Hi Readers! I was recently featured in a profile from Shoutout Colorado, a magazine that celebrates local artists and small businesses in Colorado, where I talked about everything from growing up in Southeast Asia to my favorite Colorado activities. I was honored to be featured, and you can check out the interview below or read it on the Shoutout Colorado site.

An Excerpt from the Interview:

Hi Griffin, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I’m an American who was born in Okinawa, Japan. The youngest of three girls, I lived in Southeast Asia until I graduated from high school in Singapore. The US was a cool place to visit once a year during the summer, but it wasn’t home.

My father was an explorer whose passion was traveling the world, so he built his career in the airline industry. He spent the majority of his working life in management for Pan American World Airways, which is how I came to grow up on the other side of the globe.

While I only lived in three places during my youth—Okinawa, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), and Singapore—I had visited almost every continent by the time I was fifteen. My father didn’t let a family slow him down, and nearly every summer, he took us to different parts of the world. Usually we flew, but sometimes he took us on road trips into neighboring countries. I missed South America, but it’s on my bucket list!

From the time I was a small child, I was shown an incredibly broad spectrum of cultures, and my father didn’t shy away from exposing us to the good, the bad, and sometimes the frightening. My upbringing has made me abundantly grateful every day for where I live, what I have, and the endless opportunities I’ve enjoyed. Those opportunities have molded me into someone who’s been a bit of a risk-taker throughout her life as well.

I believe my background has allowed me to look at the world through a unique prism, and as a result, I tend to take things in stride. I would like to think growing up the way I did broadened my frame of reference for the better.

Although I enjoy traveling, I didn’t inherit my father’s wanderlust. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so much of the world already. I love living in the same community, surrounded by the familiar. I guess that’s one more way my upbringing has impacted me! Although my teenage self found the going difficult at times, I am so thankful for the experience. I wouldn’t change it for the world!

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See the full interview here.