Trespassing With: Julie Schwietert Collazo

American writer Julie Schwietert Collazo is a woman of the world. If the name doesn’t give it away, a quick glance at her recent places of residency (Puerto Rico, New York City, Mexico City) and her lifestyle (she divides time between NYC and Mexico City) will. Then there’s her fluency in Spanish and her myriad jobs – they are many, and they all revolve around the goal of building communities and connecting human beings around the world. So let’s make that woman of the world and extraordinary multitasker.

Julie and her husband, Francisco Collazo, started Collazo Projects with the shared vision of taking a ‘closer, deeper look at the world’ and in doing so, providing ‘opportunities for others to share their stories.’ From lecturing on Cuban art, providing private cooking classes and translation services to making documentaries, writing for online and print publications, including a travel blog for The Washington Times, Collazo Projects blends a love of travelling, communication and learning all in the name of ‘promoting awareness, increasing understanding, supporting creative expression and nurturing relationships.’

In between saving the world one good deed and poignant article at a time, Julie is the Managing Editor of and frequent writer for the brilliant interactive travel magazine, Matador. And somehow, with all of this going on around her, she still manages to watch at least one documentary or film a day. Amazing.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to steal her life …

1. Name: Julie Schwietert Collazo
2. Occupation:  Writer. Editor. Translator. Researcher. Independent Journo. Not necessarily in that order.
3. Reason I am being trespassed: I’m a globe-circling travel writer/editor interested in community building around the world.
4. Favourite book:   I can’t possibly choose; I read so much and have so many favorites. I just finished reading David Lida’s book, First Stop in the New World, about my adopted hometown of Mexico City, and loved it.
5. Favourite movie:   Yikes. These fave things get me anxious. I watch a lot of documentaries. Movie… hmm. “Amelie.” I loved the introduction of the characters-these lists of quotidian details that seemed so trivial, yet which defined who they are, who we are.  
6. Fave shopping spot:  Any fruit/vegetable market wherever I am at the moment. I love the San Juan Market in Mexico City.
7. My best memory:  That’s hard, too, but getting married to my husband on a deserted beach in Vieques, Puerto Rico with a close group of friends and family surrounding us is up there.
8. When I was little I wanted to:  change the world. Still do.
9. Fave TV Show:  I’m a PBS nerd. I love Frontline. Wish it was on every week. If I were kidnapped and had to prove my pop culture cred to be released, I’d be out of luck.
10. Can’t live without:  Words.
11. If I could live anywhere in the world, I would choose: exactly where I am right now: New York City and Mexico City, splitting time between both. I’d also love to live in every country in Latin America for at least a year. So far, I’ve lived in Puerto Rico (2.5 years) and Mexico City (2 years this year).
12. Last film I watched was:  “The Judge and the General,” a documentary about a courageous judge in Chile who has been investigating crimes against humanity committed by Pinochet and his flunkies. Judge Guzman man has one of the most difficult jobs in the world. What’s most interesting about the documentary is that it shows Guzman’s own moral and social development:  he once held a favourable impression of Pinochet, isolated from atrocities by his class privilege. But by witnessing the horrors that Pinochet perpetrated against the Chilean people, the judge has changed his opinions. The documentary is about the power of change, the necessity of truth, and an example of total commitment to one’s beliefs about justice.
13. First album I ever bought:  I didn’t buy it, but my first album (a record) was Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.” It was a gift from my dad.
14. Song I can’t get out of my head:  All of the songs on Francisco Cespedes’s album, “Con el Permiso de Bola.”
15. I wish I wrote/sang/directed:  I’m writing what I want right now.
16. When I grow up I want to be:  Me.
17. My goals for the next two years:  Continue on the path.
18. Five years:  Ditto.
19. Ten years:  Ditto.  
20. The thing that bugs me about life is:  You get it figured out and then it’s over.
21. But the thing that makes it all worthwhile is: Love & connection.
22. Top three travel essentials are: A notebook. A pen. The willingness to sit and listen to stories and ask non-leading questions.
23. The first thing I do each morning is:  Kiss my husband, turn on the computer, and drink coffee.
24. I unwind by:  Cooking with my husband.
25. The last thing I do at night:  Watch films with my husband.
26. I wish I could:  Be more clever with these types of interviews.
27. The celeb I am crushing on, but am embarrassed to admit is:   I don’t really have any celeb crushes. Never have.
28. The celeb I am crushing loud and proud on is:  Oh wait, I lied. Barack Obama, of course.  
29. My most frugal desire is:  Not sure.
30. On Sundays I like to: Read the Sunday New York Times.
31. I got my big break when:   What?! I had a big break? Why didn’t anyone tell me?
32. Right now I am craving nothing because I just ate chocolate mousse cake, but normally my fave food is anything my husband cooks… he’s a private chef, so I’m lucky!
33. Real conversation makes me buzz but uninformed chatter depletes me.
34. The advice I’d give Trespass readers is:  Do the work you want to do. Then, everything falls into place.
35. One Reason they should love me is:  I’m not any better or worse than they are.
36. Last thing I bought: a coffee at the airport on the way home last night.
37. I wish I never:  I don’t have any regrets.
38. Ideal Invention:  Yep, this is another one of those questions where I have no clever answers, though I think of about 100 things a day I’d like someone to invent.
39. One word to describe me is: Intense.
40. The mark I want to leave on this world: Words that make people think and act.
41. I am on to it by:  Doing what I do each day.