Todd Carmichael (born August 30, 1963) is an

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, adventure traveler,

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

, television personality,

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

, and inventor. Carmichael is the CEO and co-founder of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

-based

La Colombe (''The Dove'') is an ''opéra comique'' in two acts by Charles Gounod with a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré based on the poem by Jean de La Fontaine, itself after a tale (V,9) in The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio. It premiered i ...

. He is the first American to complete a solo trek across Antarctica to the South Pole on foot with no assistance, claiming the world speed record with a total travel time of 39 days, 7 hours and 49 minutes. Recorded footage of his trek later became an award-winning documentary entitled ''Race to the Bottom of the Earth'' (2010) that was aired on the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

. He then went on to raise thousands of dollars for Orangutan Foundation International, one of his numerous philanthropic projects. Carmichael was ranked #1 by Food Republic for the most influential figure in its Coffee Power Ranking. He is currently the host of

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

's 'Dangerous Grounds and Uncommon Grounds'.

Early life and education

Todd Carmichael was born on August 30, 1963, outside

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. He has three sisters. Carmichael completed his first marathon at age 15. His mother eventually moved the family to Spokane's South Hill so that he could attend

Joel E. Ferris High School Joel E. Ferris High School (commonly known as Ferris High School) is a four-year public high school in Spokane, Washington, part of Spokane Public Schools. In southeast Spokane's Southgate, Spokane, Southgate neighborhood, it was built at a cost ...

. From 1981 to 1982, he was part of Ferris' state championship squad. He graduated from high school in 1982, and received a distance running scholarship to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where he studied business and went on to work in accounting for

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

. He also ran his first ultramarathon at the age of 20.

Career

While hunting for beans, he came upon a farm that inspired him to want to help

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

improve its coffee farming methods. He was later approached by the

Clinton Foundation The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

to collaborate on a coffee project. Carmichael was a prolific contributor to ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' "Eat Like a Man" blog, where he covered subjects mainly related to coffee, its industry, and his travels in Haiti and the country's issues. He has also written for ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

'' regarding topics about the environment and animal rights. He is currently the host of Travel Channel's ''Dangerous Grounds''.

Philanthropy

Carmichael has collaborated with the actor

Leonardo DiCaprio Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (; ; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. Known for Leonardo DiCaprio filmography, his work in biographical and period films, he is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received ...

to create La Colombe's Lyon blend, with proceeds going to fund the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Working with ECHOES Around the World in Uganda and Wide Horizons For Children in Ethiopia, Project Afrique was also made possible through the sales of La Colombe and additional funding from the coffee-roasting company and his partner, J.P. Iberti. Carmichael also collaborated with the organization Coffee For Water to bring safe drinking water into coffee-growing regions. Todd carmichael la colombe

Praise

In 2014, he entered the

Specialty Coffee Association of America The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) (also SCA Specialty Coffee Association, post-2017), founded in 1982, was a non-profit trade organization for the specialty coffee industry. With members located in more than 40 countries, SCAA rep ...

and the Barista Guild of America's U.S. Brewers Cup competition, where he unveiled and used the prototype of his experimental brewing contraption, called "The Dragon." That same year, ''Food Republic'' ranked him #1 in its "Coffee Power Ranking."

Early life and education

Career

Philanthropy

Praise

References

External links