Delivering the real experience of travel. See our mission statement.
Our programs help young people travel abroad and promote cross-cultural exchange.
About the Founders
Greg started his career as a corporate securities attorney and later an investment banker before launching a series of successful entrepreneurial ventures. In 1989, he started a business designing and manufacturing international arcade games, including the world’s largest selling coin-operated basketball game. After selling that company, Greg led a car retailing and finance company, growing it into a $750-million operation with 76 dealerships across the country. After selling his interest in that business in 2006, Greg began traveling the globe, searching for his next entrepreneurial opportunity.
While on a trip to India, Greg and AFAR's co-founder Joe Diaz realized that there was no media voice for cultural explorers, those seeking to broaden themselves by going beyond the typical tourist haunts and connecting deeply with local people and places. Thus was born the inspiration to launch AFAR Media, a media company focused on experiential travel that helps people experience every destination as local residents do.
A seasoned world traveler, Joe spent his early years growing up in a bi-cultural family, with one foot in Spain and the other in California. That early exposure to the global village propelled Joe toward what he now considers his “calling”—learning about this fascinating and quirky world we live in through travel.
After graduating from Duke University, Joe spent three years working with Teach for America in the barrios of Phoenix, Arizona, before getting his masters degree and launching a successful real estate investment firm in Arizona. His travels have taken him extensively to four of the seven continents, with a goal to visit all seven.
