You may have heard me refer to Families in Global Transitions (FIGT) in the past. That’s the organization that was co-founded by Ruth Van Reken, the well known speaker and co-author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds. My journey with the organization started years ago when I met Ellen Mahoney, founder of Sea Change Mentoring, while I was doing some research on third culture kid experiences.
To make a very long story short, Ellen recommended I attend a conference, and I’ve been connected with the organization ever since. There are so many people that I’ve met through FIGT, and many of them have become lifelong friends. While I was a part of the organization, I met Doni Aldine. Doni and I were both serving on the FIGT Board and since then I’ve been trying to keep up with the tour de force that she is, ever since.
To meet Doni, is to know she is one of a kind. She is a globally mobile Afro-Latina and first-generation American who, by age 19 had lived in & identified with seven cultures on five continents. Doni is passionate about creating a community for “in-between” cultural populations. She is a frequenter around the globe as a lifestyle expert focused on media, marketing and multiculturalism ((to organizations like the U.S. Foreign Service, and at Universities). With this background, her education and lived experiences, she developed university curricula for global culture identity and founded the Culturs Global Multicultural Lifestyle Network.
In this episode, Doni shares memories from part of her vibrant childhood. We discuss how her experiences led to the creation of Culturs and why her work is undoubtedly needed.
In a world, where very few of us check just one box, what she’s built is speaking to both our today and our future.
Because as people from outside of the United States, no matter where your trauma may come from, [you don’t] understand the trauma that the people here grow up with and are still living in and are steeped in every day. Some of the choices and the actions and the ways of being don't necessarily resonate with people who have been in majority countries where everybody looks like them.
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EPISODE CONTENT | HIGHLIGHTS:
The reasons behind der highly mobile and extensive early mobile life [4:56]
The differentiated experiences third culture kids can have even within the same family [15:17]
The career she thought would have vs the career she has created for herself. [21:32]
Why she started Culturs and why it matters [30:00]
The underrepresentation of the experiences of TCKS of color [33:52]
How she ended up on a 5 continent tour that coincided with the Culturs 5 year anniversary. [45:09]