Justin & Emily Baldoni Escape LA for the Love of Nature in Ojai

Photography by Ken Alcazar & Michael Pascual

He is an Actor, Director, Producer, Speaker and Author. She is an Actress and Entrepreneur. Together they are living their most relaxed life thanks to a recent move from Los Angeles to Ojai.  

When they get time off you can find them at the beach or around town rocking some really cool hats made by Emily’s business partner Satya Twena. Recently we sat down with the refreshed couple to see just how they manage to travel and work together, find out their craziest travel experiences and hear more about how their new venture AMMA came to fruition and get the latest on Justin’s new book.

LATM: Where are your favorite spots to hit up in SoCal when you are not working? When friends and family come to visit where do you take them?

Well, when friends and family come to visit we go NO WHERE because we live on a property that is a slice of heaven. We moved to Ojai during the pandemic which means we haven’t been able to see a ton, but we are super excited to explore just the two of us, and also with our friends, the hot springs, many of the hikes and the waterfalls around here. The bike trails that go from Ojai down to Ventura beach. We’d love to camp. I really want to camp on top of the Topa Topas I think that’d be super exciting – Emily

The beach, we love going to the beach. We’re going to have a new beach probably in Ventura and Santa Barbara which is going to be great. Also, we like Big Bear. We like snowboarding and skiing, but we haven’t been to Big Bear since the pandemic started. – Justin

LATM: What has been your most proud achievement throughout your career?

I’m really proud of the last film I directed, CLOUDS, because it wasn’t just something I had directed but it was something I produced and my company (Wayfarer Studios) financed. I think that was kind of an intersection of a lot of my skillsets and it was a personal story about somebody that I love dearly, Zach Sobiech, who passed away 8 years ago now, whose story I told as a documentary that aired on SoulPancake all those years ago. So Clouds and most recently my book because it was a culmination of years and years and years of exploring what it means to be a man. Pushing up against my resistance to write a book and release a book because I didn’t feel enough and I’m proud of it. It’s a meditation on masculinity and I hope it touches people. – Justin.

LATM: What are the go-to travel items you must have on a trip?

iPads, if you travel with kids.  Anything that distracts a child, bring it and Melatonin, to help with jet lag. For me, it’s always important to bring a book because I love to find quiet moments to just read books. It’s super inspiring to me to read books in new places. – Emily

Wet Wipes and lots of Melatonin, for you and the kids. Also, a really good suitcase that has a lot of good compartments and a charging thing in it. I wanna get a suitcase with the charging components for the iPads and iPhones. – Justin

LATM: Where is your ideal destination for a local weekend getaway?

Ojai Valley Inn. – Justin

Yeah, that’s a great one. – Emily

Emily can ride the golf cart while I go play golf and lose a bunch of golf balls. – Justin

There you go! – Emily

LATM: Tell our readers about your new book Justin and what you hope to achieve with its release. Why is it so important to you and what sparked the movement?

Man Enough is a meditation on masculinity. It’s my journey of unpacking and unlearning and undefining what it means to be a man and all the ways in which I was socialized to be a man that didn’t serve me. The ways I was taught to sever that connection between my head and my heart. Man Enough is really my journey that will hopefully inspire the readers’ journey to unlearn and to relearn and to reestablish that connection between our heads and our hearts and to do the hard work of heart work.

And what was important to me about the book and the movement was because I think that so many of the problems in the world today, stem from the way that men have been socialized and I truly believe that equality and equity come from when men are liberated and freed from these ridiculous expectations that have been put on us for years. I believe that the liberation of women is tied to the liberation of men as my dear friend Liz Plank says in her book ‘For the Love of Men.’ I hope that it inspires an individual man to recognize some of the ways they’ve been socialized and have hurt people and themselves and I hope it also inspires women. I’ve heard it helps women have a new understanding of what it looks like to be a man and a boy in the world. – Justin

LATM: When you have time off where do you like to escape to?

A beach. Anywhere with warm sun and beach and water. – Justin

And for me, it would be the mountains.- Emily

That’s why we moved to the mountains so that WE can escape to the beach. So you live in the mountains full time and escape to the beach. – Justin

But I think any kind of escape for us is nature. Nature is a dream escape. – Emily

LATM: Any tips you have learned over the course of your travels you can share with our readers?

To go with the flow. – Justin

I was just going to say this is where you and I travel so well together. I’m a great planner. Justin just goes with the flow, does not like a plan. BUT and this is what’s great when you meet in the middle and kind of have a plan and then you’re willing to go with the flow, that’s the dream spot. – Emily

I think the best travel advice we could ever give someone is when you’re regimented and you’re traveling it sucks the fun out of it. – Justin

It really does, yeah – Emily

Like life, it’s about the journey. The point of traveling is about the journey. – Justin

Not the destination -Emily

If you’re so uptight and worried about everything and every detail of the trip and getting to a certain place on time, you’re taking away that excitement and openness. – Justin

And the Magic. – Emily

And the magic to explore and have a great time on the journey itself. So it is never about the destination, it’s about the journey. – Justin

LATM: What are your next big goals for 2021-2022?

We are both excited about Emily’s company, AMMA. – Justin

That we are both co-founders of. It’s a company for mamma’s a lifestyle brand for Momma. We’re super excited to be growing and adding more products and have some fun with that company. -Emily

And building a community of Mommas. – Justin

I’m also excited for Wayfarer Studios. We’re producing a few films this summer. And we’re financing these movies and we’re excited about them and I’m excited about hopefully directing another film later this year! – Justin

Cover Shoot Credits: Styled by: Danielle Tavia / Makeup Artist: Sheila Harris / Hai