We recently connected with Annmarie Gajdos and have shared our conversation below.
Annmarie, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
I did not grow up in an environment that encouraged risk. As a young Slovak-American girl, taking the safe and predictable route felt like an unspoken rule. My family imagined I would go into something structured like law or medicine. So choosing entertainment and accepting a job at HBO was already a quiet rebellion. It was the first time I chose something uncertain because it spoke to me, not because it sounded practical.
I spent three years at HBO learning, absorbing, and admiring the work around me. I am grateful for that time. But while I was working on our productions during the day, I was also building a secret second life after hours. I was interviewing people, writing, hosting, creating, telling stories. Those side projects were what kept me alive creatively. They reminded me of the person I always wanted to be.
The real turning point came when I started to see how many people in corporate were losing themselves inside those walls. Their lives revolved around the stress of work, yet the work did not love them back. I realized how fragile the idea of job security really is. Even the biggest companies collapse. Even the best employees get let go. That realization shook me because I had spent my entire life chasing stability, always choosing to do the right thing, act the right way in order to maintain the status quo.
So I made the scariest decision of my life. I left HBO and took a risk on myself. I left the comfort of a recognizable name to step into a life with no guarantees. And I was terrified. Part of me wanted to keep my dreams of being seen locked away as a distant dream, out of fear that perhaps if I tried, I’d find out that I wasn’t actually good enough for the life I always wanted. It was easier to daydream and say “maybe in another life,” than it was to actually push myself to reach the heights of my full potential. But I realized that every opportunity I ever earned came from showing up, even when I was scared, even when I cried before walking into the room, even when I had no idea what I was doing. I kept showing up anyway.
That is what changed my life. Not confidence. Not certainty. Just the simple ability to take the next step, even when I was shaking.
Another major risk was when I moved abroad while still working at HBO. I spent six months working remotely across Europe. It was the first time I had ever lived fully on my own and it challenged everything I thought I knew about myself. I was far away from home, navigating a new life, a new rhythm, and a new version of myself. That experience opened me up to travel writing. It taught me that I could find my voice and my purpose anywhere in the world as long as I stayed honest with myself.
So when I finally left corporate, I promised myself one thing. I would give myself one year to pursue my dreams with full dedication. No half-energy. No backup plan. Just me and the faith that I could do something meaningful with my life.
Taking these risks rewrote my story. I am here today because I chose myself in moments when it would have been easier to disappear. And I will always be proud of that, no matter where this road leads me.
Annmarie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Annmarie Gajdos and I am a Slovakian on-camera host, travel writer, and lifestyle creator who was born and raised in New York City. My work is rooted in human connection, culture, and the belief that stories are what bring people together. I create through energy. I want people to feel something when they watch my videos, read my writing, or experience a moment through my eyes.
I never grew up believing a creative life was possible for me. As a Slovak-American daughter of immigrants, I felt a lot of pressure to choose the safe and structured path. So I spent years doing what I thought I was supposed to do. I studied hard. I pursued internships at notable companies: Turner Broadcasting, Atlantic Records, and Elvis Duran and The Morning Show. I eventually earned a job at HBO, which felt like the ultimate sign that I had “made it.”
But while I was working in corporate media, something unexpected was happening behind the scenes. I was building a second life through my creative work. I was filming street interviews, hosting events, modeling commercially, and traveling the world alone. Those passions were the heartbeat of my life. They felt meaningful in a way that corporate titles never could.
My life completely changed when I worked remotely in Europe for six months. It was the first time I had ever lived fully on my own in another country, and it pushed me to confront who I really was. I discovered travel writing, I deepened my love for culture, and I realized that the world felt too big and too interesting for me to stay boxed into one path.
Since then, my work has taken many forms because I am naturally multifaceted. I have solo traveled through over 38 countries. I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. I learned Swahili through the U.S. Department of State. I conducted research at the CIA. I have been featured in New York Magazine for Burberry, in SiriusXM, in a Bad Bunny music video, on The Sherri Show and The Kelly Clarkson Show.
I model professionally and have created content for Maybelline, Coca-Cola, Carbone, White Castle, and many other brands. I write travel and lifestyle articles for Business Insider and Matador Network. I host interviews and live events, including sports games. I am also interview rising artists for Universal Music Group, like Frankie Grande and Amber Mark. I love discovering new talent and helping them tell their stories with honesty and depth.
My audience is made up of curious, ambitious women who want to explore, grow, and experience life more fully. I create content for anyone who wants to feel inspired, connected, and braver.
On camera, I am known for my warmth, energy, and ability to make people feel comfortable within seconds. I bring out the truth in people. I draw out stories that matter. I turn moments into experiences.
What sets me apart is the way I bridge many worlds. I am trained in journalism, reporting, storytelling, and research, but I am also fully immersed in the creator economy. I know how to make content that is visually engaging and emotionally compelling, and I also know how to write with depth and editorial integrity. Not many people can move between interviewing strangers in Times Square, hosting a hockey game, writing for mainstream publications, and appearing on national television. My career has never fit into one category, and that is my strength.
For my clients, I solve an important problem. I help them communicate with real people. I make their story feel alive and human. I help brands, tourism boards, and artists reach audiences through authenticity, personality, and narrative instead of gimmicks.
What I am most proud of is that I built this path myself. I did not grow up with connections. I did not have a roadmap. I created my life through courage. Every country I visited alone, every hosting job, every interview, every press trip, every feature happened because I showed up even when I was scared. I showed up when I cried before the moment. I showed up when I doubted myself. I showed up when things fell apart. I kept choosing myself.
Everything I create is an act of courage and self-belief. I am the product but I am also the manager, the editor, and the finance team.
My mission is to inspire people to explore the world, to connect with others, to trust themselves more deeply, and to take chances that feel meaningful. I want my work to remind people that they can rewrite their story at any moment. I am living proof that taking a chance on yourself can lead to a life filled with purpose, adventure, and connection.
In the future, I see myself hosting a global travel or culture series, writing books about my solo travel experiences, and continuing to collaborate with brands and media outlets that value authenticity and storytelling. My long-term dream is to host a show that blends travel, humanity, culture, and meaningful conversation on a global stage.
This is the work I was meant to do, and I am only getting started.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My resilience as a creative is rooted in my resilience as a person, and the clearest example of that came from my experience with solo travel. I have now visited over 38 countries alone, but the journey actually started from fear and hesitation.
My parents are from Slovakia and growing up, my dad always wanted to take us everywhere. He loved travel. As a child, the idea terrified me. I worried about things that felt big at the time, like losing my suitcase or being far from home. I grew up in a very homogeneous part of Staten Island, and anything unfamiliar felt intimidating because I had never been exposed to it.
In college, I traveled more through volunteer programs, and I hated it at first. Everything felt new and uncomfortable. Sometimes I did not look perfect. My hair was frizzy. I said the wrong thing. I was scared of offending people or not understanding what was happening around me. I was a young woman thrown into cultures and environments that were very different from the ones I grew up with, and it forced me to confront how much of my life had been shaped by fear.
That was the beginning of everything. I eventually realized how much fear shapes our society. People are scared of anything they do not understand, and that fear turns into judgment, hostility, and discrimination. I did not want to live that way. I wanted to expand. I wanted to understand people and cultures deeply instead of from a distance.
After COVID, I started feeling stuck. New York City did not feel like the same home I grew up in. I needed something transformative, something that would shake me out of my comfort zone. So I made a decision that changed my life. I moved abroad for six months and began traveling every weekend while working remotely from my new homebase in London.
Solo travel rebuilt me. I learned who I was when it was just me, my intuition, and the world.
One of the most meaningful parts of that time was returning to Slovakia and reconnecting with my roots. I visited my father’s childhood home. I met distant relatives I had never known. It healed a part of me that always felt caught between cultures. I had never felt fully American or fully Slavic. That trip helped me understand that identity does not have to fit into one box. It can be fluid, layered, and expansive.
Living abroad taught me how to trust myself in a way nothing else ever had. Every weekend I arrived in a new country where I did not know anyone. I had to figure out transportation, languages, culture, safety, and unexpected challenges on my own. It pushed me into constant discomfort, but it also gave me a confidence I had never experienced before.
Every country I visited alone showed me another version of myself I never would have met at home.
I went to places people in the United States considered scary or unsafe. I even traveled to Egypt on my own, which ended up being one of the most beautiful and transformative experiences of my life. It showed me how much fear limits people’s understanding of the world. Most people judge places they have never seen, cultures they have never experienced, or people they have never spoken to.
Solo travel expanded my perspective and rebuilt my identity from the inside out. It taught me how to rely on myself, how to stay calm in chaos, how to read energy, how to connect with strangers, and how to find beauty in uncomfortable moments.
It also shaped the foundation of my creative career. Traveling alone inspired my travel writing, my hosting, my street interviews, and the way I tell stories. I realized I wanted to bring the world to people who may never see it themselves, and I wanted to bridge cultures through storytelling.
Solo travel taught me that resilience is not about never feeling afraid. It is about moving forward even when you are. Every time I felt overwhelmed or alone, I figured it out. I kept going. I kept showing up for myself. And that is the same resilience I bring into my career today. Everything I am now, and everything I create, was shaped by those moments where it was just me, my intuition, and the entire world ahead of me.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I have lived in both worlds. I went to business school. I worked corporate. I built a stable career and followed the traditional path for years. Now I am in a creative field where I am fully self-directed. I do not think one path is harder than the other because both come with their own challenges, pressures, and expectations. What I will say is that they are hard in different ways, and most people only see the surface of a creative career.
From the outside, this life looks glamorous. I travel, I host events, I meet fascinating people, I work with major brands. But what people do not see is how much pressure comes with being the face of everything I do. I am the brand, the product, the strategy, the marketing, and the accountability. If something goes wrong, it is on me. There is no separation between who I am and what I create because my work is me. My personality, my energy, my presence, my creativity, my emotional capacity. Everything I put out into the world comes directly from who I am as a person.
That level of visibility can be overwhelming. I am an energetic person and I feel people deeply. When more eyes are on you, you absorb more. Praise, criticism, projections, expectations. It affects you physically and emotionally. And even positive opportunities carry weight because you want to show up fully and authentically every time.
Another thing non-creatives might not realize is how much this career requires constant emotional and psychological growth. If I am not well, my work is not well. If I am burned out, everything slows down. If I am expanding and becoming a better version of myself, my career expands with me. Everything is connected. Therapy, shadow work, discipline, boundaries, healing. The deeper I work on myself, the more my art evolves.
There is also the business side that people forget about. I am juggling negotiations, contracts, invoices, health insurance, travel logistics, deadlines, taxes, pitching, creative direction, production, editing, posting, and relationship building. There is no off switch. In corporate, you clock out. In this world, your life becomes the work because your life is the art.
But here is the beautiful part. I get to be fully expressed. I get to build something from my soul. I get to turn my experiences, my culture, my curiosity, and my intuition into something meaningful for others. I get to be myself for a living. There is freedom in that. Even on the hardest days, it feels worth it because I am building something that is entirely mine.
I think the biggest misconception is that creatives are just “having fun” or “being influencers.” The truth is that we are entrepreneurs. We are artists. We are storytellers. We are producers. We are strategists. We are our own engine. And it takes an enormous amount of resilience, discipline, emotional maturity, and bravery to build a life that does not come with a blueprint.
This career is not easy, but it is meaningful. And for me, that meaning makes all the pressure worth it.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://annmariegajdos.com/press
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/annmariegajdos/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17BGGb7tWo/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annmarie-gajdos/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@annmariegajdos
- Soundcloud: https://open.spotify.com/show/051Z7RezwL7HXVOmKSF4TR
- Other: https://www.snapchat.com/@annmariegajdos & http://tiktok.com/@annmariegajdos
feel free to tag me or collab with my on any posts on social media.
Image Credits
Photos with the Red blazer & Street photos with Slovkian kerchief:
– Photographer: Monica Moltó (@moltosphotography on IG)
– MUA: Stacey Ulloa (@mua_stacey on IG)