In this Nosara Podcast episode, John and Susan (Short) Johnson openly discuss a myriad of subjects plus share their purposes & intentions behind their actions for themselves & the Nosara community as a whole.
It’s a wide ranging episode, which bounces around in all kinds of directions towards addressing the heavy hitting subjects surrounding our town (John also gets in a couple of good jokes along the way, which I’m grateful for) as well as just simple topics & personal opinions and memories of Nosara’s yesterday & perhaps what tomorrow will prove to be.
Rather than spend much time reciting the same things as the litany of articles and such that are readily available on the internet about the Johnson family, I decided to take a different approach, which hopefully proves significantly more beneficial to the community as well as the entertainment level of this episode & achieve it’s purpose of getting to know the ‘real’ version of them.
We begin with a curveball of a question & discussion with me asking their opinion about wave pools. What started as conversation starter turned into solid points from the obvious about water issues and the ocean being preferential, then into pros/cons and my wild idea about prior to any money being sent for wars… Make everyone put their guns down and have a surf (I was more serious than kidding). From there the conversation goes on a loooong ride down many lanes and avenues and I hope you enjoy it.
My goal with this episode is to provide an opportunity for people to get to know the ‘real’ version of this famous, but not so famous, duo. Reason being, this fiercely private family is constantly brought up in conversations with all kinds of things being suggested ranging from being multi billionaires with unlimited resources plotting to take over majestic Nosara all the way to extreme other end of the spectrum as kind hearted people who truly are trying to protect this town through their acquisitions and projects focused on keeping Nosara away from being engulfed by chain hotels and mega developments.
For anyone unaware: John & Susan (Short) Johnson are the owners of Nosara’s Harmony Hotel & Healing Center, Sunset Shack, El Campo (formerly Harbor Reef Hotel), new development project El Bosque, and behind many community initiatives via Harmony Projects & quietly behind the scenes of many other ones.
This is NOT a standard ‘fluff’ piece like so many others out there. Both John & Susan willingly address some of the most challenging parts of the community while providing an interesting take on things from their vantage points.
My relationship with both John & Susan started as surfing friends in the water at Playa Guiones. In recent years, I’ve spent time in water surfing with Susan & playing music with John. Turns out both John & I enjoy playing same styles of music together and I count myself fortunate to have a music friend who enjoys folk, gospel, bluegrass & from time to time we hope to play at our ‘gospel Sundays’ which is basically he & I squeezing a couple moments into our already incredibly busy schedules. He’s the only friend who has ever given me a Banjuitar (banjo strung like a guitar) & in the same conversation went over our longboard rail preferences, then bounced to meditation techniques and affirmations followed up with a recap of Nosara stuff.
Although this episode is focusing on Nosara… The Johnson’s have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Conde Nast, and so many other publications due to their exposure to the public from the Johnson & Johnson name itself in addition to their many personal accolades.
For example, John is well known for Eyebeam, being cofounder of Buzzfeed, Harmony labs, but started out as a successful filmmaker who has written, produced and directed multiple films. Susan is deeply committed and concerned about the environment… So much so she started Deep Green Living and through this & her Nosara efforts and projects wants people to live in line with their environmental values (as you will hear in this episode).
I hope this episode & this synopsis help you have more insight directly to John & Susan!
