Jessica Nabongo Talks Traveling The World & New Book 'The Catch Me If You Can' | SWAY’S UNIVERSE

Name: Jessica Nabongo Talks Traveling The World & New Book 'The Catch Me If You Can' | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Uploaded: 2025-11-07T06:09:17-08:00
Duration: 34 min 18 s
Channel: SWAY'S UNIVERSE
Description: Jessica Nabongo, the first Black woman to visit all 195 countries, discusses her book 'The Catch Me If You Can' and her journey from a high-paying Pfizer…

SWAY'S UNIVERSE

00:34:18 Summary & quotes Report Issue

Loading transcript... Click for full transcript

About this episode Jessica Nabongo, the first Black woman to visit all 195 countries, discusses her book 'The Catch Me If You Can… AI summary

Jessica Nabongo, the first Black woman to visit all 195 countries, discusses her book 'The Catch Me If You Can' and her journey from a high-paying Pfizer job to becoming a digital nomad. She emphasizes redefining success as freedom rather than wealth, shares experiences of racial aggression in the US versus kindness abroad, and highlights the importance of representation in media.

Key takeaways 6

Redefining Success: Nabongo defines success not by high-powered careers or material possessions, but by 'freedom of location' and 'freedom of time,' allowing her to design her daily life (e.g., taking every Wednesday off).
Financial Freedom vs. Wealth: Traveling the world does not require being a millionaire; Nabongo achieved her goal through remote work, bartering, and donations, proving that financial savvy and resourcefulness are more important than vast wealth.
Racial Disparities in Safety: Nabongo highlights that she faced more severe racial aggression in Miami (police pointing guns at her) than in conflict zones like Iraq or Saudi Arabia, noting that American propaganda often makes people believe the US is safer than it is.
Representation Matters: Including her own images in a National Geographic book was crucial to change the visual canon, as Black women are rarely seen in travel photography from countries like Kyrgyzstan or Yemen.
Kindness of Strangers: Despite fears about traveling to places like Russia or Sudan, Nabongo found that most people are good and helpful, often going out of their way to assist her (e.g., a driver in Iraq inviting her home for lunch).
Digital Nomad Origins: Nabongo began remote working in January 2013 while at the UN, realizing she could work from anywhere, which allowed her to quit traditional office jobs and avoid the 'gray cubicle' environment.

Notable quotes 5 AI-generated: wording and quote attribution may be wrong. Use the play link to verify.

“My success is defined by my freedom like my freedom of location my freedom of time every single day i wake up and that i've woken up for probably last five to seven years i choose what i get to do”

▶ 9:45 Nabongo explaining her definition of success after quitting her corporate job at Pfizer.
“American propaganda is such that they get us to believe no matter how much hell we catch in the u.s that it's worse anywhere else and it's not”

▶ 15:51 Nabongo paraphrasing Malcolm X to describe her experience with racial aggression in the US compared to other countries.
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience we are spiritual beings having a human experience”

▶ 29:04 A quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin included in her book to encourage readers to look past race, gender, and nationality.
“How often do we see a black woman in kyrgyzstan yeah we don't have images of that you know what i mean but now we do”

▶ 4:28 Nabongo discussing the importance of having her own photos in National Geographic to represent Black travelers.
“Most people are good you know most people aren't racist or misogynist or homophobic most people are good my journey was made beautiful by the kindness of strangers”

▶ 16:28 Nabongo reflecting on her travels across 89 countries solo and the hospitality she received.