Harlow 'Salvador' Newton

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About Me

Basic Information

About me: A true socially responsible entrepreneur at heart, Harlow has more than 20 years of experience as a business owner, from being one of the founding partners at SF Station, to starting a successful travel
services company and environmental non-profit organization.

After selling SF Station to the Boulevards City Guide Network in 2006, Harlow has been working as the Director of Digital Marketing & Strategy for the Boulevards City Guide Network. During his 10 years with SF Station, Harlow built and established long-term business relationships and strategic partnerships with local businesses, media companies, and community and public organizations. With a rolodex of over 8,000 contacts, Harlow continues to develop unique and innovative business partnerships, brand awareness campaigns and digital marketing programs for his clients and partners.

Harlow studied business, public relations and psychology at San Francisco State University through an interdisciplinary studies program. Harlow is currently building Buenaventura, an eco-adventure lodge and rainforest retreat on his 170 acre property in Costa Rica, scheduled to open to the public in the summer of 2010.

MY STORY:

I was born August 3rd, 1971 on a US military base in Landstuhl, Germany. My father was born in San Jose, Costa Rica to a Spanish/Guatemalan mother and a North American father and my mother was born in New York City to an Italian mother and a North American father.

After serving his tour of duty as an officer in the United States Army in the early 70s (in the photo below I'm wearing one of my father's old Army shirts), my father returned to El Salvador to work for his father's company, which my grandfather had started in the early 1940's. I was raised in El Salvador from the age of 3 to 14, learning the language and Latin American lifestyle, and most importantly, falling in love with the people, customs and latin culture.

Salvador standing on Buenaventura Mountain, Costa Rica, October of 2005

At the age of 15, I moved to the United States to live with my mother and attended high school. Shortly after graduating from high school, I sold most of my belongings and bought a one-way ticket to the island of Guam, one of the Micronesia islands in the Pacific Ocean. My passion for travel and exploration had led me to Guam, using the island as a travel base to destinations such as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and some of the neighboring Micronesian islands.

A year and half later, I set my sights on San Francisco, a place I knew I could attend college, while at the same time knowing that if I wasn't traveling the world, the world would come to me. I attended San Francisco State University studying a range of subjects including Business, Hospitality, Psychology, and Public Relations.

Tikal, Guatemala on Temple IV in July of 1996

In the fall of 1996, after a two-month "soul searching" trip from Mexico to Costa Rica, I return to San Francisco with the opportunity of starting up a company with a group of friends I had met in Guam and San Francisco. To this day, the company that we founded, SF Station.com, is San Francisco's leading online city guide. In the fall of 2005, almost 10 years of dedicating my time and energy to building a New Media company, Boulevards City Guide Network (which runs sites like LosAngeles.com, SanFrancisco.com, Seattle.com, Denver.com, etc.) aqcuired SF Station, and my partners and I signed up for a 3.5 year employment agreement (earn-out) and became shareholders our a rapidly growing company.

Although I am still actively involved in the New Media and Tech world, my passion and love for travel and sharing travel information has lead me to pursue one of my personal dreams and start "Tico Guide Travel", a travel services company specializing in Costa Rica eco-adventure and leisure travel. . In the summer of 1998 I began providing my friends with travel advise to places I had been before, including Thailand, Indonesia, Costa Rica, and other Central America countries. I soon decided I could make a small business out of it, and I decided I would focus on the one country I love the most, Costa Rica.

Having visited Costa Rica on many research trips, my extensive personal knowledge of Costa Rica allows me to provide my clients with suggested routes, destinations, lodging recommendations, and personal contacts, based on their travel lifestyle, purpose, and activities they are looking to experience.

In addition to working with Costa Rica's travel industry, I founded Costa Rica Conservation Trust (CRCT), a non-profit conservation-based organization dedicated to protecting biodiversity, advocating sustainable development, and promoting ecological, cultural and educational programs that advance respectful relationships with the Earth.

To date, I spend 11 months out of the year in San Francisco, overseeing operations at SFStation.com, planning client trips to Costa Rica, and raising awareness and funds for biodiversity protection with Costa Rica Conservation Trust.

One month out of my year I spend traveling to Costa Rica and pick a new place to visit in the world each year.

My long-term goal is to live and work in San Francisco for 6 months out of the year, lead tours and host guests at my lodge in Costa Rica (Buenaventura Eco-Adventure Rainforest Lodge & Retreat Center) for 5 months out of the year, and take a 1 month-long international trip once a year each time to a new destination.