Paula Kent is a researcher, writer, and lifelong learner, fueled by endless curiosity. At the age of fifty-three, Kent discovered her passion for research and writing after leaving a relatively conventional career in retail banking to leap blindly into the world of academia. Her time working on her Master of Arts degree at Royal Roads University in Victoria, B.C. saw her graduate research project nominated for the prestigious 2020 Governor General’s Gold Medal Award. This experience sparked her desire to breathe life into abstract academic theories. Moreover, her curiosity about how storytelling, travel, and transformational events enrich & influence our lives inspired her to further study.