Elky “No, It’s Not Short for Anything” Ramirez grew up alternating between the United States and Costa Rica, which left her feeling both grateful and angry. Grateful that she acquired native English language skills, which opened up a wide range of career opportunities for her. Angry about the salary discrepancies between the two countries.

At 10 years old, this smart, curious kid had to balance translating complex immigration documents for her parents with illegally downloading software in order to teach herself digital art. She studied graphic design in college while working a design job at Amazon. Feeling like she received a better education from her colleagues and own self-taught gumption, she stayed at Amazon but not school. The work-gym-sleep-repeat cycle lead her to take a leave of absence from her job to take a course on teaching english as a foreign language at the beach. Swapping work-gym-sleep for beach-tan-class made her return to the office a challenging one. It also marked the beginning of her non-linear path to becoming a freelance graphic designer and digital nomad.

Seeking a community as a solo female traveler lead Elky to a WhatsApp group for Black women where she felt seen and understood. However, she understood the need for Black women to be in spaces created just for them, so with support from the administrator of the group, Elky launched her own group for a melanated people living in Colombia. Coordinating accessible, fun, engaging, unique, inclusive events helped her grow the group to over 700 members. It also sparked Elky Ramirez Experiences, her new growing career that is fulling a space in the growing ex-pat community in her new home country of Colombia.

Tune in to listen to her path of resilience, positivity, and hustle.

Oh, and she reveals how Amazon really makes its money (hint: it’s not from selling products!)

INSTAGRAM

@elkyramirez

WEBSITE

https://www.elkyramirez.com

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