Joelle Riding

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Originally from Lexington, KY, Joelle decided joining the corporate world straight out of college wasn’t what she wanted. In 2016, she sold all her belongings and moved to France on a one way ticket. You can currently find her in Brussels, Belgium where she splits her time between working at Brussels Beer Project and working on her travel blog, Riding Around The Globe.

Q + A with Joelle:

WHERE ARE YOU FROM IN THE USA?
Lexington, KY

WHERE ARE YOU CURRENTLY BASED? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?
Right now, home for me is Brussels, Belgium! In college, I had always dreamed of working in a brewery and I’m finally getting to live out that dream here in Brussels at Brussels Beer Project. It’s one of the first craft breweries to come to Brussels and I couldn’t ask for a better workplace. The craft beer scene is huge in the US and it was an aspect I was really missing while living abroad. The first time I walked into BBP, I knew I had found what I was looking for. You can find me there serving our craft beers in our Taproom!

WHAT BROUGHT YOU OVERSEAS?
When I finished my studies in 2016, I knew I didn’t want to go the conventional route of starting a full time job right away like most of my friends. I didn’t have a boyfriend, house, kids, or anything holding me back so I started looking into international jobs. I’m fortunate to have Belgian nationality from my mother and decided what better time to take advantage of it than right then? It turns out unless you want to work a big corporate job abroad, it’s decently hard to find work when there’s an ocean separating you. I discovered the site workaway.info where you volunteer/work in exchange for food and lodging and figured that was a good way to get my foot in the door. I found a family, bought a one way ticket, sold all my stuff, and moved to France. I taught English there for a few months then moved to Belgium to be an au pair. I found the job at BBP by stopping by one day and seeing if they were hiring. The rest is history!

DID YOU STUDY ABROAD IN THE PAST (OR PRESENT)? IF SO WHAT PROGRAM AND WHERE?
At the University of Kentucky, I was able to study abroad twice; once for a month with International Studies Abroad, studying International Marketing in Florianopolis, Brazil during the World Cup in 2014 and then I went abroad again with Arcadia to Cape Town, South Africa for six months to study business.

ANY WORDS OF WISDOM FOR FUTURE YOUNG AMERICANS?
Don’t live for later. Don’t put aside your dreams just because they don’t fit society’s norm. If you want to do something, DO IT! I know so many people who had dreams of traveling or starting a business or creating but kept saying “maybe one day..” “I will later on..” “I’ll go after…” and then you get stuck in the wheel of life. Tomorrow is never promised and I want to encourage you to get out there and live the life you’ve dreamt about. Jump into the unknown. Go experience things that alter your view on the world. Have your conceptions stretched. See how other populations live. Have conversations with people from all corners of the world. Discover what fuels your passion. The world is such a big place and it’s corny but “We weren’t brought into this world to just pay bills and die.” You’ve got magic in you, let the world see it.
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​FOLLOW JOELLE ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND HER BLOG:
www.ridingaroundtheglobe.com
www.facebook.com/ridingaroundtheglobe
​www.instagram.com/ridingaroundtheglobe


 

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