What comes to your mind when you hear the term gap year? 

If you’re like most people, you probably are envisioning a person who has just completed secondary or high school. You might be thinking about travel, or work, or volunteer experience they might gain before they make the transition to university. And most assuredly, you’re envisioning a young person — perhaps a teenager or someone in their early 20s.

Mexico City based Roshida Dowe is none of that. For starters, she’s definitely finished college. She was also an accomplished  lawyer with an established career having worked for both Fortune 500 companies as well as startups. And she’s definitely not in her 20s.  Which makes her story all the more interesting. 

In 2018, as a result of both circumstance and intentionality,  Roshida decided to take a career break and an eventual career pivot.  In this episode, how both a layoff and burnout influenced her  decision to walk away and why she launched her brand, Shida’s on the Loose.  Roshida candidly unpacks the pressure of success and the real tension Black women feel when choosing between prioritizing their own needs over those of others.  

As you’ll soon hear,  she  also drops some insight on how to know if a career break is right for you as well as her work with the Black Travel Alliance. That said, we also spend a ridiculous amount of time talking about London, the intensity of passport stamps collecting and why sometimes you just  need a Big Mac when you’re in Uruguay.  Because why not.