Having interviewed a good number of Black expat professionals, there’s often a common theme of travel in their coming age of story. Now this isn’t the case for everyone, but it’s unsurprising when talking to Black expats in particular.  Seeing the world introduced through a  new perspective,  for many of them, would influence the professional decisions they would make later in life.  For Kory Saunders, her career in study abroad was influenced by the cultures she grew up in and the travel experiences she had while completing her higher education.  For Chiponda Chimbelu, growing up in the U.S. and Zambia, definitely impacted the professional opportunities he pursued. 

In the same vein, that’s what happened to both  Lavar Thomas and Ruby Maddox, the co-founders of Leaders of the Free World. Lavar would have his first solo travel experience as a teen to Spain and eventually would go on to being a Peace Corps volunteer in Rwanda.  Ruby was a little bit different and  didn’t go abroad until was an adult when a social enterprise initiative took her to Ghana.  But for both of them,  these experiences would be absolutely transformative and motivated them to launch their organization. 

As you’ll hear in this episode,  they didn’t know each other  well prior to becoming co-founders and didn’t meet each other in person until they met in an airport in Ghana, with their first cohort of students.. But It was their shared  paralleled mission and a providential introduction would make this whole thing work. You’ll hear how their personal stories of understanding culture and identity led to focusing their organization on providing international experiential learning experiences for college aged Black men. 

In 2016, when Ruby first appeared on the Black Expat site,  she wrote, “At its core, Leaders of the Free World is about psychological emancipation.”  With guidance, mentoring and support, Leaders of the Free World challenges young Black men to see themselves beyond just their social and geographical boundaries and limitations.

This was true then and it still is now.

So after you’re done listening and you feel motivated, check out their contact information below to   learn how you can support this mission.