Meet Jessica Nabongo the first black women to travel the world

Jessica Nabongo has done what very few people have, she has managed to travel to all the countries in the world, all 195 countries. The jet setter’s achievement is amazing considering she has done so at the young age of 35, becoming the first black women of African descent to visit all 195 countries. The “travel blogging” industry mostly dominated by white male bloggers to date has had 150 people who have traveled the entire world. Jessica’s conquest is astonishing, she chronicled her journey on her blog and successful Instagram account, hoping to pave the wave for women and people of color to do the same.

Jessica was born in Detroit, Michigan to Ugandan parents. She completed her studies and achieved her American dream by landing a job at a large pharmaceutical company. Her career though great was not fulfilling, she decided to teach English in Japan and eventually began working for the United Nations as a consultant. Still not satisfied with her achievements Jessica decided to become a full-time travel blogger.

By 2016, Jessica had visited 60 countries and wanted to round that number off to 155. She had travelled at an early age with her family to Canada, United Kingdom, Uganda, Jamaica, and Mexico and the rest was pretty much history as they say. Her amazing blog and Instagram accounts detail the joyful and sometimes difficult journey, a woman of color, dark skin, tall and with a shaved head is easily noticed when traveling the world. In some parts the world, as you can imagine, are not the most welcoming to a woman of such stature. Jessica took it with stride and hoped to educate the people of those nations about her and her journey.

Although traveling solo can be intimidating for women in general, Jessica felt that traveling solo was the best way for her to understand the places she was visiting. Her solo travels gave her an opportunity to better engage and understand the locals and their customs. Her journey to traverse the world is rooted in a wonderful place, she wishes to break down barriers between people. Jessica Nabongo is a person we should all be proud of, follow and support her blog and Instagram accounts, perfectly titled “The Catch Me If You Can.”