http://www.blogher.com/node/19158 Comments for "Andrea Martins Talks About Expat Women" en http://www.blogher.com/node/19158 <p>A few months back, Andrea Martins contacted me - and a lot of other women living abroad. Could we help out by signing up as <a href="http://www.expatwomen.com/mentors.php">mentors</a> to other expats and soon to be expats? She was launching <a href="http://www.expatwomen.com/">Expat Women</a> with Jill Lengre - a fellow expat - designed to help those who make the big move to another country.The result is a networking, story-telling, and resource site for expat women, full of first person experiences. It's an eye-opener for those planning to go abroad and a community for those already living away from their native countries. I recently e-chatted with Andrea about the site, how it's changed since launch, and the myths of life in far away lands. </p> <p>And when you're done here, don't miss the opportunity to <a href="http://expatwomen.com/expatblog/index.php?c=0">browse the expat blog directory</a>. Find out first hand what it's like to live in the place you've always imagined yourself...</p> <p><em>Tell us a little bit about your expat life - where do you live, how did you end up there...</em></p> <p>Ironically, the same month that ExpatWomen.com launched, I stopped being an expat. I enjoyed three years in Jakarta, Indonesia, before moving to the colorful and contrasting Mexico City, Mexico, for four years. However, just as we launched ExpatWomen.com (after a year in the making), I moved back to Australia for a while – to live by the beach – and to introduce my young kids to their extended family.<br /> <em><br /> What are the goals of your site, Expat Women?</em></p> <p>Jill Lengré (an American friend in Mexico City) and I created ExpatWomen.com to help women succeed overseas, by aiming to provide them with a first-stop website to share stories, network globally, develop personally and find the best resources. Our vision is to develop, with the help of our audience, such a phenomenal resource for expat women that the site becomes the #1 website for Expatriate Women worldwide. </p> <p>We dream of hosting a Mentor network that covers (at the very least) every major city in the world, so that whenever and wherever you moved abroad, you could jump onto ExpatWomen.com and immediately contact a Mentor for advice in your area. Imagine what an amazing support network that would be for women worldwide.</p> <p><em>What do expat women need to know that's different from what expat men need to know? </em></p> <p>Well, we can’t speak for men (although we do get site feedback from men – so there are men reading our site!), but we believe that women really need to know ‘where to get support’. That’s why we offer various support networks on the site itself, but then we have lots of links to local networks and clubs on our 190 Country pages, so that women can find local means of support in their new locations. Maybe this need for support has something to do with less women getting the office environment support that men tend to get, or maybe it’s just the nature of women – who typically love and seek out the support, friendship and assistance of other women.<br /> <em><br /> Has the site changed since its launch and in what ways? </em></p> <p>Yes. Our two biggest changes since we launched in January have been the addition of our Expat Women Blog Directory (which we introduced last week and which already has 170 self-submitted expat women blogs) and our Forums. We have more surprises in store for the future too. In addition to major changes, the site changes daily: we develop new features; we add new articles; new resources; new Mentors; we fix things, based on both visitor feedback and our own checking of our 4000 pages.</p> <p><em>You have a mentor program that matches new expats with more experienced expats in their adopted countries - has that been successful? Do you have any Mentor success stories?</em></p> <p>Yes. We have just over 150 Expat Women Mentors on the site now, who have all kindly volunteered their time to answer questions from other expat women in (or moving to) their location. As the site is only new, most of the Mentors have not received any emails to date, but they’re ready and waiting, if anyone wants to move overseas and needs a personal contact! </p> <p>In terms of success stories, Carol and Lizzy stand out Carol, in Saudi Arabia, has probably helped the most women to date via personal Mentor emails and via our Forums. Carol’s good karma seems to have been rewarded of late, as she won our Story of the Month competition, then had her book proposal accepted by a publisher, then scored herself a job in Saudi. Go Carol! Lizzy, in Denver, US, got lucky in our first week online, when she answered some questions as a Mentor, and the woman was so happy with Lizzy’s support, that she gave Lizzy’s company the contract to relocate 55 of the company’s employees from the UK!</p> <p><em>I had certain fictional ideas about life abroad from movies and books, but found they were totally untrue...What do you think is the biggest myth about expat life? </em></p> <p>That’s it’s all glamorous!</p> <p><em>Related to that, was your biggest surprise to you about expat living?</em></p> <p>That friends and family back home did not really want to hear what I’d been up to overseas, because it was thought to be “too glamorous”.</p> <p><em>What did you miss the most from your home country?</em></p> <p>Family, friends and the beach.</p> <p><em>What's the most rewarding thing about living as an expat? And is there a secret to being a happy expat?</em></p> <p>To me, the most rewarding aspect was the opportunity to meet so many different people from so many countries, who typically had so many interesting stories to tell about their travel and their life experiences.</p> <p>The secret to leading a happy expat life? Smile. Make friends. Develop a support network. Make sure you know people who will take your call at 2am and help you if you need it. Travel and enjoy yourself!</p> <p><em>Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at <a href="http://www.nerdseyeview.com">Nerd's Eye View</a>. </em></p> http://www.blogher.com/node/19158#comments Travel Sun, 06 May 2007 12:12:38 -0500 Pam 19158 at http://www.blogher.com