There’s something rare about people who don’t just follow trends but invent whole new ways to experience the world. Jenna Mari Matecki is one of those people. As the Founder and Chief of Experiences at AMARIMA, she’s reshaping what travel and hospitality can be, mixing storytelling, ritual, and sensory design to create moments that stick with you long after the trip ends.
Jenna’s work is about connection between people, places, and stories, and it all starts with listening deeply. She also leads The Human Board, a fresh take on mentorship where real, no-strings-attached support fuels growth.
In this MG interview, Jenna shares how her ideas took shape, what leadership really means to her, and why the future of hospitality is about more than just a place to stay. It’s about the feeling you take home.
The Idea That Became AMARIMA
Jenna’s idea for AMARIMA was born out of a lifelong passion for travel, design, and transformation. She explains:
“Life is a collection of incredible experiences. Through my work in transformational travel and immersive experience design, I encourage you to look at time spent through that lens – to turn up the dial on your life. I wanted to use all that I know to fuse transformational travel, multi-sensory design, narrative-based hospitality, ritual, and behavioural design for deep human connection.”
That spark led to AMARIMA – part design studio, part soon-to-launch resort brand, and fully committed to immersive, story-driven experiences.
“I’ve always had a dream of building a place where these experiences happen. AMARIMA is the beginning and the end of that journey – first step: create incredible highly custom experiences for individuals, teams, and brands around the world. Experiences that profoundly connect people, with themselves and others.
Next: create the place where those experiences live as a new kind of immersive resort and members club brand that you stay at while you travel.”
She describes her work in vivid, almost cinematic language:
“Think “transformational retreats,” “immersive travel design,” and “experiential hospitality.” A solo journey in Japan. A staycation where you reconnect with your inner child. A romantic weekend with your partner. Sailing around Greece with your best friends. Sequestering your executive team at a cabin in the woods. Taking your best customers and giving them a moment they will truly never forget.”
Even the name AMARIMA is steeped in meaning:
“The name AMARIMA comes from my name Jenna Mari Matecki. AMARIMA also has Spanish linguistic roots in AMAR, RIMA – Love, Rhymes – love rhymes when you travel well when you live your life to the fullest.”
Designing Human Connection
For Jenna, whether it’s working with a solo traveler or a global brand, the process always begins with one core practice: listening deeply.
“Each brand is a group of people, on a specific mission, with a specific product or offering. My first step is always getting those people together and uncovering their core brand narrative: what they want to say, what they’re solving for, and why it matters.”
This co-creative process leads to something fresh, resonant, and actionable.
And when it comes to branding mistakes?
“They don’t have enough fun with their campaigns, activations, and experiences. They simply don’t have enough fun with it. Where’s the joy? The originality? The emotional connection? Why are you settling for less?
The good news here is that if I see a collaborator of mine making this mistake, they usually turn out to be most willing to, once they’ve decided to change course, go all in and make it awesome this time around. This is an incredible energy to work with. This shift creates potent creative energy – and often leads to the most authentic, bold, and memorable brand storytelling.”
A Global Lens, A Human Heart
In her consulting work across global markets, Jenna treats cultural nuance not as an obstacle, but as creative firepower.
“Look at it as a creative frame – and a powerful opportunity in cross-cultural branding. Make sure your team itself is cross-cultural. We don’t just localise – we deeply listen and act upon cultural nuance as design and communication strategy inspiration.”
This philosophy is also at the heart of The Human Board, a project Jenna founded:
“We formed The Human Board to be a place where there is always an incredible group of people, across many industries and practices, who you can turn to for advice… The best leaders I know have the strongest communities around them – strong networks to lean on. The Human Board provides that magic. People apply for one-hour meetings with us and we give them our time – for free – and help them sort out their thoughts and paths forward.”
Want to experience this for yourself? You can apply for a one-hour, mentorship-based meeting at humanboard.org
On Innovation & Leadership
To Jenna, leadership is about honoring the differences, because that’s where the unexpected brilliance happens.
“The people I collaborate with all have their own unique magic that they bring. I love to get to the heart of who they are and what makes them tick, and then provide opportunities for them to best act from it. To me, that’s true leadership, a reverence and honor for the ways that we are all different from each other – who we are. This leads to unexpected brilliance, unusual collaborations, bravery, and quality.”
Trends Shaping the Future of Hospitality
As someone on the pulse of experiential travel, Jenna sees wellness and longevity taking center stage:
“Wellness travel and longevity-focused experiences will continue to be big – I see a real commitment to quality of life and holistic well-being playing out in our space, and I’m excited to see the concept of ‘wellness’ evolve. I also see an exciting shift towards hotel-club or resort-club hybrids – spaces that blend social connection, curated lifestyle, and community-driven hospitality.”
And yes, AMARIMA is building exactly that!
Beyond Work: Passions and Play
Jenna is also a sculptor and published author. She shares:
“I’m also a sculptor, and published author. As a sculptor, I work with clay. My recent series consists of coral-like amorphous relics. I’m excited to be casting these in metal soon.”
Her creative work isn’t just personal, it’s also public. Her sculptures are in private collections, and her book The Hours Before Dusk is available in bookstores across the U.S.
Quickfire Q&A
Bucket list destination?
“Bhutan – The proper way to do this would be to embed myself there for a month or so – in an incredible community of people who are real locals. And learn archery.”
One thing she wants to explore?
“During the pandemic, I took Spanish guitar lessons. I’ve prioritised differently around it these days, especially with getting AMARIMA off the ground, but I keep my guitar next to my desk for noodling and as a visual reminder that I don’t want this to stay on my back burner for much longer.”
One surprising fact?
“I grew up in Chicago. No matter how much I’ve traveled, how global my work is, how international my friends are, and how rooted I am in my chosen home of Barcelona – I will always be a girl from Chicago. It is my superpower. If you’re a Chicagoan or have spent time in Chicago, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you haven’t – go.”
A personal passion?
“I’m passionate about psychology. It directly helps me craft deeply meaningful and personal journeys and explorations for AMARIMA, and I’ve read more psychology books and articles than I care to admit.”
Dream job as a child?
“An artist. I’m an artist of human experience in a way – that’s what I do with AMARIMA. And I’m a sculptor. So I ended up surprisingly being a person who ended up doing what they dreamed of as a kid – just in different ways than what I imagined, which is always better – right?”
If you could have tea with anyone, who would it be?
“I’d love to hang out and drink tea with the classical poet Rumi – Yalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. We’d wax poetic about life. He’s so humanist – I really love that about him.”
“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” – Rumi.
Childhood visual that stays with you?
“Swimming in the Pacific in the Molokai channel off the coast of Northwest Maui…It’s my calm, peaceful, serene place. Next time I’m there, I need to record the sound of the waves.”
Life philosophy in one sentence?
“Turn up the dial on your life.”
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