Joanne Parfitt, French ’83, Editor of the magazine Woman Abroad, writes about how a series of choices and chance events have shaped her career.

As I look at my copies of Gradlink I am always impressed to see such a large number of foreign students featured. There is no doubt that we live in a global world where international travel for work has become the norm. This is definitely my world.

When I spent my third year in France, working as an assistante, as part of my French Studies degree, I had no idea how a chance appointment in a random town would be the catalyst for my career. Living in the sleepy Normandy town of Neufchatel-en-Bray, as the only single English girl, led me to invite myself to dinner with virtual strangers as a way of forging a social life.

This led me to write a dissertation on the relationship between the natural produce of the area and its people, and when the title French Tarts came to me, I decided to use my dinner dates as a source of material for a cookery book. When my idea was accepted by the first publisher I tempted with a synopsis, I realised I had to learn to write, cook and create a computerised manuscript fast.

These apparently arbitrary skills soon led me to specialise in teaching word processing, writing computer handbooks (I wrote more than 10 of them) and running my own computer training company.

But it was when I married Hullite Ian Parfitt and we moved to live in Dubai that my career took on a new direction. I discovered an opportunity to turn my hand to journalism, writing for local magazines.

I created a portfolio of changing careers that could be adjusted to suit each stage of life and each location as we moved around the world. I have variously made and sold date chutney, taught French and creative writing, and sold Dorling Kindersley books.

I later began to concentrate on the expatriate experience and began writing for real newspapers at last, the Independent on Sunday and the Weekly Telegraph amongst others. I also formed my own publishing company and produced a book called A Career in Your Suitcase. Before long I was being invited to speak on my pet topic at international expatriate conferences all over the world.

Then, in April 2000, I was invited to edit a new magazine called Woman Abroad. Now I could help the whole English-speaking world to understand the expatriate experience and at the same time could help other expatriate writers to find publication. Woman Abroad has fast become a thriving community of women, who use the contacts in its pages and on the website to network for business and pleasure.
Find out more about Woman Abroad or contact Joanne at www.womanabroad.com