From Kenya to Charlottesville

A Journey of Culture, Connection, and Inspiration with Zikki Munyao

Zikki Munyao, courtesy University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce

Entrepreneur and world traveler Zikki Munyao joins the show to share his stories from his remarkable life, how talking on flights can lead to unexpected opportunities, and why you don’t have to spend a lot of money to live a rich life of travel.

Transcript

Felicia Shelton: Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Thank you so much everyone for joining me here at In My Travels. I am your host Felicia Shelton and today is the beginning of a new talk series. I am so happy to introduce to you a wonderful special guest today. I’m going to allow him to, you know, speak about himself, of course, but more about the talk series.

I come into contact with so many interesting people every single day, and I’m beginning to ask them questions about how they travel personally and professionally. Today, I want to start with Mr. Zikki Munyao am I pronouncing your name correctly, sir? That’s correct. Awesome. And Zikki has so much energy. I get to see Zikki almost daily, and he comes in with such positivity and energy every single day. And I said, you know, let me, let me start asking this gentleman some questions. And as you will hear for yourself, he has a lovely accent. And where [00:01:00] does that accent come from Zikki?

Zikki Munyao: It comes from Kenya.

Felicia Shelton: Awesome. Awesome. Kenya. All right. So, I’m going to let him just, you know, explain share a little bit about himself for about a minute or two, whatever. And take it away, Zeke, and thank you so much for joining me here at In My Travels.

Zikki Munyao: Well, first of all, I’m excited to be here, and this is lovely. Being here at Monticello with you and I thank you for being the first guest.

That is from Kenya and can tell you more about Africa. So a little bit about me, born and raised in Kenya, came to the U. S. in 1998 after winning a green card. Whoa.

Felicia Shelton: Exactly, right? A lottery. I think you’re the first person I’ve ever met who won the green card lottery

Zikki Munyao: I’ll introduce you to a few more.

Okay. But then I got here and School was, I was not ready for school. So, joined the military because obviously you can do everything with a green card but vote. So, I joined the military, I served in the military, I got out [00:02:00] in 2002, and then used my GI Bill to go to UVA. (University of Virginia) .So, that’s what brought me to Charlottesville.

That’s wonderful. So I’ve done my undergraduate degree and my master’s degree at UVA and been in the consulting slash healthcare software development space since 2008 and building systems from the NIH to United Health Group to GE and managing teams across the globe. And today I work in cancer data analytics along with some philanthropic work.

And I’m a farmer, and an artist, and many other things, and I’m a father, and a husband, and live here in Charlottesville.

Felicia Shelton: That is amazing. I didn’t know you did all of that. I knew that, you know, of course you have did you mention that you also have amazing farms in Kenya that you actually take people to visit

Zikki Munyao: Yes, we just, we just got back, three weeks ago from Kenya with a good friend of mine, Hunter Walker [00:03:00] who’s from here in Charlottesville, so we were there and we enjoyed ourselves and here we are and in the summer we’re going with many more to see the farms and take them on safari, show them Nairobi.

And so on. And this time, actually we have an organization called Just Help Africa.

Felicia Shelton: Yes, yes.

Zikki Munyao: Please tell me more about that. And Just Help Africa is, you know, just that. We are helping sub Saharan African folks have access to clean water and education. So this summer, we’re talking about going with maybe one or two people to see the work that we’re doing in education in Kenya.

And then the wells that we’re building in Nigeria. This is going to be a second well. The first well is serving a community of 7, 000 people and this one should be more than that. So, we’ve been fundraising pretty hard last year and we’ve raised enough money now to be able to go and do the school and also provide water to a lot of people that do not have it [00:04:00] today.

Felicia Shelton: That okay, I’m just blown away. I had no idea. This is why you come in. This is why you ask people questions. Because yes, you come in every day. And you have such positive activity. And you I know you’re busy working and you’re networking and things like this. But thank you so much for sharing that this is actually great.

Thank you so The work that you’re doing. Yes. This is so important. I think about water constantly. I didn’t know that you were building wells for people in Nigeria and Kenya. And the school education is very important to me. Study abroad is very important to me. And Oh my gosh. We, we definitely will talk more with you because this is, I had no idea.

Oh, any time. I had no idea. I mean, I thought I knew, you know, I did my research about you, but I didn’t know that you were doing this work as well.

Zikki Munyao: [00:05:00] Yeah. So my story gets wild, you know, so like, it just depends on how much time you have. We must do like multiple podcasts. Cause I don’t see why not. There’s a lot in there, you know, the experiences between the time I came to the U S.

to today also include things like operating very heavy equipment like combine harvesters, tanks driving big tractor trailers. I’m still licensed to drive triple trailers. You know, like there’s a lot is there to uncover. And, you know, like, I just realized that this is my 20th year of marriage.

Felicia Shelton: That’s right. I think we talked about that. 20 years. Right. Yeah. And I met your son. He’s adorable and super, super smart.

Zikki Munyao: Very. Of course. I say he’s a reincarnation of a king because his wisdom is beyond mine.

Felicia Shelton: I love it. I love that. Oh yeah. We’re going to have you back again. Yeah. Okay. All right. Let’s get to my first question.

Now I know that even after our [00:06:00] podcast today, you’re going to hop a flight. Okay. And this is, you know, travel for work. Yes. So my first question is when you think of the word travel, what does that word evoke for you? I know a lot of people, you know think of, Oh my God, I got to pack. So a little anxiety, it’s a little, sometimes a little dread for me.

As soon as someone says, let’s travel here, I’m, I’m. My bags are already packed. So I’m very very excited. So when you hear the word travel, what does that mean? How does that make you feel?

Zikki Munyao: It feels like I’m about to go into a whole new experience that I’ve never had before. Think about it, you know, like, even from the time you get through TSA and you sit down waiting to board your flight, there’s a chance that there’s someone sitting next to you that’s curious with something that you’re doing or you’re curious with something that they’re doing, and you spark a conversation.

True. This conversation could then lead on to the plane, and that conversation could lead up to anything. Anything at all. If the conversation [00:07:00] is one that is positive, one that is mutually beneficial. And that’s the same thing with the person you sit next to. In most cases, you don’t speak to this person until the end of the flight.

I’ve noticed most times, like you talk to the person next to you, like just when you’re about to leave the flight. And in very rare cases, you speak to them, you know, as you sit down and as you get kind of. Yourself set for the flight, but then you never know some of these experiences that I’ve had, you know, one of them actually sparked a business idea, right?

Because you sit down. When you fly a lot, every now and then you get upgrades, right? And when you get upgrades, you have opportunities to sit down with people you may not necessarily have time or opportunities to sit with. For example, leaders of big organizations or people who have experiences that are far beyond yours.

And if you just engage them in a way that they are conversational with you. and you ask them the right [00:08:00] questions, there’s so much that you can learn, especially if you’re just upgraded to first class. Because most times, the people you sit next to in first class, the wisdom that they have, and the reason that they sit up there, you know, they’ve been through a lot in life.

So when you travel, you have all these opportunities to engage, but somewhat, we’d much rather engage with our social media and our phones and our, you know, kind of cocoon that we’ve created for ourselves that we miss out on all these opportunities. And then when you get to the city itself, The city is a, it’s a whole new place, but I find that in all these years of travel, when you land into your, into your city, and then you go to the place that you’re having these meetings, you find that majority of the time people will go from the airport To the meeting, to the hotel, to the restaurant, back to the hotel, back to the meeting, back to the airport, and see nothing.

Felicia Shelton: This is true. Yes, I know those [00:09:00] type of travelers. Yes,

Zikki Munyao: someone can go to all these cities. Like I remember once, you know, we got to San Francisco, and part of my team would not want to leave the hotel. But we went and watched a baseball game. We went to the Bay Bridge. We went on a ferry ride. We came back and, you know, experienced the cold of San Francisco downtown versus the warmth of San Ramon.

And you’re like, what the hell? You know, we’re in the same place, but one place is colder than the other. Simple things like that, simple experiences like that. are what make travel fun. Right? So that’s what, when you mentioned the word travel, simply evokes that. Like, I want to see something when I get somwhere

Felicia Shelton: Exactly. Yeah. You know, you travel a lot for business, and I just travel either for work, and you know my last big Adventure was a two year contract in, in Beijing, China, and, you know, just getting ready, you know, just thinking of, okay, what kind of you know, that’s [00:10:00] sort of longterm because I’m going to be living there longterm.

That whole process of getting ready for the flight. I’m just, it makes me very excited. And you mentioned that you never know who you’re going to meet. I think that, I mean, for me, I think that’s on a daily basis, but when you travel. That’s the opportunity and like you said, maybe, maybe now I’ll make a little bit more conversation with the people next to me because usually when I get on the flight, I just get on the flight.

I put in my little headphones. I’m like, okay, I don’t want to talk to anyone. But sometimes maybe someone gives you a little nudge and they’ll ask you a question about, hey, blah, blah, blah. And the next thing you know, I’m A little conversation starts and like you said, Oh, Oh Oh, I studied there too. And then, and then you never know, you make a connection.

Yeah. Yeah. And that could be, you know, like they might end up being your friend. Yeah. You just don’t know. So that’s a very, very good point. It’s just, you never know who you’re going to meet and you never know what you’re going to see. That’s right. [00:11:00] Yeah. See and experience. That’s to me, that’s travel is adventure.

And that’s, you know, whether you’re traveling for work or, you know, for pleasure. Yes. So, oh, that’s, that’s amazing. I like that. And then yeah, I’ve been bumped up to first class a couple of times. It’s just been wonderful. And it’s true. You do, it’s, it’s different. It is different. And I love the difference, actually.

Yes. Yeah. Usually I travel economy, but, but yeah, the, not to be You know, classist or anything like that, you do meet some interesting people in first class. And another thing about first class or business class, people are more relaxed and I think maybe more open to speaking and having conversations with people.

Absolutely. That’s a very, very good point.

Zikki Munyao: Yeah, but the one caveat is you do want to gauge if this person wants to converse with you or not. Yeah, that’s right. Because if I’m sitting next to you and you’ve had like one hell of a morning packing and running to [00:12:00] the airport and you just need your time and you can tell that hey, this lady looks like she needs to be focused on herself.

Then yes, I will just be quiet and just mind my own business, but if you engage, I’m always open to having a conversation.

Felicia Shelton: That’s a good point. That’s right. Be aware. Read the room. Exactly. Read the, read the, the business class or the class. That’s right. So how often do you travel for work?

Zikki Munyao: A lot. I don’t have a set schedule. I kind of go with the flow. So in my job right now, I work with an organization called Concert AI. So we are in cancer data analytics. Specifically work in the oncology space and while working here. My job is to be able to translate technology in layman’s terms to oncologists and then transfer Any tools or products that they’re looking to use back to our technology team so we can build those on their [00:13:00] behalf So that way we’re providing them value so that they can provide quality of care to folks who have cancer, right?

So because my role is more people facing. And I’m a technology person. I deal with a lot of people and talk to them a lot. So I play the role of account manager. An account manager needs to be talking to oncologists and, you know, practice administrators and different hospital center staff in person. In person.

Yes. So I’m managing well over 60, I’d say probably 108 hospitals. So it has me all across the country. So I have. At times have to go meet with these hospitals and there’s no way you can visit all 108 in one year So we do a mix of conferences a mix of in person A lot of zoom a lot of meetings as you’ve seen in the common house Yeah, when I ask for the bridge room or something like that, it’s because I have to speak to like some You know, very busy [00:14:00] individuals and only have like 15, 20, 30 minutes to, you know, share a lot of information and get a lot of information from them.

So I do need that time to concentrate. I do need to prepare myself so that way I can be effective in these meetings, but I can sometimes travel up to every week. Excluding holidays to get to these meetings and back.

Felicia Shelton: That’s amazing. That’s amazing. So you, I’m sure you have a lot of miles and upgrades.

Zikki Munyao: Yeah, sometimes. I do rack them up, yes.

Felicia Shelton: Okay, so that is work. Let’s talk about for pleasure. What’s your travel style? Are you a thrill seeker? Are you at, you know, adventures in nature? You sent me something this morning on your blog. Yeah, and that you said, you know to start the day and I was like Oh, that was a really great story about you and your brother in Kenya, but what’s your travel style?

Do you know you’re are you you know thrill seeker like when [00:15:00] you travel for pleasure? What’s the goal?

Zikki Munyao: My goal is just to see different things across the world and meet different people. So, I don’t go with a plan. Okay. I do have an idea of the things that I want to accomplish while there. And most times, you know, I’m traveling with my family, so they would usually have an itinerary ready for me.

So, I’m like, yeah, I can’t make the plan. I’m just gonna go with the plan, right? Yeah. But when I’m by myself, I go with the flow. So, I, I give you an example. We landed in Kenya, December Sixth. And as soon as I landed, I had no set plan. All I knew is that I’m meeting Hunter on the Saturday, right? And the Saturday I think was the ninth or something like that.

So between the, between the time I landed in Kenya and the time I met with Hunter, I needed to figure out what I’m doing. So I went to my house, you know, I, you know, unpacked, make sure everything is working in the house because obviously living in the U S and no one is living in that house, you can [00:16:00] have to set it up.

And then. Talked to my mom and she said, hey, we have a blessing ceremony with all our family You know from my ancestral land from a maternal Side of the family and I was like, you know what? I’m not doing anything. Let’s go. So we go Right, we go there and I get to meet My, you know, the, the, the longer living grandmothers, you know, we come from a very large polygamous family and it was a blessing ceremony.

So they would bless us, the next generation and talk to us. And funny enough, they still remembered me after all these years. They remember me.

Felicia Shelton: Yes, I remember you sharing that with me.

Zikki Munyao: So that was unplanned. You know, I didn’t go there with a plan to do that. I didn’t have a plan to go on a safari in Lake Nakuru where I took some of the photos that, you know, I shared on the blog about the water rising and the earth splitting around the Rift Valley, not planned, but the experience we had [00:17:00] unforgettable, it’s absolutely unforgettable.

So that’s what ends up happening. Like you go. With no set plan, but if something comes up that sounds interesting, there’s a high chance I’m going to do it.

Felicia Shelton: Go with it. Yes. Exactly. That happens to me a lot as well. You just have to be, I think you, for, for that to even happen, I think you have to be open, like an open person to allow that to happen.

Because, like you said, you know, you don’t, when you’re by yourself, you, you don’t have an itinerary. Right. I have some things personally that I have to do. And after that, it’s just to get up in the morning and see where the day takes you. The French have a wonderful word, a beautiful word. It’s one of my favorites.

It’s called flâner. Flâner. Flâner. And to flâner is to, to stroll or to walk with no set goal or plan. And the person who is a who loves to do that is called, if you’re a woman, flâneuse. So I am a [00:18:00] flâneuse. And if a gentleman, if it’s, you know, a man, he is a flaneur. So it’s a, it’s, you just get up, you’re in a new place and you let the day take you where it will.

Yes. And that’s with, I think doing that it helps you to become a more open person. You’re open to new experiences and you have to be that in the, in that mindset in order to really, in my opinion, to really. Benefit from this opportunity to travel to another city, another state or another country, another continent.

And it just, to me, travel just makes my life so rich. I can’t imagine. Not being a traveler. That’s right. I can’t yeah, there are wonderful people here where we are here in Charlottesville and I love that but I also have to get out of my everyday Routine go to a different land and see how they live [00:19:00] because that’s very very fascinating to me We’re a great country here in the US, but there are also other countries that are also great and I love to see how they socialize what’s important in their lives, how they function as families, as friends, as companies entities.

It’s very, very interesting what are their processes to success.

Zikki Munyao: That’s right. I mean, every country outside of security, there’s something special you can enjoy there. That’s right. So when you open your mind to being able to go just about anywhere. You’ll find something that you’d never hear from anyone because it’s your experience.

And it’s so enriching because I was listening to, I think, Denzel Washington said something like when you’re going to be buried and the hearse is driving, you know, there’s no U Haul behind it carrying your stuff with it. That’s right. So you come to this world with nothing and you go with, when you go, you go with nothing.

[00:20:00] That’s true. Everything in between. Is you winning, right? The money is good to have because obviously that’s how you survive and that’s how you kind of manage all these things. However, some of the most enriching experiences come from you engaging with others and you experiencing new things because that is available to you because you’re in this paradise we

Felicia Shelton: call Earth.

That’s right. Oh, I love that. Yeah, paradise is on earth. Yeah, I mean. This is all we have.

Zikki Munyao: Yeah, I mean, look at it. If you, if you, if you look at, if you look at earth, let’s just say we get lucky one day and we jump on these SpaceX, you know, things or the Virgin galactic and we’re going out there and then we look back into earth versus what’s out in the world.

What is the most beautiful thing you will be seeing? Earth. Earth. Right? Like it’s literally paradise in the middle of this universe and we are the inhabitants of it and somehow we are forgetting that. Yeah.

Felicia Shelton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because we’re so busy with I think we talked about it [00:21:00] my husband and I with the, the phones and you, you mentioned it earlier.

We’re so busy into our iPads and our computers and our and I love these apps. They, they’re, they’re good for what they’re good for. But. Just speaking with other people and just being aware of the things around you and asking questions and engaging other people. That’s every day. It’s huge.

That’s every day. So if you’re you guys are listening to us and you know I have my travels Zeke has been around the world we both continue to travel But if you yourself have not done that, please do not feel bad. You can travel within your city. You can travel To the next city, maybe you know, there’s so many people who don’t even get out of their own city Take a drive take a drive into the country See something new.

And if that’s not even available to you, travel through books. That’s right. Research. Do research about a place that you’ve [00:22:00] always wanted to go to or that you’re curious about. Research and then hopefully one day you will go there and you will have a deeper more enriching experience.

Zikki Munyao: And sometimes it may even help to have a conversation with a friend who’s been somewhere.

Yeah. Like tell me about your experience there. And not only will you build your friendship with this person, but they’ll feel heard because now they can share the experience and it may enlighten you to want to go there. And they’ll be like, you know what? I’ll go back there with you. You know, like the things like these, or you can spark up the conversation and end up going somewhere different.

And you both go experience this with you being, it’s your first time. And for them, it’s like, Oh yeah, I’ve done this before. You know, they will show you the ropes of how to travel and next thing you know, you’re experiencing and you’re enjoying together and you’re meeting new people, you’re having great new experiences and all that.

So there’s a lot in just even talking to other people, even if you’ve never traveled somewhere, you know, it could open your eyes to a lot more.

Felicia Shelton: [00:23:00] This is true. So where do you want to travel next and why?

Zikki Munyao: You know, I want to go to Japan, and I don’t have a specific reason why I want to go to Japan.

I just feel like the culture of Japan is so enriching in how they just work with other people very simply. You know, like I feel like any interaction you have with a Japanese person, be they from Native to Japan or, you know, outside, there’s a certain level of respect you get right off the bat, right? So true.

And there’s something so telling about that. So I’d love to go there and just see all there is to see in wherever I can go to in Japan. Like I feel I just need to go there. Also like efficiency, [00:24:00] you know, like some of my work, I like to make sure that I have the most efficient process in place to get my Tasks done they, they some days where I’m able to do what most people would take them about eight hours in four hours.

Yes. And when I get my four hours done and I’m effective doing that, then I can play golf, I can go do something different, right? I can go have coffee with you and everybody else, right? Yeah. But then you kind of have to create that time for yourself. And I think the Japanese have figured it out and they came up with systems like the Kanban system where they, they just do just in time manufacturing where, you know, if they’re building your Toyota, that Toyota, as it hits the assembly line, someone who’s making the door to that vehicle is still working on the door.

And by the time it comes to the door station, the door is just finished in time for it to land on this vehicle. And every single part works that way. So they don’t have to keep any inventory, everything just happening just [00:25:00] in time. And because of it, now other manufacturers are doing the same thing. And it’s just not that one thing.

They have so many other efficient ways of doing things that the Japanese to me have just been fascinating for so, so, so long. And I’d love to go see what they do because I feel that there’s a lot to see. Enjoy and learn from there.

Felicia Shelton: Yeah, definitely. A friend of mine has been there, I believe, twice.

And whenever he comes back, he says, Oh my God, Felicia, you just, you can just eat off the road because it’s so incredibly clean, but the most important thing that he took away from his time in Japan is the level of respect that everyone has for it.

Each other, which in turn reflects, you know, everyone benefits is for the greater good. That’s right. There is no trash because you’re, and I experienced this when I was living in South Korea. It’s very hard to find trash [00:26:00] cans. And the reason why is because you if you’re, you know, maybe you eat a candy bar, you’re supposed to take that trash with you and then you find the proper way to dispose of it in certain centers.

And, but the level, he says. Even from the airport, they bow to you, and they, they’re so grateful that you’re coming to their country, to experience their country, but he also looked at it, and I’ll never forget this story, he told me that as they begin to change shifts you know, for different things, they bow to each other, And then as they go into their department, et cetera, you know, to, to go away from the people in the airport, they bow to whoever, and then they go into the door and then they close the door.

So it’s never like their back is to you, okay, I’m going to my shift or whatever, put their hand on the door. They turn around and they bow and then they go into the door. Wow. And he says, I, it, [00:27:00] it. He stopped him in his tracks. He says, I have never seen such level of respect. And for me, when I’m in Asia, I am because I’m older now.

This is a, you know, I’m in the second half of my life. Now my hair is grayer, so I know now when I go to Japan, especially to go back to South Korea, I’m on a higher level. Yeah. The level of respect for elders is very, very important to me.

Zikki Munyao: That’s right, that’s right. I mean, even the one thing, I think I heard this on a podcast that, you know. The community in Japan allows for, you know, a three, four year old child to commute on their own from their home to their school. And they may be using the public transport system without any guidance, any parents, any body from their family, but the community makes sure that they’re safe and they get to where they’re going. They know how to get there. They’ve been provided enough [00:28:00] instructions. And that is huge. You know, here, it’s, that’s not the case. You would never.

Felicia Shelton: Yeah. In fact, it would be child abuse

Zikki Munyao: Yes. So here, child care is way, way different. So I see being able to go and explore and discover these types of things is the reason why travel is so cool.

Felicia Shelton: So I think that you’re amazing.

Zikki Munyao: So are you.

Felicia Shelton: Thank you. And thank you so much for being here today. What would you like to share with our listeners in terms of travel? What’s your last word of advice?

Zikki Munyao: Yeah, just get up and go somewhere because, you know. There’s one thing my friend Freddie Jackson and Clarence Green mutual friend Clarence Green do more recently where it’s been called some of these mornings, but these days, something that [00:29:00] Freddie Jackson, who I believe you should interview for this podcast, he’s a great guy.

He’s got this organization called love no ego and he’s a great, great motivational speaker and also kind of like a, a man who understands how to bring out the best in people. So for Clarence and I, we joined Freddie on warmer mornings for daybreak.

Felicia Shelton: Okay. I think, yeah, I think maybe Clarence shared that with me.

Zikki Munyao: Do you know that is a form of travel? The reason why is because for me, I have seen places here in Charlottesville that unless Freddie asked me to go see, I’d never see that. And I get to see it first in the dark. And then as the day breaks, I see it in the day and it’s two different places. Because when you get there, you really don’t have a clue where you are.

But when the sun comes up, [00:30:00] you see life come to, like literally life coming alive in the morning. I feel that that’s a form of travel. And this travel sets your day to be better than if you just woke up and just had to deal with those. morning struggles of just getting yourself together to go and get your day done.

I feel like you don’t have to copy that. I feel like travel is that simple. Travel is just getting out of your comfort zone and trying something different, somewhere different. You know, here in Charlottesville, you can go to so many places. The caverns in Luray, that’s less than two hours from here. You know, you can go to the mountains here in Virginia and in West Virginia.

You can go enjoy that. You know, you can go to the beach. Right here, like two and a half hours, then you’re in the water so travel does not mean you have to get on a plane and you have to go somewhere foreign travel is just the idea of getting from one place to [00:31:00] a different place. You’ve never been before and experiencing it.

So we just have the privilege of being able to go further. But I think if you just start with Just the step of, hey, I’m going to try something different and go to Richmond today and go to the Institute of the Contemporary Arts or the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and just see how someone else is depicting their travels or their experiences through art.

That’s a different form of travel. So there’s so many ways in which you can expose yourself to all these experiences because, again, between the time that you were born and the time that you pass, you have this period. of life where you experience things and if you experience things, especially around nature and in different places, you enrich yourself so much more because when you sit down and have conversations, your conversations can take any different path and the more diverse your thought and the more diverse your [00:32:00] travels.

The larger your kind of accumulation of knowledge experiences, and you can share those with people and people can share those with you because now you can have this mutual bonding through travel and things of that nature. So it’s a whole experience. It’s so enriching. I highly recommend it for everyone because in many ways it is one of the cheapest way to live richly.

Felicia Shelton: I think so. That is perfectly said. It is perfectly said. And you, again, And I say this to everyone step outside go to a new neighborhood, right? There’s there are people that I work with who rarely if ever have been to Richmond and Richmond is 50 minutes from here So like you said, I’m so glad that you said that it’s not about hopping on a plane We do have that privilege to go further right, but you can also go further where you are.

That’s right

Zikki Munyao: DC is right here right here. People are coming from all all over the world to see DC. That’s right.

Felicia Shelton: Right here. That’s right. You’re [00:33:00] so right. Oh my gosh. Thank you. You’re

Zikki Munyao: so welcome. I’m so happy we did this. And it’s snowing

Felicia Shelton: outside. That’s right. That’s right. We came out in the snow and we did this.

Thank you so much. You will, this will not be your last time here. We have so much to talk about. Thank you so much, Zikki Munyao. And hey, share your blog.

Zikki Munyao: Yeah, so I have you can go to munyao.art, so m u n y a o dot art, and you can see a lot of my artworks there, you can see my NFT collections you can link out to that you can read my blogs I’ve, I have some interesting blogs that kind of start back in 2018 or 19 and kind of, you can see the progression over time.

So please check it out and also check out justhelpafrica.org so you can follow some of our philanthropic work and our stories as we kind of work with these communities in Sub Saharan Africa.

Felicia Shelton: [00:34:00] Love to. Thank you so much. And everyone, I’m just blown away. This is a great start. I’m so glad that you were the first guest in this talk series.

Thank you so much. Have a wonderful, wonderful day, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us again at In My Travels. Ciao!