Longing for Change
It begins with a dream. A long-shared, long-deferred sunshine daydream, imagining we could live abroad, working remotely in an exotic paradise, with our kids.
It took a pandemic to make the dream come true for us. In August 2020, we made our big move as a family to Tahiti.
Lo and behold, experiencing freedom and joy in French Polynesia gave rise to a bigger dream. We looked for ways to “pay it forward,” helping parents like us to experience living and working remotely in a beautiful location, amongst a community of like-minded families.
Going for it
We started with a simple, doable idea. Design a pilot program in French Polynesia, a place we know and love, that would give parents a way to experience the reality of working from paradise with their children.
It would be, first and foremost, a family adventure. A life-enriching experience. But also a potentially life-changing glimpse into a possible future.
At the same time, we didn’t want to limit ourselves merely to the South Pacific. The desire to live and work remotely abroad is shared worldwide. So we wanted to connect parents around the globe who were considering international remote working with those who are living the dream.
creating Community
Our dream expanded as it became clear we needed to accommodate a broader range of families:
- Single moms and dads seeking a supportive way to travel.
- Divorced parents seeking new ways to connect with their kids.
- Parents with infants and toddlers.
Over time, we envision in-person and virtual communities of fellow travelers, families who long for freedom and better work-life balance. Who want our kids to stretch their hearts and minds with firsthand experience in the cultures and ecosystems of our world. Who know that family life is a journey from Me to We, enabling us to transcend the limits of our egos and achieve a greater sense of purpose and aliveness with those we love.
Join us on this adventure, expanding our comfort zones and realms of possibility, beyond borders, in pursuit of a dream reaching the shores of a better reality.
Welcome aboard.
Meet the team
Adventuresome Souls, Creative Spirits & Dedicated Parents
Sam Keller
Founder & CEO
When it comes to professional pursuits, Sam's passion involves using entrepreneurship to foster sustainability, cross-cultural understanding, and personal growth.
During the past two decades he worked with various facets of the real estate industry for this purpose. From eco-resorts in the Amazon to solar systems in South Africa, he has played the role of financier, developer, and technology provider.
Over the course of his career, Sam has worked with startups, multilateral organizations, corporations, and NGOs in many different countries. Whether speaking at the United Nations or appearing on the Today Show, he has provided leadership for cutting-edge initiatives seeking to generate financial, social, and environmental benefits.
Sam has served as a Fulbright Scholar and earned a MPP degree from Harvard University. He has lived in Australia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Polynesia, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Now, as he builds Working Without Borders, he is blessed to receive strategic advice from his brilliant wife, Pascaline.
Pascaline Cure
Strategic Advisor
As Chief of Staff for AirBNB’s global business, Pascaline knows how to work across the world’s cultures and time zones. She grew up in Bahrain, Hong Kong, and France, then moved to the US to earn a BA in economics from Stanford. Afterwards she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, helping young people to become entrepreneurs. Fortunately, she survived a weekend trip to the Ivory Coast, where she remained held-up at the US Embassy as a coup erupted, shots ringing out, Marine guards clamoring to finally “see some action"!
After safely returning to the States, Pascaline worked at the World Bank before earning an MBA from Wharton and MA in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins. Since grad school, she’s been an investment banking associate for Goldman Sachs (in the Tech, Real Estate and Hospitality sectors), director of finance for Kimpton Hotels, and head of finance and strategy for Square. For much of 2020/2021, she worked remotely from Tahiti, making the trains run on time as AirBNB expanded supply and demand across the globe. Pascaline is passionate about enabling children, including her own, to grow up knowing the world is small and approachable.
Jessica Figliolini
Program Designer
Ever since Jessica spent two years teaching English in Japan, her life has entailed a series of immersive overseas experiences. From Asia, she went to live in Spain to learn Spanish, and then England, where she earned a master’s degree in cross-cultural human resource management.
After returning to the US, Jessica worked for a company providing cross-cultural training while she and her (French) husband started their family. They, along with their two daughters (now ages 9 & 13), were among the first families to jump aboard WWB’s pilot program in Moorea.
As a homeschooling & worldschooling family, their goal is to seek educational experiences while visiting other cultures as much as they can. So, the opportunity to spend a month having learning adventures with like-minded families in French Polynesia was enticing.
With a love for planning and an insatiable appetite for authentic cultural experiences, Jessica has been the quarterback of their family travel adventures. Now, as a Program Designer for WWB, Jessica is thrilled to work with local partners in destinations around the globe to make such experiences available to more families.
KyAnn Lewis
Communications Director
Spreading the joy of traveling with kids is a personal passion for KyAnn Lewis. She’s been traveling with her children since before they could hold their own passports.
For years KyAnn and her family lived in cities across the US because of her career in broadcast journalism. She started out as a producer, then worked as a news director at various TV stations. Her work earned many accolades, including prestigious Emmy and Murrow awards.
In recent years, KyAnn has turned her focus to travel journalism because she loves helping families to explore the world. She shares her expertise about family travel on KidTripster, which was recently designated as the Best Independent Travel Blog by the North American Travel Journalists Association.
Searching for a new and meaningful way to spend the summer of 2022, KyAnn and her family participated in Working Without Borders’ month-long pilot program in Moorea. The experience was even better than she imagined. Now KyAnn spearheads efforts to spread the word about WWB’s mission and upcoming retreats.
Alexandrine Wan
Head of Youth Programs, French Polynesia
Born and raised in French Polynesia, Alexandrine is on a mission to help visitors step away from the clichéd postcard images of the islands to experience them, and get to know their residents, in a more authentic way. Ever since she was a girl, she has been drawn towards helping people and fostering a sustainable world. She spent years learning about sustainable tourism while working with multinational hotel groups, collaborating with ecotourism pioneers in Costa Rica, and attending a program with Harvard University.
Now, as the founder of Nani Travels, French Polynesia’s first inbound tour operator specialized in sustainable tourism, Alexandrine partners with NGOs and communities to preserve cultural and environmental heritage while enabling visitors to immerse themselves and contribute in ways that change lives. As a mother herself, raising a 1-year-old boy, Alexandrine is excited to welcome other parents, and their children, to her homeland.
Richard Foret
Content Editor
Richard set out from Princeton in the summer after his Freshman year with a copy of Kerouac’s On the Road, hitchhiking solo around the US with a cardboard sign bearing a scrawled black-marker message of “Home to Mom,” sleeping (or not) each night under the stars. He took a similar thumb-extended journey to Europe and North Africa the next summer, that time with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. He came to a screeching halt, at least briefly, when he was arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned for fifteen days in a Greek prison for skinny-dipping in the Peloponnese.
For the next quarter-century Richard tried to keep his pants on in public, “settling down” to married life in Israel, raising two kids (now 17 and 27) as he pursued his career as a writer, marketing strategist, and online publisher. These days, he weathers the pandemic in the paradise of Phuket, cycling around the quieted island, remote working from condos and cafes. He finds moments of joy in what few live music venues remain, seeking out singers covering Dylan and Young. His lifestyle is minimal, his carbon footprint featherlight, his curiosity about this crazy world insatiable.
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