How I Stopped Being Me, And Became US!

My journey started much earlier, but this story is about a girl who was looking for the way out.I got lucky. After 6 months of convincing my boss at a time, he finally agreed to let me work remotely. It’s worth adding that I was also going through a break-up at that point, but eventually nothing held me back in a small town of the Midwest US anymore – after 8 years I finished school, fulfilled my “contract” for a green card, and I finally felt free.

Freedom is wonderful, except I had no idea what to do with it. I thing I knew – I wanted to travel. So that’s what I did. On Facebook I found a group of digital nomads to go to Latin America with, and it was gold. I felt surrounded by family. They were explorers, like me. They were curious and hungry for life, like me. We partied like crazy, but we also went to communal tango lessons in Buenos Aires, spectacular orchestra performance in Santiago, horseback riding in Mendoza, jungle hiking in Patagonia, and much more. We worked, exchanged knowledge, gave each other advice, and spent almost every night together. In a week we became a community, in a month we knew each other better than some relatives.

Two months later, I didn’t want to stop. I went back to the US but kept on moving between different the states, finding amazing people through conversations, parties, co-working spaces, games or musical jams. I kept in touch with people I met on the way, and met them again in Croatia, then Bali, followed by a separate trip through South East Asia. I went to local houses, temples, schools, hospitals, grand parties, and intimate ceremonies. My stories started “snowballing”, and it felt like my eyes opened wider in search of intriguing characters. It became easier to connect. On the road the “What If” idea came along: What if people were not scared to connect. How would it change our world? For me, it was the world I want to live in. And that’s how the mission was born. That became my “WHY”. Then “HOW” followed with a few more questions:

• How we can share our experience, so people can understand each other better.

• How we can design these experiences to help people overcome the fear of unknown and the anxiety of interaction.

And then, of course, the “WHAT” question – what am I going to do to make it happen!

I started asking it almost every day, and it translated into active search for knowledge, companies, and people. I co-founded InterAction with a friend – a company designed to create experiences bringing people together. And in my heart I know, this is just the beginning.