Those that Inspire: Day 2 with Stella from 22 Stars
Just before my first Nomad Cruise in May of 2017, a fellow cruiser posted that she would be landing in Washington D.C. and was wondering if anyone was around to hang out before we all headed to Colombia. Nomad Cruise 2 was leaving a week later and we had to catch our ship from Cartagena to Lisbon. I was in the area and happy to pick up this fellow cruiser, it would be the first time I met Stella; little did I know at that point how inspirational she would turn out to be in my life.
I picked Stella up from Washington Dulles airport in the afternoon, about a week before the cruise and drove her to her hostel near Adam’s Morgan. I had this crazy idea that I was going to start vlogging (bit of inspiration from Casey Neistat) my whole trip, so when I picked her up, I had camera in hand. She must have thought I was crazy.
Along the way we discussed her experience with the first cruise, her life as a nomad and what she was doing with her company, 22 Stars. Since we had a few more days before we flew out to South America too, we decided to do a US Capitol tour the next day, which I also filmed, but to this day have still yet to make the movie. I still get crap from this from her about where the movie is, someday I hope!
We became good friends on the first cruise and she was even featured in a couple scenes of a short funny film I helped produced on the ship called “Professor Hamocki Goes Native.” It was a 10 minute film making fun of what life is like as a digital nomad, and Stella was happy to be in it! You can watch the film here:
Fast forward another year to late September of 2017, just about a month or so ago where I was reunited with Stella on Nomad Cruise V, Spain to Panama. On our first conference day of the cruise, Stella was one of the key presenters. I was amazed and inspired by the work she had done in just one year. She had grown her business, she helped many more women in Uganda out of poverty, she started social workcations where other people can experience life with 22 Stars in Uganda, and she even created the 22 Stars Foundation where she helps sponsor local children to go to school.
The thing is, this wasn’t the path she thought she would be on, and it wasn’t the path her parents set out for her. They wanted her to be a doctor or a lawyer, to the point where she even got a law degree. Many people thought she was crazy, but her path took her towards entrepreneurship and to see the impact she has on the local community and the beautiful jewelry her company creates is inspiring.
She started using the hashtag #socialnomad which I now proudly sport as a sticker on the back of my laptop as inspiration to keep working towards adding positive energy and influence into the world. Stella is an inspiration and I’m happy to call her a friend. Keep up the good work and I hope our paths cross again soon. You can check out a few of her videos about what her mission is in Uganda on 22 Stars YouTube channel, here is one of the videos:
