Finding a Way to Travel

“I’ll find a way, or I’ll make one”: the Clark Atlanta University motto that was engraved into my heart - and head - some 16 years ago as I began my freshman year at the nation’s first Black university in the south. It’s a constant reminder of the principles that remain at the core of why HBCUs were started, or as Tyler Perry put it, creating our own tables. It challenges one to be resilient, innovative and strategic in what we do, and purposeful in why we move.

I’d always wanted to study abroad but my parents were not having it. In 2000, I graduated high school at 16 and left New Jersey with the quickness to start my college career in Atlanta. I was always younger than everyone and even though my academic performance was pretty strong, young people of color living abroad was not yet as common a theme as it is now. I settled for Spring Break in Jamaica my Junior year as my first venture abroad, but the fire and desire never quite settled.

After graduating college and working on Wall Street, I took a new job because it guaranteed travel (oh, to be young). I worked as a consultant for a Big 4 accounting firm and struck gold when learning my first business trip would be to the Bahamas. I knew it was going to work out when my manager recommended I sign up for every hotel and airline rewards group as one of my first assignments. It is likely no surprise that I stayed with this company for a few years and traveled regularly, at one point scaling to 80% of the time. Constant travels including a summer in Baltimore, a few weeks in NY, and a couple months in Orlando all contributed to me being a platinum Delta SkyMiles flyer and Gold Marriott member, enjoying first class flights and hotel room upgrades on nearly every trip before Instagram stunting was even a thing.

But that STILL wasn’t enough. I wanted, no NEEDED to cross international borders. I left and went to work for a video game company in NYC, and although I got to do voice over work on Grand Theft Auto, my travels were only to our warehouses and distribution centers in the mid-west. NAH.

After five years of traveling on my own dime (tuh!), I was ready for someone’s company to send me abroad. I moved to a tech company in NJ and about 18 months in landed a role on a team that built, staffed and managed international work centers. Slam dunk! My new company sent me everywhere: Spain, Italy, Dubai, Philippines, India, Japan, Amsterdam, Belgium, Netherlands, South Africa and Canada.

But the most exciting trips were to Malawi for service work and living and working in Romania as an expat. These two trips came about because I found opportunities to enhance the business and created a bold a$$ proposal that positioned me as the person to get it done. In true alma mater fashion, I found a problem and made a way to solve it *cue Clark Atlanta’s Mighty Marching Panthers playing swag surfin’*

And having the opportunity to get my passport tatted up and live and work abroad enabled me to build a global network of professionals and friends. I’m certain it’s the reason why my podcast, Urban Girl Corporate World, reached an audience of listeners across 5 continents in less than 30 days. And in addition to sharing the secrets to success, we talk travel! My guests include HBCU alum (Morehouse, Clark Atlanta, Bethune Cookman, Temple and Talladega), corporate executives (ADP, IBM, Amazon), a White House Senior Advisor, social entrepreneurs and international creatives (Ghana, Dubai).

I couldn’t think of a better way to inspire fellow professionals of color to create impact as they find ways to make their own lanes, both domestically and abroad.