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wha s his global
niche ill be
demonstrating through
my own journey?
a concept & a communityyou can use to find
success in the wide, wide
world you live in
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steps to seeking a
global niche
dream of belonging
playing with culturalidentity
achieve new sense of
personal & pro self
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were all over the mapcan you tell where in the world you belong by a map of your
relationships, associations and interests?
(this is a map of my facebook contacts)
image: my friend map
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dreaming of a life and
community beyond the
one surrounding us
right place, right people
where we can lead our ideal
lifestyle
&
livelihood -- work you love so much
it feels like play?
youre not alone! most of us exist in
a situation mismatch
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stripping away the modern world
revealed the truly unfamiliar...
read historical travelogue
acted in the period film anna & the
king -- euro lady in the tropics, circa
1865 -- felt discomforts of being out of
cultural element, burdens of
mismatched expectations
image: anastasia ashman
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played with themes ofexploration, crossroads and
contrasts. started to
experience fusion!(here, an early web venture, 1998 )
image: anastasia ashman
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flashforward to 2003: moved
to turkey with my turkish
husband
planned to write my
own asian complaint
travelogue
-- about surviving beingabandoned on a snake-
infested island, and cast
adrift in pirate-filled
waters.
(no metaphor, that
really happened!)
image: andrea bucci
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image: anastasia ashman
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image: anastasia ashman
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collection gave new
view into my character
enjoyed working at home, yet
in collaboration with many
others globally
an extroverted introvert (or,
introverted extrovert,
whichever!)
a homebody who loves
connection with the wider
world ...
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the harem, turkey, & the work
itself showed we can survive
(& thrive!) in limbo
we can beembedded in a
place, yet be
forever alien
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found my historical
counterparts
in the harem& my contemporary peers:
foreign women in modern turkey
(100 women in 14 nations
answered the call for submissions, wow!)
image:sabah
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overseas & repatriated turks
identified with the books
outsider-view-from-the-inside(since theyre insiders on the outside?)
image: anastasia ashman
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also found my cultural
peers around the globe
turkophiles & travelers
middle eastern studies types
women writers, cultural
writers
expats worldwide
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no longer alone in my
cultural limbo...
yet still out of synch with
mainstream & home country
american publishers suspectedbooks audience nonexistent
turkey too niche a topic, no
defined genre for expat lit (if
were abroad = were traveling!)
15 new york publishing houses
passed before sale
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audiences around world prove
mainstream predictions wronglocal, regional & national bestseller lists in 3
countries
recommended by national geographic traveler,lonely planet & new york times
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when usas top morning tv program
today show comes to istanbul in
2008, expat harem editors explain
turkey to 5 million americans
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but we had
nowhere to
meet
image: anastasia ashman
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wanted to see what was
beyond the book
what would cultural
peers tied together in
the virtual realm
want to discuss?
what could we do
together?
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recognized were living
in a new social order
traditional bonds
(family, culture,nation!) no longer the
only meaningful ones
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today our connections can be
based on interest, experience,
worldview
rise of the
social web
now we can find
our true peers
and learn from
each other
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for example, im not defined only asan expat-woman-writer-in-turkey.
hope to honor many other
associations...
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launched group blog/community, 2009
expanded our circle to include:
expats everywhere & intentional travelers
global nomads & multiculturalists
third culture kids & immigrants
men welcome -- if they dare to join a harem
anyone in cultural limbo (were all speaking same
language of *identity adventure*!)
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expatharem.com becomesa neoculture hub
a niche for globalists...
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expat+HAREM community
starts teaching me
during a podcast discussion with
10 members
saw were all using our creativityto manage multi-faceted, cross-
national lives
...flexible skills & perspectives webring to all our endeavors
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image: anastasia ashman
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while launching
community site, also
working on 2nd book.
memoir about
friendship with a
multiple personality
career suicide to shift topic after last 5 years?
would i lose my audience?
problem: needed author platform to show cultural
writer shifting to psychological topic.
solution: emphasized *identity* in new sites
mission, how its formed through culture.
getting away from strictly travel focus.
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theres always a link between past & future work,
just have to pinpoint how we are evolving...
eureka!we have multiple cultural personalities
caring for each is key to our health & happiness
image: unknown
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discover our true literary territory
exploring what makes expat lit & hybrid life
writing different than travel writing:
people like us are more concerned with psyche
issues and personality changes
also learning from
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also learning from
LIFESTYLE DESIGN,
LOCATION INDEPENDENT,
DIGITAL NOMAD MOVEMENTS
global citizens can
benefit from gate-jumping
new paradigms
*HOWEVER* ...
focus on mobility &
freedom to choose where
to live, ideal is to become
unrooted. a common
question: how can i live
on a beach in thailand by
running a blog?
image: digital nomads
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sensed our communitys
question is different
were already unrooted, or unable
to solve our limbo problem with a
simple location change.
there are plenty of other reasons
why-we-are-where-we-are...
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we want to know: how can i live
the life i want -- where ever i
happen to be?
how to live/work to our
abilities, independent of alocations limitations
...a
more universal problem, since
were not always in the optimal
setting to achieve our dreams
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the answer is not to
defer our dreams:
instead...
lets achieve
*psychic* location
independence
true definition emerges
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true definition emerges
& a mission, 2010
Glo bal niche, n.
a psychic solution to
your global identity
crisis
community mission: to
*find* our global niche
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psychic location
independence
operate to your
fullest potential
personally &
professionally
wherever you are
(or come from)
--> & wherever
youre goingimage: anastasia ashman
cofounded a mastermind
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cofounded a mastermind
workgroup for creative pros,
2010
to forge belonging &
livelihoods based on our
unique strengths and
interests
playing withpossibilities to
find ourselves, our
audience, our peers
we build professional web
platforms to reflect our
place in the world, connect
to relevant people and
communities, then integrate
into offline activities
join us on linked-in and
facebook!
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today, fusing past work
with future plans
the workgroup
plus
expat+HAREMs mission to makepsychic limbo a productive state
... an exciting new spin-offproject => a global niche
workgroup
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codeveloping a private
educational community
for people like you:
transglobal & multicultural
dreamers in a situation mismatch
maybe youre still in your hometown, or
surrounded by people speaking a languageyoure not proficient at (of the tongue or some
other kind!), or your best customers are 10 time
zones away...
putting theory
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putting theory
into practice
an educational
community of
psychic peers
skills/tools to
*find & build* your
global niche
to learnabout our upcoming launch:
please visit
globalniche.net