Beyond the ‘Gringo in Colombia,’ Brandon Epstein Brings a Deeper Story to the Conversation
For many Colombians who encounter Brandon Epstein online, he is immediately recognizable as the American — or “gringo,” as he playfully calls himself — who has embraced life in Colombia with curiosity, humor, and an outsider’s perspective. His content captures cultural surprises, expressions, habits, and everyday moments that locals may take for granted but that become especially vivid through foreign eyes.
It is a voice that has connected with audiences because it does not pretend Colombia is a postcard; instead, it finds humor and humanity in learning how to belong somewhere new. But perhaps what stands out most is that he is an American who has consistently chosen to speak positively about Colombia, not only as a country that welcomed him personally, but also professionally.
Yet that lighthearted, public-facing side is only one part of Epstein’s story. Behind the social-media personality is an entrepreneur and performance coach whose work has focused for more than 17 years on helping people confront the mental barriers that can keep them from moving forward. His professional career has centered on business owners, executives, and athletes, people often associated with achievement, but who can still face anxiety, self-doubt, pressure, and the private weight of expectations.
Beyond the ‘Gringo in Colombia’
According to his professional biography, Epstein’s path into this work was shaped by a difficult personal period. He has spoken openly about living with debt, struggling with his health and weight, using marijuana, and feeling insecure, anxious, and without hope. Rather than treating that chapter as a footnote, he places it at the center of the perspective he now brings to coaching: Meaningful change begins when people are willing to look honestly at the patterns that have been directing their lives.
His approach draws on what he describes as “subconscious rewiring,” a process aimed at helping people identify and replace the beliefs and mental habits that may be limiting their performance and well-being. The language of self-improvement can sometimes sound abstract, but the idea behind Epstein’s work is direct: success is not only about discipline, ambition, or talent. It is also about the inner narratives people repeat when they face fear, failure, uncertainty, or the possibility of change.
Over the years, Epstein says he has coached more than 100 clients, including UFC champions, Major League Baseball Cy Young Award winners, NFL athletes, and seven-figure CEOs. He is also the author of ‘The Success Code’, a book focused on helping high performers reshape their mindset. His entrepreneurial experience extends beyond coaching: he founded, scaled, and exited Jump Rope Dudes, a YouTube fitness channel that grew to more than one million subscribers, and later launched and exited a meditation-app company.
Those accomplishments reveal a more serious and deliberate dimension of someone who may first appear on social media as the funny foreigner navigating Colombia. Entrepreneurship, performance coaching, fitness, meditation, and content creation might seem like separate worlds, but in Epstein’s case they are tied by a common interest in how people build habits, withstand setbacks, and make sense of who they are becoming.
A place for personal evolution
Colombia has become an important setting in that personal evolution. His content reflects not only the experience of adapting to a different country, but also the deeper challenge of allowing a place, and its people, to change one’s assumptions. Through jokes, observations, and personal stories, Epstein has invited followers to see Colombia beyond the stereotypes that often circulate abroad. At the same time, he has had to navigate the reverse stereotype: the expectation that every American who arrives in Colombia is chasing a simplified version of the country, whether romance, adventure, or novelty.
That tension is part of what makes his perspective compelling. There is the Brandon Epstein who makes people laugh about cultural differences, and there is the professional who speaks seriously about mental health, resilience, purpose, and the work required to rebuild confidence. Neither version cancels out the other. If anything, the contrast helps explain the person behind the screen, someone who understands that humor can open a door, while honesty allows a conversation to go somewhere meaningful.
For ColombiaOne, this interview looks beyond Epstein’s online persona to meet the person behind it: an entrepreneur and performance coach whose journey in Colombia has become part of a broader conversation about identity, resilience, purpose, and mental well-being. He reflects on both sides of his life: The creator finding connection in Colombia and the professional committed to helping others pursue a more peaceful, purposeful, and mentally resilient life with clarity and lasting intention.