i’m a huge advocate of relishing life + splurging on self. i tend to live life by the personal mantra that it’s short, let’s enjoy + have no regrets. so 30 loomed + i wanted to do it up big… not only celebrating a marker of three decades, but really celebrating a personal victory of having conquered some of my own demons. having finally made it as a photographer. as an artist. a self sufficient + somewhat accomplished adult. i was on the tail end of a brutal saturn return, + i wanted to celebrate my new found happiness in a million self serving ways... i wanted a kenyan safari, a week in tulum with all my besties, a three month south east asian sojourn, a roadtrip across america, some solitude in a cloister in the desert… the list went on + on. i let myself dream huge… no limits.+ then i had my eureka moment… for my birthday, all i really wanted was to give back…. for my 30th birthday, i took 3o days to travel to india + sri lanka to find women who were just like me, + tell their story. i found + documented the stories of a few amazing ladies that had started + run businesses, as a result of micro lending.
i’m a huge believer in the idea of micro financing. i’m often shocked at the amount of people i encounter that have never heard of it. micro lending that is. it’s so easy. it’s so affordable. it takes so little + helps so much. so i wanted to spread the word. one trip, 30 days, women, portraits, stories, an exhibit, a book.... one small movement by one small 30 year old me. it's still a work in progress. one of those sort of life projects that may take years until it feels completed... but what began as a gift in story telling, really only just gave back to me... the priceless gifts of some amazing + incredible stories... it was the best 30th birthday present i could have gotten... + here's a few i get to share with you. (click through the images to read these women's stories)[gallery link="file"]
