Our Women’s Eye Podcast Travel Series continues with guest host and travel writer Laurie McAndish King in conversation with Dr. Riza Rasco, an academic and scientist who reinvented herself as an intrepid world explorer.
Available also on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube
Welcome! Join in as I talk with Riza Rasco, who transformed discouragement into empowerment through travel.
Dr. Rasco has spent time in all 203 countries in the world, and multiple territories as well! Now she explores the ways travel can serve both as a path to personal renewal and as a catalyst for collective good.
Riza’s memoir, The World is My Mirror is just out, and tells the story of her challenging journey. It’s indeed an inspiring read.
Riza started with an overland journey across the African continent—a nine-month trip without permanent shelter or running water. It was during this challenging time that she developed the courage and resilience to eventually travel solo to many other countries.
And it was solo travel that gave Riza what she calls the real experience of another culture.
“Show that you’re willing to adopt their culture, to wear their clothing, and do the things they do,” Riza says. “That’s when you’re able to connect.”
“It doesn’t get into you until you actually go there yourself.”
Along the way, Dr. Rasco learned about the kinds of action that produce a real impact in people’s daily lives—things like preventing flooding, and creating access to medical care and safe drinking water. She founded Explore Africa for Impact, the first tourism infrastructure in Togo.
“I knew I wanted to help build something meaningful for a community… I was beginning to search for more than discovery. I wanted to serve.”
Risa offered many suggestions for other women who want to travel the way she did:
- How to have the best experience
- How public transportation can show you parts of a culture that might be missed
- How solo travel can sometimes work better than group travel for experiencing other culture
“This is why I travel. To witness.
To stand before someone else’s sacred and feel the edges of my own soul stretch just a little wider.”
Enjoy this podcast!
Photos Courtesy Riza Rasco
To find out more about Riza and her new book The World is My Mirror:
Website: rizarasco.com
Instagram: RizaRasco
Facebook: sonriza.rasco
LinkedIn:: rizarasco
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