monday's mulling: believe in your dreams

When the kids were home for the Christmas holiday, my daughter and I were sitting in the living room chatting when all at once she looked at the coffee table, saw the University of Dayton magazine, and exclaimed, "Ohmygosh, that's Stephanie Vermillion!" She and Stephanie became fast friends when they were in elementary school and even though time, careers, and distance have separated them, they still stay in touch.

Stephanie always had an adventurous spirit and when she started at the University of Dayton, she studied Journalism to embark on her dream of travel writing. She backpacked the Great Smoky Mountains with UD's Outdoor Adventure Club, climbed her way up the Flyer News chain of command, co-hosted TV shows on Flyer TV, and spent summers volunteering abroad from Ireland to Morocco. When she was in Morocco, she discovered a new hobby: stargazing. She had gone on a camping trip in the Sahara Desert and saw a meteor shower and admired the Milky Way. Once back at school, she signed up for her first astronomy class and as she said, "I've spent countless nights skipping sleep for stars."

Fast forward, she worked in Public Relations as her day job but had a successful side photography business. After six years of corporate life, she quit her PR job and carved out a career covering her passions - outdoor adventure, night sky tourism, wildlife conservation and culture - and had her photos published in National Geographic, Travel & Leisure, Outside Magazine and Vogue. She has traveled the world, which is now her office.

As Stephanie said in the article, "It's a dream that became possible the second I trusted in myself and answered the life-changing question: If not now, when?"

Stephanie has a debut book, 100 Nights of a Lifetime: The World's Ultimate Adventures After Dark, published by National Geographic.

And to think I knew this world traveler from way back when she and my daughter would make up stories and write their books...