Unpopped Collar

About Alex Budak

Thanks for checking out my Tumblr! I’m a social  entrepreneur and travel writer, passionate about seeing and changing the  world.  I’m currently the co-founder of StartSomeGood.com, which is a platform for helping social good initiatives raise funds and grow a community of supporters.  

I received an MPP from Georgetown University in 2010. Need a good nap?  Check out my econometrics-based thesis, “Facebook, Twitter and Barack Obama: New media and the 2008 Presidential election,” which is also available on the Kindle should you need portable nap material.  

I graduated from UCLA in 2007 with a double major in Geography and Political Science.  I received the Distinguished Senior award, but I’m more proud of having never missed a single home basketball game during my time in Westwood.

I’ve visited 25 countries, and survived everything from the bathroom on a Russian train to a rat temple in India.  Along the way I love sharing photos and stories of my adventures, most recently writing for the Huffington Post.  

I like adventures, roadtrips, photography, health and fitness, UCLA sports, and I look forward to the day that POGs are popular once again! 

Get in touch

Want to swap travel tales?  Chat about social entrepreneurship?  Work together?  Just say hello?  Email Me — I’d love to hear from you!

Featured interviews

If you still want more of me, you’re probably my Mom (Hi Mom!), but here are a few of my favorite interviews I’ve done that shed a bit more light on who I am and what I’m passionate about:

ABC News - SaveOne.net | IdeaMensch.com | LonelyPlanet |  MTV.com | TrendHunter.com

Why UnpoppedCollar?

I went to graduate school at Georgetown University where I came face-to-face with the horror that is not just single popped-collars, but cantaloupe-and-grapefruit-colored-double-popped (in case one gets unpopped?) polo shirts.  The name of my site is a reminder to myself to resist the urge to conform to the pastel-polo mafia, and keep my collar properly — and permanently — unpopped.