How Greenland Became My Life's Work (and anti-aging secret weapon)

I don't think I've aged that much in the face over the years because of two factors: no kids and how I've found a bigger purpose in Greenland.

I thought Japan was my happy place for so long after devoting myself to learn the language and become embedded in Japanese society there and in the US. Nothing was more gratifying than being let in on traditions in Japan and being able to go anywhere without assistance because of the skill I had attained and my curiosity.

But it was Greenland, that I stumbled upon because of the film 'Chasing Ice' by Jeff Orlowski that fundamentally changed everything in my life in the most unexpected ways. I went to Greenland because of the ice and the spiritual connection I felt to it. It got me back into photography once again.

But the second class personhood of the Greenlanders and their post colonial struggles and constant bombardment is what really hit me hard. Over time, I have earned the trust and respect of Greenlanders from every corner in the country because of my independence. I visited Greenland on my own dime. No sponsors, no projects, no research. I didn't answer to anyone. I was there to learn, listen, and become embedded and reconnect with nature and sila - look it up.

I have developed my own sila finally because I visit the most remote and unloved places in Greenland. These are remote, expensive, subsistence hunting communities where ancient traditions and life ways are intact. Communal sharing is a given and everything that I thought mattered: money, success, prestige, and clout couldn't matter less. Survival in the most harsh and hostile places doesn't care about how much you have. It only depends on how much you support each other. Our systems break down in Greenland and learning to rely on others - we / us rather than I / me was the most liberating realization ever for me. A true game changer. I saw it with a beluga whale harvest in Qaanaaq. It was uncomfortable at first but it stuck with me.

That's why I tell stories and speak professionally about Greenland to a wider audience and why I'm interested in co-founding a couple of nonprofit initiatives that will reconnect Greenlanders with other Arctic Indigenous peoples on a birthright trip once in a lifetime for every person regardless of professional or political potential. I know this is needed to help restore sila for the many people in the cities that have lost it.

I also know that traditional knowledge of the hunters needs to be on equal footing with western scientists so we will start a polar bear conservation project in NE Greenland for that subpopulation. It will be a fundamentally different approach, but I know we will save bears and elevate Inuit ways of knowing that will benefit the wider effort in other places.

I never would have guessed in a million years that my experience as a minority and a woman and in the natural resources industry was needed in Greenland and I'm so lucky I found my place. So, thank you Greenland. I love waking up each day thinking about how to make these big ideas happen and how society can start to heal.