What happens when you walk away from everything you’ve built — the career, the structure, the certainty — and trust yourself to start again?
In this week’s episode of Hello Moxie, host Nicole Donnelly sits down with her lifelong friend Laura Fellow, a former attorney who traded burnout and bureaucracy for a life of travel, creativity, and curiosity. Their conversation unfolds like a love letter to reinvention — honest, funny, and deeply human.
From Burnout to Boundless Living
Laura spent years climbing the professional ladder as an attorney in Washington, D.C., working in both the private sector and for government clients. On paper, she had it all — a respected position, a strong team, and meaningful work. But beneath the surface, she was exhausted.
“There’s nothing that demotivates a good employee like celebrating a bad one,” she says — a line that perfectly captures her disillusionment with corporate culture.
After years of fighting red tape and bureaucracy that prized process over people, Laura reached her breaking point. Her “aha moment” came when she realized that even in her dream job, surrounded by colleagues she loved, the system itself was wearing her down.
So, she and her husband made a radical decision: to sell their belongings, take their two daughters out of traditional school, and travel the world. Since January, they’ve explored 18 countries across South America, Europe, and the Middle East — and now, they’re preparing for Southeast Asia.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
Education was one of the biggest motivators behind Laura’s new lifestyle. After years of watching her daughters struggle in schools that didn’t meet their needs, she and her husband embraced worldschooling — a philosophy that blends travel with experiential learning.
“You can’t teach curiosity from a desk; you have to live it.”
Laura’s younger daughter thrives in open, hands-on environments, while her older daughter now studies through an online U.S.-based school — often attending classes at midnight from different time zones. This flexibility has allowed their family to transform the world into a classroom.
From exploring ancient architecture in Chile to studying environmental engineering in Dubai, every trip becomes a lesson in history, culture, and creativity.
Following the Breadcrumbs
Some of the most transformative moments of Laura’s journey have been unplanned — the “breadcrumbs” she’s followed that led to surprising opportunities.
When she built a Notion dashboard to organize her daughter’s homeschooling, other parents in their worldschooling community took notice. They began asking Laura to create similar tools and design custom project-based learning experiences for their children.
Before long, she found herself running a small, purpose-driven business — building digital learning dashboards, creating cross-disciplinary lesson plans, and helping families reimagine education through creativity and technology.
“I just followed the breadcrumbs — and they led me somewhere I never expected.”
She’s now an educational designer and worldschooling consultant, blending her love of learning, design, and problem-solving into meaningful work she can do from anywhere in the world.
Redefining Confidence and Mentorship
Despite her professional accomplishments, Laura admits she’s struggled with confidence and imposter syndrome for much of her career. That began to change in an unexpected place — a dive boat off the coast of Ecuador.
There, she met a 60-year-old dive master who became an unlikely mentor.
“She looked at me and said, ‘I see your awesomeness — and I’m not stopping until you do too.’”
That simple statement sparked something in Laura. Over weekly check-ins, her mentor challenged her to name one “awesome” thing she had done each week. Slowly, Laura began to believe it herself.
The experience reshaped how she thinks about mentorship — not as hierarchy, but as shared humanity.
“Mentorship isn’t about hierarchy — it’s about curiosity, humility, and learning from anyone.”
Lessons from Women in History
When asked about a woman in history who inspires her, Laura didn’t hesitate: Abigail Adams.
While helping her daughter study for AP U.S. History, Laura rediscovered the courage and persistence of America’s second First Lady — especially her plea to her husband, John Adams, to “remember the ladies.”
Laura draws inspiration from the Daughters of Liberty, the grassroots movement of women who organized boycotts and made their own goods to protest British rule.
“She didn’t win the argument, but she never stopped speaking up — and that’s the kind of courage we still need.”
Legacy and Living with Intention
At the end of the conversation, Nicole asks what Laura hopes her legacy will be. Laura’s answer is both humble and profound:
“I just want my legacy to be that I wasn’t an asshole — that I encouraged people and built them up.”
For Laura, that’s what this journey is truly about — living intentionally, seeing value in every person and culture, and modeling empathy and curiosity for her daughters.
She may have left behind the law, but she’s found something far richer: a life of learning, connection, and meaning.
Key Takeaway
Laura’s story reminds us that sometimes the most powerful growth begins with letting go — of expectations, titles, and what we think life “should” look like. When you follow the breadcrumbs, you might just find yourself exactly where you were meant to be.
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