Dame Traveler

Introduction

"Once in a while it really hits people that they don't have to experience the world in the way they have been told to." Alan Keightley

For as long as I can remember, I have felt out of place. Growing up in a strict Middle Eastern community in Michigan, I found myself constantly questioning the status quo. Why am I being forced into this mold of a woman that I don t identify with? Why should marriage and raising children at a young age be my only priority? Why am I not enough? These questions constantly haunted me.

With cultural barriers and different perspectives on how life should be lived, the type of expectations placed on many girls and women in my community just didn t align with the vision I had for my life. By the age of twenty, I had had enough. I knew in my heart of hearts that there was something more for me outside of the bubble I was born into . . . and I was going to find it. I didn t know where my life was heading, but I promised myself that I wasn t going to settle by taking the traditional path.

During this time, I began volunteering at a local hospital and became inspired by the dedication and selflessness of the nurses that I assisted, which led me to start taking prerequisite classes for nursing school. As I progressed in my studies, I knew that I needed to get out of Michigan, but, at the time, I didn t believe I had the confidence to be accepted into universities; and then I woke up at 4 a.m. one morning, and something called me to give it a shot and to impulsively send my applications to nursing schools in major cities like New York City and Chicago. Ever since I first caught a glimpse of the glimmering skyline on our family trips to Chicago, living in a big city had become a far fetched dream of mine, and this late night wake-up call was my attempt at making it a reality.

After pressing send, I never imagined I would hear back from universities. But a month later, I received an acceptance letter from Loyola

Nastasia Yakoub is a former registered nurse turned full-time traveler, entrepreneur, and photographer. She is the founder of Dame Traveler, Instagram's best-known independent female travel community. Defying her cultural norms, she went from a totally sheltered upbringing to traveling to sixty-three countries on solo adventures.