{"id":28083,"date":"2017-08-24T11:18:55","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T15:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/creator\/?p=28083"},"modified":"2020-02-26T14:32:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T19:32:35","slug":"at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections","title":{"rendered":"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For Sahara Borja, a vacation is more than just a chance to relax. She believes that traveling should help you connect with the people in your destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why Borja founded Scarlet Macaw<\/a>, a trip-planning service that helps connect travelers with the local culture. This not only helps ensure that tourism directly benefits those living in popular vacation areas\u2014particularly in Latin America\u2014but also creates a unique and impactful experience for everyone involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spoke to Borja, based out of Berkeley, CA’s WeWork 2120 University Ave<\/a>, to find out more about her experience and the inspiration for this unique travel experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“I realized that I, as a traveler, had as much to learn as I did to give,” says Sahara Borja.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to start Scarlet Macaw?<\/strong>
My father is from Cali, Colombia. When I was on the Caribbean coast of Colombia a couple of years ago, I noticed that Cartagena was a buzzing city and had become a popular travel destination. But that there was a disconnect between the huge hotels going up and the work opportunities for local people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized that I, as a traveler, had as much to learn as I did to give. This was the \u201caha\u201d moment. The idea is not high-end travel, but rather, connection, collaboration, and the chance for growth. I\u2019m interested in setting up the scene so that human connection happens for all parties on this adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re also affiliated with Catchlight.io, a photography organization that celebrates visual storytelling. What are some of the most impactful moments you\u2019ve experienced thanks to photography?<\/strong>
For me, photography has always been the reason and entryway into making connections with other people. I showed up in Cartagena ready to do interviews with an idea in my mind of the work I\u2019d be making, but the impact was actually having the camera serve as an entry point into the conversations that needed to happen. Photography opened those doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a big part of Scarlet Macaw trips. In a lot of ways, photography requires you to have the courage to have conversations with both global neighbors and local neighbors that you should have been talking to anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Cartagena trip includes everything from mud volcanoes to dance lessons. How do you decide what to include?<\/strong>
Well, I knew it had to be the right balance of fun and impactful. We want you to remember the sights and smells as much as the conversations and stories you hear along the way. I want the trip to be beautiful; enriching; feed-the-soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of our day trips is to the first free town of the Americas, founded by escaped and former slaves. There\u2019s a dialect there that\u2019s like the Creole of South America. It\u2019s very preserved with a proud legacy despite its hard beginnings. There you\u2019ll experience a walking tour, a dance tour, drumming, and the stories behind all of these things\u2014the complexity of tourism with what happened in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your love of travel influences all you do. What are some of your travel goals in the future?<\/strong>
To grow these experiences to other regions of Colombia and other locations where women are working day-to-day to put food on the table for their families and have had to start their lives over because of displacement or other socio-political problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is enough food, wealth, and resources in this world for everyone to flourish. We want to reallocate some of these resources and believe this is a model that supports that vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really want to go to Greece, and to other parts of South America. Because of my personal ties, I\u2019ve only been to Colombia. I\u2019d love to go to Brazil and Mexico City as well. I love knowing that there are WeWork locations in both those countries. I am so impressed with the WeWork network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Sahara Borja, a vacation is more than just a chance to relax. She believes that traveling should help you connect with the people in your destination. That\u2019s why Borja founded Scarlet Macaw, a trip-planning service that helps connect travelers with the local culture. This not only helps ensure that tourism directly benefits those living […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":918,"featured_media":28087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43903,43911],"tags":[500,520],"class_list":["post-28083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-stories","category-member-spotlight","tag-community","tag-travel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAt Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sahara Borja founded Scarlet Macaw, a trip-planning service that helps connect travelers with the local culture.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sahara Borja founded Scarlet Macaw, a trip-planning service that helps connect travelers with the local culture.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ideas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-24T15:18:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-26T19:32:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"843\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"461\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-24T15:18:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-26T19:32:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections\"},\"wordCount\":662,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461\",\"keywords\":[\"Community\",\"Travel\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community Stories\",\"Member Spotlight\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections\",\"name\":\"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-24T15:18:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-26T19:32:35+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sahara Borja founded Scarlet Macaw, a trip-planning service that helps connect travelers with the local culture.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461\",\"width\":843,\"height\":461},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"\/ideas\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Community Stories\",\"item\":\"\/ideas\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Member Spotlight\",\"item\":\"\/ideas\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/\",\"name\":\"Ideas\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\",\"name\":\"WeWork\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55\",\"width\":55,\"height\":55,\"caption\":\"WeWork\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/author\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections","description":"Sahara Borja founded Scarlet Macaw, a trip-planning service that helps connect travelers with the local culture.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections","og_description":"Sahara Borja founded Scarlet Macaw, a trip-planning service that helps connect travelers with the local culture.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections","og_site_name":"Ideas","article_published_time":"2017-08-24T15:18:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-26T19:32:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":843,"height":461,"url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections","datePublished":"2017-08-24T15:18:55+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-26T19:32:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections"},"wordCount":662,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461","keywords":["Community","Travel"],"articleSection":["Community Stories","Member Spotlight"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections","name":"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461","datePublished":"2017-08-24T15:18:55+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-26T19:32:35+00:00","description":"Sahara Borja founded Scarlet Macaw, a trip-planning service that helps connect travelers with the local culture.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461","width":843,"height":461},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/at-scarlet-macaw-travel-is-all-about-making-connections#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"\/ideas"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community Stories","item":"\/ideas"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Member Spotlight","item":"\/ideas"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"At Scarlet Macaw, travel is all about making connections"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/","name":"Ideas","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization","name":"WeWork","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55","width":55,"height":55,"caption":"WeWork"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/author"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/Scarlet-Macaw-Trips-1.jpg?fit=843%2C461","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/918"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28083"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63377,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28083\/revisions\/63377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}