Brent Underwood

Last updated
Brent Underwood
Brentwunderwood.PNG
Born1987 (age 3637)
Occupation Marketer, Entrepreneur
Alma mater Florida State University
Columbia University
Notable works"Putting My Foot Down"

Brent Underwood is an American entrepreneur and owner of Cerro Gordo Mines. [1] [2]

Contents

Career

After graduating from Columbia University, Underwood worked briefly for an investment bank in New York City. [3] [4] [5] After one month, he quit and backpacked across Central and South America. [6] Upon returning to New York, he founded a hostel in Brooklyn. [7] [8] In December 2014 Underwood founded HK Austin, a hostel in Austin, Texas, with investors including Matthew Kepnes, after staying in 150 hostels across 30 countries. [3] [9] [10] [11] For 2015, HK Austin was the highest rated hostel in the United States. [3] [6] [12] Underwood later became a partner in the marketing firm Brass Check. [4] [13] [14]

In February 2016, Underwood published a photo of his foot on Amazon as a book titled Putting My Foot Down. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] The resulting article in the New York Observer received attention from a variety of media outlets and from authors including Neil Gaiman and Nick Bilton. [13] [20] [21] Underwood was then offered a publishing contract from Thought Catalog to turn Putting My Foot Down into an expanded paperback version. [18] The paperback version received attention from a variety of news outlets. [16] [17] [18] [22] [23] [24] [25]

Cerro Gordo

In July 2018, Underwood purchased the former mining town of Cerro Gordo alongside the Cerro Gordo Mines for $1.4 million with a group of investors. [26] [27] The purchase included over 360 acres and 22 structures. [28] Underwood stated plans to develop the town into an artist destination for tourists and group events, while maintaining the historic nature of the property. [29] [30]

Since March 2020, Underwood has been living at Cerro Gordo full-time [31] and has regular visitors. [32] Visitors have included Jeff Goldblum, Cole Sprouse, G-Eazy, and others. [33] The town's hotel burned down on June 20, 2020, in a fire of undetermined origin but possibly electrical wiring failure, during a heat wave. Underwood has plans to rebuild it. [34] He was isolated there for ten weeks in 2020, unable to leave due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a heavy snowstorm. [35] As of February 2024, Underwood still resided in Cerro Gordo. [36]

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