Meet Ohara: The Story Behind Threads & Terrain
My name is Ohara, and you could say I was born to travel.
My parents met at Chicago O’Hare Airport, and a couple of years later, they named me after it. Somewhere along the way, airports, unfamiliar streets, and places far from home became some of the places where I felt most like myself.
But I didn’t always know travel would become such a defining part of my life.
It Started in Peru
My junior year of college, I studied abroad in Peru.
I arrived knowing I loved the idea of seeing the world. I left knowing I wanted travel to be part of my life.
Peru opened up Latin America to me first. There was a warmth to it that pulled me in, and I fell in love with the colors, mountains, markets, food, textiles, languages, history, and all the ordinary little things that somehow become the parts you remember most.
That experience changed the way I thought about travel. I became less interested in simply “seeing” the world and more interested in understanding the people, cultures, and everyday lives that make each place what it is.
After Peru, I just wanted to keep going.
Then the World Got Bigger
Peru led to more of Latin America, and eventually to places much farther away.
I've slept on overnight buses, wandered through medinas, hiked volcanoes, crossed borders just to see what was on the other side, eaten meals I couldn't pronounce, gotten hopelessly turned around, and found myself in places I once couldn't have even pointed to on a map.
Some of my favorite travel memories aren't necessarily the biggest attractions.
They're the tiny shops. The markets. The people I met along the way. The strange little café. The piece of art I carried home. The street I wandered down because it looked interesting. The moments when a place surprised me.
Why “Threads & Terrain”?
Even as a little girl, I loved clothes—a fashionista, if you will. As I got older, that turned into a love for thrifting, vintage pieces, and finding things that felt a little different from what everyone else was wearing.
And when I started traveling, I found myself paying just as much attention to what people were making and wearing as I did to the places themselves. I wanted to wander through markets, dig through vintage shops, meet the people behind the things I found, and bring home pieces I couldn’t find anywhere else.
Textiles in Peru. Leatherwork in Guatemala. Digging through thrift shops in Europe. Ceramics, jewelry, embroidery, rugs, clothing—I started to realize that what people make and wear can tell you so much about where you are.
I became fascinated by the connection between people, place, and craft—the threads and the terrain.
And eventually, I wanted to build a travel company that celebrated all of it.
Threads & Terrain grew out of the way I already loved to travel—curious, adventurous, drawn to beautiful things, and always wanting to see what was a little farther beyond the obvious.
I want to help people see places they might not have thought to visit. I want to send travelers toward locally owned businesses, artisans, markets, and communities whenever I can. I want people to come home feeling like they actually got to know something about where they went—not just that they saw it.
That doesn’t mean every trip has to involve hiking a volcano or getting on an overnight bus. Sometimes you want a beautiful hotel, a beach, and a drink.
I understand that too.
After traveling to 33 countries, I’ve learned that there isn’t one right way to see the world. Some trips change you. Some challenge you. Some are simply an excuse to go somewhere beautiful and enjoy yourself.
You just have to go.
And somehow, all these years after my parents met in an airport, I’ve built a life—and now a business—around doing exactly that.
I’m Ohara. Welcome to Threads & Terrain.
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