Exclusive: Jeff Jenkins talks Nat Geo travel series Never Say Never with Jeff Jenkins
Coming to National Geographic on July 9 and streaming on Hulu and Disney+ is the new travel series Never Say Never with Jeff Jenkins. Jeff is the new generation of Nat Geo storytellers; exploring the world as his authentic self and inspiring a whole new generation!
Travel journalist Jeff Jenkins didn't step foot on a plane until he was 20 years old, but once he did, he started living by his mantra "life begins where your comfort zone ends." His mission is to inspire those who look like him to travel without fear and push past their perceived limitations to experience everything the world has to offer.
Never Say Never follows Jeff as he travels the world testing the limits of his physical abilities -- from attempting to climb 70-foot mountain faces, to rafting class 5 rapids, to sailing in a windstorm at the end of the world. Throughout his global odyssey Jeffmakes deep connections with locals and learns not just about the world, but also about himself.
Jeff Jenkins is an award-winning Travel/ Food Blogger, speaker, podcast host, and Influencer based out of Austin, Texas. Jeff most recently is proud to add travel documentarian to his list of adventures as he stars in a show that explores diverse cultures, locations and overcoming fears, backed by National Geographic.
Upon moving away from a life as a public school educator he went with Africa New Life to build Keyhole Gardens in Kageyo, Rwanda. While on the trip his group saw a water shortage in the town of Kageyo. They decided upon returning they would start a water well project and they did. Quickly learning how and returning to transition their idea to reality. It was in that opportunity that Jeff realized he wanted to travel the world, help people, and get paid to do it.
Jeff knew he wanted to blog about traveling, it was then that he found, or rather didn't find Fat Black Men represented, with that, Chubby Diaries was born. Since starting Chubby Diaries in 2017, Jeff has added a podcast, Chubby Diaries Annual Travel Awards, and most recently a campaign to give people in his community financial access to passports. He has been featured in Forbes, New York Times, Washington Post, Google, Travel Noire, Essence, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, Texas Monthly, Outdoor Retailers, and The Points Guy. Jeff was most recently named one of Travel + Leisure's 50 Notable People in travel. Jeff is currently working on multiple projects and is excited for the National Geographic show to launch. Continuing his work and mission to “Redefine what it looks like to travel.”
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Jenkins about his new travel series.