An Inspired Chat with Zack Jurasek

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Zack Jurasek. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Zack, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I’m walking a path I built with my own hands.
But it didn’t exist until I carved it out of rock and lit it with my own fire.

See, most people think paths are pre-made, you pick one and follow it. But that’s not how it played out for me. I didn’t follow a trail. I fell through the cracks of the world people warned me about, and I found myself underground. Sometimes you just have to cut off from the noise of the world and BUILD.

That’s where GlowRow® was born. I didn’t “find my path.” I forged it. I had to engineer safety where there was failure, build beauty where there was darkness, and lite the Darkness of water for others while dragging myself out of darkness itself.

So no, I’m not wandering.
But I’m not following either.
I’m building forward, step by step, with no blueprint but a fire that won’t go out.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Zack Jurasek. I’m the founder of GlowRow®, a nighttime kayaking experience unlike anything else in the U.S. or the world. I design proprietary lighted systems for clear kayaks, but what I really build is trust in the dark.

We take 18+ guests out on guided night tours across Texas, lighting up the water with our own in-house tech: 20,000-lumen under-deck lighting systems paired with patented glow paddles. The entire system was built from scratch, in response to the fact that off-the-shelf marine lighting and battery systems kept failing in saltwater, high vibration, and high runtime conditions. I engineered a system that could survive nightly abuse, then trained a team of guides to run tours that feel equal parts magic and mission.

Today, GlowRow® is operating in 12 locations and scaling through franchise partnerships. We’ve been recognized by the Texas State Tourism, won awards from the UK’s Travel & Hospitality Authority, and were named #2 of USA Today’s Top 10 Best Kayak Tours in the U.S. in 2025.

But what makes it special isn’t the lights. It’s the fact that we earned every lumen.
No shortcuts. No copycatting. No apologies.

I’m still hands-on every night. Still training guides. Still testing circuitry. Because when you build something that comes from the edge of who you were—you don’t walk away from it.
You protect it. You grow it. You become it.

Every paddle, every light, every bolt in the boat was thought through. And when you’re guiding people through the dark… on the water? That level of detail isn’t a luxury—it’s the minimum.

That’s GlowRow®.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who taught you the most about work?
Pain.

Pain taught me more about work than any mentor ever could.
Not the dramatic kind—but the daily, thankless grind that comes when no one’s clapping, no one’s coming to save you, and the clock doesn’t care if you’re tired.

I’ve worked jobs where I was just a name on a spreadsheet. I’ve built control systems where one bad wire meant life or death for refinery operators. I’ve guided kayaks at midnight and rewired trailers in the heat—because the show had to go on, and I was the one responsible for everyone else’s experience and safety.

But the real lesson? Work isn’t about the paycheck. It’s about the promise… the impact
The promise that when I say I’ll build something, lead something, protect something—I’ll do it. Even when it costs me. Especially when it costs me. The impact that when someone comes to me and says it was the best experience of their life.

GlowRow® wasn’t born from a whiteboard and a budget. It was born from learning how to outwork exhaustion, disappointment, and even myself.

So yeah—pain taught me how to work.
But purpose? That’s what made me unstoppable.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering sharpens you in ways success never will. When you’re building something real, something that sets the standard, there are moments where comfort becomes the enemy. Suffering doesn’t slow you down, it makes you precise. Present. Obsessed with every detail.

Success can make you soft. Suffering keeps you sharp. It teaches you discipline when nobody’s watching. It teaches you to build things that don’t break when things go wrong. That’s why GlowRow® doesn’t just work, it outperforms everything around it (including the copycats). It’s forged, not fabricated.

And the best part? Suffering isn’t some villain in my story. It’s a tool in my hands. I use it. I own it. It’s not a weight I carry, it’s a weapon I wield.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. How do you differentiate between fads and real foundational shifts?
You don’t watch what’s trending—you watch what breaks under pressure.

Foundational shifts are forged when something gets stress-tested and doesn’t snap. Fads? They crumble as soon as the lights go out or a real problem shows up. That’s how I know GlowRow® isn’t a fad—we built our system in saltwater, under high heat, long runtimes, high-vibration transport. Everyone else was slapping LEDs on things for Instagram likes. I was reverse-engineering failure points.

When something works because it’s cool, it’s a fad.
When something keeps working because it’s engineered, that’s a shift.

Here’s the thing though—foundational shifts never look flashy at first. They’re ugly. They’re version 1.0, duct tape and grit. But you iterate. You adapt. You build version 3.0 while everyone else is still on version “good enough.” By the time they catch on, you’re already miles ahead—and if they try to copy it, they still don’t understand why it works. That’s how you know it’s foundational.

So yeah… I don’t follow trends. I follow stress fractures.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If immortality were real, what would you build?
If I couldn’t die? I’d build a new standard for what people feel when they hear the word “adventure.”

I’m not talking about rollercoasters or VR headsets. I mean the kind of experience that hits your nervous system—where time bends, your instincts wake up, and suddenly you’re not just consuming a moment… you’re inside it.

That’s what GlowRow® is. It’s not kayaking. It’s not tourism. It’s engineered adrenaline, it’s emotional design, it’s tapping into the primal—and doing it safely, with science behind it. That’s why we light the boats from the inside, not just underneath. That’s why we engineered paddles to carry light instead of just reflect it. People don’t just see it—they remember it in their bones.

Now scale that out. Think floating cinema. Think interactive storytelling on water. Think mobile launch units showing up like a rock concert. That’s what I’d build with immortality. A legacy of immersive experiences so undeniable that when people talk about “living,” they’re secretly trying to describe something we built.

Because if you’re going to live forever, you better damn well spend that time making sure nobody forgets you.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photo Credits Go to GlowRow®

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Highlighter Series
What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?

Coffee? Workouts? Hitting the snooze button 14 times? Everyone has their morning ritual and we

Highlighter Series
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?

Our deepest wounds often shape us as much as our greatest joys. The pain we

Highlighter Series
Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?

Culture, economic circumstances, family traditions, local customs and more can often influence us more than