Imogen Dunn

Imogen

Name: Imogen Dunn

Age (optional): 41

Where you are from: UK

Where you live: Ubud, Bali

1. This is who I am in the world:

I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, spent some of my early years living in Toronto, Canada, and grew up in the UK, where my family is from. I think my tropical birth meant I didn’t enjoy cold, so I sought warmer-climes as soon as I reached an age when I could travel

Independently.

My first solo trip at the age of 18 was to Malawi. I volunteered as a teacher at a secondary school for a term, followed by back-packing around southern Africa. This experience changed the course of my life, providing me with a passion and drive for exploring the world, and a desire to better understand the geographical disparity in social and economic opportunities that exists.

I returned to London to study an undergraduate degree, using all the holiday-opportunities that being a student provided to earn money, travel and see more of the world. This has continued through the last 20 years of my life; I’ve volunteered with human rights organisations in India, studied the impact of human development on bio-diversity in rural Madagascar, worked with cacao-farmers seeking Fair Trade opportunities in Nicaragua, been employed by large-companies in Europe and Asia, and created my own businesses in Hong Kong and Indonesia.

Our world fascinates, challenges and inspires me. I am committed to understanding the people and environment of this planet, and finding ways in which I can contribute to its greater prosperity and long-term abundance.

2. This is the story that I want rewritten for women:

The belief that we can have it all is a lie. The truth is that life requires choices. Our power lies in whether we make these choices consciously or unconsciously.

Becoming a mother has been my greatest lesson in this. Before my children were born I thought I could continue my life just the way it was, with a couple of adjustments here and there. This was not my experience: motherhood turned my life upside-down! My health, my marriage, my career, my friendships, where I live: all areas of my life have changed.

My children are my greatest teachers. They show me the places in which I hide, dismiss, procrastinate and limit myself. They show me who I want to be. They inspire me ever more deeply to believe in and take action towards the creation of a better planet, in service of what I want to provide for them.

The story I want re-written for women is that we need to take responsibility for our choices.

To shift from seeing decisions as ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ in the way our prevailing culture teaches us, and instead find the ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of our own journey into becoming the greatest version of ourselves.

3. This is the story that I next want to write for myself:

My new story is accepting the decisions of my past, and moving with great awareness into what I’m creating for my future, my children’s future, and the future that I want to see for this planet.

I see huge opportunities in the world as it stands, broken open by recent events. We have a choice now in how we move forward and I see two paths: choosing fear and separation or moving into trust and collaboration. I am firmly committed to being a part of the latter.

More info about my work available at re-imagen.com, IG @re_imagen, FB

@reimagen.design