Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Rose.
Hi Robert, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My journey into media actually traces back to January 1986 in my hometown of Pulaski, Tennessee. I was a college freshman visiting home when the Ku Klux Klan held a march through town. The community turned its back on the spectacle—local stores closed, residents stayed indoors, and town officials literally turned the historic birthplace plaque around to face the wall.
But national media crews descended on the town. Driving back to university, I saw how quickly my hometown was reduced to a flat, two-dimensional headline and a lazy stereotype—one I’d have to brace against for decades whenever I told people where I was from.
Something clicked for me that day. I decided right then to major in media and communications because I realized the immense power of narrative, and I wanted to tell authentic, nuanced stories rather than settle for cheap headlines.
That desire to give voice to underrepresented, authentic stories became the engine of my career, and fighting hate, bigotry, racism and xenophobia became my personal moral calling. But it took me a while to get there. I began my career selling advertising for radio and television in Nashville and later for Univision (Spanish language TV) in New York City which set the basis for my move to producing television and media that matters.
In February 2000, I founded my production and distribution company, Artist and Idea Management (AIM TV Group). Recognizing a massive gap in representation in U.S. media, I created and syndicated English-language, Hispanic-focused shows like American Latino TV and LatiNation. Reaching millions of viewers proved there was a huge hunger for authentic, culturally grounded television.
After selling that venture in 2009, I spent a year or so backpacking and living abroad in Latin America. That transformative time on the road gave me a fresh perspective on human connection and became the blueprint for Raw Travel TV, which debuted in 2013. Built around the core philosophy “empathy equals strength,” the show bypassed standard tourist traps to immerse viewers in real cultures, social awareness, and grassroots stories.
Over the years, Raw Travel increasingly took me into unique environments—filming undercover in Cuba, Haiti, China, and Vietnam, and reporting from Russian-occupied territory in Georgia. But it was my deep connection to Ukraine that fundamentally reshaped my life and mission.
I first visited Ukraine in 2012 and returned in 2019 to film. During that trip, I met cinematographer Anastasia Zui, a refugee from the 2014 Russian invasion who became a vital member of our crew. When the full-scale invasion hit in 2022, staying on the sidelines was impossible. Anastasia and I headed straight into Ukraine to document the real human toll on the ground.
I’ve returned to Ukraine every summer since—completing eight visits in total. In 2023, Anastasia and I embedded with soldiers and volunteers near the front lines in Southern and Eastern Ukraine, which led to the four-part docuseries My Summer in Ukraine (premiering nationally in 2024) and the launch of RawTravelUkraine.com to help Western audiences separate fact from disinformation and connect directly with grassroots relief efforts.
Today, my work sits at the intersection of storytelling, democracy, and active advocacy. Beyond producing and broadcasting, I work to counter state disinformation, advocate directly to political leaders in Washington, D.C., run an independent digital music label (Punk Outlaw Records), and serve as a strategic advisor with Ukrainian producer Oleksandr Shchur (BUCHA) on his upcoming feature film, Someone Else’s War.
Looking back, the thread connects directly back to growing up in Pulaski, Tennessee—a town I have a complicated relationship with today.
But I feel that by using media to humanize people, challenge lazy narratives, and stand up for those fighting for their dignity and freedom, we can overcome some of the dark forces that are trying to drag humanity backwards.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not even close. There were many struggles—so many that I couldn’t possibly list them all. But the most vivid memory was using my life’s savings (about $50,000) to launch my production company and create American Latino TV. We had zero advertisers and no guarantee it would work—just compelling market research and a gut instinct that I hadn’t yet learned to fully trust.
I convinced our small staff to work on deferred or significantly reduced pay so we could build this dream together, and to their immense credit, they did. Carrying that level of responsibility for other people’s livelihoods weighed heavily on me. I still recall the day we secured our very first advertiser commitment. My assistant was right there with me, and the feeling of relief was unbelievable.
But we weren’t out of the woods. In media, you have to air the ads, bill the client, and wait to get paid—a cycle that can take up to 150 days. How was I going to keep paying my team in the meantime? I took out a $100,000 personal line of credit at the bank, but that was draining fast and coming due soon.
As luck would have it, our first advertiser happened to be one of the rare companies in the industry that paid invoices within 0 to 30 days, rather than the standard 75 to 90. We received their check literally a day or two before payroll was due.
I knew right then we were going to make it. Soon after, we brought on multiple advertisers, paid the staff their deferred wages, and raised their pay as much as we could. As the company grew, new challenges always popped up, but none were ever as existential as that moment at the very beginning—which is usually the most precarious time for any entrepreneur.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At my core, I create “media that matters.” I specialize in socially conscious storytelling, conflict-zone journalism, and producing independent media that builds bridges between cultures rather than driving them apart.
I’m best known as the creator, producer, and host of the syndicated TV series Raw Travel TV. Before that, I was known in media circles for pioneering English-language U.S. Hispanic syndicated television with American Latino TV and LatiNation. Across all my projects, my north star has always been the philosophy that “empathy equals strength.”
I’m most proud that I’ve managed to maintain total creative and moral independence in an industry that often demands compromise. Building an independent distribution network that reaches millions of homes worldwide without selling out our core values is something I hold dear.
On a personal level, I am immensely proud of our work in Ukraine. Since the 2022 full-scale invasion, I’ve made eight trips into the country, including embedding alongside soldiers and volunteers near the front lines. Turning those experiences into the docuseries My Summer in Ukraine and launching RawTravelUkraine.com allowed us to give a platform to real people fighting for democracy, counter state disinformation, and direct real aid to grassroots causes on the ground.
What Sets Me Apart:
A few things separate my approach from standard television or media:
• Raw Authenticity Over Glossy Formulas: Raw Travel was explicitly built as the anti-travel show. We don’t do scripted tourist fluff, pristine resort promos, or influencer vanity. We dive into challenging, raw environments—filming undercover or reporting from frontline zones—to showcase real human resilience.
• A DIY / Punk Rock Ethos: Running an independent digital music label (Punk Outlaw Records) isn’t just a side project; that DIY, anti-authoritarian mindset drives everything I produce. I approach media with the scrappiness of a punk band and the discipline of a veteran broadcaster.
• Action Beyond Media: Storytelling for me is a springboard to direct action. Whether that means lobbying political leaders in Washington, D.C. for freedom initiatives, advising international filmmakers on projects like Someone Else’s War, or documenting anti-war dissidents in exile, the work continues long after the editing is done.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We’re living through massive, rapid shifts right now as audiences migrate from traditional legacy media to streaming and direct-to-community platforms. Media is no longer a top-down broadcast model—it’s becoming a far more democratic, conversational way of communicating.While I don’t consider myself a typical “influencer,” I recognize that I hold a degree of influence with my viewers and social media followers.
My goal is to leverage these shifting media trends to build a genuine community of like-minded people—folks who view empathy as strength and stand against disinformation, xenophobia, and bullying. At my core, I’m a humanist. I believe in the sovereignty and dignity of all people regardless of geography, race, or religion, and I want to use evolving media platforms to maximize our positive impact on the world.
That said, the darkest challenge facing our industry over the next decade is the rise of industrial-scale AI, state-sponsored bot and troll farms, and deepfake disinformation designed to manipulate public perception and distort reality. Media literacy and truth verification are going to be major battlegrounds. I want to be on the front lines fighting those dark forces, encouraging creators and media companies to harness these powerful new digital tools for the betterment of humanity rather than its detriment.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rawtravel.tv
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawtraveltv
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rawtraveltv
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-g-rose
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/rawtraveltv
- Other: https://rawtravelukraine.com
