Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharde’ Chapman.
Sharde’, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started my first travel blog in 2009 by keeping an online journal of my study abroad at Oxford University and nine other countries in Western Europe for my friends and family. During my time at Oxford, I also took my first unsupervised international trip to Madrid with one of my classmates. Armed with a decent working knowledge of Spanish and a ditzy French speaker, I explored Madrid for two days and loved it. I felt super accomplished that I navigated the city, conversed in Spanish with some success, and did not lose my companion.
I continued traveling frequently as I worked on my Master’s degree in Richmond, VA. I worked with the Presbyterian Church USA and the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools program. There was a point when I would spend two to three weeks out of the month on the road attending meetings and conferences. I was in town enough to attend classes, and sometimes serve during chapel, I distinctly remember at one point packing my bags for back to back trips. I was going to NYC for a conference at the United Nations then coming back to Richmond to switch bags before driving down to Charlotte to meet up with friends for NCAA. It was the frequency of travel that made me consider how to pack less and less.
While I did a lot of domestic traveling, I also did quite a bit of international travel. From 2011-2015, I made two trips back to Europe to present at graduate conferences, traveled to Ghana and Guatemala through my seminary, and checked North America off of my travel list. My mom and I went on a road trip from Hartford to Montreal and the next week I traveled down to Cancun with a group of my girlfriends. The more spectacular thing is that I continued to travel so much while on a graduate student budget. I not only became a pro at packing but at planning trips to cool destinations while on a pretty tight budget.
As the years have passed, a few things happened: I had the brilliant idea of trying to travel to 30 countries by my 30th birthday, which I completed last year in Bali. I also perfected the art of one bag travel and got a lot of questions about how I traveled so much and with so little stuff. The frequent questions about my travel insights inspired me to start my YouTube channel, ShardeNoDyzOff, in 2016 to offer my traveling and packing tips and tricks in order to demystify traveling (especially international travel) for people of color. I actually filmed my first packing tutorial to show my coworkers how I packed for our two week National Training event in one carry-on bag.
I developed a love for minimal packing out of necessity. I do not have much money because I am a full-time Ph.D. student, so I end up flying budget airlines quite frequently. I also do not believe in paying for bags. This challenged me to see how much I can pack with minimal bag space (usually a backpack). What I discovered was that with less baggage, I was able to travel more comfortable. When you do not have much space, you are forced to be intentional about what you bring and have to seriously assess what is important to you. Now, I have my family friends on a backpack travel kick. I always say, “Once you go backpack, never go back!”
I continued blogging on and off from 2015-2017 reflecting on my journey toward better wellness practices, some travel things, and my experiences pursuing my Ph.D. Blogging more regularly and posting on Instagram allowed me to rediscover my love for photography. I shoot and edit all of the portraits I use in my blog. Last year I rebranded my YouTube and relaunched my blog, Sharde’ Searches, in order to better reflect my desire to build a safe space for millennial women of color that have an interest in traveling and creating better wellness and self-care practices. Through Sharde’ Searches, I want to share my experiences growing and seeing the world around me to encourage others to pursue traveling and wellness but to also pack lighter while doing it.
Has it been a smooth road?
Being a digital storyteller and content creator has been quite difficult. I have found it so hard to be consistent and to balance creating things for YouTube, Instagram, and my website with school and working part-time as a substitute teacher. I do everything myself from the writing to the photography, videography, and editing. I find that it is also a challenge to turn off those nagging thoughts that compare you to others who are more successful in your field.
I have had to create a schedule and be intentional about creating content, but also to be kind to myself in this process. It is so important to remember why you began and focus on that and producing things that are authentically you, not trying to follow trends.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
Sharde’ Searches is a travel and wellness blog that inspires millennial women of color to travel smarter, pack lighter, and search deeper within themselves. On my blog, I offer my experiences and mishaps traveling domestically and abroad, I offer suggestions for budget travel and minimal packing. I also share my journey to better wellness and the lessons that I learn along the way.
I am most proud of building a space where imperfection and vulnerability are ok. I want my readers to be able to be in dialog about dreaming big and wanting more for themselves without judgment, knowing that they are not alone. I think everyone desires to know that they have permission to be radically themselves, want wholeness, and to pursue those things. I think what sets me apart is that I am a little bit of an older traveler and someone who is very practical about who she pursues travel and wellness. I do so with a laid back demeanor and an admittedly nerdy and awkward personality.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
There are so many cool things in Houston that I have been discovering. Even if I am not going out of the city, I am able to share amazing places to visit right here in the city!
If someone wanted to get into travel blogging, I think Houston is a great place to be because it is a large metropolitan city with a lot of areas to visit and there are interesting cities to road trip to.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shardesearches.com
- Email: sharde.searches@gmail.com
- Instagram: shardesearches
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/shardesearches
Image Credit:
Sharde’ Chapman
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