ROSH HASHANAH 5787 SECTION D, PAGE 17
Adam Salzman’s AdventureEXP differs from the Peace Corps
Adam Salzman, a Coloradan for the last nine years, previously had a great career working in corporate finance for Nissan in Nashville, Tenn.
A nice job, but for Salzman, not fulfilling enough. An Akron, Ohio native who majored in international business and finance at Ohio University, Salzman had studied abroad in China and taught English as a 19-year-old.
Salzman leaned into that experience as he started chasing what he hoped would be his lasting imprint on others.
“I liked working in the corporate environment, having an abundance of resources, of capital, of human resources and of technology impact,” says Salzman, “and it definitely caused me to think big.
“At the same time, being early in my career in the corporate world, it just wasn’t the impact I wanted to make. I wasn’t interested in climbing the corporate ladder. I really want to dent the universe.”
Salzman left Nissan to work with an organization that brought international students into the US for seasonal jobs and internships.
Six years ago, he founded AdventureEXP, which creates work programs for young people, helping them gain independent living skills and work experience by doing seasonal work across four countries — the US, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland.
“My mission is to help young people gain more confidence and clarity and compassion and transition into adulthood in a more meaningful way,” Salzman says.
“I always thought that mission should include travel, because that’s what travel did for me. And so I transitioned from this corporate connection into something more rooted in my passion. Since that didn’t exist, I decided to create it for myself.
“The program came with the thought that there should be something for Americans to be able to travel within their own country in a way that is actually affordable.”
This program is different from the likes of the Peace Corps, which usually operates in underdeveloped parts of the world and attracts volunteers to serve in the organization for humanitarian causes. EXP links young people and college students with short-term jobs and appealing destinations.
“This is what has now turned into adventure,” says Salzman. “EXPs destination work programs are what we call cost positive, which essentially just means relative to the cost of traveling students actually make money on the experience.”
Students are exclusively from the US or those who have dual citizenship from other countries.
They can choose to work elsewhere in the US or work in New Zealand, Australia or Ireland.
Salzman has received requests from students from the UK, Singapore and Greece to work in various programs throughout the US and abroad.
“The whole idea is that we’re helping young people develop independent living skills and we do it through a work-based learning model,” says Salzman.
“They are working a seasonal job, but the job is really not the focus of the program. It gives them a framework to live in a place that gets them really inspired and do it responsibly while they’re gaining skills, meeting new people and, of course, making money.
“So by picking places that offer really unique opportunities for young people to just get enthusiastic about their lives, we use these communities as the backdrop.”
Speaking of destination communities, Salzman was lured to Colorado nine years ago by his brother Alex, who lives in Leadville.
Adam Salzman moved from Nashville to Denver, then to Leadville, and returned to Denver one year ago.
His work here is directly influenced by his experiences from 6,000 miles away.
“I was inspired by the Chinese culture and language that I learned at a restaurant I worked at in high school, where I learned Chinese accidentally.
“From there, doing both study abroad and international student orientation it unlocked this idea that the world is far more interconnected and far bigger and more beautiful than we could ever even imagine.
“This phrase came to me when I was working in international education at Ohio University that Athens is in the world and the world is in Athens. It’s looking at this idea of this reciprocity. Travel has been my most impactful teacher.”
The closest AdventureEXP community to Denver is Aspen, which is ripe with seasonal jobs. Salzman, 32, hopes to add Denver to the list of “hubs.”
“I’ve been so blessed to work with international students, and to travel all over the world and have profoundly and impactful experiences in so many places. It’s a childlike wonder to me.
“When I look at an international student accomplishing the smallest task of learning a new vocabulary word, it just makes my heart soar.
“We live in the most ethnically and racially diverse country that’s ever existed, and therefore a student traveling from Mississippi to Colorado can still have a profoundly impactful cultural immersive and socially connected experience.
“It’s everything for me.”
© IJN 2026
