Lucia: International Educator
Chatting with Lucia was like reuniting with a kindred spirit: we both have backgrounds in international education, are currently “in transition,” and have multiple cities and communities in common. I couldn’t help but feel like we had known each other for years.
What strikes me most about Lucia’s career story is her reliance on relationships, community, and reflection at every step of the way. Through her experiences, she’s learned to be humble, to learn at every opportunity, and to accept the reality of situations while also standing up for herself and her worth.
I left the conversation feeling like she was a guru in training — she had so many gems that I’m excited to share here — and also like I had found a true ally in my own career journey.
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In a Nutshell: Lucia’s Career Path
Ever since she was a kid growing up in Nicaragua, Lucia knew she wanted to dedicate her career to helping people.
By the time she got to college, she knew that her gift for helping others was through her ability to connect with people’s emotions. At the time, it appeared the only option available to pursue that as a career was by studying psychology.
After completing her BS in Psychology and earning a scholarship to study her MSc in Epidemiology and Mental Health with faculty from Sweden, Lucia thought she had reached her ultimate career goal: doing psychological and mental health research in a fancy office.
But — despite landing her supposed dream job — she wasn’t happy.
“I didn’t like the leadership style of my boss. I knew things were not getting better. Because the university dynamic was changing due to things that were happening in Nicaragua. Three years to be in a place that I thought was my goal, but I had to make a decision to quit my job. I was not growing, and I was not making money, and I was just crying. And that’s a huge part of your time — it’s 8 hours a day!”
Luckily for Lucia, her family had her back. Lucia’s mom saw a newspaper ad for an open position at Global Glimpse, a study abroad company, and encouraged her to apply.
This was Lucia’s first taste of a new career path: International Education.
As program coordinator, she helped kids from diverse backgrounds travel to Nicaragua and learn about Nicaraguan culture, education, and politics. She helped students have a glimpse of what was going on outside their home countries, and got to showcase her own country in the process.
She performed so well in that role that Global Glimpse sent her to the Dominican Republic to open a brand new site for them, transitioning her from Program Coordinator to Program Manager in one fell swoop.
While she managed to open the new site, she struggled with her new circumstances.
“I successfully opened another site, but I wasn’t in a happy place with the organization because I worked my a** off and didn’t feel like I was recognized for my work. I was also still in culture shock in the DR — the mindset of me as a professional and a strong feminist coming to a culture that’s oversexualized. I’m trying to escape from that in Nicaragua. Like — oh damn I leave my country and I’m still facing this s***.”
Lucia returned to Nicaragua to finish her Master’s thesis and apply for jobs at home. She ended up landing a job in Costa Rica with another study abroad company, Rustic Pathways, but the culture shock challenges of her previous role resurfaced. As the first Nicaraguan woman at the company living in a country with a huge Nicaraguan expat population, Lucia witnessed the xenophobia that many of them were facing in Costa Rica.
Nevertheless, she made the most of the experience.
“I had a great experience with Rustic Pathways….I was the first Nicaraguan working with them and I was in charge of the leadership programs, I was actually executing the leadership camp programs, and we had so many great outcomes from the other students that I wasn’t expecting.”
At the same time, Lucia was accepted into a prestigious fellowship program, Atlas Corps, after a lengthy application process.
“It took 6 months and 8 interviews to be accepted into that fellowship. Sometimes you don’t get stuff at the first try. Honestly, I would be worried if there’s only one interview for a position. Maybe I’m too used to as a brown woman having to have several interviews to make sure they’re choosing me in the right way, but it’s what I’ve learned.”
Atlas Corps brings nonprofit professionals from around the world to Washington, DC for a year to work with local nonprofits, and the ultimate goal is that these professionals will bring knowledge and experience back to implement in their home countries.
But Lucia’s experience was a little different from her peers’: while other fellows were working at the OAS or the UN with views of the White House, she was working at a grassroots nonprofit teen center in a basement office in Columbia Heights.
“I only had 2 windows; one window I had a rat that would come to visit me, and the other window was facing the alley where people were using drugs.”
Needless to say, it wasn’t quite Capitol Hill.
As an accomplished researcher and professional with an MSc, the experience at the nonprofit was somewhat demoralizing and she was on the brink of quitting Atlas Corps entirely.
“I have a MSc degree, I have all this knowledge, I studied in Canada, I have 5 publications….and it’s not working because what I do in the US is set up tables, expect that the kids come, and make food for them.”
Lucia decided to persevere after coincidentally meeting a pastor that encouraged her to attend his positive youth development class. The class ended up being hugely significant for Lucia, marking a turning point in how she approached her work at Atlas Corps and beyond.
“He taught me how to be humble in the moment and go with the flow, that you must defy adversity in an honorable way, and do stuff that you may not like, but at the center this is going to bring you a better side of yourself. And I had to learn that it doesn’t make me less of a professional because I made popcorn every day for my students. What made me great was that I believed in my students, got them engaged, that they were learning, getting resources out of it; that my volunteers were coming to teach and were happy, and that I was finally getting out of my professional layers and just started to connect with people as Lucia, as a Nicaraguan, as a young professional, as a woman.”
As a result, Lucia ran with this new mindset and quickly became the new face of the teen center.
“I ended up knowing everybody who was coming to the teen center. My boss was asking — who is this kid? — and I was giving her details, because I knew every kid that was coming. My main goal was that they needed to feel welcome, and I needed to show my best self so that this kid can get engaged and be a great adult.”
At the Atlas Corp graduation, Lucia had the humbling experience of seeing her impact first hand. Not only did her coworkers attend, but her students and their families also came to thank her and say goodbye. She was beyond moved — she realized in that moment that while the experience wasn’t necessarily what she wanted or expected, it’s exactly what she needed.
Lucia returned to Nicaragua and after struggling for a year to find a job, ultimately landed a great offer from another study abroad program, Global Citizen Year.
At Global Citizen Year, Lucia had the chance to work with gap year programs in Ecuador, mentoring and coaching students, working with host families and communities, and work alongside her own team.
The best part of the experience? She found an amazing mentor — the President of Global Citizen Year, Erin Lewellen.
The worst part? She felt stifled at the organization. There was just nowhere left to grow within the organization.
And that’s when opportunity called to push past her comfort zone: A friend at Amigos de las Americas, another study abroad program, called and said they needed someone right away to handle a program in the Dominican Republic. While it was a tough decision to take on that level of responsibility — she’s glad she made the leap.
“So I left my comfort zone and I decided to take this risk…I knew what I had inside of me and I knew that it was the right job for me in the right moment. I knew that I was a team player, but I had to do it at another layer. I wasn’t just the boss but I was trying to become the leader. I needed to see what kind of leader I wanted to be with my team. I wanted to see where I could make an impact.”
Fortunately, her mentor had helped her overcome two critical fears — having crucial conversations and asking for help — which proved to be essential in this new role.
“I wasn’t scared anymore to have crucial conversations with people. I did whatever I needed to do in order to set up my program for success, so if that includes sitting in uncomfortable places with community members to make hard decisions, I’d do it, and I’d let the team know that they had to trust in me because I had the best of intentions….I also learned how to ask for help, how to delegate…and I made sure that everybody knew that every action that they were taking was gonna have an impact on the main purpose of our team and organization.”
She left the program on a high note — with all of the stakeholders saying they had a meaningful experience — and was ready to return to Nicaragua to spend time with her family (after a quick bout of traveling, of course.)
Lucia is now in transition, applying to new opportunities, and seeking out leadership roles in the international education and nonprofit space. She’s taking her time, staying optimistic, and keeping this gem at the heart of her path:
“When you’re facing challenges, you’re in the perfect place for learning.”
I couldn’t agree more. :)
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Adding It Up: Confirming My Happiness Formula Assumptions
Here’s how Lucia’s journey adds up to my assumptions about finding happiness in your career:
Hands-on Opportunities
- Lucia’s first role in international education had her on the ground and working with students to really get a sense if this industry was for her.
A Supervisor’s Faith
- At Global Glimpse, Lucia was given the opportunity to open a brand new program site on her own.
- At Amigos de Las Americas, Lucia had the chance to take the leap and run a big new project.
An Inspiring Mentor
- Erin from Global Citizen Year has offered an incredible support system for Lucia, helping her learn skills, determine next steps, and explore new concepts and resources.
A Supportive Community
- Family First — Lucia’s mom was instrumental in landing that first job at Global Glimpse. Lucia’s sister also gave her some much needed insight and direction while she was struggling to find a job in Nicaragua — “You don’t fit in the system. Stop trying it. The set of values that you have for Nica is not working for you and you must accept it.”
- Friends in Nicaragua: “You need to look for a tribe and not be afraid to express your fears. Once you take it out for yourself, you’ll have other people pushing back on your fears. They’ll tell you — you’re wrong, you know you’re great, this is just a stage that you have to live through.”
- Former Colleagues at Global Glimpse: “We’re going to the beach tomorrow. We want to create a community of young professionals and help Nicaraguans have more access to resources.”
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Lucia’s Tips for Career Shifters and People that Feel Stuck:
Think, write, and reflect:
“I think it helps me a lot being mindful, practicing meditations, and be with myself and not be scared and just run away.
“I did Compass Year [a written reflection exercise], went to therapy, did reiki, and starting practicing meditation.” .
On the importance of writing things down: “La palabra tiene poder, pero la palabra escrita tiene más poder.” [Words are powerful, but written words are even more powerful.]”
Find a mentor:
“Mentors are inspiring, but in Nicaragua we don’t use them. The president of Global Citizen Yyear still gives me 30 minutes of her time every 2 months and she doesn’t have to do it but she still does it. I met her in a training and we had great conversations and I was just mesmerized about everything that she was doing from 2016….and I said — I want to do that one day.
“We don’t have those examples to look at in Nicaragua. It’s frustrating that we don’t have people we can rely on and even this opportunity to have 30 min of questions that I couldn’t ask to someone else. With her I learned to sit in discomfort, what is her leadership style, I learned organizational culture, in fact she wrote me this week because I’m applying for a job that’s using holacracy models. So I can ask her — Hey! Have you heard about this — Yes, but I’d recommend you to read this book and listen to this podcast. So I have a mentor and an adult that I can rely on. And [even though I no longer work there], people in Global Citizen Year know that Erin and I still have a connection and I want other people to find their mentors.
“[To find a mentor], you need to reach out. It doesn’t have to be just in a professional aspect; you need to connect in some way. You can’t be scared to ask people if they know someone that inspired them.”
Look for your tribe:
“You need to look for a tribe and not be afraid to express your fears. Look for the places where you enjoy and look around and see what kind of people are all around there.
“I did that in Cuenca — I started going to this café that was also a bookstore — and I found the most hilarious, really smart intellectual people from Cuenca. I started to hang out in those places. If you feel that your pathway is that way you need to go to find your people; if you’re spiritual, go to a yoga center. What are the places you feel more comfortable with ? If you like to read, don’t go to a starbucks, go to a book club.
“You want to look at your tribe based on your values, not based on your career. They need to be on the same wavelength as your values — ethical, empathetic, people that are challenging the status quo. A lot of my friends are like that — some are big bosses, and some don’t know what they want to do with their lives — but the center of all of them — of human beings — is their values.”
