We recently connected with Gabrielle Rivera Trout and have shared our conversation below.
Gabrielle , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
In June 2019, my partner Tyler and I decided to take the biggest risk of our lives… something I personally had been dreaming of for years. We both committed to a goal of saving $75,000 so we could quit our corporate jobs and live out our dream of traveling the world. We had no expectations of what our travels would bring, we just knew that we did not want to wait until retirement to see the world. So after 3 years of sacrifice, we finally exceeded our savings goal and set off on the open road. For the first time in our lives, we had nothing but time, time to explore our passions and figure out what was truly important to us without all the outside noise of the world. We traveled to France, Czech Republic, UAE, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Indonesia and Sri Lanka before the pandemic changed life for most people. We came back to the states in June of 2020 changed forever by our experiences and knew that life would never go back to how it was. Our mission is to inspire people to chase their wildest dreams and take care of themselves and the world. We believe that every small act has a big impact and this is something we truly live by in our personal lives and in business. When you commit to taking small steps everyday towards your dreams, one day you wake up and realize that you are actually living it and that is an incredible feeling. Our next adventure is turning a school bus into a tiny home and after almost 2 years of building, we are finally getting ready to hit the road once again! We never would have imagined our life like this and we are so grateful that we allowed ourselves the time to explore deeper into ourselves and build a life that brings us so much joy.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Tyler has been working as a designer and creative director for 10+ years. He spent 9 years working at Auburn University and 3 years working for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. My background is in business management and I’ve worked as a coach, director of operations, and project manager for University of Miami, Auburn University and Citi Bank before we started our own company. Tyler and I have been working together since 2017 and in 2021 we decided we would take this side hustle full-time. We offer a number of different creative services for our clients including graphic design, logo design, digital ads, websites, photography, and videography. Our clients range from Oral Surgeons to outdoor products like Glide SUP and Eno. We help our clients market their products/services by creating engaging content that drives brand awareness and product/services sales. We also sell digital prints on Etsy and create custom prints for customers as well. We are passionate about chasing our dreams and have been able to build a business with that at the center. Our clients want to work with us because we are living our dream and that’s what we do in our business, help others fulfill their own dreams and that is why we live doing what we do. We are wellness advocates and love exploring the world and believe that every small act has a big impact. We give back by donating a portion of our revenue to our own tree planting project in Busia, Uganda with Trees for the Future. We are the first individuals in Trees for the Future history to take on a project of our own and that has been our proudest achievement in our business so far. We are grateful that we are building this beautiful life together and that we help others to do the same!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Our mission is to inspire people to chase their wildest dreams and that with consistent effort and determination, anything is possible. We have big goals and one of them that is to plant 1 million trees around the world! It became hard to ignore the amount of poverty and pollution we came across while we were traveling around the world. This really opened up our eyes and we realized how important it is to consciously consume. We started changing our lifestyle with small steps like bringing our own bags grocery shopping, becoming aware of the companies we were giving our money to and living a more minimalist lifestyle. Creating a sustainable future and taking care of our health is what drives us.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My father passed away while we were traveling thru Africa. We had just returned to our campsite in Botswana after an amazing water safari and I came back to a text from my mom telling me I needed to call her asap. My father just had a sudden heart attack and was going into surgery, meanwhile I am on the other side of the world. Everything changed in that moment. Luckily, we were able to make it back home in a few days but my father was now in a coma with no brain function. After 2 weeks, his body started to deteriorate and only machines were keeping him alive. I never would have expected this but that’s life. You never know how much time you have left. In a way, my fathers death taught me that life is too short to be anything less than happy. That “retirement” is not guaranteed and whatever I want to be in life, I need to do it now. So I dream big and I keep taking small actions every single day to better myself and follow my dreams. When I fail, I get back up and try again because I know how precious this time is on this planet and I want to cherish every moment of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.thetroutsiders.com
- Instagram: Thetroutsiders
- Facebook: Thetroutsiders
Image Credits
Tyler Trout