We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Julia Rogers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Julia below.

Julia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

I fervently believe that every young American should take a gap year after high school. A gap year is an intentional period of time one takes to explore themselves and the world around them—typically in-between high school and higher education or the workforce. This formative period allows a person to develop on their own terms – whether it includes travel, volunteering, work experience, national service or a combination of activities. Students who take gap time come away from it more mature, confident and knowledgeable about their values and priorities. Studies show that gap year students who go on to college afterwards graduate sooner than traditional students and have higher GPAs. A gap year is basically a life hack that launches you into your future with purpose.

After I graduated college, I moved to Tanzania to work in public health with an educational nonprofit. I volunteered for ten months and it was the most challenging, eye-opening and educational experience of my life. Being deployed to a rural village, navigating a new culture with respect, learning a new language and developing the grit to rise to the challenges I faced every day was incredibly powerful for me. When I returned, I would tell friends I had wished I had taken the gap year before starting college. I would have valued my education much more, had much more direction in what I wanted to study and I would have been more mature. I grew more in my ten months in Tanzania than all four years of college. I started EnRoute only a year after I returned, because I wanted to guide others through the experience and increase the acceptance of taking a gap year before college by American society (it’s already quite normal to do this in the UK, Australia and elsewhere). The business has grown into a thriving enterprise, but I have kept it intentionally small to maintain my quality of life. What has grown exponentially since I started is the number of students taking gap time and the gap year industry. That vision—to grow the gap year option into an accepted cultural norm—has guided my business at every step of the way.

Julia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My company – EnRoute Consulting – is a social enterprise dedicated to fueling the gap year movement and developing a generation of compassionate, driven and resourceful global citizens. A large part of my job is helping my clients (college-aged students) craft and execute a year customized to their personality, goals and budget. I also do a lot of work to help support parents in this process. Because the gap year option is so new in the U.S., another role I play is gap year educator and advocate. I give presentations, network with school counselors and educators, and co-host a podcast called Gap Year Radio to help demystify this educational pathway and help others really understand what it’s all about. I vet gap year programs for ethics, quality and safety, which allows me to travel and connect with people all over the US and world.

Every gap year is so different; some students choose to join programs while others self-design their year. If a student self-designs their year, I’m there to help them by being a sounding board as they bring their plans to life. If they are looking to be matched with programs, I connect them with ones I’ve vetted. To vet a program, I interview a founder or director, check references and do an internet check to make sure they meet my standards of quality. It’s a pretty involved process! I sometimes visit programs in-country to meet in-country directors, see gap year programs in-action and experience them myself. And yes, that’s the best part of the job!

One of my professional highlights is having the opportunity to deliver a TEDx talk about the gap year option. I also work at the industry level as a current board member and President Emeritus of the Gap Year Association, a US-based nonprofit dedicated to the intentional growth of the gap year option through research, standards-setting and advocacy efforts. I am also one of only a handful of professionally accredited gap year counselors in the country, which is a very rigorous certification process.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I had very few professional experiences under my belt when I started EnRoute at 23—I had never even interned! But my liberal arts background and curious spirit made me a quick study when it came to the business side of things. And my experience in Tanzania gave me the courage and confidence to try out something new and a little scary. For a long time, it felt like I was too young to be taken seriously. It took a while for enough people to take a chance on me to eventually build the experience needed to become a true expert.

While I built my business and expertise, I worked at non-profits part time. Five years in I had the client base and process ready to go full-time. I’ve been growing ever since!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Unlike many entrepreneurs, I really like social media! For me, it’s a creative outlet and a way for me to stay connected with colleagues around the world as well as current and past clients. My biggest piece of advice is to be authentic and have fun with it. I’m not the kind of person who is going to dance in front of the camera, but I have become comfortable talking to the camera to offer advice on topics relevant to my niche. There’s a fear when starting out on social media that people don’t care or don’t want to hear from you. It took me YEARS to show my own face on instagram. Once I got over worrying about coming across as self-aggrandizing- I’ve really embraced my platforms as an opportunity for outreach, education and connection.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.enroutegapyear.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/enroutegapyear
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enroutegapyear
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliadrogers/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXZ91peCebuObiiSDrfebgQ
• Other: https://www.ted.com/talks/julia_rogers_the_higher_education_crisis_and_how_the_gap_year_could_help_solve_it