How a Former Nightclub Promoter is Solving the Water Crisis
Former New York City nightclub promoter Scott Harrison joins Travis to unpack how a decade of chasing status and excess led him to walk away from everything and start Charity: water. He shares the health scare and existential crisis that pushed him onto a hospital ship in post‑war Liberia, where he saw firsthand that up to half of local disease was caused by dirty water and that clean water projects can cut sickness in some villages by as much as 80 percent. Scott explains the human cost of the global water crisis, including the hundreds of millions of hours women and girls spend every day walking for unsafe water, and why widespread distrust of charities forced him to build a radically transparent model where 100 percent of public donations fund water projects that are tracked and proved. This conversation is a candid look at addiction, meaning, faith, and how one person can repurpose a “promoter” skill set to mobilize millions toward solving a solvable problem.
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ON THIS EPISODE, WE CHAT ABOUT:
— How Scott Harrison went from top nightclub promoter in New York City to the founder of Charity: water.
— The health scare and existential crisis that forced him to confront the emptiness behind his “successful” lifestyle.
— What he witnessed on a hospital ship in post‑war Liberia and how it exposed the link between dirty water and disease.
— The scale and human cost of the global water crisis, especially for women and girls who spend hours every day collecting unsafe water.
— Why public distrust in charities is so high and how Charity: water’s 100% model and radical transparency were designed to rebuild trust.
— How Scott repurposed his promoter skill set to tell better stories, raise money, and mobilize millions toward clean water projects.
TOP 5 TAKEAWAYS
1. Material success without service can feel profoundly empty, even when it looks glamorous from the outside.
2. Clean water isn’t just a convenience—it’s foundational healthcare that can slash disease rates in entire communities.
3. Donor skepticism is rational; nonprofits that want to grow must design around trust, proof, and accountability.
4. Skills built in “selfish” environments (sales, promotion, hospitality) can be transformed into powerful tools for impact.
5. The global water crisis is solvable within our lifetime if enough people and capital are pointed at the problem with a clear, credible model.
💬 NOTABLE QUOTES
“The best I could come up with for my tombstone was, ‘Here lies a selfish man who got a million people drunk.’”
“I wanted to know: what would the exact opposite of my life look like?”
“According to the World Health Organization, about half of the disease in some regions is caused by bad water and lack of sanitation.”
“In many of these villages, when you bring clean water, you see up to an 80 percent reduction in disease.”
“Just today, women and girls will spend hundreds of millions of hours walking for dirty water.”
“People loved the idea of giving water to others—they just didn’t trust charities with their money.”
“We built Charity: water so that 100 percent of public donations would go to water projects, and we’d prove every single one.”
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