Jennifer became a traveler during her first years of college when a study abroad program took her to the Cook Islands. Born and raised in Honolulu Hawaii, for the first 18 years of Jen’s life she thought there was nowhere better in the world than Hawaii, why go anywhere else? After that fateful program, she took every opportunity she could to explore. Tahiti, Palmyra, the Tuamotus, the Marquesas, Fiji, Palau, Micronesia, Australia, New Zealand, British Virgin Islands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Brazil and.…
Bali
Jen finished her Master’s Degree at University of Hawaii’s School of Architecture in the Fall of 1999. In March of 2000 she followed an architect whom she really admired to Bali as he was meeting with his building material suppliers there, and Jen’s life changed forever. Her two week venture turned into 4 months. She was completely taken by the place. She learned the streets, the lingo, the language, and helped someone she met there transform a microfiber boardshort business into a women’s boutique clothing line company. For the following 7 years she traveled back and forth between Bali and the United States nurturing this business, designing, overseeing manufacturing and wholesaling the ensuing collections to shops in the US. Then her son was born and moving around so much was entirely too disruptive to mothering her little boy.
Life changed dramatically again as Jen buckled down and got a job with Group 70 International as an interior designer in the summer of 2007. She struggled to divide her time between the high-paced world of the building industry and raising her blossoming son with enormous help from her mother and father until January 2009. The news of being laid off came really as a relief. Now she could devote herself with more focus on her son who had just turned 3.
By summer of 2009, more than two years had gone by since Bali graced Jennifer’s spirit. As she was having coffee with a friend, he saw in her eyes the desperation to go back and suggested that she start a tour. “You know the language, you lived there for 7 years, and you obviously love the place,” he winked. What a dream that would be, Jen smiled back. Only a week later she went to turn in her taxes and next door was a travel agent. Well, no harm in checking she thought. Turns out there was a promotion going on and a ticket was $675. She turned heads in the office when she blurted with pure joy “BOOK IT!” So in July 2009 Jennifer returned to Bali to set the stage for her dream.