For the last episode of Season 2, I talk with Nikki Roda, a friend who quit her corporate career in community informatics to travel the world and dive into the unknown. She is now a certified yoga instructor, and is working on a graphic novel about her travels and what she’s learning about the human spirit. Nikki talks about her career journey, her early experiences living abroad, and her decision to embark on a year and a half of uninterrupted and unplanned solo travel. She also shares how travel has shifted the way she approaches life and how we can bring its most transformational elements into our daily lives.
What You’ll Learn
- What sparked Nikki’s love of travel
- Her first major travel adventures, including study abroad
- How she ended up living in India for 2 years
- Her journey into Community Informatics
- What led her to quit her corporate job to travel the world
- Her game changing conversation with Rita Golden Gelman
- Why she isn’t really into the Digital Nomad thing
- Some of the strategies that helped her take the leap
- Where her solo travels have taken her
- Why she was drawn to yoga
- Her new unfolding career path
- Spacious travel as a vehicle for finding one’s creative voice and vision
- Bringing elements of travel into our daily lives at home
- Advice for those wanting to take a travel leap
About Nikki Roda
Nikki has just returned to the States after almost a year and a half of uninterrupted – and unanticipated – travel. What started out as a temporary break after quitting her cushy corporate job and starting her own freelance design business, rolled into the adventure of a lifetime. While she’s used her background in data science, usability design, and website development to help navigate her travels, she’s discovered over time that she’s more interested in helping others give birth to their dreams rather than building more attention-seeking apps. She’s now a certified yoga teacher and, while teaching in exotic locations around the world, has been using the skills of mindfulness to offer retreats on connecting to one’s own innate creativity – in order to spark more joy in the everyday. When she’s not teaching, she’s working on writing a graphic novel about her travels and what she’s been learning about the nature of the human spirit.
You can find out more about Nikki on her website, and say hi to her on Instagram: @nikki.roda or @pandacandyproductions
Resources Mentioned
- Servas
- Work Away
- WWOOF
- Rukgala Retreat Center
- Ep 6 | Rita Golden Gelman: Travel Lessons from a Nomadic Life
- Ep 43 | Lola Akinmade Åkerström: Exploring Culture through Travel Photography & Writing
This episode was sponsored by Wanderful. If you love to travel, head over to community.sheswanderful.com where you can connect with travelers from around the world. For only $5/month you’ll get access to travel-related webinars, hear about other resources and upcoming events, and get tips from over 2000 members. And don’t forget the two 2020 Women in Travel Summits in Kansas City and in Gdansk, Poland!
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