The World is Your Oyster Office
By Charlotte Maracina
Imagine travelling the globe, volunteering worldwide and being CEO of a leading global teen adventure and service company all before the age of 40. Chris Stakich, CEO of Rustic Pathways, made this his reality.
Stakich’s story dates all the way back to high school.
His passion for travel began senior year on a trip to the Dominican Republic.
Stakich describes his trip as a “disaster.” The destination had no supervision, workers or supplies. Stakich wondered if they knew his group was coming and found himself thinking, “What a waste…here’s 20 of us willing to work hard.”
While his passion for travel started in high school, his work with Rustic Pathways didn’t start until after graduating college. Following his graduation from Harvard University where he followed an investment banking track, Stakich chose to take a year off and travel.
His inspiration for this post-graduation travel resulted from a lesson he learned during his time studying abroad in Australia. When abroad, Stakich noticed Australian’s “work to live” way of life as opposed to American’s “live to work” way of life. This other way of life forced Stakich to reevaluate his future.
A lack of income proved to be a barrier to travelling for a year. A google search for ‘high school community service exotic destination’ unearthed a small service company called Rustic Pathways. Stakich wrote a 3-page letter to the CEO explaining why he’d like to work with them. The rest is history.
Stakich went on to help mold the Costa Rica programs that Rustic was in the process of designing. He worked his way up: he became a program leader, worked in sales, then, as the Business Development Director, and eventually as the Chief Operating Officer which led him to his current role as CEO.
In addition to his responsibilities with Rustic, Stakich sits on the board of several other teen travel and service companies such as Thinking Beyond Borders, Global Service Year, and Thrival Academies. His dedication to fulfilling his mission “to create a world where travel is an essential part of every education” remains undying.
So, how does one person manage several companies while helping raise a family? Most importantly, how can someone else follow this path? Maintaining a rigid schedule, Stakich notes, is the most important part of time management.
“[I] only commit to something if I can be 100% in. If it aligns with something I’m really trying to achieve on this planet…I want to try to help push the world forward in a way that I believe in,” Stakich said.
Stakich urges everyone to work hard and remain flexible when applying for jobs.
With an open mind and an open Google tab, you may just end up as CEO.
Charlotte Maracina 