Every company has an origin story. Ours just happens to start with a kid blasting John Williams soundtracks on a bootlegged cassette tape while writing Star Wars fan-fiction years before AO3 ever existed.

Sidequest: Iceland wasn’t born from a boardroom, an investor pitch, or a brainstorm session with ten consultants in a fishbowl meeting room. It was built from the very real, very nerdy, very winding life of our founder, Jessý—and all the passions, travel memories, and obsessions she collected along the way.

The Nerd at the Beginning of the Universe (…or at least the company)

Before “we” were a company, we were just a girl who forced her grandmother to role-play Data from Star Trek and who got genuinely upset when Grandma did not know the difference between a robot and an android. We, the girl, were also endless rounds of Scrabble and Risk, summers spent at band camp and dinner theater, and drawers full of rocks—hundreds of them—collected lovingly and categorized meticulously, despite Jessý’s mother insisting it was “all just gravel.” (It wasn’t all gravel. We stand by this...mostly.)

Our founder wasn't a gamer in the traditional sense, unless Wii Olympics counts (and in our office, it absolutely does). But she was always a storyteller, explorer, and an unapologetic geek with a wild curiosity about how the world works and why it is the way it is. These are the foundations of Sidequest: Iceland.

The Science Years: From Stars to Stones

Our founder story continued at the University of Southern California, where young Jessý dove headfirst into astrophysics and astrogeology. This chapter included projects at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, like determining the substrate of comets, and regular visits to Mt. Wilson Observatory to observe the sun during solar cycle 23 as it approached maximum.

Later, she moved to the University of Kansas, shifting from the cosmos to the Earth beneath our feet. That curiosity turned into multiple degrees in Geology, which opened doors to over a decade of work as an exploration geologist. Four continents; fifteen countries; and rocks that were definitely not gravel.

The Pivot: A Detour Through Paris

At some point, she realized that while science had shaped her, corporate life had drained her. So she did what any emotionally exhausted scientist-turned-storyteller does: move to Paris.

This was almost Emily in Paris before the Netflix show hit the airwaves: A one-way ticket. A new life chapter and new pursuits. Lots of pains au chocolat. Even a stint on a house boat in the Seine (#penichelife). And, in the end, an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurship, with projects in digital transformation in the luxury sector, business development in international hospitality, and working on the founding team of a startup in Bordeaux. There were all the makings of a new path, even if she didn’t see it yet.

The Iceland Chapter: A Leap of Faith

Next came the decision that most people call bold, but we call “a small bout of insanity”: moving to Iceland alone, with another one-way ticket, with nothing but curiosity and a few suitcases.

For seven years she worked in tech to keep her work visa, building a career by day and building women- and science-based online communities by night. Then came a long, difficult stretch of mystery chronic illness, one that forced a reevaluation of priorities, passions, and purpose.

And out of that reevaluation came clarity:
She needed to build something that wove together her life’s work and passions. Travel, culture, science, fantasy, community, storytelling, inclusivity, Iceland, and the joy of being unapologetically geeky.

What a Life of Travel Taught Our Founder

After traveling to more than 55 countries—and circling Iceland’s ring road enough times to know which N1 has the best food options—this girl walked away with a few deeply held beliefs about what makes travel truly meaningful.

• She learned that every great journey deserves at least one epic side quest—a detour, a whim, a spontaneous decision that becomes the story you tell for years.
• She discovered that spontaneity brings whimsy and adventure to even the most carefully planned trips, transforming simple moments into treasured memories.
• She realized that the best trips let you bring your passions with you—whether those passions are science, folklore, gaming, geology, fantasy novels, or something wonderfully niche.
• And finally, she found that travel is richest when it dives deep: authentic, immersive experiences that teach you something real, connect you to a place and its people, and leave you changed by it.

These lessons shaped her life long before she ever started a company. And they continue to shape the way she dreams, creates, and imagines what adventures can look like for others. Through an education of science, a life in Iceland, several pop culture tattoos and AO3 submissions (she will never give up that username), and over two decades of travel, she hopes to build something truly special for nerds in and visiting Iceland.

Read and learn more about/from our founder (hover for links):

• Recent documentary filming about hydrogeology in Iceland.
• Interview with Raketta Studio about building Sidequest: Iceland.
• Travel firm Stuck in Iceland interview about travel, geology, and Iceland.
• The Lava Show podcast appearance, discussing the recent Grindavik eruptions.
• A post-MBA interview with Business Because about pivoting careers in mid-life.
• An interview with the BBC about happiness and living in Iceland.
• Her old marketing blog, her personal photography page on Instagram, and Iceland Geology Facebook Group page.

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