From one small town girl to another: the chain of inspiration

Most who are raised in my corner of Northern California don't leave. My childhood friends didn't go to college. I have five sisters, three did not attend high school.
Rosey was different. Ten years older than me and raised down the one-lane road in our small town, when she was 15 she had been inspired by a friend to leave our small community and travel abroad. When I was trying to decide whether or not to attend high school, she returned from a trip around the world. She invited me to travel with her to Honduras on her next trip. I saved money through the winter and when I was 15 I went with her. The new culture showed me how much more there was to the world than what I knew. I wanted to show others, leading me to continue my education and eventually pursue journalism and photography in college. Each international trip I have taken since then has opened up more questions and continued to inspire me to unravel stories and share what I find with those who are not able to see the cultures themselves. The structure of this trip would allow me to execute that goal and also be an invaluable opportunity to pursue my interest in visual storytelling. Having worked in newspaper journalism during and after college, I have focused mainly on writing and photography. However, my interest is in pursuing film making as I see it as the best form for capturing travel and culture and bringing it home to others.