Manhattan is an intimidating place. As much as I would like to feel comfortable after visiting twenty times these past three years, I still feel overwhelmed while walking around, especially around Midtown. People walk past you with a demeanor of
I have everything figured out. Also, get the fuck out of my way.
I went to NYC for the first time in 2011, when I was 27. My co-founder Óscar and I registered for a storytelling workshop there with Shawn, who would become an incredible mentor and friend.
Óscar was in the same financial situation as me, so I had to borrow money from the company where I was working to pay for both plane tickets, and booked a tiny room through Airbnb at the end of Brooklyn. And yes, we had to get a discount from Shawn to attend the workshop.
Visiting NYC for the first time was such an amazing experience. I remember leaving Grand Central and being absolutely impressed by the city. Being there felt just crazy.
The day of the workshop, we got this shitty picture. Don’t ask me why I’m wearing a blazer—because I don’t know either.
That visit was the final springboard that ignited Astrolab’s foundation.
In 2016, five years later, I came back to attend a different communication workshop at the Sofitel in Midtown. By then, I was already married and Gabriel was around.
As I was leaving the workshop, I remember having an idea:
Five years ago I came for the first time. Now I’m here again taking another workshop. Will I be able to run INSPIRA, our storytelling workshop in this city five years from now? Nah, not likely. But it would be nice.
That year, we had our first US client, a one-time project with an automotive company in Farmington Hills, MI.
In late 2020, I saw that the general manager of a food and beverage company in the US saw my LinkedIn profile. I said fuck it, and texted him:
Hey! We met a couple of years ago. I would love to meet up with you and tell you more about Astrolab.
He responded that for sure, and we met. A couple of weeks later, we did our first ever INSPIRA both in English and online. It didn’t go perfect, but it was a great experiment, and that workshop led to ten communication projects with their commercial area.
Still, 2021 arrived and left with no INSPIRA in NYC. So, bummer.
Eventually, I moved to Philly in August 2022 with my family. The plan was to go back to Mexico City after finishing the Master program at Penn.
While studying, I started to visit NYC regularly. I began looking for friends—and for friends of friends—that lived and worked around.
I got invited to visit the PepsiCo offices in White Plains, Google’s offices in Chelsea Market, and L’Oréal’s US headquarters in Hudson Yards.
Eventually, my new friend from Google asked me if I was interested in running a storytelling workshop for a group of employees.
I was, indeed.
We worked out the details, and finally, had the chance to run our first INSPIRA storytelling in NYC on October 8, 2024, three years after the deadline I had imposed on myself:
I thought about all of this today while on the train back to Philly from NYC, where I facilitated our second workshop there, now for Microsoft in their Times Square offices:
I wonder, what could the next milestone be:
A learning center in Chelsea?
A team of INSPIRA facilitators in the US?
An INSPIRA in London?
An INSPIRA happening in every major city in the US, every month?
INSPIRA being offered by the top 10 MBA schools?
Suggestions accepted!
Thanks for reading!
#day98