Introducing the New Team at Medellín Living

As Medellín’s star continues to rise, so to do our ambitions here at Medellín Living.

What began as a personal blog documenting my experiences getting to know the city and paisa culture in 2009 has grown into the de facto source of online information for people around the world researching and planning a visit, move or retirement to the City of the Eternal Spring.

In order to better service you, the reader, I’m excited to announce the addition of seven new writers who will be contributing original stories on a weekly basis, for the next three months.

This is a grand departure from my original plan to hire one new writer, but I couldn’t help myself. The more people I interviewed, the more I realized I wanted to work with each and every one of them.

As you’ll see below in the introductions, we have a diverse group, including two Colombians (Andrew and Melissa), two Americans, a Brit, a Scot and even a Romanian.

This diversity in perspectives, interests, opinions and backgrounds will only serve to enrich Medellín Living going forward.

Andrew Macia (Sr. Sales Consultant / World Cup Correspondent)

Originally from Bogotá, Andrew grew up in Los Angeles. He returned to Colombia three years ago, choosing to live in Medellín, where he works doing website development and marketing. Andrew is the man behind Medellin Buzz, a fun approach to encouraging Colombians to learn and practice English.

Ioana Calin (Writer)

Ioana is a coffee lover from Romania who moved to Medellín this past February after taking a job as the Community Manager for Interactuar, a Social Development Corporation (NGO). She has a personal blog where she writes in her native language, as well as in English as it relates to her move to Colombia.

Melissa Clark (Writer)

Melissa was born in Florida and moved to Medellín at the age of 13. She is an Industrial Design student at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, who loves photography, traveling and food.

Lisa Eldridge (Writer)

Lisa is a British travel writer (Girl about the Globe) and self-confessed travel addict currently living in Medellín. Her background in the travel industry fueled her passion to see the world and since the age of 21, she has travelled extensively as a solo traveller, living and working in numerous countries.

Nick Milne (Writer)

Nick is originally from Scotland, but spent much of his life in England. He’s spent the last six months working in Medellín as a Partnerships and Fundraising Manager for an NGO that helps miners improve their social and environmental practices. Previously, Nick worked as a Luxury Travel Consultant.

Jeff Paschke (Writer)

Jeff first discovered Colombia back in 2006 and has traveled to all the major cities in the country. He is fortunate to have a job in the U.S. with location flexibility, which has allowed him to spend the last three years living in Medellín. He is also studying Spanish to become fluent.

Ryan Shauers (Writer)

Ryan is a former Washington, D.C. desk jockey that left behind the working life at the end of 2012 to explore more of the world. He’s been exploring all that Colombia has to offer since the beginning of the year, and currently resides in Medellín. You can read about his travels at Desk to Dirtbag.

Larry Rose (Writer)

Larry will be contributing a new monthly series, Great Music in Medellín, which will focus on classical and jazz performances. Larry is a retired geologist and science educator living in Medellín. You can find his personal blog at http://pobladoboy.blogspot.com.

What Does This Mean for Medellín Living?

We’ll continue to produce the same high quality stories you’ve come to expect, only now our efforts will be multiplied.

This will allow us to cover some of our known blind spots, as well as better cater to reader requests for more information on specific subjects.

With each writer contributing one story per week, plus weekly stories from Ryan Hiraki (Managing Editor) and myself (Editor-in-Chief), there’s going to be a short term doubling of the number of stories published per week.

If you’re interested in making a donation toward this effort, head over to our Patreon page to learn more. It’s completely voluntary, and all money raised is re-invested back into the site.

Everyone is excited to get started, and you can expect to see these names in the bylines as early as tomorrow, when Andrew introduces us to Colombia’s 2014 World Cup team.