How This 32-Year-Old Twitter Employee Has a 21-Year-Old Son
Dave Kerpen
![Dave Kerpen]()
Dave Kerpen
Candidate for Town Supervisor, North Hempstead, NY, Serial Entrepreneur & NY Times Best-Selling Author
"WAIT!" I exclaimed to the young lady I had just met 30 minutes prior. "You have a 21-year old son! And you're 32 years old! Please explain!"
Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow LinkedIn Influencer and author, Claire Diaz-Ortiz. @Claire, the 32-year old graduate of Stanford and Oxford (MBA), was one of the early employees of Twitter, responsible for innovation there, and is probably best known for personally getting the
Pope to join Twitter
. I was blown away by Claire's passion for all things: family, social media, philanthropy, writing, and learning.
But when I found out she had a 21 year old son at the ripe age of 32, I had to learn more. It turns out, of course, that he is a foster son, and their story is an amazing one. It's such a great story that Claire recently co-wrote a memoir with her 21 year old son Sammy.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with her again recently to discuss her new book:
Hope Runs: An American Tourist, a Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption.
Dave: This is a departure from your other books and Influencer posts. Tell us about
Hope Runs and why you wrote it.
You're right, this is a huge departure. Hope Runs is not a business book -- not by a long shot. Instead, it's a memoir of a strange journey I took to meet my foster son; it's also his story of his journey to meet me. It starts in 2006, at the end of a year-long trip around the world (mine). I went to Kenya to climb a mountain. When someone suggested I stay overnight at a nearby guest house before the climb, I agreed. The guesthouse was owned by an orphanage. I never climbed the mountain, and lived at that orphanage for a year. Eventually, I brought Sammy to the USA. The book is our story."
Dave: What was your biggest mistake from your experience and what did you learn from it?
Learning to understand the depth of the challenges he faced growing up was a huge challenge. Sammy had an incredibly easy transition to the USA. That said, there are moments that stun me -- emphasizing to me the vastly different experience he had growing up, and how it informs his daily life today. One summer day, several years ago, Kenya was in the midst of a huge drought. After Sammy ate a huge chicken dinner one day out here in California, he told me he thought about posting it on Facebook. He didn't, though, because of his worries about making his friends back home feel badly. This tiny incident bowled me over."
Dave: How have the experiences of childbirth and adoption been similar? different?
Very different -- yikes! Turns out that live-tweeting my own labor doesn't hold a candle to dealing with college applications for a 21 year-old!"
Dave: What is the biggest takeaway people will get from reading Hope Runs?
Hopefully, the takeaway will be that hope exists everywhere, and that lives can change in an instant. Mine did, and anyone's can."
Dave: Thanks Claire! Hope does, in fact, run- everywhere we let it.
Now it's your turn. What surprises have your adventures brought you that you never would have expected? Has your life ever changed "in an instant"? How do you think about "hope"? Please let me know your thoughts in the Comments section below!
Claire Díaz-Ortiz is the author of Hope Runs: An American Tourist, a Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption. She is an author, speaker, and technology innovator who has been named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company. Claire was an early employee at Twitter, where she was hired to lead social innovation, and where she still works today.
Dave Kerpen is the founder and CEO of Likeable Local. He is also the cofounder and Chairman of Likeable Media, and the New York Times bestselling author of Likeable Social Media and Likeable Business, and the new collection, Likeable Leadership. To read more from Dave on LinkedIn, please click the FOLLOW button above or below.
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8 年Wow. Parenting in general is one of the most challenging and fulfilling aspects of life, but adopting an older child, especially one who has been through a totally different life experience than yourself, brings it to a much higher, deeper level, thanks so much for sharing your story!
Market Researcher at Pharmaceutical Solutions Industry
8 年Call it a celestial bounty or human compassion...but miracles do happen! When the world speaks truth, we ought to believe it. :)
Married to Digital Marketing & FinTech, An Author who loves to write about Disruptive Innovations
9 年Wow what an inspirational story ..thanks for sharing
at United Airlines
10 年How awesome ...I applaud you and you are a role model for single motherd
Head Cook at Self employed
10 年This is beautiful it shows the love present in your heart and mind, this is one book I will definitely read!!