The story of global niche can help you figure out what comes next for you. What comes after cultural disenfranchisement? What comes after Expat Harem, the book? What comes after expat+HAREM, the community site? This slideshow charts the evolution of expat+HAREM's spin-off educational community for global citizens: Globalniche.net.

1. image: anastasia ashman
evolution of
a global niche
(or “how to use an identity crisis to your advantage”)
anastasia ashman

2. what’s this “global
niche” i’ll be
demonstrating through
my own journey?
a concept & a community
you can use to find success
in the wide, wide world you
live in

3. steps to seeking a
global niche
• dream of belonging
• playing with cultural
identity
• achieve new sense of
personal & pro self

4. image: my friend map
we’re all over the map
can you tell where in the world you belong by a
map of your relationships, associations and
interests?
(these are my facebook contacts!)

5. dreaming of a life and
community beyond the
one surrounding us
right place, right people
where we can lead our ideal
lifestyle
&
livelihood -- work you love so much
it feels like play?
you’re not alone! most of us exist in
a situation mismatch

6. disenfranchised
expat, 1990s
writer
lost my voice
during 5 years in
southeast asia!
saved by: finding new
context through play
read historical travelogue
image: anastasia ashman
acted in film “anna & the king” -- euro lady in
tropics, circa 1865, felt discomforts of being
out of cultural element, burden of mismatch

7. image: anastasia ashman
played with themes of
exploration, crossroads
& contrasts

8. flashforward to 2003: moved
to turkey with my turkish
husband
planned to write my
own asian complaint
travelogue...
-- abandoned on a snake-
infested island, adrift in
pirate-filled waters.
(no metaphors, that
really happened!) image: andreʼa bucci

9. but turkey
kidnapped
me instead.
(that’s a
metaphor)
image: anastasia ashman

10. found
theoretical home
in the expat
harem -- concept
of anthology
cocreated, 2004
inspired by:
foreign women of the
sultan’s harem
&
liminal state of this
crossroad nation
east, west
part european, part asian ancient
empire, new republic
image: anastasia ashman

11. making expat lit
collection ->
peek into my character
enjoyed working at home,
in global collaboration
...an extroverted introvert
(or, introverted extrovert,
you choose!)

12. the harem, turkey, & the work
itself showed we can survive
(& thrive!) in limbo
we can be
embedded in a
place, yet be
forever alien

13. found my
historical
counterparts
in the harem...
&
image:sabah
my contemporary peers:
foreign women in modern
turkey
(100 women in 14 nations
answered the call for submissions, wow!)

14. image: anastasia ashman
overseas & repatriated turks...
identified with our
outsider-view-from-the-inside
(they’re insiders on the outside!)

15. connected with my
cultural peers around
the globe
• turkophiles & travelers
• middle eastern studies types
• women writers, cultural
writers
• expats everywhere

16. no longer alone in my
cultural limbo...
still out of synch
with mainstream & home country
15 american publishers
suspected book had no audience
plus, no expat lit genre
(life abroad = travel!)

17. global audiences
disprove
mainstream
predictions
local, regional & national
bestseller lists
in 3 countries
recommended by major
media:
nat geo traveler. lonely
planet. new york times.

18. when usa’s top morning tv program
“today show” came to istanbul in
2008, expat harem editors explained
turkey to 5 million americans

19. so,
expat harem
called together
a virtual
community
but we had
nowhere to
meet
image: anastasia ashman

20. wanted to see what was
beyond the book, 2009
what would cultural
peers tied together in
the virtual realm
want to discuss?
what could we do
together?

21. recognized we’re living
in a new social order
family-culture-nation
no longer
the only meaningful bonds

22. connections can be:
interest, experience,
worldview
rise of the
social web
now we can find
our true peers
and learn from
each other

23. for example, i’m not defined only as
an expat-woman-writer-in-turkey.
hope to honor many other
associations...

24. launched community site
expanded our circle
to
seekers of *identity adventure*
anyone in cultural limbo
expats & travelers
global nomads & multiculturalists
third culture kids & immigrants
men -- if they dare join a ‘harem’

25. expatharem.com becomes
group blog &
neoculture hub
a niche for globalists...

26. expat+HAREM community
starts teaching me
podcast discussion showed
we’re all using our
creativity to manage
multi-faceted, cross-
national lives
...flexible skills & perspectives

27. we’re hybrids
of
life
circumstance
beliefs
ancestry
rather than a
liability, our mix
is an asset
image: anastasia ashman

28. while launching
community site, also
working on 2nd book.
memoir about
friendship with a
multiple personality
career suicide? shifting topic after 5
years, would i lose my audience?
problem: needed author platform to show cultural
writer moving to psychological topic.
solution: emphasized *identity* in site mission,
how it’s formed through culture.
departing from travel focus.

29. image: unknown
searching for link between past & future work,
trying to pinpoint evolution...
eureka!
we have multiple cultural personalities
caring for each is key to our health & happiness

30. discover our
true literary territory
exploring what makes expat lit & hybrid life
writing different than ‘travel writing’:
more concerned with
psyche & personality changes

31. learning from
LIFESTYLE DESIGN,
LOCATION INDEPENDENT,
DIGITAL NOMAD MOVEMENTS
useful new paradigms:
gate-jumping
image: digital nomads
*HOWEVER* ...
focus on mobility = ideal of being unrooted
common question: “how can i live on a beach
in thailand by running a blog?”

32. sensed our community’s
question is different
we’re already unrooted!
a simple location change doesn’t
solve our problem.
plus, there are plenty of reasons
why-we-are-where-we-are...

33. we want to know:
“how can i live the life i want --
where ever i happen to be?”
how to live/work to our
abilities, independent of a
location’s limitations
...a more universal problem, since
we’re not always in the optimal
setting to achieve our dreams

34. the answer is not to
defer our dreams:
let’s achieve...
*psychic* location
independence

35. true definition emerges
& a mission, 2010
Glo· bal· niche, n.
a psychic solution to
your global identity
crisis
community mission: to
*find* our global niche

36. psychic location
independence
operate to your
fullest potential
personally &
professionally
wherever you are
(or come from)
--> & wherever
you’re going image: anastasia ashman

37. cofounded a mastermind
workgroup for creative pros,
2010
build professional web
platforms
based on our
unique strengths and
interests
connect to relevant people
and communities, integrate
into offline activities
join us on linked-in and facebook!

38. today: fusing past work
with future plans
the workgroup
+
expat+HAREM’s mission to make
psychic limbo a productive state
=
an exciting spin-off project,
a global niche workgroup!

39. codeveloping a private
educational community
for people like you:
transglobal & multicultural
dreamers in a cultural situation
mismatch:
maybe you’re in your hometown
or surrounded by language you’re not fluent in
or your customers are in a different time zone...

40. putting theory
into practice
an educational
community of
psychic peers
skills/tools to
*find & build* your
global niche
to learn about our upcoming launch:
please visit
globalniche.net

41. thanks
for coming on this
evolutionary journey
with me!