Meet the Counselor
Cross cultural education has been my life’s passion and the foundation of my education since my family hosted Fabiola, a Mexican high school exchange student, when I was in high school. After that experience, I went on to pursue a BA in International Affairs and Spanish from Lafayette College, studied and worked in Spain, England and Japan, and received my MA in Intercultural Relations from the Intercultural Communications Institutes/Antioch University. I have spent my career working within many aspects of intercultural education, as the Program Development Director, in part overseeing J-1 Department of State grants, for Academic Year in America (a non profit organization under the same American Institute for Foreign Study umbrella as Au Pair In America), and most recently, as the Executive Director of Families In Global Transition, educating and supporting the expat community. In 2006, I was the ghost writer on a book entitled Adventures Abroad: the Student’s Guide to Studying Overseas. I live in West Seattle with my two and four year old boys, husband and cat and last year bid a tearful farewell to our Mexican “daughter” that lived with us for a year (Fabiola’s daughter, Andrea…).
-Kim Van Cleave Michaels