Kaylee Pofahl

Everyone sees something different when they look at me. Some see Filipino, Italian, Uzbek, some people see a white girl, some see Moana IRL. No one has ever been able to pinpoint the intricacies of my background, and the chances of it ever happening are as likely as someone sneezing with their eyes open or licking their elbow.

As far as mind altering, life changing epiphanies go, the delivery of mine was exceptionally white collar. It was a winter afternoon at my office in downtown Manhattan and my editor asked me to write up a quick story about an NHL trade that just happened. I couldn’t tell you what teams or players were involved but we weren’t talking about a blockbuster P.K. Subban for Patrik Laine type of trade. Your everyday hockey fan would probably hear about it, do that frown-while-nodding thing and carry on

We find ourselves in a scary, uncertain moment with the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone’s lives are being impacted by the virus and it’s an intensely stressful time. Moments like this always seem to be a catalyst for all different kinds of change. If we’re being honest, there’s not much we have power over but ourselves. The fear, anxiety and sadness of what’s happening is enough to cripple us or turn us into the people from WALL-E if we let it. I propose an alternative route. This is happening for

Don’t pack hard boiled eggs for lunch, reciprocate any smiles or good mornings you get in the hallway, hold in all farts and burps in the elevator—there are plenty of corporate cultural norms that become learned from working in a company office.

Have you ever been invited to do something that you’re really excited about and highly skeptical of at the same time?

I looked noticeably bigger. It wasn’t an insignificant size difference, either. Did I manage to gain 15 pounds during my 26-hour trip home? Were the mirrors in the States different from the mirrors in Australia and Vietnam? I didn’t understand what was happening. Sure, I wasn’t on a regimented diet or exercise plan during my travels but if I wasn’t spending part of the day hiking or trekking around with a 50 pound bag on my back, I was going for a run to get my daily exercise in. And yes, I wa