What if your life became your lecture? Your mistakes your message? Your journey your offering? That’s the heartbeat of Walkabout Rojo.
I’m Paul Allen Benavides, though many know me simply as Rojo. I’m an American academic, business lecturer, corporate trainer, and keynote speaker based in Da Nang, Vietnam, where I teach International Business and Media at Swinburne University of Technology. My academic research explores mindfulness in cross-cultural leadership, how presence, empathy, and attention can transform performance inside global organizations.
But my work doesn’t stop at the university gates.
Rojo is the storyteller in me. The traveler. The one behind the camera, in front of a mic, or mid-sentence in a dusty café in southern Vietnam. Through my digital platforms (Walkabout Rojo, Walkabout Elevations, and Rojo Reads the News) I bring together the academic, the practical, and the poetic. My videos and essays explore everything from international business trends and cultural critique to grief, leadership, and the quiet questions we rarely ask out loud.
The Dual Journey
Walkabout Rojo is my outward-facing path. Think vlogs, on-location storytelling, hotel reviews, street food critiques, motorcycles and misadventures. It’s where the world meets me with all its lessons, beauty, friction, and surprise.
Walkabout Elevations is my inward-facing path. This is where I pause, reflect, and write into the spaces that don’t always make it into conversation; legacy, fatherhood, failure, stillness, and the slow-making of wisdom. It’s personal, contemplative, academic, and often unpolished… just like the real stuff always is.
One is the walkabout. The other is the elevation. Together, they shape how I teach, speak, coach, and live.
From keynote stages to classroom floors, YouTube uploads to academic journals, I’m here to translate experience into insight and to help others do the same. Whether you're a global business leader, an educator, a content creator, or just someone navigating your own walkabout, I invite you to join the conversation.
Current Projects
YouTube Channels
Walkabout Rojo, a video-first exploration of human connection, culture, and candid storytelling. Each vlog blends on-location adventures with raw narration and soulful reflection.
🔗 Watch the journey: Walkabout Rojo
Walkabout Elevations invites you beyond the scenery to reflections that matter: essays and videos weaving together mindful leadership, personal legacy, and cultural insight. From exploring quiet power to recognizing silence as strategy, each piece is an intentional invitation, to slow down, think differently, and bring more depth into daily life.
🔗 Watch the reflections: Walkabout Elevations
Rojo Reads the News is not your average headlines rundown. This series brings you current events with context, curiosity, and just the right touch of irreverence. I cover global affairs, cultural trends, and business stories with a mindful lens.
🔗 Watch the insights: Rojo Reads the News
Research Projects
Through my role at Swinburne University Vietnam, I research the intersection of mindfulness, cross-cultural management, and organizational behavior. My peer-reviewed work examines how presence reshapes international business dynamics, workplace well-being, and leadership development across diverse settings.
🔗 Explore publications: Research & Publications
Articles and Essays
My blogs are where the camera turns inward, and the conversation deepens. Each post begins with a moment—on a street in Vietnam, in a lecture hall, or halfway through a thought—and unfolds into something that invites pause, perspective, and participation. 🌍 [Walkabout Rojo Blog →]
On-the-ground stories, cultural critiques, hotel deep dives, travel mishaps, and global business observations blended with raw narration and lived-in reflection. These essays are where I slow down and offer the truths that rarely make it into casual conversation. 🌀 [Walkabout Elevations Essays →]
Yoga & Mindfulness Enthusiast
Before the speaking engagements, the travel stories, or the research papers—there’s practice. Yoga and meditation aren’t hobbies for me; they’re my daily anchors. They shape how I lead, how I teach, how I listen.
And if you’re on a similar path, or just starting one, I’d love to connect.
🌿 Interested in mindful collaboration or coaching? Let’s talk.
