We had the good fortune of connecting with Nico Spadafora and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nico, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When I was a kid I started collecting fossils and bones. I studied them and wanted to become a paleontologist. Unfortunately I was unable to go to college due to a lack of income but never wanted to give up my need to be around fossils, so using my collection I decided to start sharing my passion and collection with others. Now we have collected quite a few fossils and we continue to share our passion with our patrons!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Fossil Team is a education based business that focus on teaching people about the prehistoric past and all its inhabitants, paleontology. Through our fossils, we offer online and in person classes that people can sign up for through fossilteam.com and select one of the classes we offer. We stand apart from other education businesses because we truly care about what we teach, and our classes also educate people about the state of our planet and how we can make it better. What better way to learn about what’s happening to our planet than to look back and see the outcomes back then! For example: the earth is getting significantly warmer at an alarming rate, 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian, the largest mass extinction ever happen because of that exactly. 90% of all life died out. Our moto is “Education for the Present, from the Past” and we make our classes educational scientific, fun, and super funny as well! If you’re not having fun, you aren’t going to remember what you learned!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Portland is a very interesting place, but personally, the fun stuff for me isn’t surrounded by concrete. We would go for a hike on Mt. Hood to see the breath taking views and the seemingly endless trees, find agates along the rivers and streams, and track the wildlife that flourishes all around. We would end the day with some of the drinks Oregon is famous for and eat some of the most delicious barbecue from Skyway Bar and Grill all while sitting around a campfire laughing and discussing the legendary sasquatch that may lurk in the woods all around us.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people that have helped me get to where I am today, and they continue to help! Fossil Team is still a very small business and has a long way to go, but through the help of my best friend Will Goble, who has used his own funds to help push fossil team in directions, Cliff and Melissa Barackman, who provide us with another job to help us pay for our necessities, and of course my wife, Haley Spadafora. She was the one to push me to start the business. Without her there would be no Fossil Team, it would still be a couple of dusty bones on the shelf.

PersonalNicoSpadafora

Website: www.fossilteam.com

Instagram: the.fossil.teampdx

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-spadafora-fossilteam/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the.fossil.teamPDX

Image Credits
Featured Photo – Excruciating Joy Photography All other photos taken by friends and family of The Fossil Team

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