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Shared yerba mate with the Guaraní in the Argentine rainforest. Sipped rooibos in South Africa's Cederberg — Khoisan country, the only place in the world it grows. Indulged in raclette in Switzerland's Valais, where it originated centuries ago.

But I grew up in the Canadian Rockies. My first international trip was at twelve, accompanying my mom through Europe. My second was at fifteen, skiing in the French Alps with the Alberta Ski Team. Both trips were extraordinary, and awakened an insatiable curiosity about how others live.

The first time I traveled to South Africa was in 1991. I was in my early 20’s. Nelson Mandela had just been released from prison, and I was witnessing a country awakening from a dark past — banned films being screened, protest songs finally being heard, voices long silenced beginning to find their strength. I was a privileged Canadian — that was not lost on me. That same trip took me to Lesotho, the small kingdom in the sky, entirely surrounded by South Africa. From a rondavel, I remember looking out over the Maluti Mountains — nothing like the Rockies, and yet they captured a piece of my heart. I have, ever since, left pieces of it scattered around the globe.

I returned to South Africa a couple of years later as a photojournalist working for a national Black newspaper, alongside those who had fought against apartheid. That they were open to me, and let me learn beside them, shaped everything that followed. With my camera I framed a country lurching toward democracy, and from that experience wrote Black Taxi: Shooting South Africa, a photographic memoir using my own lens and voice as a bridge to bring those stories to a wider audience. It built a foundation that untethered me from a baked-in, insular way of viewing the world that I’ll be forever grateful for.

I've spent years writing about culture and place — in books and for travel magazines. My second book, Culture Smart: Switzerland, part of an international series used by expats and global professionals to navigate the customs, etiquette, and unwritten rules of a country, grew out of years of living there. Curiosity — the kind that looks outward — quietly changes you for the better.

The Xenofiles is something different: more frequent, more intimate. With each issue you’ll receive 3 Traditions, 2 Words and 1 Maker — a micro-dose of cross-cultural understanding. Let culture come to you, in small digestible doses.

Welcome to The Xenofiles.

The world could use a little more of this.

Issues land whenever the world surprises me.

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