Gino’s Story, Founder of Poetry of Impact
Doing Good
If I had to sum up my life in a sentence, it might go something like this: I’ve spent a lot of time searching—searching for meaning, for purpose, and for how to connect the work I do with the life I want to live. From literally falling asleep at my desk in a finance job that didn’t suit me, to wandering through the Nevada desert looking for a spark of inspiration, I’ve realized that figuring things out doesn’t come all at once. It’s messy, full of surprises, and often leads you in directions you didn’t expect. For me, it took learning how to be well—in both body and mind—before I could figure out how to in the world in a way that felt real. This is the story of how I found that balance and why it matters to everything I do today.
Back in my early 20s, I earned my BA in finance and went straight into the legacy finance world. That didn’t last long—mostly because I literally fell asleep at my desk. My boss had to wake me up, and, with a slight chuckle, he said, “Gino, I don’t think this is for you.” He wasn’t wrong. But the problem wasn’t just that traditional finance wasn’t for me; it was that I didn’t know what wasfor me.
I felt untethered, as if I were circling the edges of something important but never quite finding my way to the center.
By the time I completed my dissertation, the disconnect was impossible to ignore. The day after I defended it, I packed my bags and headed west, eager to leave the ivory tower behind and find something more visceral, more real—something that would finally align with the person I was trying to become.
That’s when the real search began. I started hiking through the high deserts of Nevada, soaking in natural hot springs, gazing at the stars, and listening to the howls of coyotes. I dove into rituals and rites of passage, learning how to sit still and attune to nature and to the people around me. Along the way, I started connecting the dots between my diet and why I was always tired.
I even started hiking barefoot, feeling the earth beneath my feet in ways I hadn’t before. It was like I was waking up—not just to nature, but to my own body. I explored new ways of moving and being in my body, ways that weren’t just about pushing myself physically, but about finding strength and balance. Despite all of this exploration, I still hadn’t figured out how to bridge this newfound sense of well-being with my work. I was still searching for that connection between my internal world and my external impact.
Despite all of this exploration, I still hadn’t figured out how to bridge this newfound sense of well-being with my work. I was still searching for that connection between my internal world and my external impact.
Then, life threw me a lifeline. My dad called me with an opportunity. After years of working as dairy farmers, my parents had invested in some commercial real estate, and because of my background in real estate finance, they asked me to manage the investments. It was an easy yes.
For the first time, I felt a true connection between my work and my personal values. I wanted to make my parents proud, and I wanted the investments to succeed for my family. Suddenly, work didn’t feel one-dimensional like it had in legacy finance. It wasn’t as abstract as philosophy either. It was personal and real—a bridge between my interior desires and the tangible world.
That experience set me on a new path. I realized that my skills in real estate investment could create more than just financial returns—they could generate meaningful social and environmental impact as well.
This realization led me to partner on impactful projects with organizations like Open Path, 10 Federal, and Buligo, where the focus was not just on profit, but on projects that truly mattered. Over time, I followed my intuition, and out of these partnerships, Essentia Capital Partners was born. Essentia became a place where we could bring together a community of like-minded investors, all aligned in the mission of using capital to drive positive change while delivering solid financial outcomes.
Today, I’m proud to help others build wealth while improving the planet and people’s lives. It’s deeply gratifying to be part of something bigger than myself.
But this journey of financial impact didn’t happen in isolation. It’s been in lockstep with another journey: my path to personal well-being.
Being Well
That struggle to breathe turned me into a seeker. I was on a relentless hunt for ways to breathe better, to feel better. I felt like a newbie in a workshop, picking up random tools—wondering if this one would work or if I needed another.
Luckily, I eventually found the right tools. Not just to breathe better, but to handle my allergies, migraines, and to have more energy after eating.
But the seeking didn’t stop there. I realized I was thriving in that struggle. I learned to pull nutrients from every experience. “What can I learn from this moment?” I’d ask myself. The more solutions I found, the more I wanted to explore every part of my well-being. Not just fixing things that were broken, but discovering how to invest in my health and longevity—just like I had learned to invest in real estate.
I started to think about my health like an investment portfolio. You know, diversify, manage risk, all the things I’d been doing in finance—but applied to my body and well-being. Turns out, the same strategy works wonders. Instead of focusing on one thing, like only eating well or moving more, I realized my well-being needed a bit of everything. So, I created my Four Vital Pillars: nourishment, movement, replenishment, and attunement. These became my core “assets” that I started investing in regularly.
I started to think about my health like an investment portfolio. You know, diversify, manage risk, all the things I’d been doing in finance—but applied to my body and well-being.
Nourishment became the foundation of my portfolio, kind of like picking solid, resilient hard assets—nothing fancy, just quality foods that fuel everything else. Movement was my liquidity—staying active so my body didn’t get stuck in one place, because, well, nobody wants their wellness to stagnate. Replenishment—through sleep and recovery—became my compounding interest. Just like investments grow over time, my body needed rest to keep all those gains going. And attunement? Attunement was my way of doing regular portfolio check-ins, making sure everything felt balanced, and fine-tuning things when necessary—like adjusting an investment when the fundamentals change.
The more I invested in these areas, the better I felt—more energy for life, more presence with my family, and more focus on work that truly mattered to me. And just like any good portfolio, the value of these pillars started to compound over time. Little by little, these small, consistent investments in my well-being led to big, exponential gains in how I felt and showed up in the world. The best part? It wasn’t just about maintaining health—it was about growing it, expanding my capacity for joy, resilience, and a whole lot of impact.
I realized something powerful: when I focused on doing good in the world, it directly improved my sense of being well. And when I felt well, I had the energy to show up even more powerfully in the world.
Being Well & Doing Good
This journey has led me to a realization that feels both simple and profound: doing good and being well are inseparable. They form a dynamic loop, feeding off one another in ways I never anticipated. When I focus on my well-being—whether it’s nourishing my body or taking the time to rest—I find I have more energy and clarity to make a meaningful impact. And the more I immerse myself in meaningful work, the more it replenishes me. It’s like a feedback system where each element supports the other, building momentum and creating a kind of regenerative energy that keeps me going. It wasn’t a connection I expected to find, but now that I’ve seen it, it feels obvious.
Curiosity has become the driving force behind how I approach life. I don’t wake up each day with a master plan, but rather with a question: What can I learn today? Whether it’s experimenting with a new way of eating, testing a breathwork practice, or asking deeper questions about how I can invest more thoughtfully, I’m always searching for new ways to stretch and grow. I don’t need to have all the answers—I’ve learned that the beauty lies in the inquiry itself. It’s in that space of exploration where things feel the most alive, where something new can take shape. It’s not about perfection or having it all figured out; it’s about staying open to what’s emerging.
As an investment fund manager, that same curiosity extends to how I view financial deals. I’ve come to understand that true impact—whether it’s social or environmental—can’t scale unless the underlying investment is financially sustainable. This is where my skills in finance come into play. I’ve spent years honing my ability to assess risk, project returns, and structure deals in a way that ensures people’s hard-earned money is preserved and grows. But my role goes beyond protecting capital. Taking a holistic, three-dimensional view of investments means looking at how each deal affects not only the financial side but also the social and environmental fabric around it. This shift in perspective has been transformative for me—not only does it make me feel more fulfilled, but it has also made me a better investment fund manager.
My role goes beyond protecting capital. Taking a holistic, three-dimensional view of investments means looking at how each deal affects not only the financial side but also the social and environmental fabric around it. This shift in perspective has been transformative for me—not only does it make me feel more fulfilled, but it has also made me a better investment fund manager.
When I approach investments with a three-dimensional mindset, I don’t just see numbers and projections; I see entire ecosystems. I look at how an investment can ripple through its surroundings, impacting lives, communities, and the environment in ways that aren’t immediately obvious on a balance sheet.
This more holistic approach also makes me more attuned to risk, helping me anticipate challenges that might not show up in traditional financial analysis. When I’m thinking about how a project interacts with its broader environment, I can better understand potential disruptions, whether they’re economic, environmental, or even social.
This more holistic approach also makes me more attuned to risk, helping me anticipate challenges that might not show up in traditional financial analysis.
It’s not just about achieving one without the other, but about realizing how deeply interconnected they are. Being well gives me the energy and clarity to make better investment decisions, and doing good gives me a sense of purpose that fuels my well-being.
This synergy, however, reaches beyond the surface. At its heart, it is about fostering beauty—not just aesthetic beauty, but the kind that emerges from alignment. It’s the beauty of inner well-being harmonizing with outward action, creating ripples of connection and meaning that extend far beyond the self.
In curiosity & camaraderie,
Gino, Founder & Curator of Poetry of Impact
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My Current Wellness Protocols and Reflections on Being Well & Doing Good
About The Book
Gino Borges is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Essentia Capital, where he leads and invests in market-driven projects and funds across sectors including multi-family real estate, self-storage real estate, industrial real estate, and climate tech/infrastructure. His focus is on aligning financial success with long-term sustainability by transforming legacy industries through impact-driven strategies.
With the Well-Being Portfolio, Gino translates his astute investment insights to the realm of personal vitality. Just as a financial portfolio shows the overall health of an investment and where to make adjustments, a Well-Being Portfolio is an opportunity to see firsthand how investing in nutrition, movement, restoration, and attunement yields returns in longevity, healthspan, connection, peace, and deep fulfillment.
Drawing upon engaging storytelling and personal essays, as well as detailed well-being protocols, Poetry of Impact Founder Gino Borges shares his own 20-year health journey as an example of what it can look like to seek aliveness in the everyday moments of life.
Filled with poignant moments of vulnerability and keen insights, this Well-Being Portfolio will inspire you to explore what it looks like not simply to balance success and wellness, but to align them so intimately that they create a regenerative loop, fueling your sense of aliveness.
The book includes guided inquiry questions so you can create your own Well-Being Portfolio, as well as Gino’s curated resources to support you on your journey.