Welcome to The September Edition!
I quit my job, packed in two carry-on bags, and solo traveled to 22 countries in one year, volunteering as a management consultant with Nonprofits and Non Governmental Organizations in SE Asia and Africa.
I always thought I would go into humanitarian or mission-driven work. Instead, I had a professional career for 16 years, leading global teams and by all measures being quite successful. In June of 2018, I was very busy and on my way to an important meeting, dressed in a smart suite with my high heels clicking down the marble hallway of our headquarters office, when I stopped and thought, “Why?”
Why am I doing what I’m doing? The ‘why’ became a Y – where you have a choice to take one path or another. I decided then it was time to change, although I took me a few days to realize that was what I had done.
In two weeks, I had quit my job. Two months later, I had packed up my house and got on an airplane. That began my year long adventure full of incredible people, inspiring missions, heartbreaking situations, hopeful solutions, and lots of long bus rides, wild chickens, cockroaches, miracles, and laughter along the way.
What kind of a person does that? I’m a 5th-generation Seattle girl, who obviously loves coffee, is addicted to books, and has a very broken internal danger meter. It makes for some great stories.