Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Barbato.
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Hello! My name is Paul Barbato! I am the creator and the main host of the show Geography now on YouTube. How did I get started? Well, as someone who grew up in a diverse neighborhood in Chicago, I was exposed to a lot of different cultures and languages as a kid. I guess this was a major factor that contributed to my interest in “world social dynamics”
Fast forward, I moved to Los Angeles, I am not an actor or musician, but rather I wanted to pursue the “hosting“ industry, specifically travel hosting. In doing my research, I would frequently visit YouTube, however, I noticed at the time no channel focused specifically on geography or doing a full profile on each country of the world.
… So I decided to do it myself.
Long story short, geography now became the first and largest channel on YouTube focusing entirely on doing full informational profiles on every country in the world. I decided to go alphabetically following the list of fully sovereign states recognized by the UN. At the time of this interview, we were almost complete with all the countries, and I had just finished my “United States episode” -whoo hoo!
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have always been struggles along the way, sometimes it includes making sure I get information as correct as possible, which is why oftentimes I love to interact with my subscribers from the countries I do videos on. In my opinion, there is no better source of information than people. No one understands a country better than its people.
In late 2015, I was notified that my dad was diagnosed with brain cancer and sadly he passed away in 2017. I almost quit the channel when I heard the news, but my dad specifically told me he wanted me to continue, but he was proud of what I was doing. Nonetheless, I went through a long period where it was really hard to “smile in front of the camera” and “put on my Geography now face” when I knew my dad was passing away more and more every day.
Life happens and we all have very little control over it. The world will keep spinning no matter what and inevitably we all have pretty much no choice but to keep moving. After my dad passed away, I took on the role of providing for my mom and today she lives with me. She is the absolute best person in my life and I never realized how much of a blessing it was to live with her.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a YouTuber! My channel is focused on covering informational profiles of every country in the world and topics related to geography/travel.
I would say I’m most proud of how far the channel has come from day one, it grew from a super small production in my apartment to now a full-fledged series with fun segments and an amazing community of subscribers that I get to interact with.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
You can learn way more by listening to a woman who works at a small convenience shop in a village than by YEARS of Academic research.
