#2: Adi — Travel, Culture, Experiences
You have to know her to reap the benefits of her insatiable curiosity. Well, now you do!
Secret agent tastemaker Adi Wise reports for duty to tell us why immersive experiences are the best, which travel books she can’t live without, and how window shopping at flea markets and craft fairs can also transport.
Adi used to curate “adult field trips” for designers and other creatives in Silicon Valley and always knows what’s up. It’s even led to consulting work enhancing people’s travel and dating lives. The push-pull of giving, getting and acting on recommendations is a process that lights up Adi. I’m here for it!
Adi, do you think of yourself as a tastemaker? Because I sure do!
I wouldn’t have thought to use that word but you get me—beyond enjoying great cultural and social experiences, I love the craft of discovery and curation. Since high school when I made a printed guidebook for Bay Area teens, I’ve loved being a trusted source for recommendations.
I really do like to sponge up cool things, and then share them with the right people. My passion is novel or immersive experiences, from travel to food to theater to museums. I'm always on the lookout for those, and I love the idea that I put more back into the world too.
What do you love about immersive experiences?
I love that they can completely take over your world and make you be very present. It’s like you're experiencing a dream and using your imagination to interact with it.
Travel is an immersive experience that you're creating yourself (in contrast to walking into a theater or through a guided exhibit).
You said you’re a sponge. What are the sources of inspiration that feed you?
My pre-pandemic answer would be very different from the current year. And I'm struggling with that, because I feel a little hungry for inspiration … but across the board: travel. Whenever I travel to foreign places, I sponge up cultural differences: how other people dress, how they plate their food, how they design their cities, commute to work, advertise products, etc.
Even when my wings were clipped in that department, like in 2020, I was doing a lot of virtual tours, art and cooking classes. I found ways to keep traveling even if I'm not leaving home as much.
Other sources of inspiration? My mind starts to fire when I go window shopping. I like flea markets and craft fairs. I think it's really interesting to see what people collect, and what people have made in the past decades and what people are making now. I love the Alameda Flea Market and the Renegade Craft Fair. It's like live-action Pinterest.
I also keep my ear to the ground. I love working amongst designers because there's always a hallway conversation or Slack thread exchanging inspiring tools, experiences or perspectives. I’ve also signed up for these old school mailing lists. So my Hotmail is actually a real wealth of alerts on what's going on. Even the subject heading can be a good spark for me. I actually love my spam email account.
Do you have any rituals or ways that you track your inspiration? For example, I create a Spotify playlist every year that I just dump in every song that I have a gut reaction to. Do you do anything like that?
I haven't found the ideal system, so I'm a little all over the place. I live in spreadsheets.
Back when I worked at Twitter, I actually made a Pinterest of Bay Area gems with a board for each topic. It was to help colleagues who are transplants and moving to the Bay Area acclimate and find the gems.
For a recent client, I used Airtable to present all sorts of gems in Los Angeles. That was a spreadsheet on steroids, sortable by what activity suits your mood, how far you want to drive, whether you're looking for something romantic, etc. (I'm a big fan of Airtable. You can even add PDFs and images.)
I rely on Google Maps with pins from places I've traveled to, and Google Docs to pool links and tips for places I'm researching. It's so helpful to have it all in the cloud.
I love that I also have an archive of emails that I've sent people. So if you tell me you're going to Paris, I’ll look at what I've already shared and recently collected, with the caveat that it's getting dusty. I love having so much information at my fingertips.
Is there a way for people who don't know you to tap into that Adi special sauce?
Technically my Pinterest is public, but it's dusty. My recommendations are more word of mouth. I’ve even provided recommendations to strangers through friends, which makes me very happy that I have a rep.
OK, now let’s get into your recommendations!
📕 “500 Hidden Secrets Of…” Travel Books
If you’re traveling, I am very passionate about a series of guidebooks that are called “500 Hidden Secrets of… [insert metropolitan city name].” It helps me be a better traveler, and even just to learn about a city that I'm not going to. If money were no object, I'd own the whole series.
📱 The Nudge App & SMS
If you're being a sponge at home, I feel like the creators of The Nudge SMS service have gotten inside my head and created my own passion projects. Every curated text that they send me is a suggestion for what to do around the Bay Area. Feels like it's come straight from my heart. It's exactly the kind of thing that I love to do for colleagues and friends. You can subscribe for free to the nudge in your city and get lightweight text messages with a plan to share with your friends. It allows even non-planners to become the social butterfly and a hub of cool activities.
🧶 Flea markets and craft fairs
I would also recommend that everyone, even if you don't think it's your cup of tea, walk through a flea market or a craft fair and see if that inspires you.
📧 Hotmail account for mailing lists galore
I'd recommend having a junk email account where you can just let the information flow in. Film festivals, museums (even outside your area), theaters, Yelp, Open Table, Groupon, Eater, Thrilllist, Nerd Night, Saint Joseph's Art Society, ACT, SHN, Sketchfest.
Amazing, Adi! Thank you. Any parting words for your new fans?
My goal for this year is to have more rituals around acting on the information…not just sharing recommendations with other people but doing them, you know, myself.
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