We recently connected with Sally Mouw and have shared our conversation below.

Sally , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I came up with the idea because I have worked in the adoption field for over 25 years. A huge part of that was working international cases. Over the last 10 years or so, international adoptions have plummeted, due to both foreign governments and U.S. government. Most families that have adopted internationally have a deep desire to stay connected to the country they adopted from and one way to do that is to take your adopted child there, when it is age appropriate. I started my business for the purpose of coordinating that travel experience.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have worked in the adoption field for about 28 years, both domestically and internationally, and have been a part of well over 1000 adoptions. I am also an adoptive mom of a 10 year old girl from Ethiopia. I know, from personal experience what a beautiful bittersweet experience adoption can be. I also know how important it is for anyone to know their roots and to understand their identity. My business helps with this by coordinating travel back to their homeland to help put the pieces of their puzzle together.
What sets me apart is that I know is that I know about many different perspectives of adoption and how it impacts the child, birth family and the adoptive family. I’ve also been to Ethiopia 12 times and have traveled within the country to all the areas where the orphanages were and all the major tourist spots. Finally, I work with an Ethiopian friend of mine who still lives in Ethiopia and helps plan the time in Ethiopia and accompanies every family during their time there.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There are a couple instances, in particular, that illustrate my resilience. I officially started my business at the end of 2019. There were four families that decided to proceed and travel in 2020. Needless to say, that didn’t happen, due to COVID. All four trips were canceled and funds had to be returned. Due to restrictions in both the U.S. and in Ethiopia, it took more than two years before any families were permitted to travel there. This was incredibly difficult, but I was determined to hang on and to make it happen. In June of 2022, my first family turned their dreams into a reality and traveled to Ethiopia with their three children, all of which are from there. It was of great validation to hear their positive feedback when they returned. Since that time, I continue to help families plan travel over there and I traveled with one in the spring of 2023. My next trip with another family is next week and I can’t wait to get back there.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I worked for one adoption agency for most of my career. When I was approaching my 25th anniversary year, I was fired by the chairman of the Board. His reason was that he felt my travel business was a conflict of interest to my work at the agency. On a side note, it wasn’t a conflict, as the agency never provided a service like this and also had not worked in international adoption for over five years. In reality, it was clear to me that he wanted a piece of the pie and to take credit for the idea. I was devastated at the time, and some of the emotions are still a bit raw, but, this was actually great incentive for me to work even harder on building my business. I’m a very determined and driven person and was not going to let his ego change my course, but it was a definite pivot. Since that time, I started a new adoption agency and it has been successful, but my real passion is what I do with Her Village.