May 4, 2023
Welcome to Love Your Expat Life, a podcast that provides you with the tools and inspiring stories to live the life you love no matter your location!
In this episode Soraya King, non-executive vice chairperson of the Meikles Foundation and also the Chairperson at NYLESA, the New York Local Expatriate Spouse Association, expounds on common challenges for spouses including career sacrifices, loss of identity, and financial independence.
Our conversation also follows Soraya through her personal journey moving from Zimbabwe to NYC during the pandemic where she felt called to reach out to the UN spouse association and became the chairperson. We also uncover what she sees as critical for organizations to do more of in order to better support partners.
As someone who is also involved in supporting spouses through Girafe Coaching and the Executive Committee of the WBGFN, I’m especially excited to dig into this topic.
We also discuss:
3:27– an intro to Soraya– what led you to move to NYC?
5:36– what was your transition from Zimbabwe to NYC during the pandemic?
12:40– what are the biggest challenges you see expat spouses face?
15:18– helping spouses through NYLESA
19:51– are there special initiatives for male vs female spouses through NYLESA?
23:41– what innovations can be done through organizations to help spouses better?
29:02– lessons learned through NYLESA & being an expat in NYC
35:25– advice for expat spouses
38:20– floating in limbo
Inspired by Soraya’s story? Be sure to reach out to her on Linkedin!
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