American Pickers' Danielle Colby Gives Back To Communities During Time Off
For years, the faces of "American Pickers" have been Antique Archaeology shop owner Mike Wolfe and his co-host Frank Fritz, but perhaps the most important element to the show is shop manager Danielle Colby. While Wolfe goes out on picks, Colby stays behind to run the stores and manages their many clients. She was brought in to manage the stores for the show because Wolfe had been friends with her for many years. Besides being a manager and essential figure on the show, Colby is also a renowned Burlesque dancer, a roller derby player, and a philanthropist.
"American Pickers" began in Wolfe and Colby's home state of Iowa. Due to the show's success, Antique Archaeology expanded to have another store location in Nashville. While her roots are in Iowa, Colby bounced back between those two stores and Chicago, IL where she previously taught dance and briefly owned a retro clothing company. Now, Colby resides in Puerto Rico during her off time from managing and starring on "Pickers," and she has dedicated her life there to a very noble cause.
Colby is working to help rebuild the Puerto Rican island after it was ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017 and then again by Hurricane Fiona in 2022, causing an estimated $132 billion in damages. She is working to help repair orphanages and animal shelters all while also raising awareness on human-trafficking. Colby discussed moving to the US territory during an episode of The Sailor Jerry podcast (via The Outsider), explaining that, "We moved here – we came, like a lot of people, after [Hurricane] Maria ... We're confused gringos trying to figure out how to help."
Danielle found there was some adjusting to living life in Puerto Rico
"American Pickers" star Danielle Colby did not take her move to Puerto Rico lightly. She told The Sailor Jerry podcast that she had been coming to the island for years, spending time between there and the Dominican Republic. She said she always felt compelled to move to Puerto Rico, but thought there already were too many people moving there.
She said, "We wanted to make sure we had a good enough reason to uproot ourselves." Beyond the philanthropy, Colby said that it began to feel like home for her and her family. She continued, "We found our place. We found the people that we kind of just fit in with – the pieces of the community that love and appreciate us. And that we also love and appreciate."
She said the decision to move was one of the best she ever made. Despite that, she said life can be difficult sometimes, noting that a lot is going on in Puerto Rico at any given time. She mentioned the hot weather, the storms, and the social revolutions as some of the things the island is faced with. Colby said, "It's been the last five years really unlearning a lot things we had learned before. And really kind of understanding the history of this island in a very different way than when we moved here and we thought we knew."
In further philanthropic pursuits, one of the charities she dedicate a lot of her efforts to in the Dominican Republic is BateyGirls.org, a charity that sells jewelry to help females escaping human trafficking, exploitation, and domestic violence. Its fair to say that Colby is all around good person, dedicating her time to noble causes.