About

Photo Credit: Stephanie Rapp - Climate March 2014, NYC

My motivation for traveling and seeing the world came from my Aunty Patty who would send us post cards growing up from all over the world. As I grew and learned more about overall inequality between countries, gender disparities, the cycle of poverty, and the undeniable effects of colonialism, I was determined to do something about it. Driven by social justice, gender equality, and youth development, I have been in and out of Sub-Saharan Africa and higher education for the last 10 years.

I obtained my BA from Humboldt State University in International Studies with an emphasis in Globalization and a minor in French and Francophone Studies in 2012. During this time I was able to create an self-designed independent study abroad program which brought me through nine countries in East and West Africa in ten months.

After graduation, I went back to Cameroon and worked for a few grassroots NGOs. During my 18-month stay, I facilitated workshops for teen mothers, developed and improved non-formal education curriculum, wrote grants, collaborated with strategic partners, managed volunteers, and taught a multi-media advocacy and leadership course at two primary schools. I've created a list of education resources, including language learning and finding a job, take a look!

Photo Credit: William Clifton
Citadel in Amman, Jordan

Upon returning to the states in 2014, I began my M.A. in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management at SIT Graduate Institute with a specialization in Monitoring and Evaluation. In May 2015 I completed my first year of classes on campus and was awarded the David L. Boren Fellowship to complete the second phase of my masters, the "reflective practice".

Through the Boren Fellowship, I lived in Dakar studying French and Wolof and worked with a local NGO that focuses on community empowerment through nonformal education. For my thesis, I researched the "Motive and Methods of Social Mobilization in Rural Senegal" which was completed in August 2016. For now, I'm based in Baltimore, Maryland working with research teams in Francophone Africa with PMA2020 at the Gates Institute in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

If you want to connect with me, leave a comment, find me on Linkedin, Facebook, and/or Instagram.

This blog serves many purposes: a place for my friends and family to check in on me, a way to reflect on and process my experiences, a memoir to look back on, and a reference for people who plan to travel/work where I've been. Enjoy.

“Traveling - it leaves you speechless,
then turns you into a storyteller." - Ibn Buttuta

“We write to taste life twice, 

in the moment and in retrospect.” 

 - Anaïs Nin