This episode opens with Dr. Faye T. Gamboa, O.D., sharing how a college volunteer service trip to help clean up after Hurricane Katrina opened her eyes to what true service looks like. Moment of Impact: "If you want to help us, walk with us." This episode is for anyone who is considering a service-based professional career or anyone who has a wanderlust for travel and wants to figure out how to combine travel with service. Dr. Faye also offers tips about how to own your own practice as a healthcare provider and move into entrepreneurship from clinical settings. We discuss the importance of role clarity when you have a team of professionals who want to collaborate in a frictionless way. Dr. Faye T. Gamboa is the owner and optometrist at Wanderlust Eyecare in Northfield, IL where her husband Shwin also works and their dog Winnie. She is also a Primary Care and Ocular Disease Optometrist at the North Chicago VA Hospital. Born and raised in Chicago, Dr. Gamboa has a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois-Chicago and her doctorate cum laude from the Illinois College of Optometry. She completed her residency in Primary Eye Care and Ocular disease at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago. She has worked in corporate and private practice settings and, in addition to her role as the founder of Wanderlust Eyecare, she devotes time to helping veterans and active-duty military personnel at the VA hospital. Dr. Gamboa treats her own wanderlust with ample travel around the world. She is an enthusiastic foodie who loves to spend free time with family and friends. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faye-therese-gamboaWebsite: https://www.wanderlusteyecare.com

Dave Babst, President and Co-Founder of DNA Business Consulting, opens up this episode by sharing how the birth of his eldest daughter and becoming a father for the first time shaped his outlook on what is important in life. Dave and his wife Amanda knew in advance that their eldest daughter Katherine would have a potentially challenging birth as she was identified in utero as having a congenital heart defect. Dave shares how the experience of Katherine’s birth changed his outlook to focus his life on how to be of service. We also explore a number of important topics relating to the ever-changing world of work and how to adapt to changing circumstances. Dave started his career working for some of the top firms: Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, National City, Google, and Publicis Groupe. He decided to become an entrepreneur so that he could be home more to help out when Katherine needed some surgeries as a young girl. We talk about how valuable fractional roles are for mid-career folks, especially given the ageism in the corporate world. Dave and Katy share their top tips for how to explore fractional roles if you have been faced with downsizing or being laid off. Dave shares how he has adapted and pursued strategic alliances that have helped his business become even more valuable to the founders, whom he helps scale by unlocking value and growth drivers. Dave remains deeply involved in his community, serves on nonprofit boards, and coaches youth sports teams. He and his wife Amanda live in Cleveland, Ohio, where they’re the proud parents to three teenagers. Dave holds a JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, an MBA from the Katz Graduate School, and a BA from the University of Richmond with additional executive education from Stanford’s School of Design. LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-babst/Website: https://dnabizconsulting.com/

Rebecca Liron, a humanitarian response professional with 10+ years of global experience (Nairobi/Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Abidjan/ Côte d’Ivoire, Geneva), opens this episode by sharing how seeing an exhibit as an undergraduate student at Northwestern University piqued her interest in humanitarian work and made her want to learn more. She is a Washington DC-based humanitarian response professional with 10+ years of global experience working with UN agencies, NGOs, foundations, and research institutions as a protection expert in contexts of forced displacements. She shares the series of impactful moments that spurred the transformation points in her career, including Going to Nairobi, Kenya as a Princeton in Africa Fellow and working on behalf of the IRC (International Rescue Committee).

Now, Rebecca is working with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and leading the CGI Humanitarian Response Portfolio as Deputy Director.Among the themes we discuss are: Rebecca’s passion for community-based protection, the meaningful participation of people with lived experience of forced displacement and statelessness, child protection, and the experience of forced migration and lived trauma. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to learn more about being a responsible global citizen and step into being an advocate for humanitarian causes, whether as a volunteer or a career.