Media trailblazer Tom Freston, the visionary who helped take MTV from a scrappy startup to a worldwide cultural force, is out with a sweeping new memoir, Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu. The book captures a life lived wildly off the corporate checklist—spanning hitchhiking voyages, entrepreneurial leaps in Asia, and boardroom battles at the helm of some of the world’s biggest entertainment brands.

In this riveting chronicle, Freston traces his decidedly unconventional rise to the C-suite. After earning an MBA, he drifted through bartending gigs in the United States and the Caribbean, nurturing a passion for culture and travel. A brief, predictable stint at an ad agency only clarified what he didn’t want. He walked away, choosing instead to wander through the Sahara Desert and across South Asia. Captivated by India and Afghanistan, he stayed for eight years, founding Hindu Kush, a clothing export business that shipped contemporary designs to the U.S. and beyond.

The book then pivots to the seismic chapter that reshaped global media. Freston joined the small founding team that launched MTV—at a time when “music television” was considered a gamble. He climbed fast, eventually leading not just MTV but the entire MTV Networks empire, which included Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1, and CMT. Later, as CEO of Viacom, he oversaw Paramount Pictures and helped build a content powerhouse that dominated popular culture during cable’s golden age.

What makes Unplugged more than a business memoir is Freston’s eye for risk-taking, cultural immersion, and human connection. The narrative blends behind-the-scenes media history with vivid snapshots of Afghanistan and India in the 1970s and ’80s, along with dispatches from his later work in Africa. Rather than portraying success as a straight career climb, Freston shows how curiosity, instinct, and detours can shape extraordinary outcomes.

About the author:
Tom Freston is a cofounder of MTV and the former CEO of Viacom. He led MTV Networks for 17 years, steering brands like Nickelodeon, VH1, Comedy Central, and others into global icons broadcast in more than 150 countries. Before his media career, he launched the Hindu Kush clothing export company in Afghanistan and India. Freston is currently Board Chair of The ONE Campaign, an anti-poverty advocacy group focused on Africa, and serves on the boards of Imagine Entertainment and the American Museum of Natural History, among other public roles.

With its mix of travel writing, corporate strategy, music history, and personal reinvention, Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu offers an insider’s look at how bold choices—and a little chaos—can create a life richer than any business plan.