Photo: wili.hybrid
Around this time last year, I asked Matador co-founders Ross Borden and Ben Polansky to write down what I called “The Matador Story.”
I was working on some publicity and marketing materials and wanted them to get down on paper exactly what Matador was and how it all got started.
Ross wrote:
High on Vulcan Misty, an 18,000 ft volcano near Arequipa, Peru, we began talking about the need for a global community of travelers where people could share stories like the one that was unfolding on that mountain and connect with locals and travelers over whatever they were passionate about. We didn’t know what this community would look like, but we were sure it didn’t exist yet.
Ben wrote:
It was an idea to create a space where people could share their experiences, connections and passions with others and inspire and support each other to live as travelers (curious, engaged, informed risk-takers) both at home and abroad. I always thought of Matador as a virtual campfire where people who are at different points in life can stop by and share or just look and listen for information and encouragement. I still think of the Matador Network in that way, it’s much bigger now though, but that same kind of campfire storytelling and collaboration is occurring, but at a much larger scale.
Matador turns four later this year, and though we’ve grown a lot,* we’re still so much more than a magazine: we’re a community.
Every day, I exchange emails with writers and MatadorU students who are writing articles and essays that are alive with the energy that only a materially transparent style can endow. No cliches like “gem” or “nestled”; this is writing that stirs readers out of their easy reading complacency and invites them to look at people and places with fresh eyes.
I follow Matador members on Twitter, a virtual tag-along on their journeys as they photograph micro-loan beneficiaries in South America, defy the US travel ban to visit Cuba (and meet my stepson in Havana), and prepare to volunteer in Haiti.
The campfire is virtual, but it’s also, increasingly, offline, too.
Over the weekend, I met up with Mitch Anderson of AmazonWatch, one of Matador’s organizational members. Though based in San Francisco, Mitch was in New York working on a project to encourage big oil shareholders to exercise their influence over oil company executives. We talked about Matador members holding house parties for the documentary, “Crude,” and he told me about efforts to protect a recently discovered uncontacted group of indigenous people in Peru.
A couple weeks earlier, I met with a Matador writer who’d just flown into town after spending days preparing a cargo ship’s worth of donations to send to Haiti from Miami.
There’s no shortage of websites and travel magazines that tell you where you should go and what you should do when you get there. And that’s fine.
But Matador’s different because it offers you a community of people who view travel not as an occasional journey, but as an integral part of life. There’s a place for everyone around the campfire– what stories do you have to share?
*more than 25,000 members of MatadorTravel;
*more than 10,000 followers on Twitter;
*more than 1.7 million unique readers each month;
*more than 300 students and graduates in our MatadorU travel writing school
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24 Comments... join the discussion!
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Michelle- You’ve been an important part of that growth! I’m looking forward to meeting you off-screen in Big Sky!
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I, for one, am really happy to be involved. I just feel like I’ve benefitted so much as a traveller who is learning all about how to get my stories out there. I also feel like I’ve fallen in with a community of like-minded people that you can’t often access when you are not actually on the road. Magazine schmagazine!
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Marie- You’re definitely one of the folks I was thinking of as I wrote this piece! I’m really glad you’re part of the Matador community.
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I joined the Matador Community several months ago before a vacation to Puerto Vallarta, and can’t even remember now how I stumbled upon it. All I know is that I have found the perfect venue to try writing and enjoy every minute of it.
Happy Birthday Matador, and many more.↵ -
Thanks, Angeline! Welcome– and why don’t you post your MT.com profile URL so we can read about you?
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Matador is difficult to peg. I think what keeps me coming back is the great writing from such a broad mix of people. If you grabbed any number to travel with, it could only turn out one way – EPIC.
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Hi, Scott-
Thanks for your comment. EPIC is definitely the word.
I’m checking out your blog right now.
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Indeed. It’s been a long road for you guys. I’m happy to have joined Matador when I did.
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Julie, this made me feel all feel warm and fuzzy! It’s so exciting to be a part of this community. I look at those stats and think this is just the beginning!
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Matador was one THE very first online travel magazine I stumbled on. The community hooked me.
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@Candice-Ditto to Candice. This was the first online travel magazine I came across. I was so impressed with the quality and scope of articles combined with a super friendly community that I never left.
Love this article, Julie.
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Matador is definitely the best part of my day…I don’t think traditional magazines could inspire and excite me as much as the content and people here do. Impressive stats, too. Congrats!
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Yay! Go Team Matador! (And that’s a mighty large team, by the way.)
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Matador is an amazing community for sure, and epic definitely describes it
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Matador was the first travel writing community I came across too. And I was hooked. It’s the reason I decided to become a travel writer, and MatadorU taught me all that I needed to learn. Hats off to the world’s best travel community
I’m so glad to be a part of it.
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Glad the program was so helpful to you, Sej, and really glad you’re part of the community!
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Sweet roundup, and reminder, Julie. It’s really important to sit back and look at things from the “outside” every once in while.
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Wow, these comments fire me up more than anything. We’re so lucky to have the community we do…and it’s been growing like crazy lately!
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Always great to hear the back story to a site that has grown so much. I especially enjoy the fact that there appears to be no central office – you’ve got a virtual community that stretches around the world. It’s amazing actually.
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Thanks, Dave. Some days I think “I’d love to wake up and go to a Matador office with all these amazing colleagues.” But that’s anti-Matador, maybe.
I’m pretty content to build this community online and across continents, drawing every day on the energy from these people all around the world!
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My partner Paul stumbled upon Matador one day quite by accident. He told me he had discovered something that might interest me. Boy was he right!!! It is like a community & i read the bliogs & writings mostly every day & it is as if the people are best friends not just names on a screen. i have learnt so much about the world from all here. I have been inspired too. Thank God for Matador & thanks for creating Matador too.
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