What Argentina Taught Me About Listening, Language, and Conversation

Years ago, I packed a suitcase, boarded a plane, and moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina for an internship. I was in my early 20s, excited, unsure, and totally unprepared for how much that experience would shape how I work today.

The job? Consulting between nonprofits, small organizations, and government agencies—helping them align priorities, communicate needs, and find solutions in a system that was often under-resourced and overly complex. It was the kind of work that asked a lot of questions and offered very few easy answers.

I loved it.

Every day, I was working across languages—Spanish and English, sure, but also the unspoken languages of culture, power, and bureaucracy. I had to listen more than I talked. I had to ask better questions. I had to be okay not being the expert in the room.

That time in Argentina taught me that consulting isn’t about showing up with a fix. It’s about building trust, understanding different perspectives, and helping people find what’s already working—and build from there.

It also gave me a deep respect for the scrappiness of small organizations. The creativity. The resilience. The way people find a way forward even when the system isn’t designed to support them. That’s a lesson I carry into every project I touch, whether I’m working with a startup, a nonprofit, or a local business here in Oregon.

And of course, living in Argentina gave me all the other things, too: lifelong friends, empanadas that ruined me for all others, a love for long dinners and slow conversations, and a reminder that stepping outside your comfort zone is almost always worth it.

Sometimes the biggest lessons come from being a little lost, listening closely, and being willing to learn.
I didn’t just get consulting experience in Argentina—I got perspective.

And I bring it with me, every day.