Hello, everyone! Our names are Emilio Abud Chalita and Chris Fertucci.

Emilio:When I was six years old, I moved from Guadalajara, Mexico, to New York. My parents worked long hours during those first few years, and my mom would drop me off at gymnastics every day after school.

One day, I approached Chris at gymnastics, and he asked me what my name was. I responded, “Emilio,” but because of my accent, Chris thought my name was “Amigo.” At the time, he did not realize that amigo meant “friend,” but that moment marked the beginning of our friendship.

We grew up doing almost everything together. It started with gymnastics and eventually expanded to skiing, mountain biking, surfing, lifting, traveling, and just about anything else we could imagine. We spent so much time going on adventures, and those experiences constantly challenged our limiting beliefs, whether we were learning how to do backflips on the front lawn or hitting the biggest jumps at the ski park.

Chris and I also spent a lot of time at each other’s houses for family dinners. He comes from an Italian background, and although we had very different upbringings, our shared passion for food brought us even closer together. We realized that food and family had created a strong foundation for our friendship.

After high school, I moved to Spain for college, while Chris went to college in Alabama. Even though we were far apart, our passion for food, culture, and self-improvement only continued to grow.

We realized that our friendship transcended language and culture. It was the simple things: food, culture, adventure, and self-improvement, that created such a strong bond.

Two years into college, we decided that we wanted to share our story with the world by creating a community.

Join us as we continue our journey. Our mission is to inspire people, and bring everyone together through the same things that brought us together: food, culture, and the constant motivation to challenge one another to become better people every day.

That's our story. We want to hear your story!