• Home
  • About
    • The Expedition
    • The Non-Profit
    • The Reality-TV Show
    • The Race
  • Services
  • Travel
  • Blog
  • Press
  • Shop
  • Contact

Cassie De Pecol

  • Travel
  • Fitness
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
  • Women
Humanitarian

What is Her International?

October 29, 2018

“Lock Up Your Libraries If You Like; But There Is No Gate, No Lock, No Bolt That You Can Set Upon The Freedom Of My Mind.”
― Virginia Woolf

In October of 2014, I launched a dream within a dream, Her International Inc., a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization that funds female-driven businesses that address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Her International is an unconventional organization that goes against most non-profit organizations who offer funding to individuals. Why unconventional? Well, we don’t require individuals to have undergraduate degrees, or even high school diplomas. With that said, the application process is indeed very strict and intensive to ensure that we are putting our funds into the hands of individuals who have worked diligently towards actively achieving their goals with their business. We’re aware that not everyone displays the success or fame that people like Billionaire Innovator Richard Branson, Model Gisele Bündchen, Former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, Princess Diana, Theme Park Pioneer Walt Disney or even the Inventor of the Lightbulb, Thomas Edison, who all dropped out of High School. More realistically, I fall into the college dropout crowd which includes people like Billionaire Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple Creator Steve Jobs, Talk Show Host Ellen Degeneres or Historical Talk Show Host Oprah Winfrey, all of whom disregarded the “norm” and what society told them to do, and dropped out of college. “Yeah, but those people are rare”, you might be saying to yourself. And I have to disagree with you. Look who you’re reading about right now, me, a woman who has made history and traveled to every country in the world, resulting in a wildly successful career. No, I’m not a billionaire, but I’ve made history in travel and continue to be recognized and honored for my achievements and career growth to this day, with no sign of slowing down. Like the others, it took time and dedication for my works and achievements to be noticed, but I can tell you that college didn’t get me any further with my goals.


The fall of 2010 I decided was to be my last semester of college. After bouncing around to 5 colleges across 5 states and 3 countries and with only one semester to go in order to graduate, I came to the conclusion that I was just wasting money I didn’t have as well as valuable time that could have better been spent working towards a career that I wanted to pursue. Instead of pursuing my career in travel at the age of 18, I went on to waste 3.5 years accumulating $90,000 in debt, failing math and science courses, and being told by Career Councilors that I could be a Flight Attendant or Tour Guide if I wanted to pursue travel as a career. My dream career was to be a Meteorologist and Storm Chaser, but failing math and science classes like Oceanography, Statistics and Geology really held me back. When I dropped out, I decided to start my own business at the age of 21, that would allow me to pursue travel for the next 2 years off the $2,000 I’d saved the summer before from Lifeguarding. This is discussed in greater depth in my book, set to launch this fall. One business lead me to another, which eventually lead me to Expedition 196 and a very lucrative self-sustained business that allowed me the freedom and financial means to launch Her International.

Just because I dropped out did not mean I had things easy. In fact, when it came to securing funding for Expedition 196, I had a very difficult time doing so. Many non-profit organizations and companies in general, would deny my grant applications for funding, and many companies were reluctant to providing me funding because I was a woman not only traveling alone to some of the worlds most dangerous countries, but I didn’t have a college education, either. When it comes to obtaining endorsements prior to achieving any career success, companies look to your resume to then decide your candidacy and proof of dedication. Needless to say, I was rejected over and over again because of my lack of college education. It took a few individuals who believed in me to give me a chance, and it required letting go of all of my jokester and immaturity I had left in me, in order to grow up and become a professional adult at the age of 25. I had to delete my old Facebook, drop old friendships (mostly because I became boring and professional),  and essentially become a hermit working in my studio for months on end in order to prove myself to sponsors and the organizations who endorsed me.

Thanks to Google, I was able to create the perfect recipe that would land conversations with CEO’s and companies for sponsorship. It required a quick, one paragraph pitch, a media deck, and a lengthly proposal.

The bottom line is, it didn’t matter that I didn’t graduate college because I dedicated myself for a year and a half, sanctioned to my “cave” in order to do everything in my power to succeed. Thankfully, after some time, companies saw my efforts and decided to take heed. But the time it took for them to do so, would make any young woman want to give up and throw in the towel. Any women (or person in general) mustn’t give up, and sometimes it takes years of daily dedication in order to finally have a break through. If I can be one small help to a woman who is trying desperately to succeed in her Mission in a time when she’s trying her hardest to break the glass ceiling and enhance the world we live in, then that to me is enough. That is all I could ask for. To leave a positive legacy behind for our world beginning with the women of our world.

 

To learn more about Her International and to apply, visit the link here.

0
0 Leave a Comment

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Posts

On Bearing Children

Positive Afghanistan: Sports & Unity

Primary Sidebar

Archives

  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • September 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • November 2016
  • August 2016
  • June 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • September 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2014

Categories

  • Beauty
  • Business
  • Cats
  • Eco Travel
  • Fashion
  • Fitness
  • Hotels
  • Humanitarian
  • Lifestyle
  • Make Up
  • Mental Health
  • Skin Care
  • Travel
  • Travel Tips
  • Uncategorized
  • Women

Join Our Newsletter

Find me on IG @cassiedepecol
arroia n. the wish that you could’ve enjoyed a d arroia
n. the wish that you could’ve enjoyed a dry run of your life — muddling through once quickly, then going back to do it all over again, this time for real.Deep thoughts and readings by John Koenig at @civanaresort this year 🍃
#civanaambassador
Revolve Winterland, thank you for having me! ❄️💃🏼#revolve #revolvewinterland @revolve #giftedpartnership
Such a cute evening at #RevolveWinterland @revolve Such a cute evening at #RevolveWinterland @revolve ❄️🍾
This premiere was for 1923 which airs Sunday, Dece This premiere was for 1923 which airs Sunday, December 18th on Paramount+. I started watching Yellowstone in preparation for this show, and I absolutely loved it! 🎬@paramountplus @1923official
———Reflection:
These events for me are more than just trying to look pretty on a carpet. It’s an opportunity to face my fears and overcome my own personal adversities.A year ago, I was in a very different place; going to these events, but not putting in much effort nor really caring about my appearance. I just went for the movie or show and then came home.But now, I attend for many other reasons. I realize it might come off as egotistical when I post these, but to me, there’s a much deeper narrative, one that I’m constantly writing, challenging and improving upon.With each event, I strive to tackle my social anxiety and lack of self confidence - both of which came to be upon completion of my trip around the world as a result of all of the bullying I had received. That constant antagonism became engraved into my soul - no one teaches you how to handle that stuff, but it made an impact on how I valued my self worth even despite the then wild success of my endeavors.These events are a moment in time where I can crawl out from the depths of which I am “surviving”, to see how far I’ve come; physically, emotionally, mentally, and how much further I still have to go.It’s a moment in time that stands still, before I’m back burrowing into the ground. And I don’t mean to be dramatic - there is currently so much struggle happening in my life that I wish I could openly share. One day.Alas, for now, I’ll enjoy these little moments where I’m floating, and I hope you do, too ☺️.
“the Til” n. the reservoir of all possible opp “the Til”
n. the reservoir of all possible opportunities still available to you at this point in your life-all the countries you still have the energy to explore, the careers you still have the courage to pursue, the skills you still have time to develop, the relationships you still have the heart to make-like a pail of water you carry around in your head, which starts off feeling like an overwhelming burden but steadily draws down as you get older, splashing gallons over the side every time you take a step.
- John Koenig, Dictionary of Obscure SorrowsAt the @amazonstudios premiere of #MyPoliceman airing November 4th on @primevideo 💙
Loving family, bebe animals, nature walks, crisp a Loving family, bebe animals, nature walks, crisp air, crunchy ground, quiet woods, warm fire, and home cooked meals. Everything.🍁🇨🇦🦃🕯️
Won’t take my Garmin off even for a red carpet, Won’t take my Garmin off even for a red carpet, or… yellow in this case. #triathletelife 🎃Wearing @revolve 💃🏼 #appletvplus #Shantaram
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: API requests are being delayed for this account. New posts will not be retrieved.

Log in as an administrator and view the Instagram Feed settings page for more details.

Theme by SheShoppes

Copyright © 2023 EXPEDITION 196, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | PRIVACY POLICY