There’s no clear, direct path from studying English and Creative Writing to what I get to do today. I was fortunate to have professors, peers, and literature around me that encouraged experiential learning and continually questioning the status quo. These two things led me to travel, explore and think about how the world can be someday.

That ticket to Laos was a leap of adventure. I had traveled through southeast Asia a couple of years prior and found myself thinking about Laos daily, wondering what was actually stopping me from going back.

Pencils of Promise was brand new when I started so it was an open-ended opportunity and adventure. I was attracted to the grit of the people involved at that point and was eager to be a part of something that was bigger than me. Then I met Lanoy and I was committed for life. Lanoy is a dynamic, vibrant, boss of a woman who gives her entire heart to the people in her country. I knew I had to be involved with anything she was going to do.

I’ve always had a very keen interest in education. My parents were both teachers in rural Oregon so I grew up spending weekends out at the school with my dad- a little three-room school where he was the 3rd, 4th, 5th grade teacher and principal. Later I tried my hand at teaching and while I felt capable of doing it, I didn’t find real joy in it. I found relief that the preschoolers made it through the day intact, and that is not what makes a teacher a teacher. 

My passion for education, however, didn’t fade at all. If anything, it increased with the desire to do anything I could to partner with those teachers who are real teachers—the ones who are committed day in and day out and find joy in their students’ learning. At the end of the day, I unabashedly believe if children across the world have access to quality education, the world will be an exponentially better place.

At Pencils of Promise we have four departments- Admin, Marketing, Development and Impact. In my role I oversee the Impact department and work daily with the team to determine our strategic growth and analyze our outcomes to ensure we are operating at the highest level of efficacy. My Lao name, Daak Fai (Cotton Flower) is what I was named by Lanoy’s sister on my first day in Laos. And now it is what all of my Lao friends and family call me, including my husband.

My days vary a lot and most of them are in New York. Every six weeks or so I travel  to Ghana, Guatemala or Laos in which case the days look very different, and are filled with amazing food and road trips to schools. I spend my time working with others on the Impact Team on our programs, our strategy and the way we measure our work.

The experience of working in Laos was life changing. There is no such thing as separation between professional and personal lives there, meaning that every person you work with deeply and authentically becomes a member of your family. Everyone speaks openly about struggles and triumphs at home and everyone pitches in to help one another out. Weekends are spent with colleagues visiting new babies or going to weddings or playing bocce ball.

The transition back was tough! We went from living in a small jungle town to New York City. I don’t know of any two places that have less in common than they do. Aside from my husband, who made the move with me, the job at Pencils of Promise was my constant variable. There were people in the New York office that I had worked with remotely for three years already, and a big part of my duties required interaction with my team members in Laos, so that really allowed for the transition to feel more natural.

I do this work because I believe that education equals opportunity; that out of education, there is choice.

The challenges in the beginning often felt insurmountable. There was a lot of stuff happening under the surface with local government priorities, cultural norms, etc.  The hardest part in all of it was focusing on what we want to do. There is a lot of need in the world for good work, but we can’t do all of it all the time. In my opinion, some of the best nonprofits in the world have the narrowest focus.

An important part of strategy is knowing when to say "no." To anyone heading into this field, I would tell them to find a cause you love. Find a cause that you can get behind 100% so that your work is never work, it is finding a way to create the change in the world you want to see happen.

Experience life- every little part of it.

I wake up looking forward to (after a cup of coffee and a run) the people I work with. The dedication and passion to a shared cause is unlike any other work environment. When every single person around you is working joyfully and tirelessly, the motivation is never ending.