Putting Baltimore Youth on a Plane to Explore the World | Bianca Nelson

Travel can be more than indulging in plain wanderlust. It can open your eyes to a foreign reality, to see yourself in a different light, and to recognize place-based social constructs that may have been unknowingly influencing your thoughts and beliefs. 

For Bianca Nelson, it’s these travel effects that she wants to improve the lives of Baltimore youth. And it’s why she founded her organization, Learning to Live Movement, in 2015, which provides youth of color with leadership development, cultural education, and opportunities to travel to destinations such as Brazil, Jamaica, Belize, and more. 

If you’re inspired by Bianca and found this episode helpful, you can show your appreciation by making a donation to her organization at https://www.learningtolivemovement.com/donate

This episode was produced by Jordan Thierry of Dream Chase Media, with essential production and marketing expertise from Aranza Garcia and Issac Gsoria. 

You can follow How to Build a Nonprofit on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack. Sign up for our free newsletter at https://howtobuildanonprofit.substack.com/. 

Creators and Guests

Host

Jordan Thierry

Jordan Thierry is a one-of-a-kind dude. He’s been called a master generalist, thought partner, community leader, documentary filmmaker, resource connector, international man of mystery—and that’s just the beginning. Jordan once dreamed of being a big-time filmmaker, but he could never quite pull himself away from activists, teachers, and social workers long enough to make it in Hollywood. Those are his people. And he’s always found more purpose in the movement than the industry. If you’ve worked with Jordan, you know he’s gracious, grounded, curious, and ambitious in that laid-back, West Coast kind of way. He’s also known for asking really good questions. A lot of them. Which is exactly why podcasting is such a natural fit. Too bad it doesn’t pay. So do him a solid—listen to an episode. He thinks he’s pretty good at it. You might agree.

Guest

Bianca Nelson

Bianca Nelson is a self-established changemaker, whose passions lie in traveling, entrepreneurship, and community. Coming from Baltimore, Bianca founded The Learning to Live Movement (LTL) to create change within the mindsets of the youth growing up in her hometown. After moving to California in 2012, Bianca began challenging many of the local constructs that shaped her worldviews and perspectives. Over the next few years, she continued to extend her travels, sometimes within the borders of the United States and other times abroad, all the while adopting ways of living from each new culture she encountered and embracing their teachings into her own style of living. Bianca’s concept for the Learning to Live Movement, Inc. manifested in Stradbroke Island, Australia, where she spent an entire month isolated from much of the outside world. While sitting atop a cliff looking over the Pacific Ocean, Bianca had an epiphany. She recognized that she was an anomaly- that the majority of her peers may never be granted the opportunity to travel and see the world as she had. She then began reflecting on her upbringing in Baltimore, completely in awe of how much her mindset had changed over the years. This was in large part due to traveling. Exposure to communities and cultures beyond her own had allowed her to grow in ways that she never imagined possible as a child. Upon returning home to Long Beach, California, Bianca developed an increased desire to promote change. She realized that creating opportunities for others to travel, particularly underprivileged students, was the best way to do so. Her inner voice began playing 21 questions: What if kids growing up in cities like Baltimore could travel the world? Would they treat people better? Would they understand that not fitting in is often a good thing? Would they go through a transformative stage like I did? Could I change the lives of inner-city kids for the better? The answer to all these questions…was YES. So, In 2015, Bianca officially launched the Learning To Live Movement, Inc (LTL), a non-profit organization that provides travel opportunities, focusing particularly on high school-aged students of color. Dozens of programs and initiatives have been established within the organization, inspiring inner-city youth to travel and seek knowledge beyond the confines of traditional education. Outside of traveling, Bianca has a noted passion for hospitality. In the years following the successful launch of LTL, she has further built a career in the hospitality industry working in restaurants, hotels, and resorts across the US. In 2018, Bianca was named the Operations and Events Manager at V-NO Wine Bar and Shop. This along with her philanthropic work through the Learning to Live Movement, Inc. has helped expose countless youth to non-traditional career paths in the Hospitality and Travel industry. A seed was planted when Bianca sat atop that cliff in Australia. It has since flourished into a tree of exploration and excellence. However, she is just getting started. To Keep up with Bianca, follow her on social media: Instagram - @bjanay_ and Facebook Bianca Willis

What is How to Build a Nonprofit?

How to Build a Nonprofit isn’t your typical “thought leader” podcast. It’s real talk with real people who’ve dared to start something meaningful—and managed to keep it going (most days).

Each episode dives into the messy, inspiring, behind-the-scenes stories of nonprofit founders and builders. We talk about the stuff people don’t usually put on grant reports—burnout, bad board decisions, flopped fundraisers, surprising wins, and the little pivots that made a big difference.

If you’re starting a nonprofit, scaling one, or just wondering if you’re the only one making it up as you go… you’re in the right place. This show is here to remind you: you’re not alone, you’re not crazy, and yes—this work is still worth doing.

Jordan Thierry (00:26)
I'm your host Jordan Thierry and this is how to build a nonprofit. Travel can be more than indulging in good old fashioned wanderlust. can open your eyes to a foreign reality, to help yourself see things in a different light to recognize place-based social constructs that are influencing your thoughts and habits. Bianca Nelson, it's these travel effects that she wants to improve the lives of Baltimore youth. And it's why she founded her to Live Movement.

which provides youth of color with leadership development, cultural education, and travel programs to destinations including Brazil, Jamaica, and Belize. In this interview, she discusses how she started her organization with very little knowledge of the nonprofit world, the critical help her board members provided in her first years, and the wisdom she has gained in fundraising, youth programming, and organizational management over the last 10 years.

All of this and more in today's episode, and I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

Jordan Thierry (01:23)
Bianca, thanks for being on the podcast. ⁓ Really excited to have you on today. Talk about learning to live movement. Your organization focuses on youth travel, right? Can you just tell us a little bit more about like what the mission is and sort of what your core programming is and where you guys are based out of?

Bianca (01:39)
Yes, so we are a nonprofit out of Maryland. We provide travel opportunities for

high school students. Most of our students are out of Baltimore. We will expand eventually, but we make sure that students who usually can't afford to travel have the opportunity to travel and learn life differently. So we use unfamiliar spaces as our classrooms for kids to learn things about themselves and the world around them before they become adults. We also have a password program. So if they don't travel with us, we prepare them to travel at any given time.

Jordan Thierry (02:14)
That's really dope. So can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Like where are you from and where was this appreciation, love for travel like born in your life?

Bianca (02:23)
Yeah, so I'm originally from Baltimore. Born and raised. I left Baltimore when I was 19.

moved to California and Living in California that was like, you know total 360 like what is happening? Yes big change I was already a travel lover and I always dreamed of traveling But you know didn't have the means and all that good stuff When I got to California that love for travel just continued to it just grew bigger And then I took a 30-day solo trip to

Jordan Thierry (02:33)
Big, yeah. Big change.

Bianca (02:56)
Australia and I was able to see things completely different, learn things about myself that I didn't know, learn things about the world even down to the little simple things of the word holiday understanding that holiday was different than what we thought growing up.

So being in Australia, it like taught me a lot and I realized that in order for our people to get ahead in life,

we needed to travel more. We needed to get outside of our comfort zones. it's hard to do that with adults when they're already really comfortable and stuck in their ways. So I figured, let me start with the youth. Let me start with high school students before they become adults, teaching them that life can be lived multiple different ways. Life can be lived the way that you want it to be lived. You do not have to live your life the

way that your friends say, your family say, anyone in your current environment, you don't have to live your life that way. Go out and explore, learn new things, meet new people, and figure out how you want to live your life.

Jordan Thierry (04:01)
Yeah, yeah. know, one of my, well, my first trip outside of the United States, I was like almost 30 years old, I believe, and I went to Ethiopia, you know? So that was like incredible ⁓ awakening to just like the differences out there, you know, beyond the American way of living and thinking. But especially for, as a black person, right?

Bianca (04:14)
OOOOH

Jordan Thierry (04:26)
much of my identity was in this idea of difference, you know what I mean? And of being othered. And so to go to Africa, an African nation and be completely surrounded by other black people, people that looked very similar to me, right? I couldn't necessarily use the same

Bianca (04:33)
Mm-hmm.

Jordan Thierry (04:48)
categories. I couldn't like walk around as categorized people, know what I mean? Because I know anybody, I didn't know any of that society, And so it was just like, it just really opened up my mind and into, you know, the vastness of our humanity. And it it liberated me in many ways from the constructs of like, what, how I was socialized to, you know, see myself as a black person.

Bianca (04:51)
Yes.

Jordan Thierry (05:13)
You know what I mean? I mean, that's why I feel like, you know, travel is a privilege, of course, but it's such an important thing to do if you have the opportunity, and in particular for black people in the United States, know, descendants of slaves.

Bianca (05:13)
Yep. Yep.

I'm good.

That's so funny you mentioned Ethiopia

everywhere. Everywhere I go, every time I come across someone from Ethiopia, they speak to me in their language and I'm like, I'm so sorry.

Jordan Thierry (05:36)
yeah, you could pass. yeah, definitely.

Me and you.

Bianca (05:39)
everywhere I go, if I come across someone from Ethiopia, they're like, you're my sister. And I'm like, I don't know, I don't think so. I want to go though, I've never been to Ethiopia.

Jordan Thierry (05:46)
Yes, but no, yeah

⁓

It's incredible, highly recommended. incredibly warm people, really, really rich culture, you know, was never colonized. the historical lineage, the thread is not, ⁓ it wasn't cut off. Right, they still have it. And the food was amazing. Food was amazing.

Bianca (06:08)
Yeah, they still have it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

⁓

Jordan Thierry (06:15)
And like my biggest surprise was like the clubs and like the rooftop bars everywhere and like the clubs and like it was like, this is live. Like, yeah, they really do. You know, and when people think about Africa and African cities, like that's not the kind of images that, you know, are conjured up. Right. And so I was surprised and I think many people will be, but yet very vibrant city, lots of incredible history. And that's where you have to go.

Bianca (06:20)
⁓ my gosh!

They know how to party. They know how to party.

And that's why you have to go to those places.

Yep, you can't just depend on what people tell you. What you see on have to go. ⁓

Jordan Thierry (06:43)
That's why you have to go.

Yeah.

Yeah,

no, 100%, So you, went to, Australia was kind of like your big, know, awakening, you know, mind blowing moment. Is there another trip that you can say resonated with you or had significant impact your worldview and perspective?

Bianca (07:10)
Yes.

So there were few places I went. I feel like every place I'm one of those people, no matter how much I travel, I'm always still excited to travel and excited to go somewhere new. It's not I think some people kind of get so comfortable with, you know, the fact that they travel so much and I'm still just like a kid in a candy store. So every place has touched me differently and like open still to this day, open my mind up and blew my mind like,

Jordan Thierry (07:26)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Bianca (07:39)
gosh. But what I can is Costa Rica and Hawaii really like did something to my soul.

We could go on to another day, another podcast. But they really, really touched my soul. It reminded me of why I do what I do and why I created my nonprofit because...

Jordan Thierry (07:50)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Bianca (07:59)
it taught me like, ⁓ wait a minute, there's a piece of your soul that you have to continue to tap into. And sometimes when you are living in your comfort zone, you

Jordan Thierry (08:11)
Yeah, yeah.

Bianca (08:12)
You're

getting these cycles of life of just working, paying bills, hanging out with family. You're just in the cycle of life and you forget that there's a piece of your soul that you have to really tap into to find your peace and continue to be what you were born to be. know what I mean? So those places, they touch me differently in Hawaii because I got to live there for a little bit.

Jordan Thierry (08:31)
Mm-hmm, 100%.

Bianca (08:39)
But I had an experience in Hawaii and North Shore and I'm just gonna put this out there if you ever go to North Shore in Hawaii do not and I mean do not ever turn your back towards the ocean.

Jordan Thierry (08:53)
Mmm,

Bianca (08:54)
Don't do it. Just don't do

Jordan Thierry (08:54)
okay. Don't do it.

Bianca (08:56)
it. But I'm grateful that I did make that mistake. Because again, it just, I felt like I died and came back to life and it was just a whole spiritual journey. That just, I was at peace. Yeah.

Jordan Thierry (09:09)
Wow. Yeah,

no, that's powerful. I haven't been to Hawaii yet. I mean, can't believe I haven't been to Hawaii yet, but I haven't been. Yeah, it's expensive. Yeah. Right, But everyone in my family has, you my brother and my parents and everything. And yeah, no, I hear incredible things. And I don't know about you, but for me,

Bianca (09:16)
It's believable. It's expensive and depending on who you are, can be a long journey.

Jordan Thierry (09:32)
I tend to make some big life decisions either while on a trip or like upon returning. You know what I'm saying? Like having this perspective of like, you know, that's another reason why it's important.

Bianca (09:39)
Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Costa Rica was another one those places to me too of the decision of I don't want to live with a whole bunch of things. And especially meaning not non meaningful things, unmeaningful things. So it's like it taught me that less is more.

It's so cliche, but it is so true. Less is more. So, and I made a big life decision while I was in Costa Rica.

Jordan Thierry (10:00)
Yeah.

Yeah,

that's exciting. you know, your organization is now in, is it in its 10th year? Did I do the math right? Congratulations. That's incredible. Yeah, yeah. So can you kind of take us back to like, you know, why you started the organization in 2015? What led to that moment where you decided I'm gonna start a nonprofit, you know, and begin this journey?

Bianca (10:16)
Yes. Thank you. That's crazy.

Jordan Thierry (10:35)
to take youth.

Bianca (10:37)
Yeah, honestly, straight up, it was my cousin telling me that I'm crazy and redirecting me. like I said, I came back from Australia. I was already on this journey of.

Jordan Thierry (10:43)
Really?

Bianca (10:50)
What can I do to make sure that people are, people growing up in cities like Baltimore are able to see the world like I am and experience the world like I am. And when I, just to paint the picture for you, I came from this.

Baltimore girl, every weekend me and my friends we were out partying in DC. We always had to have a new outfit, new nails, new hair, just partying it up, living the party life, And then into living in California where my fun was at least like twice a week me and my friends would go on sunrise hikes. So we would wake up at 4 a.m., drive to whatever mountain we decided to climb, climb that mountain,

Jordan Thierry (11:25)
Yeah.

Bianca (11:29)
as the sun was rising we're hanging out we're chilling on top of a mountaintop or my fun was meeting my friends at the beach with our hammocks popping our hammocks up reading books hanging out on a beach and partying on fire so you know two different worlds right so I was already on this journey of this is crazy like I love my life and I think that other people should experience this especially people coming from Baltimore weird this stuff isn't just happening every day

Jordan Thierry (11:40)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Bianca (11:56)
And then I took the trip to Australia and that really was like, okay, wait a minute. You got to figure something out. So when I came back Australia at the time I was living with my cousin in Long Beach. And when I say my cousin, he's not my age. So he's a mentor. now he's about 82 years old. So to give you perspective, right? So he's been there, he's done it. And I'm like,

Jordan Thierry (12:14)
wow. Mm-hmm.

Bianca (12:18)
I can't wait get rich I only want to get rich because I want to take that money and pour it into being able to pay for kids in high school, pay for kids from Baltimore to travel the world.

Jordan Thierry (12:29)
Yeah.

Mmm.

Bianca (12:32)
And I'm telling him this and I'm like, I'm telling you like, all I need is this amount of money. I could pay for X amount of kids a year. You know, I got this plan of all I got to do is one day, keyword one day get rich. And he was like, okay, yeah, that sounds good. We're not going to say one day. We're going to say right now what you're going to do is you want to start a nonprofit because you're not rich yet. And I'm like, I don't even know what is a nonprofit? What does that even mean? And

Jordan Thierry (12:49)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Bianca (12:57)
Every day he would walk me through, explain, listen, this is how, because you're not rich, you don't have the money. So you got to figure out how you're going to fundraise. You got to figure out how you're going to beg and knock on everybody's door and ask them, can you borrow a dollar? And dollars are going to add up. And then eventually you're going to have the money to make sure that these kids travel. You're not going to be rich yet, but what you want to do, you're going to be rich in, in just happiness of what you want to do. And he broke

Jordan Thierry (13:24)
Facts.

Bianca (13:25)
everything down and he's like listen you know you're gonna he if I didn't have him I don't know where I would be but I tell people all the time find a mentor and just don't stop researching and so he broke everything down how to start the business you know he went with me down to the Secretary of State like just went through all the the steps to get everything done and I just continued to

build from there. But it all started from me saying, yeah, one day I'll get rich and I'm going to do X, Y, Z. And he's saying, no, this is how you're going to do it. And it worked out.

Jordan Thierry (13:47)
Wow.

Wow.

incredible. you're in California at the time when you come up with the idea. Did you, you went through this process. What was the process like of the paperwork, registering, having to create lists and board members, paying fees? can you talk about that?

Bianca (14:14)
Yes.

One, course, just registering the business. I've never registered a business before, so just researching, you know, how do you register your business? And understanding that you don't have to go through the third party services like your legal Zooms and stuff like that. Again, you just, especially in today's world, you can talk to ChatTP and it'll tell you everything that you need to do. But just registering the business first, getting your EIN and everything, then getting the bank account.

doing your bylaws, finding out who your board members are, well one, figuring out what board members are for. And two, picking your board members, which is a really, really hard to do, especially when you are just starting and you want to make sure, because the thing that people don't understand is although you, I'm the founder, I created the nonprofit, I've done all the freaking work, know,

to a hundred hours a week I don't own it it's very important that you pick board members that are gonna value you and try not to sweep it from up under and kick you out you know and just understand like what those bylaws mean and what they're

Jordan Thierry (15:16)
for real.

Bianca (15:22)
So you go through those processes first, just registering the business, make sure you're registering everything correctly with the state that you're gonna operate

getting your bank accounts and everything up, you know, open and up to date. And then from there, it was a roller coaster of learning. It was a roller coaster of learning because again, I didn't know what a nonprofit was. So I always advise people, if you are thinking about starting a nonprofit, do the research of what that actually Because no, you cannot just have money coming in and you just take it and go,

Jordan Thierry (15:46)
Yeah.

Bianca (15:58)
your bills and do whatever you want with it. No no no no no. You know what mean? You can't even really pay yourself until you get to a certain point of okay things make sense. A large percent of the money is going to programs first before it's ever paying anyone out. So there's a lot of research that needs to be done and I advise everyone

Jordan Thierry (16:07)
Exactly.

Bianca (16:18)
depending on what state you're in. like Maryland, we have something called Maryland Nonprofits. And then I'm also a part of a group called Urban Awareness USA. I think they are gold. I think every...

Black founder nonprofit should join Urban Awareness USA because you will learn so much from how to start your nonprofit to how to run it and how to just keep it going on the right track. But in the process of the beginning, find a mentor, find a group like Urban Awareness, find your local nonprofit organization that can help mentor you.

did for my first few years is I had a fiscal sponsor so that allows you to bring the money in, do what you need to do without stressing too much about you know the big government stuff that you got to think about that is very stressful and a lot of it avoids lot of paperwork.

Jordan Thierry (17:11)
Yeah, so that I'm so glad that you brought that up because fiscal sponsors are one of my favorite topics. It just because you know, a it's a it is an entity, a pathway that you know, not a lot of people know about when they're first getting into the nonprofit space. And it can be super helpful, especially if you're starting with nothing, you know what I mean? so

able to find a fiscal sponsor that's gonna basically kind of take your project in and allow you to start accepting donations and writing grants and doing all that sort of really give you a leg up in terms of like, you know, beginning to move the work forward and not being stuck with some of these major infrastructure, know, challenges for your organization. What would you say was like sort of the,

best or most important benefits for you with the sponsor.

Bianca (18:00)
the mentorship. it's a cheat code for mentorship fiscal nine times out of 10, they're going to set their percentage of what they take from what's brought in for your programming.

want to see you So they're going to be free mentorship if you want to use that way because well, you know, mentorship at a 10 % cause, however you want it down. But you don't have to pay them anything upfront. Like you have to pay a consultant. They are there for you. They're making sure that you succeed. They're going to help you bring the money in. You can ask a million questions because again, you're their partner. They want to see you succeed. And that's why it's important.

to find a fiscal sponsor that you can 100 that you can trust, that will communicate, that you can call at any moment, you know what I mean? Because this is still your money that's going into their hands. And people are still, all those going into their hands, the people who's giving you this money, they're still gonna look at you.

So make sure that you can trust the person. I would say start off with, you know, a smaller organization that you know already that are already doing things in your local community. And before you partner with the fiscal sponsor, ask a million questions. So ask them to see their paperwork. They're not 90s, you know, make sure they are in compliance like and you can Google all this stuff or chat GPT.

Jordan Thierry (19:01)
Yep.

Bianca (19:25)
But make sure you ask a million questions and you go into business with a fiscal sponsor that you can trust because the biggest benefit is that mentorship. Once you have a good relationship with them, learn everything you need to know. Where the mistakes are, where the success is, learn everything you need to know until you go and get your own

Jordan Thierry (19:36)
you

100%. that experience tracks with my own and with the advice. I mean, I just did my last newsletter talking about fiscal sponsors, you know, and what to look for in choosing a good one. one thing people should also know is that, you know, sometimes organizations may list they will offer fiscal sponsorship, like out there on a website. But if there's one that you feel like is really

Bianca (20:06)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jordan Thierry (20:10)
aligned with your organization, the direction that you're trying to go to, you can also approach them and ask them if they'd be interested serving as a fiscal sponsor for your So you're not necessarily limited to just what results come up in a Google search, you know what I mean, for fiscal sponsors in your community or what have you. So yeah, no, yeah, absolutely.

Bianca (20:27)
knock on doors and ask. Knock

on doors and And also another good benefit of physical sponsorship, you'll be surprised of what organizations might need your service. So for an example,

my fiscal sponsor, provided resources for kids in the community, after school programs and all the other stuff. So they had everything you could possibly think of for kids, but they didn't have the travel piece. So now...

We can not only your fiscal sponsor but now they are, definitely want to help because they're like, okay, well, let's figure out how we can get this money so we can add your program to our organization and we, our kids can travel with your programs. So you find stuff like that and your goal.

Jordan Thierry (21:09)
Yeah, absolutely.

100 % right. Bianca, can you tell us a little bit about how you started to raise money for your organization?

Bianca (21:17)
I worked a million jobs.

The real fun reason didn't come until I moved back to Baltimore when I realized, okay, if I'm gonna have a Maryland nonprofit and I'm gonna focus on Baltimore kids, I need to be boots on the because it's all about relationships. I don't care what anyone says, it's all about relationships. Yes, strangers will support you.

But when it comes to, people talk about that stranger stuff all the time about strangers supporting you versus family and friends. When it comes to nonprofit work, I feel like it's the opposite. Because unless you are like selling to anyone in the world you're providing like a product, it's...

It's all about the relationships and my family and my friends were my very we would host small events together you know, they buy tickets. We did a lot of food events because that's the industry that I was A lot of like wine tasting. So a lot of my fundraising came from events. And if you really do it right,

you can raise a lot of money from events, especially if you have a really good network. So I started off with a lot of my fundraising with events, still to this day, mostly events. And then I started to just get more creative because the thing about fundraising is you have to always get creative because again, you're not selling soap on Amazon and t-shirts and what are things that people need every day. You're saying, give me your money so you can just feel good.

You know, like you could pat yourself on the back and you could say that you're doing something someone that you might didn't have when growing up or whatever. But, mostly events.

Jordan Thierry (22:54)
Yeah, absolutely. No, that's super helpful to hear because, you know, I think events, especially when you're doing a community based project, you know what I mean? Putting together events not only can help you raise money, but really generate awareness and create fans of your work, of your organization, people that now want to be invested in what you're doing. And so I think it can be.

Bianca (23:08)
with it.

Jordan Thierry (23:16)
like a really powerful way for organizations that don't have a lot of money and probably honestly don't have a You know a strong enough track record to necessarily apply for like any big grants yet either to show that you know We have support from our community. You know what I mean? ⁓ And so events definitely can help accomplish that as well So can you tell me a little bit about like, you know how what some of the first?

Bianca (23:31)
Yes. Yes.

Jordan Thierry (23:40)
initial programs were that you did with young people? Was it a trip or was it like kind of education awareness about travel? What was it?

Bianca (23:48)
Yeah, yeah.

our, in the beginning, we did a lot of community work with our students. But it was, the goal was to make the right connections to fundraise for the trip. So the bigger goal was we were going to Belize. But what we did with them was we had a lot of community events that we would have them volunteer.

We helped at other events and stuff like We had sessions where we would teach them about travel and the importance of travel. Since we were going to Belize, we did a lot of sessions of just learning Belize, learning the understanding maps, because that's another thing that we provide, just teaching kids how to read maps and what's you?

you going? So that was a lot of the beginning work.

Jordan Thierry (24:40)
Wow, that's really interesting. it sounds like, you know, it's not just about traveling or trips. It's leadership development. sounds like community engagement, commute, you know what I mean? Being connected and involved in your community.

Bianca (24:50)
Well.

Building relationships where you are and then also being.

One thing that my students love about me is no matter where we go, I can phone a friend. I'm like, learn how to build relationships where you are now. then it's the same every, my husband tell me all the time, people are people and everybody are kindergartners. And so you can't be afraid to talk to people and just, so I teach my students that too, build relationships where you are. And then as you continue to travel, do the same thing and understand that they're just people the same way you build those relationships.

back in Baltimore, you build those relationships everywhere else.

Jordan Thierry (25:28)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, we need these... I you know, I believe that with where things are right now, just in society, with technology and social media, and like, all these things are discouraging the relationship building, you know, and the ability to get out there and to talking with strangers and having conversations with strangers and being... Yeah, you know, being uncomfortable in environments and...

Bianca (25:36)
Thank

Yes. Talk to your neighbor.

Jordan Thierry (25:51)
You know travel can really be a way to because one thing about when you travel to is Sometimes you're forced to because you're like, I don't know where I'm at. I need to talk to someone to tell me right to tell me Exactly, right? So you you're forced to kind of make relationships in many ways And so it can it can be it can remind you of that, you know or like for example when you're traveling and

Bianca (25:57)
Yes. Yes. I gotta call for somebody. Somebody need to be my new best friend.

Jordan Thierry (26:15)
you come across another American, you're like, hey, another American, you know, start, get excited to see another American, you know, but then if you were in America, you wouldn't be excited. He probably wouldn't even talk to them, right? Yeah. So it's like all about, you know, just like how you frame it in your mind. So yeah, that's super powerful. So you guys, y'all went to Belize and what was the, like the, you did two trips to Belize. What was the impact of that on the, on the young people?

Bianca (26:19)
Yes! Yes!

Wicked!

⁓ Jesus, that's a whole nother conversation. one of my biggest, you know, they got to learn so much about who they were, you know? My oldest, he had a real crazy situation in Belize where it was like that mirror, that mirror moment, like, this is who I am. This is who I am.

This is how I'm, you know, this is what I'm gonna give the world. But it was so many different things that I noticed that they learned about themselves and about people. But one of my biggest stories is the shocker of exactly what we teach that you can live your life however you wanna live it. And the shocker that...

the guy who did our snorkeling tour, they couldn't believe that that was his job, that was his living, and he made a really, really good living. And they're like, so.

You just hang out in the ocean all day. He's like, yeah, hang out in ocean. And then I go home, hang out with my family, pop a couple beers. I got kids. I got a beautiful wife. We hang out by the then I wake up and it all over the next day. And they're like, what else do you do? How do you make money doing that? He had, I think, maybe three, four kids, whatever. But it blew their minds that you don't have to be a ball player to make good money. You don't have to be a

You don't have to be a hustler. You don't have to work at Walmart. You literally can go anywhere in the world, create whatever you want and make good money.

Jordan Thierry (28:10)
Wow. Yeah. I'm jealous. I wish I could have been on that trip, A, to go to Belize and check it out, but B, to witness that those young people going through that moment, right? And realization of know, yeah, this is real. You know, it's mind blowing, right? So I'd like to ask you like about some of the

Bianca (28:11)
You can do what you love and make good money.

Jordan Thierry (28:30)
most challenging parts of this journey for you so far, what would you say has been like, you know, the biggest challenge for you in starting or continuing to keep your organization running?

Bianca (28:42)
All capital letters, everything.

Jordan Thierry (28:45)
All of it.

Bianca (28:46)
No, I can't say starting and running a nonprofit has been the hardest thing I have ever decided to do with my life. But I'm grateful, I'm thankful, I'm here and I ain't stopping. But the most challenging and I hate to say it, the most challenging is fundraising and paperwork.

It's that simple. Fundraising paperwork, everything else, it comes and I just dance with it. with kids. Traveling with kids is very, very stressful. It is very stressful. It's very stressful. I'm just gonna leave it there. But...

But I still enjoy it. It's like rush of excitement and scariness at the same time. So I enjoy it. But my most stressful, challenging things are paperwork and fundraising. Everything else is just dance.

Jordan Thierry (29:33)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that sounds about right. That's the hard part most of us,

Bianca (29:39)
⁓ to say it,

Jordan Thierry (29:43)
What are your plans going forward? What's ahead for Atlanta to live?

Bianca (29:48)
⁓ that is amazing. So first thing first, I wanna acknowledge that in the nonprofit space, things are tough, things are hard. But as long as, in anything, right? As long as you're working, you're gonna accomplish your goals.

give yourself a moment to realize when you accomplish goals and celebrate it. one of our goals for this year was to complete four trips within one year. And that's the goal for the next five years. I didn't realize it until literally yesterday that accomplished that goal. So to just appreciate the present moment.

Jordan Thierry (30:18)
Wow, congratulations.

Bianca (30:23)
And what's ahead is more of that. Our goals is four trips minimum a year and provide at minimum 50 students with passports per year. But eventually within the next two years, one of the biggest goals is to have more of our alumni running the organization. I want them doing the planning. I want them doing the paperwork.

Jordan Thierry (30:42)
⁓ yeah, does.

Mm-hmm.

Bianca (30:48)
the fundraising, but really just being more involved on the programming. What's going on and how? How is it happening? Who are we working with? I want them working with the kids that are entering the program more hands on.

Jordan Thierry (30:56)
Mm-hmm.

Bianca (31:04)
So that's what's ahead to see more. And even things like these interviews, I want the kids in front of the camera talking about the challenges of running a nonprofit. know what I mean? They might didn't start it, but I want them to understand what it's like to nonprofit.

you know, do something that they're passionate about. Because of course the kids that's gonna run it, they're passionate about what we do. And they know that it changed their life. So I want more people to hear their stories of how travel changed their life.

Jordan Thierry (31:36)
That's a beautiful vision. Beautiful vision. Wow. Thank you. And I'm excited for you. And yeah. And so the four trips that you've done this year, or you have, do you have one coming up soon?

Bianca (31:39)
simple.

Yes,

so our fourth would be ⁓ next month, November, is Brazil.

Jordan Thierry (31:50)
Wow, wow, Sao Paulo, we're in Rio, okay, oof.

Bianca (31:53)
Rio, yeah, we're going to

the black travel summit. So.

Jordan Thierry (31:58)
Okay.

Bianca (31:59)
The kids, I've been for the last couple years and it's really powerful space to get in to just understand what it's like being black in tourism and hospitality industries and how to get into those industries as well. Because my last 10 years of my career has been hospitality and it changed my life completely. But it also was that industry that allowed me to travel whenever I want.

gotta request PTO and you gotta do this and you gotta do that. So some industries are not flexible. So we teach kids how to get into an industry that is flexible, that you can earn whatever you want. The sky is not the limit. how to show up as yourself, as your beautiful black self in those industries.

Jordan Thierry (32:40)
Wow, that's so cool. I'm so excited for y'all to go Brazil, to Rio. That sounds like an amazing experience. ⁓

Bianca (32:44)
Yeah, it's been

a stressful journey. That's another thing. Again, paperwork, visas, paperwork. But...

Jordan Thierry (32:49)
can imagine. True. Yeah. I can imagine.

Well, I want to thank you for coming on the podcast. This has been a really fun conversation. I personally feel like, I'm just so excited that you're doing this for our young folks. You know what I mean? Because travel has been such an important part of my life. don't know if I shared this with you, but I actually live in Mexico. So my traveling has...

Bianca (33:01)
Thank you.

Jordan Thierry (33:16)
brought me to actually live abroad. I live in central Mexico in a city called Queretaro, which is like two hours north of Mexico City. ⁓ And so, it's been ⁓ a life-changing, come on down anytime, honestly. And yeah, it's been a life-changing opportunity to come down here. man, I just wish everyone has opportunity and choice to experience at some point in their lives.

Bianca (33:17)
We'll pour it!

Okay. Okay. Okay.

We owe you a visit.

Jordan Thierry (33:43)
So Bianca, thank you so much. This has been really fun. up the great work and yeah, we'll be in touch.

Bianca (33:49)
Thank you, thank you. I will see you in Mexico.