I’ve never been able to settle for the status quo. I’ve held one—and only one—traditional office job in my life, and that was to cover my bills when I started an online master’s degree so that I didn’t have to leave Alaska, where I was living at the time with my fiancé.

By 2011, my now husband and I had moved to Quebec City for his academic career and I had finished my master’s degree in French Language and Culture. Soon after, I dove head-first into freelance translation and started building up a client base because I knew that we weren’t in Quebec City permanently, and I wanted to be able to continue working on my own terms wherever we went next. In my field of work, as in many others today, everything happens over email (and I mean everything) so I knew it was possible.

Prior to beginning my career as a freelance translator, I had pursued opportunities to use my knowledge of French in different capacities. I had studied in France for two semesters and travelled Europe while I was at it, then worked as a US Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in French-speaking West Africa, followed by two years working in a national park in Alaska where interpreters are needed for the park’s many foreign visitors. Even after all those adventures, nothing has been as freeing as working for myself.