I am a Culture Transition Strategist with almost 20 years experience in sales, marketing and customer service, working with cross-cultural teams and speak 6 languages. I offer solutions to individuals and businesses to help you transition and adapt to new cultures and cross-cultural teams. Whether you are relocating domestically or internationally, or simply unable to create synergy to accomplish goals within your team, I can help you navigate the core set of social, personal, and professional challenges that stand in the way. I also help individuals start new busineses to bring career fulfillment to your life wherever in the world you live.
I developed an understanding of the issues that develop with settling into a new life from traveling and living abroad for much of my life. I also have had the pleasure of working with people from many different countries and cultures, each of whom gave me insight into their worlds, our differences, and our similarities. I love working with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, helping them to feel at home away from home. I have always loved challenging people’s perceptions and inspiring them to follow their dreams to create the life they want for themselves.
I have spent much of my life living and traveling abroad and developed a great love to explore new things, and to meet new friends from diverse cultures. Stepping outside my comfort zone has sometimes been hard, sometimes scary, but always rewarding and full of new insights.
I was born and raised in New York City. My father’s work often took us to foreign destinations. One of my first trips, when I was about four years old, was the Canarie Islands, where I learned about jet lag by falling asleep, face first, into my bowl of spaghetti. Family vacations ranged from the Carribbean to various destinations in Europe, and at the age of 16, I departed from my routine of summer camp to live with a French host family in Louvieres, France. This experience profoundly changed my life – I went from being an only child, to having 8 siblings that to me, are as real and solid as the family I was born into. I learned that communication is more than words as I struggled to use my hands and objects to act out French words I didn’t know, and then quickly found myself babbling away in a language that had once been foreign to me. I also changed from a shy girl, afraid of the world around her, to a young woman bursting to explore, and this passion has remained with me ever since.
I love trying new activities - it all started with being forced to milk cows, and now I just jump into almost anything that doesn’ t involve heights or extreme sports, oh, or those really fast spinning rides you find at amusement parks….I am an Advanced Reiki Practitioner, which I love incorporating into my coaching, and a new student of Buddhism, learning all about our perception of things around us.
I enjoy diverse points of view, and opinions on life issues, politics, and the world at large – my foreign friends and colleagues have taught me so much about life and living. It is my passion to work with the other brave souls that embark on the adventure of adapting to a new life in a new culture, to help you overcome the common obstacles and leave you free to learn and explore the new opportunities surrounding you.
Hi Heather,
I have been following you on twitter and recently subscribed to your rss feed. I wanted to introduce myself and that I look forward to reading your blog. I am the blogger at Goinglobal.com. I focus more specifically on issues pertaining to students. Your tweets have been great for our audience. Please let me know if there is anyway that I can help in the future.
Looking forward to connecting.
Cheers!
Olga
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Heather Markel Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Hi Olga,
Pleasure to meet you, and thanks so much for introducing yourself. I am glad my comments are of use, and I’d be happy to see if we can collaborate!
Heather
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Heather Markel Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Hi Olga,
Pleasure to meet you, and thanks so much for introducing yourself. I am glad my comments are of use, and I’d be happy to see if we can collaborate!
Heather
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Interesting article, I am now a subscriber!
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markelh1 Reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 12:48 am
Thanks, and welcome!
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markelh1 Reply:
April 5th, 2010 at 12:48 am
Thanks, and welcome!
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Would be really interesting to see your traffic spike if you had any stats enabled
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I have been following you on twitter and recently subscribed to your rss feed. I wanted to introduce myself and that I look forward to reading your blog. I am the blogger at Goinglobal.com. I focus more specifically on issues pertaining to students. Your tweets have been great for our audience. Please let me know if there is anyway that I can help in the future.
+1
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markelh1 Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Hi John – thanks for stopping by and for your comments! Glad you enjoy and I believe I also follow you on Twitter. I'm sure a cross-blog posting would be interesting for us both – so if there's a topic that's been of interest to your readers on your blog, I'd be happy to post it here, and if you'd like to post one of mine on your blog, please feel free!
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markelh1 Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Hi John – thanks for stopping by and for your comments! Glad you enjoy and I believe I also follow you on Twitter. I'm sure a cross-blog posting would be interesting for us both – so if there's a topic that's been of interest to your readers on your blog, I'd be happy to post it here, and if you'd like to post one of mine on your blog, please feel free!
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Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! I’m sure you had fun writing this article.
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Hi vey nice interesting blog im from newcastel i found this on aol I’m in the crane hire company business,i found this blog very interesting good luck with it i will return to this blog soon
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Amazing post! I initially found your blog a week or so ago, and I subscribed to your RSS feed the very same day. I have several cool ideas for some upcoming posts you could write. I’ll send you an email shortly. Keep up the great work.
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Me and my daughter enjoyed reading your blog post. Keep up the good work.
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