Shahnaz Radjy, Eco-tourism
Shahnaz Radjy
La Grande Boissière, 2000
Eco-tourism
Portugal
Learn more about me :
After a decade between Geneva, Switzerland, La Paz, Bolivia, and New York, the USA working in project management and communications with a focus on public health, I now live in rural Portugal where my husband and I are renovating an old farm into an ecotourism project, “Casa Beatrix” (opened summer 2021). I work as a communications consultant, I write, and I’m a wedding celebrant. Between that, having almost 30 animals (13 ducks, 5 chickens, 2 guinea fowl, 2 potbelly pigs, 2 donkeys, 2 cats, 2 dogs), and starting a family… no two days are the same. There is never a dull moment!
Impossible to have only one favourite memory of Ecolint! I remember becoming obsessed with whales when we performed “Baby Baluga” in 5th grade, discovering quilting and loving it, laughing so hard in class I couldn’t breathe, dissecting an eyeball, going to Istanbul for a Math competition, walking around the UN for Student League of Nations, travelling to Bolivia for volunteer work, travelling around the world in food at the Kermesse year after year – and that’s barely the tip of the iceberg.
Two absolute highlights of my experience are the friendships and some of the incredible teachers.
Ecolint got me into a great university and enabled a seamless transition academically. In terms of the bigger picture, Ecolint taught me that anything was possible and that if I tried, odds are I could achieve almost anything I set my mind to.
Coming back to the Ecolint friendships are worth their weight in gold and then some! Some of my closest friends today, 20 years on, are from Ecolint, and I can go almost anywhere in the world and know someone. The Ecolint connection is the stuff of legends.
If you had it to do all over again, what would you do differently? I’d like to think that while most of my decisions would likely stay the same, perhaps I would take a year off to travel and figure out what I was passionate about rather than following the preordained path of school-university – job. Then again, that may not have gotten me to where I am today, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world!
Your words of wisdom:
- If you have a dream, go for it. You won’t get there overnight, but then most overnight successes take a decade or more to achieve. And if you don’t get there, learn, adapt, and try again.
- Whatever you do, do it in the most planet-friendly way possible.
- Screens are an incredible tool, but don’t let your life be dictated by them. Value off-screen time: for yourself, with friends and family, and outdoors.
- Read! As many books as you can, from diverse authors.