The Sabbatical: From Design to Documentaries
This story serves two purposes.
Firstly, to explain to you how and why my squiggly path led me from construction blueprints to visual storytelling around the world - and second, to make sense of this crazy and chaotic year I’ve spent trying to find a new direction.
The journey began in Indonesia, a sprawling island nation of endless beauty and adventure. A hotbed for earthquakes, floods, and volcanic activity, this place was no stranger to disasters - a trending subject of fascination for me throughout my career since my first project in the Philippines. Being based in Southeast Asia grew my understanding of environmental crises and the vast possibilities of climate adaptation. Even after taking a step back from my previous work (read more in my last post), I knew my future would drive me deeper into the topic - so I let go and went off the rails for a while.
Before diving back into the topic of resilience, I needed to experiment… wildly. Some call it a sabbatical. I call it a redirection.
The Experiment Begins
I bought a camera.
I rekindled my love of painting.
I played around with videography.
I began to practice rock climbing because I simply enjoyed the rush.
I joined forces with my filmmaker boyfriend and together we became nomadic YouTubers.
We traveled around Mexico and across the Southwest of USA in a van producing documentaries.
Then we ditched the van idea to seek out a more permanent home base back in Asia.
But before heading back to Asia I backpacked around Latin America in search of remote, indigenous cultures and authentic stories. I was desperate to collect and curate as many experiences as I possibly could - anything that could inform this new life direction.
I spent weeks in the jungle with a remote community in the Amazon,
trekked alone across the Andes mountains of Peru,
and hitchhiked in cargo trucks through remote villages in Colombia.
After venturing beyond horizons and earnestly documenting far off places with my camera, everything I gravitated towards began to narrow and consolidate back into a common theme and my original fascination: resilience.
My sabbatical served its purpose - I allowed life’s tangents to carry me zig-zagging through a variety of interests and careers that landed me at my core identity: a facilitator of stories to connect people through shared humanity. What matters to me is the dignity and strength and potency of community resilience in the face of crisis. My purpose now is to continue collecting stories and challenging narratives to direct attention and resources where they’re needed. And my tool is my camera.
The Beauty of a Nonlinear Path
When I look back on this past year, I wonder why I needed so many detours and failed experiments to circle back to my roots - to Asia, to resilience, to storytelling. Half of me expected to return to my old life designing buildings; the other half wanted to chase something completely new. The truth is, I landed somewhere in between - and that’s where the magic happens.
Our lives don’t unfold in straight lines. We zigzag, fall, restart, and evolve. Those messy detours give our work meaning. They shape our voice and sharpen our purpose.
For me, I’ve chosen to keep following the squiggly path - because it’s where the real stories live. And because it always leads me back to what lights me up: telling stories that inspire positive change.
