a tweet, what would it be?

It'd probably be something along the lines of try everything and eventually something will stick.

I like that experimentation.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. Cool.

Awesome.

Well, Nico, this has been a ton of fun. I love chatting with people, I love hearing their story. I love discovering and deconstructing the things that work for them and what didn't. So where can people learn more about you and the things that you're up to?

I would. You can follow me on Instagram. I'm nicocito07. That's n I c o c I t o07. That will probably be some of my more interesting moments because obviously I'm not going to put the less interesting ones out there. And it's. You have to request to follow me. It's a private account, but I will probably accept you and I think that that's the best place. I'm not super active on social media. I don't have a super public facing online life. But that will be where you'll see some of the most interesting stuff.

Cool. Awesome, Nico, thanks for coming on.

Thanks, Kyle.

Hey everyone. One major takeaway I want to emphasize before wrapping up. Nico has tried a variety of things, immersed himself in a ton of experiences, and pursued many different opportunities in college. This approach led him to visit 25 countries, many on a shoestring budget. I hope this episode inspires all the wishful world travelers out there that world travel is possible. In fact, as Nico demonstrates, world travel in college is not just possible. Doing so can create a premier resume. Remember, Nico didn't always play conventionally. When his boss in Mozambique wasn't able to pay him cold hard cash to work, Nico negotiated free room and board instead. Combine this unconventional approach with part time work in the States. Along with winning scholarships, Nico financed traveling.

Around the globe without amassing, suffocating student loans.

Not only were these experiences major wins of their own, Nico harnessed the lessons learned abroad to fashion together a resume unlike any other. Not surprisingly, Nico scored a job at a prestigious New York City media company servicing clients like Wikipedia and the Daily Show. Do you see the virtuous cycle here?

Amazing.

Study abroad opportunities led to professional opportunities, which then led to even better professional opportunities. If you take away anything from this podcast, know that traveling around the globe is not just doable in college. Doing so can propel you into a job otherwise unreachable.

That's all for now.

I'll catch you all next time.

If.

You want more Hackiversity and achieving more by doing less. In college. You can subscribe to the podcast on itunes or grab the book on Amazon. For the show notes and the latest on hackiversity, check out kylewiny.com don't forget to follow Kyle on Twitter ilwinie and on facebook@facebook.com hackaversity Till next time, Happy hacking.