Going Solo
In March 2020, SFHC alumna Amanda Whitten gave a presentation at Honors Colloquium titled “Going Solo.”
Amanda talked about the lessons she’s learned from traveling the seven continents, building a law practice and a life of her own — mostly on her own.
She expanded up her thoughts in an interview with fellow SFHC alumna Ashley Jacobsen:
“It’s funny. I gave that talk — I think it was like two weeks before the world shut down — and the whole theme of my talk was, ‘Get out there, go see the world!’ And then the world promptly closed.
I think that was my takeaway, though: just to not be afraid of going it alone. I spent a long time wanting to travel but feeling like I couldn’t because I didn’t have a partner, and then when I went out there and just decided to go and do it myself, it turned out to be really rewarding and empowering. Now I almost say sometimes that I prefer traveling alone, just because you don’t have to worry about anybody else or take anybody else into account.
But it’s just… to erase the hesitation of not doing things because you’re not doing them in the traditional way, I think is what I’ve learned from traveling.
There’s just so much out there to see and the world is so much bigger than we think, and I think that traveling just expands your world view. You know, we can sit here and talk about policies or ideas or conflicts in the world, but until you’ve really seen how somebody lives in another part of the world, you opinions are sort of based on not much. So it’s been really informative in the way.”
Watch Fireside Chat #2 | With Amanda Whitten to hear more!
Ms. Amanda Whitten, Esq. is a partner in the law firm of Bryant & Whitten, LLP, here in Fresno (https://www.bwlaw.com/attorney/amanda-whitten). Amanda is a SFHC alumna (B.A., Political Science & B.S. in Criminology; magna cum laude; May 2004), and a graduate of the UC Davis School of Law (J.D., 2007).