Michelle Hy is in her final year working on her B.A. in Applied Linguistics at Portland State University. A Portland native brought up by Asian parents, she's spent the last couple decades accruing a love for travel (with much thanks to her travel-happy grandparents), language, and The Phantom of the Opera. She's excited to be working as an intern for Half Sky Journeys spreading the word for Rwanda 2015. 

What ignited your passion for empowering women worldwide?

Being raised by a single mother who didn’t so much preach feminism as lived it. She taught me to be independent in my material and mental wealth. And as a “millennial” brought up in the technological age, I have had access to more information on the world than any generation before us. With all this data, we can solve problems like never before. Gender equality is an important issue to me because, well, it directly affects me. To fight for the right of all women to be equal citizens of the world is fighting for my right, too. There’s so much untapped potential and I want to do my part in unleashing that beautiful, powerful resource in us.

What's one of your favorite places you've traveled and why?

Angkor Wat, Cambodia is a surreal place for its history – both glorious and tragic. I had never been to a place such as Siem Reap, so to see real poverty in the flesh for the first time was perception-altering. At 15, it made me uncomfortable and made me question various political and social structures that create such a disparity in living quality. Getting a glimpse at the life of people who live half way across the world from me, in addition to being surrounded by the historical aesthetic of the largest religious monument in the world, gives me chills from time to time when I think of that trip. Those three days were spiritual, unsettling, and will likely stay with me the rest of my life. 
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Where would you like to visit next and why?

Let me through a dart on a map and that’s where I’d like to go next. The whole world is there for the viewing and I would like to see as much of it as I can in my lifetime. But if I had to consciously choose, I would love to explore China first. I am a born and raised Portlandian, but my family is from Taiwan and China. I’ve visited family in  
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As an agent for positive change, what is one of your dreams for the future?

The re-discovery of our social roots as human creatures. I want to see people re-unite in tribes, communities, families – whatever you want to call them, as long as they’re sustainable. As cheesy as it sounds, the best way to solve global problems is through working together and getting social cohesion back on the top of our priority list.

​Rebecca Brown is a new intern on the Half Sky Journeys team. Originally from Washington State, she spent her childhood moving all around the western US, which is probably where her need for continued travel and exploration came from. She's now lived in six states and two countries, including two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Eastern Ukraine. She's an absolute addict when it comes to coffee, podcasts, cross-stitching, and travel.
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What ignited your passion for empowering women worldwide?

​Education has been the ignition switch for me. I've been involved in education, both in the US and abroad, for over 10 years now. I believe that education, both the systematic and the informal, lays a foundation for a full life. I have seen what happens when women have the tools, knowledge, resources, and freedom to achieve. They do! And when women achieve, the world achieves. When the potential of women is unlocked, we are all unshackled.


What's one of your favorite places you've traveled and why?

​That's such a hard question because all of my trips have been great for one reason or another. South Africa was my first solo trip and it was amazing to be able to just go with the flow, meet new and amazing people, explore a beautiful country, and generally just do whatever I wanted at all.

Puerto Rico was spectacular because I used that trip to introduce my much younger sister to the joys of travel, which she had never done before. We both had wholly new experiences and got to bond in a brand new way.

​Poland in the winter was like walking in a real-life snow-globe with cobblestone streets and wrought-iron lamp posts.​ Leaving my previous home of two years and crossing from Ukraine into Poland looking out the window of a train very literally took my breath away.

I could go on and on...

Where would you like to visit next and why?

​The list is long, for sure, but at the top is Vietnam. My grandmother is from Vietnam and I grew up with her stories that I long to see in real life. It would be magical to travel that country with her.
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As an agent for positive change, what is one of your dreams for the future?

​Free, high-quality, and equal public education for all of our children. Education is empowerment. Sharing knowledge and experiences with our children, and encouraging them to generate their own, plants so many seeds-- curiosity, empathy, perseverance, hope. All children deserve that. I want to be a part of making that dream come true.

Simply put, I know it will be life-changing! I’m at a time in my life and my own personal development where I’m seeking experiences that can push me, break me out of old patterns and into a new ways of thinking, so that I can be a more positive contributor to my family, my work, and the world.

As time goes by and my children grow, I’ve felt more and more how important it is to be a global citizen—especially to be part of women worldwide helping each other. It seems like—what better way to do this than actually go, see, and meet real women leading change across the world?!