About

AJ is a Chicago based tech nerd. I’m a Senior Project Manager at an IT consulting company, but I live out in the suburbs (don’t ask me why).

I was fortunate enough to land a job that allowed me to travel all over the USA, Europe, Australia and Singapore doing event technology at conferences for 3 years. While I no longer work in the 50-60% travel world I am grateful for the experiences I have gained on someone else’s wallet.

People always ask me, “why would you leave a travel job?!” The answer: “see the way these student loan payments are set up…” AJ got billz to pay.

Traveling the world really is as amazing as people say it is. It gives you a new perspective on life, people and things. I have a master’s degree in Information Systems, but my BA is in Law, Politics and Society. This sort of sociological “pre-training” I received in undergrad really allows me to appreciate how different narratives shape my life, and the lives of others.

I have often been asked by both friends and colleagues what its like to travel with my “unique experience” that of being black, non-gender conforming, and female. In short, things do get awkward sometimes, but most notably I’ve been able to actualize the privileges that come with presenting as male ( or people assuming I’m male) both at home and abroad. I also get to experience the fear some people display when they think a black man is walking behind them.

Truthfully, I don’t think I’d really appreciate my particular experience had I not done these things:

1. Lived in Iowa for 7 years
2. Gone to a predominantly white University and been the only black masculine lesbian on campus for 4 of my 5 years there (super senior)
3. Lived in Chicago for 5 years after doing the Iowa thing

The goal of my blog site is to share my experiences with you all in hopes that you will also embark on your own adventures, and maybe laugh a little bit. In my line of work I don’t get to write about things that are fun so I’ll have to do it here, with y’all. 🙂

While I haven’t done the best job of documenting particular restaurants, I have included a page full of reviews I’ve written on some of the places I’ve been (the good, the bad and the ugly).

Again,

Thank you for reading

-AJ