Philippe Lazaro
OCTOBER 2016

2026: The Summer Rotation

Do you ever take a look at your reading log after a few months and think… yup. I picked some good ones!

That’s been me lately. With summer on deck, I thought it opportune to try and share some of my favorite recent reads for you to take on your travels and adventures. Throwing a few film recs for good measure.

I’ve got six countries explicitly featured on this list, and several more taking a global look at things like cartography and personal travel.

Fiction

The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa | Set in Japan | Knives Out meets Palm Springs, basically. A family gathers around New Year’s to discuss a grandfather’s plans for who will inherit his successful business. Who would ever expect a murder to go down? Thankfully, our protagonist is caught in a Groundhog Day time loop situation where he re-lives each day nine times, giving him several rounds to figure out who did the deed.

An Unlasting Home by Mai al-Nakib | Set in Kuwait | This follows the members of a couple households in Kuwait set across different generations. A few scenes also unfold in India and San Francisco as members of the family move across the globe. The inciting incident might be a female professor being charged with the crime of blasphemy, but the story itself encompasses so much more. This made me really interested in doing a deeper dive into Kuwait.

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro | This opens with a tragic accident in the mid eighties, and gives you little glimpses into how everyone else’s lives unfolded and were affected in the years that followed. The chapters bop around a bit going through different characters’ perspectives and different years over the decades that follows. A whole lot of what-if’s.

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi | Felt like everybody was reading this one all within the same three-week window. There’s no denying, this book is a feel-good, everyone-has-a-story saga. It’s full of sweetness, with the “make it a meaningful last chapter” energy of A Man Called Ove and the “dive into people’s lives’ arc of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. This has picked up some haters… perhaps for being too sweet, but if you know what you’re getting into, you can set your expectations accordingly.

The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr | Set in Ireland | If you want a very Irish feeling book, this one should hit the spot. It’s the story of an unusual baby found abandoned on a beach along the Irish coast and how he grows alongside the family that takes him in. It’s moving, quirky, and has a kindness beneath its heavier subject matter.

Katabasis by RF Kuang | When I read Babel and saw what RF Kuang could do with the premise of an alchemic school guided by linguistic studies, I knew I wanted to read more from her. In a lot of ways, Katabasis runs it back with what works. This time, the school is more divination than linguistics, and its students have to journey into the underworld to retrieve its professor in a Dante’s Inferno-esque fashion.

Nonfiction

This Way Up by Mark Cooper-Jones & Jay Foreman | This book was so perfectly written for my nerdy interests in geography. It covered niche topics, like how the BBC’s broadcasting rights shaped the social geography of the United Kingdom for decades, or how the geography of the Marshall Islands was shaped by the development of bombs. Written with a cheeky sense of humor at that.

Climate Wayfinding by Katharine Wilkinson | This one comes from too closely within my world for me to not want to dive in deep. Climate Wayfinding takes on the emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of climate action, including how to navigate anxiety and find a more integrated course of action. This arrives at an important time, when burn-out is especially prevalent and the wind isn’t exactly at the sails of climate activists.

Landon by Landon Donovan | I try to routinely dive into a memoir of somebody a bit unexpected, and this time around the honor went to the American soccer pioneer, Landon Donovan. I actually started appreciating Donovan a lot for his leadership during a three year window when he was head coach of the San Diego Loyal, a short-lived USL team. His memoir covers his complicated relationship with his dad and the early days of MLS.

Everything Good About God is True by Bruce Reyes-Chow | I’ve been introduced to Bruce Reyes-Chow, a Filipino-American minister who writes a lot about justice and culture. His book offers a well-rounded look at practical theology. There’s a combination of progressive and applicable in his chapters that you don’t often find side-by-side.

How Iceland Changed The World by Egill Bjarnason | Set in Iceland, of course | The book’s title is a promise… how Iceland changed the world, and the rest of the book actually delivers. Despite Iceland being known for its remoteness and sparse population, its outsized influence includes the impact of its volcanoes on air travel and climate change, its unusual relationship with Nazi Germany and the United States around World War 2, and the roles it played in both the French Revolution and the Palestinian partition.

Belonging to the World by Barry Hoffner | Barry Hoffner has quite the story from the past few years, and it begins with tragedy. Following the unexpected loss of his wife, he leans into their mutual love of travel and begins a quest to complete his visitation of every country in the world. It becomes a beautiful memoir of connection, grief, and as advertised, belonging.

Screen Time

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight | Set in Zimbabwe, South Africa-based Production | This is a film adaptation of a memoir by Embeth Davidtz, who has a direct hand in producing the film. Davidtz was raised in what was initially Rhodesia, and we catch a glimpse of her white family’s farming life just as Robert Mugabe takes power and reinvents the country as Zimbabwe. To top it all off, her mom must deal with both family life and the politics of the era alongside bipolar disorder. It’s a coming of age story set against an incredibly complex backdrop.

Kneecap | Set and produced in Northern Ireland | This film starts right off the bat by calling out how most films set in 1980s Ireland begin… with car bombings and the troubles and all that. Then it lets you know how you’re in for something different. Kneecap focuses on a group of young rap artists and how their assertion of the Irish tongue in lyrical form becomes a vehicle for discourse around national identity in Belfast at the time.

Rental Family | Set in Japan, USA-based Production | This one features Brendan Fraser playing a struggling American actor who finds himself booking unusual gigs… pretending to be fiances, estranged family members, and other people in the real lives of ordinary Japanese families. While the film’s actual script is a work of fiction, the job it portrays is based on the real world “rent-a-family” businesses that started to emerge in Japan in the 1980s. Subtly comedic with heart.

Goat | This film had so much going for it, I wish it got a bit more attention. It has a stacked roster of voice actors, which seems to consist of 33% Stranger Things cast members, 33% NBA Players, and 33% stand up comedians. And Wayne Knight to make up the other 1%, I guess. This feels more like the Space Jam of the 2020s than the Space Jam of the 2020s. It has the obvious basketball element, flashy animation reminiscent of the Spider-Verse movies, and feels very much like a product of its time. With all the niche slang that isn’t bound to age well, it’ll be interesting to see how precisely dated this feels in a couple years.

Augurk Aan Zee | Set in Bonaire, Netherlands based Production | This is a straightforward comedy, with over-the-top characters in improbable situations. This one features a Dutch factory worker’s attempt to reconnect with his estranged father… who almost immediately passes away leaving him with a resort in Bonaire in serious disrepair. It’s the sort of movie that we grew up on but don’t really see anymore. Glad that comedy lives on in Dutch cinema, at least.

La Suprema | Set and produced in Colombia | This is a film about a girl who takes a strong interest in boxing, while her village’s hometown hero prepares for a major fight. The rural village is so remote, it’s left off of many maps. This makes the simple task of acquiring a TV for everyone to watch the fight a tall order. The film is a bit of a slow burn at first, but sticks the landing with a ton of heart.

One Story, Then Another

I was a pretty active Tumblr user from 2009-2012.

You should’ve been there. It was a great time. A much more lighthearted internet. The fandoms. The memes. I made a lot of online friends, some of whom morphed into real world friends. Imagine that!

I also learned a lot about Dr. Who.

I didn’t actually watch Dr. Who at the time. I felt like I didn’t need to. They had such an active fanbase online and I have this unusual talent of being able to fake my way into a fan base. I can absorb enough lingo and information from other people’s conversations to discuss shows I’ve never seen. I’ve been a poser Game of Thrones guy, a Breaking Bad faker, and of course, an imposter Whovian.

I used this superpower as a running gag, to be obnoxious to a friend who knew I hadn’t actually seen an episode. It was a good bit! A good run for many years. And I decided to eventually put it to rest by watching the legacy BBC series for real.

I picked up with its 2005 relaunch and worked my way through several seasons.

And now, I’ve been thinking about Dr. Who quite a bit. Specifically, his thing for regeneration.

In case you didn’t know, every time they replace the lead actor, the Doctor dies. He has the ability to regenerate in a new body, which is a pretty convenient way to keep a show running for half a century. Still, this usually ends up being a pretty sentimental episode, with season finale-level stakes and often an emotional parting of that Doctor and their companion.

Our actual lives sometimes have moments like that.

A lot of life’s changes are gradual, but sometimes you get a graduation. A move. A sudden loss. Moments that feel like death and rebirth. I started mapping out times in my life that were like that.

Finishing college. Moving to Oregon. Moving out of Oregon. Becoming a dad. Having twins and becoming a dad to three.

That last one was over four years ago, and since then, the tentpoles of my life have been pretty solidly planted. Until just now.

Regeneration itself absolutely fascinates me.

I’ve spent the past decade as a spokesperson for a faith-based environmental organization. We helped rural communities around the globe, largely through regenerative agriculture. I loved the uncommon pairing of faith and ecology.

Regeneration beautifully synthesizes the scientific and the spiritual.

Decomposing remains go into the soil to be digested by worms. Things stay quiet for a while, then life emerges. It’s a vital process that keeps life going on our planet. And it’s one that mirrors life.

Above ground, there’s the journey from life to death. That’s the visible part of the journey.

But the part that’s unseen, is the circling back. Death to life.

It’s beautiful but it isn’t convenient. All the stuff that happens under the soil happens in the cover of darkness. It’s a struggle to find the light.

There’s more mystery than answer, but this process and pattern gets mirrored all throughout nature and all throughout life when you pay attention.

A few months ago, I had this moment of deep and uncomplicated gratitude for what life looked like at the moment.

I loved my job. I saw my role evolve with me. I grew in parallel with a mission I believed in.

I love the adventures I got to go on. Sometimes for work, sometimes just by saying yes to things.

I loved my community. The struggles of making friends during the years of early parenthood are well documented. But somehow, the past few years were full of good connections.

And of course, I loved my family. Having three kids within two years of each other will make for a wild and busy time. But it was such a good time full of sweetness. And as I began the process of registering my twins for school, it occurred to me that things were about to change pretty significantly.

We’d been at the same daycare center for six years. We were thankful for that time, but the upcoming transition to school would be a game-changer for both our schedules and wallets.

I briefly wondered if that might trigger some other new beginning, like exploring new roles at work or launching new projects. Something to add a new challenge to a life that had gotten more and more comfortable over the years and that was about to get a lot more open.

I decided, we should punt that decision a little further down the road. After all, the past few years were so packed and chaotic. It was a good chaos, but still chaos. Having a lighter year of coasting might not be so bad.



There were some little whispers that changes were coming. And while I mistook those for my usual curiosity, turns out they were small signals that a whole lot of changes were headed my way.

I left Plant With Purpose in February. Parted on the best of terms, mutually cheering for each other’s success. But still, leaving a niche you’ve carved out for a decade doesn’t happen easily. And in my case, this happened during a season that was already difficult.

That winter, I had to stomach a trio of tragedies. Three deaths in my circles. Plus the usual weight of the world.

Different actors in Doctor Who have played their regeneration scenes differently. Some lean into the fact that they are physically dying. Some display acceptance. Others fight it.

All these changes felt like the end of David Tennant’s run, where he individually visits almost all of his supporting characters to offer a meaningful sendoff, then expresses simply… I don’t want to die.

Not to be dramatic, or anything, but I didn’t exactly want to leave a season of life where I had so much fun.

Now I find myself in a wild new chapter of life.

I’ve got my next adventure ahead of me. It’ll take new forms, but I’ll still be using the power of telling stories and strategic messaging to support our planet. Clean air. Healthy oceans. Safe communities. I’ve laid the groundwork for new opportunities in social impact storytelling, and I’m ready to begin building.

The kids will all be in school together in a couple months, and that’ll be a game-changer.

Regeneration is beautiful. But it isn’t pretty.

A large part of this process includes death, breakdown, and decomposition. At the moment, it’s disorienting and frustrating.

But it’s also a gift. A gift to begin again.

Our lives aren’t quite like movies, where the story needs to end once all the problems are solved. They’re more like comic books, where you take care of one bad guy, but the small details unearthed along the way will turn into a new problem to be dealt with in the next issue.

Whenever a storyline runs its course, life has a way of forcing us to begin again. To take the old parts and to make something new. And isn’t that so much better than just growing stale with the same old plot?

It’s such a gift that we get one story after another after another.

Spring 2026

School’s out, summer’s on, here we go.

To be totally transparent, life has been weird lately. Some promising new beginnings and some hard things persisting make for a very strange mix. We’ve also had a lot of little bits of good things shine through.

Here’s a highlight reel of those little bits of good.

Thirtysix

It’s my birthday so I decided to post a little life update.

My past lap around the sun started with several months of deep appreciation of what my life looked like at the moment, understanding that what was “normal” to me was really quite good.

Then, a pretty rough season of endings, tragedies, and loss.

And now, some new beginnings. An open road just coming into focus.

It’s a gift to get new chapters, and a gift to share them with people who’ve seen you through the previous ones.

Spanish Grocery Haul

Visiting a supermarket is almost mandatory for me when visiting a new country. I’ve been to about 60, and I’ve made grocery visits in about 40 of them.

So which country has the best grocery stores?

Within each country, for the most part, there’s a range of different stores, but if I were to rank them it might go something like…

7. Portugal

6. Morocco

5. South Korea

4. Singapore

3. Estonia

2. Italy

And in my top spot…

2026 Winter Reads

I haven’t done a highlight post of recent reads in a while, so here’s a reading recap of the past few months:

Endling

Maria Reva

This book was wild! Totally see why it wound up on so many prize lists. It’s primarily set in Eastern Ukraine in early 2022, meaning everything happens against the backdrop of the Russian invasion. Its plots include a scientist fighting to save a snail species in a war zone, a missing mother, and a bachelor-like matchmaking service getting disrupted by war. Has the feel of a heist movie while exploring being under threat.

Babel

RF Kuang

As soon as I realized I was reading a book about a magical school where all the alchemy was unlocked through the power of LINGUISTICS- I was in. It hit all the right nerdy notes for me while also addressing the challenges of colonialism and being in a setting that simultaneously exoticizes but demeans your origins. This book was brilliant.


Something in the Woods Loves You

Jarod K. Anderson

A very vulnerable and very well written memoir featuring the author’s struggle with severe depression and the role nature played in saving his life. While it’s always admirable when someone opens up about these struggles, it doesn’t always translate to the most enjoyable read. There are so many beautiful insights and well-worded thoughts here, however, that make this one of my most highlighted reads.

Kitchen Confidential

Anthony Bourdain

I picked this as my memoir-read this time around because I truly couldn’t remember if I’d read it or not. I was so familiar with many of its anecdotes, tone, etc., but that may have been from the many Bourdain interviews and documentaries made over the years. Not everything ages immaculately, but this throwback to his grungiest kitchen days showed he always had it as a storyteller.


The Message

Ta Nehisi Coates

This pseudo-memoir-slash-essay-collection connects a lot of dots between Palestine, Coates’ travels to the Senegalese Coast, and his home in Baltimore. His writing is sharp as always but it’s his ability to blend personal narrative with global concerns that carries a reminder of James Baldwin in the best way.

A World of Curiosities

Louise Penny

I picked this up because I wanted a read to correspond with my Quebec trip. This was a dive into a genre I don’t typically read much of–mystery surrounding a quirky detective. I loved shows like Monk and Colombo, so maybe I should pick them up more often. This world definitely fit that bill, with an element of time jumps back and forth over several decades to see how different characters evolve. Great character work.

The Hike

Drew Magary

This book was weird, frenetic, and basically what would happen if you took Alice in Wonderland and then swapped Alice out with a dude going through a mid-life crisis. It’s absurdist, funny, but at the very end manages to tie things together with a little surprise that adds a meaningful touch in an Everything-Everywhere sort of way.

The Inheritance of Orquieda Divina

Zoraida Córdova

Another read I picked up in order to sync with my travel plans. This one has a good dose of magical realism in an accessible YA sort of delivery. The world was rich and the plot was interesting, but I often found myself lost in the details. Maybe I just read this too late at night too many times. I still liked it.

Amsterdam

Ian McEwan

A bit of a melancholic feeling novel about a couple of friends reunited after a funeral and a trip to Amsterdam. Some interesting bits pop up around a political scandal and other things unfolding, however this one had a fairly bleak and heavy feel– and featured a lot less of Amsterdam than I would’ve liked. Will take recs for books actually set in the Netherlands.

The Cross and the Lynching Tree

James Cone

This was a long overdue read for me, as I’ve been familiar with Cone’s work through the many theologians and thinkers he’s influenced. Still, it was great to finally go to the source of his main argument– connecting the crucifixion to the lynching tree in Black History, along with figures like Emmett Till and elements like blues and spirituals. Such a profound look at Black liberation theology.

Lost in the Valley of Death

Harley Rustad

This was one of my favorite recent reads– an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of an Instagram travel influencer in 2016 somewhere in the valley of the Himalayas. This book had a really similar feel to Jon Krakauer’s books, and makes direct reference to Into The Wild a few times to acknowledge the uncanny similarities. Also introduces the eerie pattern of disappearances in India’s Parvati Valley which now feel underreported.

An African History of Africa

Zeinab Badawi

I loved this! While I don’t know if I can ever consider a single book on Africa “fully comprehensive” this is the closest thing I’ve seen! Especially because it’s written to very deliberately feature Africans’ retelling of their own history. This spans the continent well, but I especially loved the highlights on Ethiopia, Tunisia, Angola, and Great Zimbabwe.

Enjoy that remarkable life of yours

There was an author who I used to be quite fond of. As he transitioned from writing thoughtful memoirs to more self-help-style business books, my interest started to fade. Out of curiosity, I looked over some of his more recent stuff.

In both books and blogs, he seemed to frequently ask the question:

“Do you want a remarkable life?”

“You know you weren’t born just to be average… you’re here to do something remarkable.”

“You’ve got to leave your comfort zone, otherwise you won’t live that remarkable life you were meant for.”

It made me question… do I actually want my life to be remarkable?

Remarkable: well-above-average, outstanding, or impressive.

Do I want my life to be above average? I think it’s inevitable for some parts of my life to be above average, only to be balanced out by other parts being below average. I guess it’d be kind of boring to be perfectly average all across the board.

Do I want my life to be outstanding? Within reason, I suppose.

Do I want my life to be impressive? I’d be lying if I said no. But also, I’ve learned that living for the admiration of others is a futile endeavor.

Comedian Zoltan Kaszas has a great bit in his London Fog special, where he pokes fun at people who talk up their desire to “leave a legacy.”

“Or…” he suggests, “You could just die casually. People who want to leave a legacy are probably the same group of people who actually enjoy having Happy Birthday sung to them. The rest of us just smile and wait for it to be over.”

(Go check out that hour-long special, by the way. It’s one of the better ones I’ve seen in a while.)

But I guess my honest answer isn’t one that’ll ramp up excitement in that business/self-help aisle. Do I want a remarkable life? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

First, let’s talk about the times where a remarkable life actually does carry some appeal.

I once saw this advertisement for a men’s magazine with the text Live The Interesting Life written over a scene of a funeral. Gathered around the casket were presumably the family of the deceased, a rugby team, some Buddhist monks, a mime, a few guys in kilts with bagpipes, a chef, a pair of geishas, and a bike gang. Whoever this guy was, he had a remarkable life. It seemed like he had a lot of fun.

Most people don’t realize it but life often throws us thousands of discreet invitations to go on quirky side quests that we often miss.

I have a tendency to embrace quirky adventures when I get the opportunity. A little while ago, I decided to run a marathon, and then decided that marathon should be in the epicenter of running: Kenya. The goal isn’t to impress others for the sake of vanity. My race splits were definitely not impressive. The goal is often to amuse myself, to see life differently by going way beyond the default, and to meet some interesting people along the way.

The reality is that each of us only gets to use one playable character in our lives: ourselves. Life itself is a pretty wild gift, and whenever you take the time to think of all the crazy and improbable things that needed to happen in order for there to be a universe that could host our planet… a planet that could sustain life long enough for the exact specific combination of your ancestors to meet in order to lead to you… its mindblowing. It never gets old. And it makes you not want to squander that gift.

A book or a movie doesn’t really go anywhere if its characters don’t have any sort of goal or objective.

And you know what? Life gets a lot more depth when you decide to live intentionally.

Whenever you pick a big dream, goal, or mission and pursue it wholeheartedly, so many pieces of life fall into place. It’s like we weren’t just put here to recycle calories and oxygen, but we have storylines and plots just waiting for us. And whether that takes the form of doing something good for the world, something really challenging that inspires others, or some combination, the result is an actually remarkable life.

Okay, but let’s talk about the flip side of that.

Calling some lives remarkable implies the existence of unremarkable lives… and that doesn’t sit well with me.

Once again, the crazy improbable odds of our universe, our planet, and our ancestors setting the stage for ourselves means that every life is pretty remarkable just by virtue of being here.

Let’s be real. So many of the things I’ve gotten to do that might seem “remarkable” were available to me because of a lot of privilege and the work of other people. My parents and grandparents didn’t quite have the same amount of opportunities but that doesn’t make their journey any less remarkable.

Working in rural and remote villages for a decade has helped me further appreciate the things we often look at as plain, simple, and ordinary. I know that some of the most beautiful lives have been lived in very ordinary settings. Those encounters have done the most to remind me of the good in the world. It feels wrong to talk disparagingly about “ordinary” when ordinary can be quite beautiful.

Finally, there have been a few experiences where I’ve seen my “normal” life being disrupted by some sort of crisis. In those moments, you really start to crave normal.

A lot of spiritual leaders have defined enlightenment as the realization that our separation is an illusion.

I think that applies to this illusion that some lives are remarkable and others aren’t. The fact is, it’s all fairly relative. I still often think about a 2019 interview where Conan O’Brien acknowledged: “At this point in my career, I could go out with a grand, 21-gun salute, and climb into a rocket and the entire Supreme Court walks out and they jointly press a button, I’m shot up into the air and there’s an explosion and it’s orange and it spells, ‘Good night and God love,’”

“In this culture? Two years later, it’s going to be, ‘Who’s Conan?’ This is going to sound grim, but eventually, all our graves go unattended.”

Living for the admiration of others is sort of pointless.

You’re probably best off simply living the best version of your life. Whatever that happens to mean. I’m sure it’ll be remarkable.

Tasting Maori Hangi

New Zealand surprised me with its abundance of good places to eat, but the journey wouldn’t be complete without a taste of Māori cuisine.

With the exception of certain cities, it isn’t always easy to find hangi- traditional roasts in underground ovens. Thankfully I found The Hangi Shop in Auckland for a little intro.

Angela Davis

It is easy to feel discouraged and simply let go. There is no shame in that. We are, after all, engaged in a struggle that seems, if we look at it using a mainstream political framework and through a mass media prism, unwinnable. On the other hand, if we take a step back, look at things from a broader angle, reflecting on what is happening all over the world and the history of struggle, the history of solidarity movements, it becomes clear, sometimes even obvious, that seemingly indestructible forces can be, thanks to people’s willpower, sacrifices, and actions, easily broken.

–Angela Davis

What a Gift: An Update from Philippe

My run with Plant With Purpose as storyteller and communications leader has come to a close. It has been such a big part of my life for so long, so that still feels weird to say. But when it comes to feelings, gratitude is front and center.

The past decade has been a joyful adventure.

Getting to serve the communities at the front lines of climate change through the work of international development, tree planting, and storytelling through Plant With Purpose has been such a privilege.

First, know that there’s no drama. All I’ve said about the mission these past few years hold true and I’m cheering on my friends and partners still. I finish on a high note. I got to start my last week delivering a sermon on climate justice wrapped up in stories and lessons from the past ten years.

I finish on a high note. I got to start my last week delivering a sermon on climate justice wrapped up in stories and lessons from the past ten years. 

At an organization that’s not far from 50 years old, it was always going to be a relay race.

And I get to hand that baton off to some of the best hands. Teammates. Partners all around the world.

I’ve been flashing back to when I received that baton.

Not only did I get the chance to enter the world of international development like I always dreamed, but I wound up at an organization that was doing everything the right way. Treating people like partners not projects. Investing in local leadership. Addressing root causes.

And my job was to put words to it. To tell that story!

I always said that I had the fun job, but that I hoped everyone felt that way about their job.

I’m pretty sure that back when I was interviewing for the role, I used the line “I’d like my growth to happen alongside the organization’s growth.”

And it really happened.

When I joined Plant With Purpose, it was doing great work. But it was small and scrappy I was a one-person department.

I got to see all my teammates level up their efforts.

To see the team grow from 15 to 50 people. To see people hired right out of college turn into senior leaders. To see programs in Malawi and Ethiopia get started. I got to help concoct talking points to make the work irresistible. I rallied for stage time and article placements and podcast interviews, and landed a couple fun ones. Made some videos I’m proud of.

Our audience grew. So did the budget. 325% baby.

As for my growth?

Some of it is obvious.

Welcoming three kids in the middle of the ride will do that.

But there’s a lot that changed beneath the surface too. I’ve grown professionally and personally.

Early on, I swung for the fences, feeling like I had a lot to prove. Lots of energy. Could’ve used more focus.

But I got to learn from partners. Learn from teammates. Learn from experience.

I went from working for admiration to working from love.

I went from doing something new every two years, setting out with a founder’s mentality to learning how to appreciate the joy of being on a team. The beauty of a long obedience in the same direction.

And let’s be real, we had some big adventures.

My Plant With Purpose journey took me from clay houses in Tanzania to the TED Stage. I got to step into hilltribe villages in Thailand and church forests in Ethiopia.

I experienced a rush of hope during a difficult time while standing in a Haitian pine forest.

I experienced healing when I planted the first tree in Oaxaca in memory of a friend.

And I experienced a lot of weird things too.

Accidentally hosting a whole bunch of diplomats in our office who all wanted to talk about cyberbullying. Bringing a David Attenborough impression to our fanciest fundraising event of the year. Doing crowd work in a village using the only 12 Kirundi phrases I knew.

When people would ask me my favorite part about my work, there was a lot to say. I got to do the things I loved doing. I got to do them for a legitimately good cause. And yes, the adventures!

But over time, that answer got a lot simpler.

The people.

I’ve worked with some great ones.

That’ll be the thing I miss most.

My comms and marketing team challenged me to always show up mindfully, strategically, and creatively.

My international partners absolutely wowed me with their courage and spirit of serving others. Some show up again and again. In war zones. In spite of so many setbacks. Some of the bravest stories are ones I can’t even talk about, because of real safety concerns.

And I’ve also been thinking about Kirstie. Durbel. Katie Gardner. People who reminded me that at the end of the day, what matters is that you showed up for others with love.

I’ve livestreamed funerals and adoption hearings with this team. Half of us became parents at the same time.

Next adventures are loading.

I hold curiosity, excitement, nervousness, and all that as I look forward to what comes next. Trust me, you’ll hear all about it.

But before jumping there, I wanted to give the past decade its due.

It was such a good one.

I’m not usually a fan of endings, but If I’ve learned anything from years of telling stories about trees and soil, it’s that nothing really ends. 

Sure, things decay and go back into the earth where they started. They get chewed up by worms for a little bit. And then? Something new bursts out made up of the same organic matter of what was.

I’m so thankful for the grace I’ve gotten from everybody I worked with. That grace allowed me to grow.

I’m grateful for all the adventures. So many hilarious moments. So many beautiful ones.

And I’m hopeful the legacy of ethical storytelling, partners not projects, and choosing curiosity and hope will continue.

What a gift.

Spring 2026

3/1 - SEASON OF FREE

At the start of winter, I decided to anchor those months around the theme of: FREE.

It’s wild how that played out. December was an incredibly fun amusement park of a month, but then January came–a month marked by endings and death. Literally in a few cases.

February contained one of my biggest life changes in years, since kids, really, and entering a liminal space of transition.

So does that fit the picture of FREE? I oddly think it does.

Freedom is easy to romanticize but it come with a big trade. Though you cut obligations, you lose predictability. Muscle memory that served you well for ages is no longer of use.

I’ve never been the most astrological person, but whenever I’ve read about snake years turning into horse years representing a shedding of old skin, I’ve thought… I can work with that! Let’s break into a run.

3/4 - READY TO SPEAK MORE

Something I’d love to start doing more of this year: paid speaking gigs! I truly love speaking, creating experiences, and connecting with people on stage. Lots to learn about how to make that more of a recurring thing.

Guess it’s time to start putting that out there more often!

(Also, I’ve given a TED Talk but I’m dropping an image of the one and only time I’ve tried stand up comedy cause that’s life!)

3/5 - DO THE WEIRD THING

During my last week at Plant With Purpose, one of my teammates said that to her a big part of my legacy was to always ‘do the weird thing.’

Say what?

She explained by remembering all the times we wound up dancing for an audience at an Ethiopian restaurant, ordering mystery items from a soup restaurant in Thailand, or ducking from tree branches while in a truck bed on a muddy road.

The things you end up remembering the most at the end of the day are the times you said yes to ‘weird’ invitations.

I kinda like having that legacy.

3/7 – A weekend for the guys.