Raising a Third Culture Kid When You Are One

By the time Amanda met Solonia Teodros in 2016, she was already vaguely familiar with her work. Sol had reached out to Amanda a few years before on a new project she was working on with her brand, The Change School. The Change School, which she co-founded with Grace Clapham, creates meaningful learning experiences to help individuals align their interests and values in a way that leads to transformation. At the time, they were looking for third culture adults and global citizens to discuss how their international experiences impacted their lives – and Amanda was game.

So while she was on a trip in Singapore, Amanda knew she had to meet up with Sol to find out if she was just as chill in person as she was online. And guess what, she was that..and much more.

Sol is a change strategist, learning designer and a thrive coach. She’s also a third culture kid, a veteran expat and a mama, who has been on her own journey of transforming and reinventing. And at the time of this interview, she had returned to Asia, after living in Portugal for a few years. And as no big surprise, a lot has changed since Amanda last saw her.

In this episode, Sol and Amanda discuss what it meant for her to grow up Ethiopian-Taiwanese-American in the 1990s and dealing with always being the different kid, especially in Asia. She also discusses why job-hopping isn’t always necessarily bad and how those experiences can be used to leverage the next one. And she shares her candid thoughts on being a new mom and the reality of trying to actually raise a mixed heritage global citizen, even when you are one.

So this might be the most third-culture kid eppy Amanda’s had in awhile, when two TCKs unpack the reality and impact of an international childhood.

There’s lots of reflections, a few questions, and maybe a couple of answers in this one.

Growing up Ethiopian, Taiwanese, and American — and being mistaken for a domestic worker as a child in 1990s Taiwan
The moment a childhood friend first made her aware of how the world would categorize her racially
Why Sol and her Change School co-founder moved away from the term “Third Culture Kid” toward “global citizenship” as a mindset
What it’s actually like raising her own mixed-heritage son — Portuguese, Taiwanese, and Ethiopian — and deciding how much of his identity to shape versus let emerge on its own
Why job-hopping and a “portfolio career” aren’t the liability they were once considered to be

To hear the full episode, click below or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

www.soloniateodros.com

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