105: Harry Kennedy - I'm A Rare Breed

Peeling Back the Layers of Your Life®

ALL THE WAY FROM BELGUIM!!!

Black Men Living Abroad Series

#blackmenlivingabroad

Harry Kennedy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but he grew up in Dayton, Ohio. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.S. in Information Technology. His interest in IT began at age 11 when he disassembled his first PC. His career in IT and his interest in life abroad officially started in 2014 as an intern at a global company based in Cincinnati, Ohio. There, he gained experience in Computer Networking, Systems, Security, and interacting with employees abroad. This eventually paved a pathway into being offered a full-time position.

Harry working both with his local and foreign colleagues sparked curiosity in all sorts of ways regarding life abroad. In 2016, he finally went abroad for the first time to Denmark, Poland, and France on business travel shortly after starting full time. This experience made an immediate impact which grew into a passion for life abroad and learning about different cultures. In 2018, he jokingly got the opportunity to live and work abroad for the company’s office in Belgium. He decided to take advantage of learning Flemish (Dutch), one of the country’s official spoken languages. He became the sole IT resource for the EU offices. This, along with his new founded language learning skills, both impressed and won over the support from his Belgian colleagues. After realizing the impact reaching people in their native language had and the value it brought, this motivated him to learn more languages. He decided to aim to become multilingual. Since then, he’s learned Dutch, French and Spanish to conversational fluency all within 4 years.

He also serves as Chairman of the board for Passport For Change, a non-profit startup aiming to use global exploration to help black and brown youth between the ages of 5 and 18 to become global citizens. His experience abroad has been truly eye opening. He’s absolutely grateful for taking on this challenge as it’s helped him grow exponentially as a person. He’s learned how to take on new approaches to life. With this knowledge and experience, he’s using his time to give back to youth and others. He hopes to inspire them to pursue life changing experiences just like he had done. He also wants to share his story, and help others get into language learning and travel.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/hkpro_

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZdyM7FThrdjH0jDaEKN1Q

Peeling Back the Layers of Your Life® Podcast Creator, Host, and Producer: Loronda C. Giddens

www.lorondainspiresgreatness.com

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