This Space, This Time...

    Working under the supervision of anyone offers the opportunity to experience growth in many ways.  The challenges and advantages of this type of work dynamic present themselves for the entirety of the relationship... at least this has been my experience. I took time to find myself, affirm my talents, and expand my norms through working and traveling in a series of countries during my 20s. So, when I started my first US-based "office job", I saw the work environment through the eyes of an anthropologist. It was wild. I felt affirmed in my young adult instincts to avoid this lifestyle for as long as possible. Nevertheless, as hoped for, I begin working back at my alma mater and it is this chapter of growth that I find myself reflecting on now- from my first  real  leadership position in the US.  My ability to observe my "boss" imagine and put effort into embodying a leadership persona was an opportune position for me as I prepared myself to uphold the sam...

      Image related to article By Kellee Edwards   My best friend shared this article in Travel + Leisure Magazine entitled Black Travel: The Movement and I loved reading every single word of it.  All kinds of thoughts came to mind and here are some of them... I am not a vacationer, but an adventurer, not a tourist, but a welcome guest. Not to be mistaken for a misguided wanderer, but a peaceful pioneer on an endless quest.  (My mantra) From the first time I left the United States of America (2000, Oaxaca, Mexico), studied abroad (Alicante, Spain, 2003), felt the privilege of long-term leisure travel (Vietnam, 2006), taught abroad (Tokushima, Japan, 2007), moved abroad with the intention of staying for-e-ver (Ghana, 2011), traveled with college students abroad (South Africa, 2014), and traveled abroad "for work" (Limerick, Ireland 2017), I understood- clearly- the limitless joy associated with Being Black Abroad. Let me be specific though, being a Black A...