Renaissance Man: A Journey Of Passion, Purpose, And Preservation With Joao Rodrigues

The Renaissance was a time of boundless curiosity and exploration, and nowhere is this spirit more alive today than in the world of hospitality, where a new breed of Renaissance Man is redefining the guest experience. In this episode, Gail Zugerman interviews Joao Rodrigues, a true modern Renaissance Man. Buckle up as we soar through his diverse passions, from piloting airplanes for TAP Airlines to building the innovative Silent Living hospitality experience. He’s also the visionary behind Herdade No Tempo, a regenerative farm where he’s cultivating a future focused on sustainability. Tune in and discover how Joao is redefining success and paving the way for a brighter future.

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Watch the episode here

https://youtu.be/qhM-IedAEmk

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Renaissance Man: A Journey Of Passion, Purpose, And Preservation With Joao Rodrigues

Introduction

How does being an airline pilot, a hospitality creator, and a regenerative farm owner, all connect to the show? We will find out with our guests. I’m Gail Zugerman, host of the show which is dedicated to showcasing the benefits of growing older in a positive and productive way. Our guest is Joao Rodrigues and he is what I consider a Renaissance man.

He’s a pilot at TAP Airlines, a national Portugal airline. He is the Founder of Silent Living hospitality projects in Portugal and elsewhere. He’s also the Founder of a regenerative farm called Herdade No Tempo, where he is building a home community. Aside from all this, he’s a strong family man with five children and a wife and is passionate about life. We have so many things to talk with him about, so let’s dive in.

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Welcome to the show, Joao.

Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be here with you.

Thank you. You’re involved in so many projects. I wanted you to begin by having you tell our readers a little bit about yourself. What’s been driving you the past few years?

I’m Joao. I’m in my 50s years old. I see myself essentially as a father of five kids and as a husband. I’m very person-orientated. My family is on top of everything. Everything that I do has a purpose which is looking and giving good examples to my family and to my kids, especially to future generations as well. I started off doing a degree in management and economics when I finished school.

After that, I wanted to become a pilot because I was passionate about flying. My father was a Captain in TAP for several years. I thought there was this connection with aircrafts, the machines, flying, and the world, and knowing lots of different cultures and different countries around the world. I then did my training up in Prestwick in Scotland, where it took me a year and a half roughly to get my airline pilot license then I joined TAP.

I’ve been in TAP for many years. It’s been years since I’ve been a captain. First of all, I was a captain on short-haul European flights. Since the last few years, I’ve been flying long haul, which means that most of the routes of TAP fly to Brazil. Probably to something like ten different destinations in Brazil. We fly to Africa, Angola, Mozambique, and Mexico as well as Cancun. We fly to the States to five different destinations. We fly to the States where I will be able to meet when I come to Chicago.

What is your favorite place to fly to?

To be honest, what I like is to have a different roster, which means that you don’t always fly to the same places, which ends up being quite good. Generally, I have two flights to Brazil, one to Africa and one to the States every month. That’s roughly my roster, which is great because I get to catch up with lots of friends that I have all over. Also get to understand different cultures, foods, and music. For me, all of that is nice and important. We also have something which is basically in the Northern hemisphere when it’s winter time, it’s summertime in the Southern hemisphere, which is very nice because you end up always catching a little bit of sun.

Vitamin D. You’re getting your vitamin D.

 After joining TAP, which is if you ask me, “Joao, in which one do you perceive yourself as? Do you perceive yourself as a pilot or as founder of Silent Living or regenerative agriculture?”

I was going to ask you. How did you end up pivoting into the hospitality industry? How did that come about? What drew you to that?

The reason was by accident. Which means that when I sold the company that I had which was doing people-centered innovation. A lot based on anthropology and sociology. I sold my 50% of that company. I sold because I had been working very hard during the last few years. I thought I had something to give back to my family. I decided to build this weekend house in Comporta. In this beautiful, nice area with pristine beaches and beautiful waters as well.

It’s one hour South of Lisbon. Based on that, I built the house. A few years after, the house was finished because I put in a lot of everything that I do. I put a lot of effort into it and I like it. It’s all about the details and making everything work smoothly. The house was then chosen to represent Portugal at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. It made something like ten covers of magazines around the world like Elle Decor, in Italy like AD Spain, and Maisons Cote Sud. Suddenly, it was all over. Wallpaper as well. I decided, “We were not using the house that much. Let’s start renting the house,” because we were already borrowing the house to lots of friends and family. That’s how Silent Living started.

Silent Living

Tell us a little bit about Silent Living. Tell us about the whole concept.

Silent Living is a small hospitality group in which we have several houses located in different areas of Portugal. It’s the idea that each of these houses should represent a local way of living in that area. For example, Casas na Areia, the first project we did. It’s a house that should represent how people live on the beach and close to the coast. It’s a beach house.

We then have Cabanas No Rio that represent. These are small cabins that basically represent how people live close to the river and close to a story of the big river. We have the house in the farm which is Casa No Tempo that should also try to represent how people live in a farm in the Alentejo region. We have Santa Clara that you were able to visit in Lisbon, which is basically also a small hotel with six suites. In which, it was an old palace. We tried to show how people used to live many years ago. Maybe 100 or 200 years ago inside one of these palaces.

I tell my audience, since I have been fortunate enough to have been there. It is exquisite and the gardens are amazing.

Thank you. We have the last house that we also joined to the collection is Casa Na Terra, which is a house on a lake. In each of these houses, we build with local materials. We only have local people working there. We only use local products for breakfast and the other meals as well. There is always this idea of connecting all of these projects to the locality, to the place itself, with the hopeful idea of grounding people and giving them a moment for themselves as well.

How did you come up with that name? I’m curious.

One day, as we started with each of the projects, each of them had their own name. We suddenly decided we needed to have an umbrella name that could basically look after all the projects and that could give a sense of unity to all of this. To do this, what we did was, better than ourselves giving us a name, is why don’t we ask our dear guests that stayed with us? Why don’t we ask them for their contribution to find out what could be our name?

During months in all the houses, the teams were trained. They wouldn’t ask anything to the guests but they would collect the words that guests would say when they first enter the spaces. People would say, “It’s about the simplicity of the architecture. It’s about nature.” A lot of people say, “The sense of home and family.” A lot of people would talk about the silence, “It’s about the silence of the architecture and the space. The way we look after our guests.” Silence was one of the words which was more frequently said. We thought that Silent Living could fit very well as the brand for our hospitality group.

Hospitality And Aging

That’s a wonderful way to come up with a name and a branding, so to speak. That’s a fascinating story. How is being in this hospitality or hotel business added to your life and the whole process of growing older?

As I mentioned to you before, I’m very person-oriented. I’m looking after others. It’s one of the best things that we can do in the world. In Silent Living, what we mainly do is look after other people when they stay with us. We generally do it in a very simple and an easy way in which we look after our guests as longtime friends. We do everything to make their experience as special as possible. By saying this, one of the important things for us is also that we get to inspire our guests during their stay.

When I say inspire, it could be either through the architecture, the generosity of our service, or through the beauty of the houses itself or the interiors. All of these things should touch people during their stay and hopefully, promote some changes in their future lives. It’s the idea of leaving a little seat. This I think answers your question.

Where do these people come from most of t