Migratory Patterns

Shannon Martin thinks a lot about life stages- of podcasts and of people. Currently the Director of Communications at Podbean, the hosting platform for all of Migration Media's shows, she has a bird's eye view of the rapidly-changing world of on-demand audio and often helps shows just starting out to grow and endure. She also works with Aging Wisely, a company that works with families to help plan for the later stages of life. Given that experience + her many years living overseas, She knows better than anyone that while the #ExpatLife is full of fun and adventure, it's never too early to start thinking about how they'll spend their later years. Her work has been mostly focused on families in the US, but many of them face situations - like children who live far away from their parents - that are analogous to expats. What is it like to help plan for the care of an older parent when you live thousands of miles away? And what kind of obstacles do expats face when thinking about where they'll settle down in their later years?

Chaniece started her journey towards life overseas when she was deciding which foreign language to take in college. As it turned out, the professor with the highest satisfaction ratings from students taught Chinese, so that's what she chose. After scoring consistently high grades in her classes, she decided to make it her major and her fate was sealed: You really can't succeed in a Chinese program without spending time in China. Far from the exoticism of the #ExpatLife that many imagine, Chaniece spent time in the trenches doing menial jobs before an opportunity arose to actualize one of her passions, veganism. Now she's the CEO of Plant-based Consulting, a company that works with local restaurants and the vegan community to expand plant-based options and to reduce the amount of animal products consumed in the city. Today, after 5 years overseas, and after having learned so much about herself and developing so many new skills, can she see herself ever returning back "home?"

This week I've got a bonus mini-pod for you! Both before and after my interviews with Olivia Muszynski & Alaina Miller - the Ricci Scholars featured in my previous two episodes - we had fun, engaging conversations about a lot of topics that I couldn't fit into their podcasts, which is a pity because they're both brilliant, driven people who are endlessly fascinating. Luckily, I was able to get my microphone out for one of those chats and record it. Enjoy!

While the small town in Michigan where she grew up is the place that she goes back to whenever she "needs a safe haven," Alaina Miller doesn't think of it as "Home" anymore. Not since she set off for school in Chicago- and especially not since she spent the last year studying abroad as part of the Ricci Scholars program at Loyola College. What's driven her constant shifts to bigger, newer locales has been the vast diversity and different ways of thinking that she's encountered at every step of her journey. She went off to college knowing that she wanted to travel internationally and saw the Ricci Scholars' program's destinations of Rome and Beijing as a natural evolution, with each stop being a jumping off point to something ever-more foreign. Her project to study migrant housing has opened her eyes to a world of possibilities, and it's been incredibly fulfilling, but she realizes that she's starting to move outside of the experience of her traditional group of friends, and that she may find herself facing the same challenge that many who have spent time overseas face- discovering that they need to connect with different kinds of people than they did before they left.