Mojo Mom Podcast will return next week with The New Global Student

My podcast co-host Sheryl and I decided to declare this to be our chill-out week. We needed a break: she has just graduated with her Masters' degree from UNC, and I have completed my book publication/publicity sprint. It's Memorial Day weekend and we're going to relax! But we do have next week's show lined up. The Mojo Mom Podcast will return Friday, May 29 with our guest Maya Frost, author of the terrific book The New Global Student.

Maya presents dozens of innovative ideas about international education: how to do it authentically, safely, effectively, and even save money in the process. I highly recommend her book. It's an important read for parents of younger students as well as those reaching high school. I am glad to be learning this several years before we have to make these decisions.

As someone who climbed the prescribed academic ladder all the way to my Ph. D., and then got in touch with my entrepreneurial spirit and sense of independence, I wish I had learned about these options years ago. I think every student would benefit from a step away from the traditional path, to get perspective about the world, and really think about the path they are crafting for themselves. Students should actively make choices rather than follow a default path to success--because in real life, we really do have to be prepared to make our own way and create opportunities, rather than waiting for someone else to present them to us.

One of my favorite quotes by Anna Quindlen reads:

I read and walked for miles at night along the beach . . . searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me.

A global education and experience can help us reach the next level, to feel empowered and capable of taking charge of our lives.