“Impetuous is like, the best way to put it. We were just reckless kids. We didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into. It goes into a broader philosophy that kick- started this whole thing for me, which was taking risks and then making those risks fuel your desire to fulfill. We graduated, we moved to DC. I didn’t have a job lined up. I just knew that I had to figure something out, because there’s no other option. I had a child and a wife who was recovering from birth. There was that sense of urgency, because I had gotten myself into a position where not doing anything, or not having success wasn’t really an option, I had to figure something out.” – Johnny Harris, Host and Creator of Borders on Vox.com

Johnny Harris is a filmmaker and journalist, known for his super famous Vox series Borders. He and his wife Lizzie gave birth to their first child around the time they were graduating from college. They graduated with about $1,300 in the bank and moved to Washington DC to pursue their careers. The rest, you’ll learn on this episode.

Johnny is currently still based in Washington DC where he makes web videos for Vox.com. He reports on interesting trends and stories, both domestically and around the world. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways. He has a BA in international relations from Brigham Young University and a master’s in international peace and conflict resolution from American University.

He brings all of that background, as well as his filmmaking skills and journalism skills to his new series called Borders, which follows Johnny to 11 countries; from the North Pole to the northern shore of Africa to the Himalayas of Nepal, Johnny travels to these borders to tell their origin story, the human stories behind the lines on a map. Johnny shares candidly the beginnings of his career, how about $1,300 made do, the mistakes he made, the jobs he held and where he’s headed next.