Speaking Events & Workshops

As an international speaker on moving, expat life, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), transition and the needs of globally mobile families, I enjoy giving talks, presentations, webinars and interactive workshops both online and in person.
My books are written for a global audience, and I love to bring to them to a global audience. I enjoyed organizing an international book launch for my first book This Messy Mobile Life in Thailand, Ghana, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Netherlands, United States of America, Pakistan, Germany and Portugal. The traveling schedule was hectic, but meeting readers from all around the world and peeling back the layers of our multi-layered identities is probably my favorite part of being a writer.​

Workshops

​This Messy Mobile Life:
​‘Create Your Global Life by Design’

​‘Creating Your Global Life by Design’ for expatriate families is my signature workshop. 
​This is an online workshop specifically geared towards expatriate families living outside of their passport country (or countries). Participants will learn about the unique ‘mola’ toolbox to help globally mobile families discover how to create a life by design and thrive in their messy, mobile lives. The learnings shared are based on the authors extensive research and analysis of globally mobile families from around the world. This workshop is suitable for both personal and professional development and provides an excellent opportunity for those living a life on the move to apply the tools, tips and strategies shared. Enrolment can take place any time of the year but is especially recommended for families as a post arrival workshop 6-8 weeks after starting their new global assignment, whether it is their first or fifth international relocation. More details are available below:

Why Is It a Messy Mobile Life?

​When you live a life on the move, you are constantly adding new experiences, countries, cultures, languages, identities and so much more to your life story. Each move involves gains and losses, but often you forget to reflect on the end result. What are your global experiences leading to? Who are you becoming? How is your family culture changing? What have you found yourself insisting upon? What challenges have shaped you and which opportunities have you enjoyed the most? 

Objectives

This workshop will help your family in three important ways:
  1. it will encourage you to make sense of your globally mobile life,
  2. it will equip you with the MOLA toolbox on how to deal with each messy thread and
  3. it will inspire you to claim your story and share it with others to reap the benefits of your journey of relocating abroad. 
1. It Will Encourage You to Make Sense of Your Globally Mobile Life  
This Messy Mobile Life workshop will help you to make sense of your globally mobile life by ‘joining the dots’ between its component parts. It will show you how factors like your cultures, languages and mobility are contributing to your overall life story and how to deal with the challenges they throw in your way. It will help you to see what issues stand out for your family and how to address them. It will also show you how to enjoy the benefits of your global life and give you important rules on dealing with each ‘messy’ thread you may encounter. 

2. Equip You With the MOLA Toolbox Helping You to Go From Mess to MOLA
This workshop is designed to give you and your family a toolbox for navigating through your global lives. The MOLA toolbox consists of four specific components you need to go from a mess to a MOLA Family. Thus, in my MOLA framework, a MOLA is an acronym, and I explain what the M, O, L and A stand for. When you are creating your MOLA Family, it helps to think of the M, O and the L as ‘the what’ and the A as ‘the how.’ Together, they form your MOLA toolbox and show you how to create your MOLA and use it to steer your way successfully through your global life.​
3. Inspire You to Own Your Story  
Last but not least, this workshop will help you and inspire you to own your family life story and to share it proudly with the world. Towards the end of the workshop, I teach you how to ‘show’ your mola to those who matter; from international or local schools, to your multinational corporations and organizations, to relocation agencies, to your extended families, to other MOLA Families and to people in your home country and host country.
 
I chose the concept of a mola for this book because in South America a mola is a shirt that you wear to show the world who you are. It is something you put on every day, and wear proudly, as it represents your unique heritage and story. I want this workshop to inspire you and your family to proudly wear your mola, your life story for all the world to see.
 
A mola is not meant to be hidden in a corner somewhere in your wardrobe where it gathers dust. If you hide it, you negate all the wonderful experiences that have given you your unique design. You are denying part of who you are. But if you show your mola, you display its richness and have the power to understand your place in the world. ​

Course Length & Resources

​This is a 90-minute workshop designed to get you thinking about your globally mobile life in a creative way. It includes an author-led presentation, results of research from ‘The Mobile Family Survey 2018’ so you can understand the top challenges and opportunities that a globally mobile life present, 3 guided activities for participants to complete, and a chance to construct what your family mola looks like. All activities, conversation starters and resources are based on the expat book This Messy Mobile Life: How A MOLA Can Help Globally Mobile Families Create a Life By Design (Springtime Books, 2019), which you receive as part of the course package as an additional resource. 

Workshop Cost

This 90-minute workshop costs €25 per participant for groups of under 10 people or €350 (plus VAT when applicable) for bigger groups.
 
For more information about me, please see the About Me page.