LIMELIGHT INTERVIEW with Melinda Massaro Ingersoll

I often wonder if working in International Education is more of a vocation and a calling than a career choice based on earning capacity and job security. I sometimes see myself as an inventor, devoting myself to developing new programs, a counsellor, speaking to students around the world on how I can help them achieve their dreams, and an advocate for social justice in trying to bring equality to global education and create opportunities for all.

I recently started working with someone who embodies this notion that International Education is a vocation and someone who probably knew she wanted to work in this field when she was a child, and despite being laid off from her job as Director of Global Programs at La Salle University during Covid, knows she will return to this field and work again with students in International Education.

My conversations with Melinda Massaro Ingersoll have been inspiring and motivational and a reminder of why I work in this field also.

I started working with Melinda as part of a project with the Global Leadership League and very soon it was evident we had a lot in common and saw the world through the same lens. Notwithstanding the fact, we had both lived in and loved Manchester and China, we had a lot to talk about.

Sometimes a career choses you and I think this was the case with Melinda.

She tells me that as a child, she was encouraged to be interested in learning about different cultures.

She was always exposed to diversity, supported by her parents who were excited for her to have many friends from different nationalities, learn about different cultures, love their food, and learn their language from a young age.

When her teen friends were hanging up posters of pop bands in their lockers at high school, she hung up a picture by a National Geographic of an Indian woman during the Holi festival and remembering this being the most beautiful thing she had seen. She wrote to the National Geographic for career advice as she wanted to be a photographer, travel the world, learn about cultures, meet people and celebrate their differences.

And the National Geographic wrote back to her advising her to focus on a college degree incorporating photography but not exclusively, and from that advice she studied a degree in journalism and sociology. She still has that letter from National Geographic by the way!

You could say that Melinda’s career in International Education was born as an Undergrad student in college. Like many of us I think, she didn’t know this was a field or an industry but when she started working with exchange and international students as an RA with the International Office at SUNY Buffalo, a new world was opened up to her, and she has lived in and loved that world since!  

During Grad school she became director of the International Building and with this exposure to international students, she thought she would also like the opportunity to study abroad.  

Coming from a family of 8 and with little study abroad opportunities available to her at the time, Melinda had to create her own pathway and found an internship at Manchester Metropolitan University. She paved the way to her first international experience, by securing a job  at the international student accommodation office in Manchester.

This was the start of a long career engaging with students, doing assessment surveys and helping them to solve problems and find solutions to improve their international experiences.

Returning to  Grad School back in the US, she started working as a TA for her Chinese sociology professor and when he asked her if she wanted to join the Chinese Studies program and have the opportunity to visit China as part of the program, she jumped on it.

And thus began her love affair with China, an experience that would lead her to bring her own students back to China four years later as part of her own study program bringing US and Chinese students together. She reminisces on her time in China, that was not without its challenges. Her stay as a teacher in Dalian Medical University was during the SARS epidemic and marred by ill health during her stay, followed by advice by her father, who then worked with the WHO, she had to leave China and come home early which disappointed her deeply. But she would return four years later...

Her time in China was also when the US invaded Iraq leading to the Iraqi War which China was against and she saw the impact of geopolitics first hand on a country’s brand, the danger of stereotypes and how the actions of our governments can damage personal relationships. She saw the need for on the ground collaboration between students from the US and China to build a better understanding of each other’s cultures and the impact that forming relationships can have on better cultural understanding.

After coming home from China, she started applying for jobs with International Offices at universities and got a job with Skidmore College at Residential Life. But it was a move to Philadelphia where she started working with La Salle University that would lead to her dream job. She started doing programming and working in an activities centre and slowly started building her connections with the International Office collaborating on different activities and programs and she knew this is where she wanted to be. She had been continually applying for jobs at International Offices but when a colleague at La Salle was leaving his job in the International Office and encouraged her to apply, she took the opportunity.

She didn’t have the international experience but after successfully getting the job, her new boss told her afterwards that you can always teach someone the skills but you can’t teach them the personality.  She was she was told the perfect fit!

What impresses me most from my conversation with Melinda is how she has continuously returned to her ethics and ethos and what led her to international education since putting up that photo of the Indian lady during Holi in high school.

Whilst working as an international education coordinator in her new role at LaSalle, she also started teaching a Chinese history courses and brought students back to her beloved China each year. She closed the circle on the Dalian experience by returning four years later and met many of the colleagues and friends she had to say good bye abruptly to during SARS.

She loved bringing students to China and showing them the China beyond what they knew from mainstream media, beyond Beijing and Shanghai, travelling south, meeting minorities, getting off the tourist trail and was always very excited for her US students when they saw a different China and understood the diversity, cultures, history and anthropology of that country.

She did the same for her students by bringing them to India, pulling back the curtain from the usual tourist spots and studying and meeting people discussing social stratification, the caste system, arranged marriages and helping students correlate this back to US, for example with the issue of racism.  

She tells me she felt very honoured to be able to bring students on this journey, to see them face the challenges of culture shock, studying ethnic minorities, social injustice issues, human trafficking in Nepal, social stratification but importantly that correlation back to US society and the US system.

Her goal through it all was working with history, travel and social justice issues – through this she wanted students to get an understanding of where US culture lies and the challenges in the US. Being able to show that the US was not perfect either in terms of challenges, in terms of poverty and social injustice.

I am made very aware of how Melinda’s programs were probably ahead of their time when we see the social justice uprisings in the US recently.

She has seen the impact of these study programs. Students on their return from China and India formed lasting relationships, looked beyond poverty and cultural challenges to create lasting connections. Students felt more empowered to understand connections better, they reached out to the Chinese and Indian community in Philadelphia when they came back, promoting cultural understanding and a more inclusive community…

And surely this is at the very core of all of our work as Global Educators...

For her, the ethos of international education is to give students that nudge and bravery to step out of their comfort zone. She has seen her role as a guide for students, to be able to encourage them, to give them the opportunity, to square the circle for them, to provide them with such unique experiences, as they gain so much out from these experiences.

So now, having been laid off from her job, her work which was her true passion, I ask her how Covid-19 has impacted her life and does she see a return to her career in international education someday?

She is currently volunteering with several organisations as she still wants to be part of global education, she wants to return to this career, does not want to feel disconnected and therefore is doing her best to return to the work she loves.

She sees the role of communities such as the Global Leadership League as being very important now that people in our industry are being laid off, furloughed, or are under pressure financially, or have been through difficult times, trying to homeschool children, care for relatives and are under significant pressure in their personal and work lives.

With Covid-19 and the impact it has had on international education, she and so many of our community have lost all the passion and excitement, that came with their jobs. There is a loss now where there was so much passion before.

We ask ourselves, had we put too much commercial value into International Education and is that why we have lost so much so quickly? Was there so much tied up in international education commercially that it was the first to go at so many institutions.

Melinda sees international education as a service to students and there were huge personal losses as a result of layoffs. Students, both incoming and outgoing were cut off from opportunities, personal connections were lost, and so many stories were behind these job losses

People such as Melinda have made such an impact to Global Education, their connections run deeper than the job and the university  … and this is why she knows she will return to this field

What advice does she give to fellow colleagues and readers that have lost their jobs, are being furloughed and are experiencing stress and challenges due to Covid 19?

If you can wait this out, for people lucky enough to find another job, do other things on the side, and when we are able to, she knows there will be a chance to return to this work. It is very important to stay connected, volunteering with organisations such as NAFSA, Forum on Education Abroad and the League. It is important to stay connected, feel connected and stick it out.

She is currently completing her MBA, has been caring for her family and has been busy with side projects. Some days it is difficult to overcome with uncertainty when so much stability is gone from her life and so many of our readers will relate to this.

We are all in this at some level and we have all been affected at some level and she believes it is good to remind ourselves of this and that we are not alone. It is comforting but also very difficult when so many of our colleagues are going through tough financial times.

So many are struggling.

She sees the positives of being able to spend so much extra time with her daughter. She also realises she is now out of her comfort zone, something she so often told her students they needed to do. Her father often told her, the best path in life to go down is the least unknown path.

She is now on that path so is taking her own and her father’s advice.

She says to stay positive, stay connected and use this time to be ready for when we have the chance to come together again and do that work we love as global educators

I have been inspired by my conversation with Melinda. I would encourage every reader that has been affected by Covid 19 to reach out and connect with people in similar situations. There are huge challenges but it is important to feel connected, you are not alone.

- Interview by Global Leadership League member and volunteer, Noreen Lucy

The mission of the Global Leadership League is to ignite change across the global education field by empowering, connecting, and training leaders. We invite you to reach out to us here or learn more about becoming a member.

What was your dream job as a kid and why? If it changed, what led to that decision?

When I was a kid, I never gave too much though to what I wanted to be when I grew up. I recall always feeling inclined to discover the world since a very young age. When I was eight years old, I remember saving for the longest time to buy myself a globe. I had never even been on an airplane and only knew a handful of people that had, but I loved to fantasize about all the different places I would go when I was older.

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INTERVIEW WITH AN EXPERT

What is your current title and where do you work?

I’m currently the Senior Manager, University Relations & Campus Outreach at Boston University Study Abroad where I’m responsible for marketing and recruitment activities on-campus and with non-BU partners, and manage the Study Abroad Ambassador program. I am also a co-chair of the Boston Area Study Abroad Association (BASAA).

What was your dream job as a kid and why? If it changed, what led to that decision?

As an adolescent I was enchanted by the idea of becoming a hairstylist. I loved the idea of helping people and making them feel more confident. When I discovered I was no good at styling my own hair, let alone others’ hair, I decided to let that dream go. Luckily, I still get to help folks by working in education abroad.

What was your first international experience? How did it influence your current career choice.

I lived vicariously through my mother's work travels. The gifts she brought home were fascinating; a huipil from Oaxaca, a bowl from Ghana and candies from all over the world. I remember a puzzle from Thailand that enthralled me with an alphabet I’d never seen before. It was no surprise that I caught the travel bug. My study abroad experiences ultimately led to my career in international education.

What was your first job in international education? Did you have a hard time obtaining this job? 

My first job in international education was at Spanish Studies Abroad as a Program Assistant. I started at the organization as an unpaid marketing intern while doing my Masters in International Education at SIT Graduate Institute, and it just goes to show that networking is everything!

Describe a typical day/week at the office at your current job.

No day or week is the same. I’m constantly interacting with students on campus, department administrators, and partner institutions. Between planning events, social media marketing, managing the Study Abroad Ambassador program, and working on strategic outreach, the role is dynamic and always keeps me on my toes.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

I love that I get to see students in the best phases of the study abroad experience: before they have decided to study abroad and when they have returned, either as a Study Abroad Ambassador or an excited returnee. It’s so exciting to see how much they’ve grown and changed when they come back.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

The most challenging aspect of my role is realizing you can only do so much. The Marketing & Outreach team at BU Study Abroad has so many ideas, but we are a team of three. The scope and budget sometimes get in the way of achieving everything we want to.

What has working in international education taught you about yourself and your own culture?

I’ve learned that having an open mind and a willingness to learn can lead to immense growth. I’ve had the opportunity to work with different people from all across the globe, and am grateful for those experiences and how they’ve shaped my life, both personally and professionally.

Is there a value or principal from another culture that you have embraced & applied to your life?

While on a short-term program to Turkey, I felt incredibly welcomed by the locals. Whether it was our host families or vendors at the local bazaar, everyone genuinely wanted to welcome us into their lives and culture. I’ve tried to apply that in my own life by being more welcoming and inclusive to others.

Do you have a career mentor? How has that person influenced your career growth?

I’ve been lucky to have had several supervisors and mentors who have helped, in both small and large ways. As a co-chair for the Boston Area Study Abroad Association, I’ve also had a sounding board of peers who are supportive and a great resource to workshop ideas and hear about others’ career trajectories. 

What piece of advice would you give your younger self, as it relates to your career?

Take every opportunity to learn! Although my career path has been mostly linear, it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows. I took unpaid internships, low paying jobs and volunteer leadership roles because I knew they were a great way to network and learn. Each professional experience has had a positive impact on where I am today.

I’m working on my sixth year of what I call ‘Positivity in a Jar’. Each day I take a post-it note, write the date, and jot down something positive that happened that day. I fold it up and put it in a jar, and on New Year’s Eve, I open all the notes of positivity and am reminded of how lucky I am. It’s a nice way to remain positive when the day-to-day is sometimes stressful and overwhelming.

INTERVIEW WITH AN EXPERT

What is your current title, and where do you work?Director of the Center for Global Education at Chapman University

What was your dream job as a kid, and why? If it changed, what led to that decision?
I wanted to become an Artistic Roller Skating Coach. I was involved with competitive artistic roller skating for 18 years and saw how physically challenging and financially unstable; it is for a coach…and no benefits. So, that dream was short-lived.

Tell us about your first international experience and how that influenced your current career choice.
Oh, wow. Flashback! It was a trip I took in my late teens to France with my mother and sister - a week of skiing at Alpes d’huez and a week touring Paris and Bordeaux. We were complete rookies at international travel…and learned a lot from that trip. We took a plane, train, bus and cab to get to our room on the mountain, in several feet of snow. Mom traveled with two sets of skis and I had two bags. Such newbies! Also, I thought my French was much better than it really was at the time. I quickly learned when we had to call the rental car company and they spoke no English. Despite our ineptitude and rookie mistakes, I loved this trip and started planning more international travel. I just needed to be better prepared.

What was your first job in international education? Did you have a hard time obtaining this job? How long did it take? How did you learn about it? (Ex. Job posting, networking, promotion)
My first job in international education was as the coordinator of internships at Chapman. I was hired as the domestic internship coordinator for the (then) Career Development Center and began developing the university’s first summer international internship after a program provider approached our business school. After we implemented this first program in 2003, international internships really took off and we started several more. In 2007, I moved to Center for Global Education at Chapman to manage international internships and exchange programs.

I was very targeted in my job search. I had enjoyed my college experience thoroughly and wanted to work in higher education. My husband and I were living in Oregon at the time and wanted to move back to California, so I began seeking out positions with all of the local universities via their employment websites. I interviewed at two universities and was hired by Chapman after nine months or so.

Describe a typical day/week at the office at your current job.
My day involves working on operational and human resources aspects of the reorganization: budgets, job descriptions, etc. There isn't as much student interaction as there is during the academic semesters. There is still plenty of prepping for the upcoming fall semester that is part of our daily lives: orientation, incoming exchange students, overhauling of marketing materials, just to name a few.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?
Strategic planning, fiscal management and staff development.

What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
Staffing levels -- how to work on the things we want to accomplish with the limited staffing we have. I'm hopeful that our reorganization will streamline processes and allow us to take on larger projects.

What has working in international education taught you about yourself and your own culture?
Empathy and self-awareness. Understanding perspectives and perceptions, non-verbals, space and time differences, has given me more patience with the unknown or "different." 

Is there a value or principle from another culture that you have embraced and applied to your own life?
The French work/life balance culture which emphasizes separating personal and work life responsibilities.

Do you have a career mentor or someone that you consult with about career growth? How has that person influenced your career growth?
I don't really have a mentor, presently. However, I have a friend who is a great resource and support person. I've gone to her for advice on many topics and she's been a wealth of information and understanding.

Describe a moment in your career that you consider your greatest achievement.
Making our center through QUIP midpoint reporting was huge for me and a great learning experience.

What’s one piece of advice that you would give your younger self in high school or college as it relates to your career?Be open to whatever might come along. You don’t have to have it all figured out when you when you apply to college. I was a non-traditional student and graduated with my BA at 33. Even if I could, I wouldn’t change my path as I was much wiser and clear on my direction at that age.

What type of hobbies or activities help you balance your work/life experience?
Vegetable gardening and cooking. I can never find enough time for these!

INTERVIEW WITH AN EXPERT

LEAH LIPKA
North American Language and Cultural Assistant, Spanish Ministry of Education

Questions

1. What is your current title and where do you work?

I am a North American Language and Cultural Assistant for the Spanish Ministry of Education. I teach in a public bilingual high school and instruct course in subjects ranging from English, Technology, Art, Social Studies and Physical Education. This position is through the Spanish government and here in Spain it is called an Auxiliar de Conversacion. This is an assistantship in conjunction with my Master’s Degree in International Education through the Universidad de Alcala-Instituto Franklin.

2. What was your dream job as a kid and why?           

Growing up when people asked me what I wanted to be, it would cause my a lot of stress and anxiety. For a long time, I didn’t know and I thought I had to impress people or make them comfortable by having a canned answer. All I knew for sure was that I  wanted to be happy, well traveled, do good for the world and go on big adventures. Now, I have found ways to do all these things and work at the same time.

3. Tell us about your first international experience and how that influenced your career choice.

When I was 2 my parents lived in Australia for a year, although I don’t remember it I grew up hearing stories and knew the world was accessible and the importance of international exchange. When I was 12, my parents moved again but this time to Israel for 5 months. I learned a little Hebrew swam on an Israeli swim team and immersed myself in a new culture.. This was my first real taste of life abroad and kicked off a serious case wanderlust.

4. What was your first job in international education?

I became an ESL teacher in Daegu South Korea as a way to combine my love of working with children and interacting with new cultures. It was an excellent way to work, travel and meet people from all over. The job was fairly simple to land I used Dave’s ESL Cafe (Eslcafe.com) and worked with a recruiter. The process of obtaining the visa, packing up my life, selling my car and gaining the courage to board the plane was not! The requirements are generally a Bachelor’s Degree in any subject  and often (but not always) a TEFL Certificate. No Korean language skills necessary although it certainly helps to be able to read, and easier thank you think to learn.

5. Describe a typical day/week at the office at your current job.

I start school at 9:15 am an generally work until 2 or 3. I have a bit of a commute on the train where I enjoy coffee and doing reading for my Master’s program. When I am teaching English, I take small groups out of the classroom for speaking activities, I prepare review activities, I try to use games and role play as often as possible. I have prepared presentation on Alaska , major holidays and life in the United States. I work with kids in Physical Education. I also tutor private lessons. Friday evenings I attend classes for Master’s.

6. What do you enjoy most about your job?

I love the chance to really get to know a culture. Working abroad  is a great way to really make local connections, sink deeper into the place you are, and not just learn about a place but experience its systems, daily life and nuance. I love getting a chance to speak about my culture with the kids help open their eyes to new parts of the world and ways of life different than their own. I have them do the same for me. I also love the coffee the food and the warm, relaxed Spanish culture.

7. What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

It can be frustrating to be working in a school system that you don’t really understand. As a language assistant I am learning where and how I fit in and managing different teacher's expectations of me. I am new to this country, dusting off my language skills and learning a lot for the first time. I can feel like an outsider or that I missed the memo on something. It is all a part of the learning experience.

8. What has working in international education taught you about yourself and your own culture?

Particularly in Spain, I will find myself in a rush for no reason. I get frustrated that things take so long, restaurant service can be slower than what we are used to the US. But then I remember how hard I worked to get here and that the point is to enjoy it.When I can remember that  I’m not really in a rush to get anywhere, I’II take a deep breathe and relax and enjoy the experience. I’m trying to match Spain’s pace and slow down and be in the moment.

9. Is there a value or principal from another culture that you have embraced and applied to your own life?

Korea is collective culture and whatever you have you share with the people around you.I remember some school children having a heated fight but still sharing their snacks with everyone around them. In Spain, I was extended an invitation to move in with someone during my first tutoring session with the family. People are mostly good and kind and a little trust can go a long way. I have tried to adopt this welcoming, open and empathetic attitude in my daily life.

10. Do you have a career mentor or someone that you consult with about career growth?

I met Marsha in a running club in South Korea. She ran workshops for expats preparing to return home. She helped us reflect on our experience,  process new skills, create a vision for what we wanted moving forward and an action plan for how to go for it. We have kept in touch, she often offers me little bits of wisdom. I am currently teaching in Spain and she is teaching in Budapest and we plan to meet up somewhere in Europe soon. 

11. Describe a moment in your career that you consider your greatest achievement.

In South Korea, I was given the task of teaching the book Number The Stars by Lois Lowry to a group of teenagers. They had never heard of the Holocaust. I felt pretty intimidated to take on such a large subject in a different language no less and I really had my work cut out for me. I was proud of the way I handled the topic, opening their eyes to past injustices and sparking thoughtful conversations about important social justice issues. 

12. What’s one piece of advice that you would give your younger self in high school or college as it relates to your career?

Relax. Take a deep breathe. Follow your dreams and the things that excite you and don’t give any worry to the judgement of others. Live your life in a way that makes you happy, not a way that is easy to explain. There is plenty of value in travel, adventure and widening your perspective.

13. What type of hobbies or activities help you balance your work/life experience?

I love to swim, do yoga, run in races, write and read. Maintaining my hobbies is so important to me. It gives me time to reflect and process and when I am abroad it is a great way for me immerse and also to stay connected to my identity from home. My biggest piece of advice for someone moving abroad is to join a club doing something you love in your new country, it is a great way to connect and break out of the expat bubble while exploring your unique interests.

Check out Leah's guest blog on Lessons Abroad to get her insight on teaching in Korea here.

INTERVIEW WITH AN EXPERT

WANAYRAN ANGERERCEO
Wanny Angerer in Moving Cultures

It is not every day I have the opportunity to speak with someone like Wanayran Angerer, world traveller, international woman’s rights advocate, singer and cultural promoter. I had been looking forward to finally speaking with the singer and artisan, affectionately known as Wanny for what seemed like an age. Her journey which started in Honduras has thus far led her to the USA, Austria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Colombia, India, Panama and Thailand and her involvement in various projects and life experience over the past thirty years would give us plenty to talk about.

Wanny is involved in a number of social development and advocacy projects including the use of music and arts as a means of developing self-esteem in children, women and the elderly.
She was born in Honduras, into a diverse community that traces its ethnicity from Spanish, Native Honduran, and African. It was in Honduras that Wanny would work as a hosting co-ordinator for AFS Honduras, while simultaneously launching her singing career. During this time she was a founder of the first organization to promote female arts in Honduras, called Women in Arts (Mujeres en las Artes), which is still alive and active after 20 years.

She is also a very active member of cultural and development programs and organizations in her home country and host countries of Zimbabwe, India, Colombia and Panama. These include AFS intercultural Programs, Women in Arts Honduras, Women in Culture in South Africa, SHARE (Showing How the Arts Rejuvenate and Enlighten project) in Zimbabwe, Fundacion Formemos, Fundacion niños de los Andes, Fundacion Hogar Nueva Granada (Colombia),“Sanando Cantando Boleros”, Make a Wish Panama and InterNations Panama

On to Kenya, where her initiatives are bundled under the heading of “Moving Cultures – Unity in Diversity” and there she is connected to a number of active projects and initiatives in the social and arts sector. She is also a supporter of the Magoso School in Kibera and gives music-therapy lessons at Faraja Cancer Support Trust for women who have survived cancer. In the NEST home she works with women who were victims of domestic violence, and the Kariobangi Women Promotional Training Institute is where she works with women to produce clothing. Her own design of Latin American ponchos in African fabrics is called“Ponchos Wanayran”.

Along with all of this, she regularly sings at concerts and events and is a renowned Jazz Singer  ….

Thus, you can imagine my predicament of not knowing where to start in my conversation with Wanny, and was relieved when she started our conversation for us, with a simple, “Noreen, let’s just talk”

Let’s talk.

Wanny very kindly agreed to speak with the Global Leadership League, for what I thought would be an interview about her life, her projects and her work with women in the countries she has lived in. What I did not expect is how much her current work resonates with every woman, not regionally specific, and what we as members of the League can all learn from her experiences and insights.

Talking is the starting point of Wanny’s work with women and in her groups, the first thing women learn is how to find their voices. Conversations must be honest and it starts very simply.

How does she achieve this?

Wanny uses body language, music and art to encourage this conversation. It is all towards the same goal of helping the women she works with to first gain confidence and find their individual power, then later on, finding how they can apply that power. Wanny explains it is not enough to learn confidence, we also need to learn how to use this confidence, to stand out of the ground.

It can start very simply with basic affirmations about ourselves. Start at the foundations she tells me.

Listen to your voice. It will sound different in every situation. Do we know our voice and how it connects with our bodies? Are we aware of the sounds our voice makes? Whatever is on your mind will come through your voice and also through your body language. Know your body. Listen to your voice.

Your mind might say one thing but your body will say another.

She tells me she will often start with a group of women by asking them to say to themselves, I AM.

By listening to their voices.

By loving themselves through saying I LOVE YOU, and after loving themselves, say, I AM POWERFUL. It is only after doing these things that we are empowered to love ourselves, to be powerful, to have the capacity to give and when we have the capacity to give, we can then receive. This is universal and something we have in common with women everywhere, be it in Kenya, India or Panama.

Wanny starts working with women very slowly. It might be they start to ground their feet, raise their arms and physically reach for things they cannot imagine and to remember those words of affirmation. To look at themselves in the mirror and start loving themselves.

Music and the Arts

Wanny’s style of work is through language, and also through music and the Arts. After all,  music, arts and entrepreneurship are universal languages. She provides a safe circle for women in her workshops to tell their stories through language and also through song and music. Women talk about their personal and work lives and do not separate them.

Why would we want to separate them? This makes perfect sense to me  but we are all guilty of not recognising these two are inseparable.

After listening to Wanny and how she works with women through her various singing, musical and entrepreneurship projects, I started asking myself what was so different to the women she worked with in Africa and other places, and that of League members reading this in the USA, Australia, Ireland, Peru, or anywhere else in the world?         

There is no difference.

We can all be victims of not using our true voices, or connecting with our inner selves. We may all have issues that need to be discussed and situations that we may not even know about. No matter what society we live in, women’s backgrounds can be similar, they have come from different families, core values, upbringing, but what it means to be a family and raise a child, gender issues, equality issues, etc is similar. What expectations has Social Media set for women in different societies for example? Women can face the same challenges set by themselves. Challenges to be perfect, to look perfect, to have the perfect public persona, to manage it all, to have it all, to lean in, to keep all the glass balls in the air. We can be bombarded by social media, and the message that we should be perfect, and yes, to manage and to have it all.

These issues are always present, but as Wanny points out, it is how we cope with these issues. These issues are not going anywhere so we need to learn how to cope. And this is also part of what Wanny teaches women through her various projects.

The Mentor and the Mentee:

Wanny and I spoke about the League and how we can support each other as women facing similar challenges. One way to bring women together is through mentoring and becoming a Role Model for other women. Wanny points out there must be trust between the mentor and the mentee and their relationship is two way. We must relate to each other. The mentor must firstly listen to themselves, and be able to cope themselves, then they can listen and support.

We need to look within, be honest with each other and be our authentic selves. Being fake and living a false image will only last for a certain period of time before the truth will shine through, Wanny believes, and it is easier to be consistent than live under a false image.

Again I thought how do we apply this to the League as members supporting each other? We are all guilty of portraying a perfect work-life balance when the situation is far from that. Where else can we support one another and be honest with each other, in a perfectly safe circle than in the League?

How did Wanny create and build so many projects and have such a wonderful insight into helping women, empowering them and giving them the confidence and teaching them how to use this confidence to build their lives, businesses and mentor other women?

It all evolved throughout the journey of her life and her family roots in Honduras.

Wanny comes from a family of educators which created an environment of sharing. Music, ballet, the Arts, were always present in her childhood, but her parents instilled in her and her siblings the importance of always sharing their knowledge. If their neighbours didn’t have these opportunities, they were told to pass on and teach whatever they had learned with them. As a child she didn’t realise she had opportunities other people didn’t have but as she grew older she understood this, and realised what an asset they had, and the importance of sharing this asset.

Wanny and her siblings were educated in the shape of a triangle:

Education

Community Service

Spirituality

And at the centre of this was always Art.

Her grandparents and parents taught her family the value of education, community service, spirituality and art and now she teaches her own children these values. Again I am reminded of our community of women in the League and how we can help each other.

I am curious about what she advises people who are not “into” music and the arts? Are these people doomed?!

She explains to me it’s not about the music or arts. It so happens these are her media of communication … essentially it is about the method of communication. It doesn’t matter how you do it, the important piece is that you need to find your voice. And learn how to listen to that voice, and be able to tell the authentic from the false voice.

Intrigued I ask her what she thinks of the imposter syndrome and faking it until you make it?

When you are confident, you don’t need to fake it, you can still be yourself, be creative, accept that it might take a long process but being true to yourself on the journey will be worth it.

But what about the expectations to be perfect and overachieve and overdeliver and manage it all?

She talks about many of these expectations as being set by ourselves. We should consider not looking at everyone else and trying to change their expectations of us. Know your limitations, everyone has limitations, and know your expertise. Once you know this, then this is when you start to mature and become more available to yourself and to other people

Times have changed, she tells me. She works with intergenerational groups, a lot of adult women in their 50’s 60’s and 70’s who lived in a different world than women in their 20’s for example. She tells me the value of these intergenerational groups for young women to see how different it was for older women at a time when gender issues were very different. Exchange of knowledge and bringing women from different cultures and nationalities and ages promotes learning and support.

Again, I am reminded of the power of the League for women from different backgrounds and how we can learn from each other through honest conversations.

Wanny has a lot of advice based on her unique life story and her propensity to share with her community.

Listening to her explain why she had moved country every five years to follow her husband’s work, made me think that not everyone would have done so much for the community they were living in. She has taken advantage of everything that has been put in front of her, be it in Thailand, India or Africa. She did so because she believes there is a bigger purpose. She doesn’t take things for granted. She seems to have put herself together in the way she asks women in her groups to do so and has very strong foundations herself.

Again I am reminded of the opportunities, we, as women working in International Education have to support other women and students that do not have the opportunities we do. Some of us are in influential positions, parts of large organisations, or have grass roots levels in many countries, and I ask myself, how can we learn from Wanny’s experience and utilise our connections to empower more women and girls?  

I have written just a fraction of what Wanny and I discussed and there is so much more she has to say. Wanny will be guest speaker at the Forum on Education Abroad in Colorado next March. I urge anyone thinking of attending, to go, if not just to meet this amazing woman and hear her speak … and sing if you are lucky enough!

Do you play basketball at lunchtime?

From the UK to the UAE and a few places in between, Linda Angell spoke to me about how adapting to change, opening to opportunities and accepting support from family and community, led her on a wonderful life adventure and to her current role as the first Director of International Exchange Programs at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

Linda’s academic beginnings started with a love of sociology. A self-support student, she funded college by working part time and graduated with a Bachelor in Sociology, minoring in Women’s Studies. Next step was finding a career to pay back college loans and this led her to applying for an MBA. Having worked since she was 14, she had the work experience required to enrol on an MBA program, and it was this move that led her to her first international experience. As part of her new studies, she completed an internship in London on Baker Street with Horwath and Horwath, a fascinating company that offered consultancy on infrastructural and tourism projects.

Going to an English speaking country was not supposed to be the culture shock that is was! It was here that Linda discovered what a “brolly” and “lorry” were, along with swapping pounds for stones and relearning to use a washing machines and television. Speaking to Linda, it was clear that an early love for international travel started here and following a few months backpacking around Europe, and the seed was planted for living another life outside of the US. Linda’s experience in the UK reminds me of how a semester abroad can really change a young person’s direction in life.  Coming from a family that had never travelled much before, that internship gave Linda an opportunity and an insight that we as international education administrators can also give students.

After completing the MBA, she spent several years in Research and Development and also received her real estate brokers licence… just as the market crashed.

Readers, we should be grateful we didn’t lose her to Real Estate; that crash was International Education’s gain in the long term.

Linda’s story resonates with how being flexible to change and being willing to take the risk and make sacrifices can ultimately lead you to where you want to be. It was during her time working with ’rocket scientists from MIT’  in her R & D role that she decided to go back to academia and obtain her doctoral degree. After a long process selecting her subject area, she was offered entry into the Operations Management doctoral program at Boston University… under a full scholarship covering the first two years. After that funding ran out, Linda was again faced with the challenge of securing additional funds and it was this “opportunity” that led her to Germany via the Fulbright Scholarship programme.

Being open to change but also seeing opportunities in challenging times, Linda and her husband moved to Muenster where she studied new recycling legislation recently introduced in Germany, i.e. the German Packaging Ordinance. Remember the ‘Green Dot’ recycling logo that appeared on all European packaging in the 1990’s?  That was Linda focus, specifically the impact this all had on the development of green manufacturing practices.

Not only was she completing her PhD research in Germany, Linda and her husband also became parents with the birth of their first daughter during their time there. Their German housemates played a critical role as ‘family’ and support network during that period, allowing Linda to continue her research activities.

After a two-year stint in Germany, it was back to Boston for Linda, where she began writing up her dissertation research results. Her husband had just taken a one-year contract to work in the IT industry when Linda was offered her first academic role at Penn State University, an eight hour drive away.  During the next six months, Linda’s mother was instrumental in providing child care support as Linda juggled motherhood, writing up her research to complete her PhD, coming to grips with her first teaching job, and buying a house.

Whilst finishing her dissertation and interviewing across the US for a permanent faculty role, Linda became pregnant again.   After defending her dissertation proposal while six months pregnant with her first child, she ended up defending her final thesis when her younger daughter was just six months old.  Linda described those years as the crazy years.

The next step in her career progression was completely unexpected.   A conversation, a chance meeting, at an academic conference in Barcelona led Linda on to her next adventure. A colleague that was teaching in New Zealand invited her to apply for a position that had opened up. She did not apply for that position but promised herself that if another position opened up she would be ready to take the leap. And when another opportunity did open up a couple of years later, she was ready to commit herself and she and her family packed up their US lives and moved to New Zealand where she took up a faculty position with Victoria University of Wellington

After a couple of years at Vic, Linda became restless again, and felt the need for an opportunity to ‘practice what she preached’.  She had the opportunity to leave academia to implement a business excellence program at a quasi-governmental R&D organization, and eventually ended up at the Ministry of Social Development, having come full-circle back to her passion for Sociology.  She spent several years there, working for both the welfare arm of the Ministry, and as a manager within the Center for Social Research and Evaluation..

At about the time that her daughters were about to start secondary school, it was time for the next adventure.  Again, her next international move came about after meeting a friend and academic colleague at a party, discussing career opportunities available at American University of Sharjah (AUS) in the United Arab Emirates. Although Linda and her family had never even considered the Middle East as a possibility, they had learned that a willingness to take chances often leads to exciting opportunities for personal and professional development.

The importance of remaining flexible and open to change, and to always being open to options, seems to resonate throughout Linda’s career. Her family moved lock, stock, and barrel once again, relocating half way around the world from New Zealand to UAE.  The family moved into a villa on the AUS campus, her daughters began attending a British High School, and Linda began her new role back in academia, on the faculty within the School of Business Administration  

With 250 families living on campus, all expatriates, the tight-knit AUS campus community really take care of each other. Linda was once again reminded of the importance of support networks when this campus community served as a lifeline for herself and her family throughout a serious year-long illness in 2010, the same year that she took up her dream job as founding Director for the International Exchange Office at AUS.  Through this period, Linda learned to open herself fully to the nourishing healing powers inherent in this outpouring of community support. 

The theme of support from family, friends and community is a common thread throughout Linda’s story and reminds us that there is a support network around us, even if this network comes to us in non-traditional ways. Linda’s husband has been constant in his support throughout their 30-year marriage, and they have worked together as a team from Germany, to Boston, to Pennsylvania, to New Zealand and now the UAE. Her mother ensured that Linda could achieve her goal of teaching at Penn State, and her community in the UAE supported her throughout her illness and became like family shortly after moving to a new, foreign country.

We work in a very rewarding and privileged field. Our work in international education can contribute to peace and understanding by bringing students from different cultures together in a setting they would never otherwise experience. We help people experience study abroad or internships abroad, we open up the world to so many students. We have the opportunity to experience other cultures, to see ourselves and our own cultures through other lenses. We can travel, we can explore, but we can also be part of a community   Our work is challenging, yes, but by supporting each other, we can overcome those challenges.

Linda described another important network that developed during her time at Victoria University.  After reading an article about the powerful impact that female social interaction has on improving well-being by increasing oxytocin hormone levels in women, she and her female colleagues set up a ‘Voxies’ Club (i.e. V for Victoria University; Oxies for Oxytocin), and regularly met-up outside work and family to share ideas and provide additional support.

The ‘Voxies’ tradition continued upon her arrival at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE, and remains active to this day.

I can imagine all the readers smiling at this!

Another interesting story Linda told me highlights the importance of ‘Voxies’ support networks.  During her time at Penn State, one of her male colleagues – one of the 27 males in her department of 30 - asked her how she could possibly know what was going on around the office when she didn’t join the guys to play basketball at lunch. He went on to explain that this was where he learned about everything that was going on with his colleagues and the university more generally. A very telling comment,  revealing how women can so easily be excluded from networks that promote new ideas and opportunities.  The exclusion is not necessarily intentional, nor is it part of a conspiracy. Her male colleagues simply had developed a very effective, but exclusive, networking group by way of their daily basketball games  Linda was not privy to the information that came out of those informal meet-ups because she was too busy and wrapped up in just trying to stay on top of everything as a young mother and new teacher.

Likely all of us have experience with these ‘basketball at lunch’ clubs that we cannot be part of. We are not partaking in these informal gatherings as we try to stay on top of everything and keep all those glass balls in the air. But what kind of important conversations are we missing out on?  Can we replace the basketball at lunch with the Voxies?

After speaking to Linda, the main lesson that I have learned is that we can always find and connect with a support network. Networks may not always be husbands and mothers, families or communities – in fact, you may find the support you need right here in the League. Find the women you think can help you and that are having these conversations. And let’s not forget to share the insights we gain from those conversations.

Linda’s story is a wonderful adventure with unexpected plot twists, made possible by a willingness to accept and embrace challenges and change, by being open to opportunities and by welcoming support.