Dreamcatcher Akua Boahemaa on Transformative Travel and the Call of the Soul
I am fortunate enough to like my day-job as a project manager and content developer for a small digital communications company. Not only because it allows me to exercise a different form of creativity, but because it connects me with incredibly interesting people from all around the globe. At this moment, I am overseeing the website for a humble but highly inspirational artist whose work is focused on environmental conservation, connection and truth; I’m working closely together with a climate activist and founder of a super cool composting project in San Francisco, and managing the website re-design for an NGO based in Bali, whose mission it is to restore land and protect wildlife within the Sumatran jungle through outreach projects and research. In other words, it never gets boring around here and, thanks to the modern technology I love to hate and hate to love so much, I feel like I get to bring a tiny piece of the countries my clients reside in into my living room by ways of Zoom. And this is how I first met Akua, CEO and founder of Dream Catcher Global.
When the invitation for the introductory call for this particular project first landed on my desk, I knew right away that it was going to be someone and something I was going to vibe with. Because Dream Catcher Global is founded on the idea that travel can be transformational; that we can use our outer adventures to embark upon an inner journey. We had our first Zoom call during the early months of last year, when I was deep in the throes of my own journey: into motherhood. Listening to her vision for and behind DCG further solidified an unshakable conviction that I had already reached prior to this time: that travel is a wholesome experience for body, mind and soul and that, along with my love, it is something I want to nourish the daughter with as much as I possibly can. Suffice it to say, I felt drawn to Akua, this charismatic woman who has traveled 79 countries – many of which she travelled on her own. She has made it her business to encourage others to do the same and, in doing so, reap the incredible shift that can come about along the way. If you let it.
When Akua first founded her company, she was clear about what she didn’t want, and that was to be just another retreat. “I wanted to be true to who I am and to why I’m doing this, and the reason I’m doing this is because travel has – literally – changed my life. My coaching isn't about a Zoom setting. I want to get people out on an adventure, to step outside of their comfort zone. To lead individuals who are stuck in their life and looking for a way to move forward, and ask them: how far are you willing to go? On a one-on-one basis, I’ve had a client ask about skydiving. So, we went to Dubai and jumped out of a plane. It frightens the living daylights out of you but once you’ve done it, there’s a sense of empowerment. It’s difficult to have a leveled conversation after something like that,” she laughs. “You’re so hyped up on adrenaline. But I used the experience to encourage the client to scream and let it all out, and for a person who is quite reserved, that is extremely freeing.” It was this form of travel that helped Akua cultivate the courage to make bold decisions in her own life, like quitting her career in HR, her tax-free salary job, and get out of a golden cage that had all the trappings of success but left her unsatisfied.
Travelling the world and exploring different places and cultures fueled Akua’s daydreams as a kid. Her teachers may have told her off for it, and even made her believe that, because of it, she wouldn’t amount to much, but she now knows that her daydreams were a catalyst in becoming who she is today. “I’m really thankful to that little girl who would take her imagination to far-away places and walking them,” she told me. Ultimately, it was her ability to tune in and follow her intuition that led her on a journey of self-discover in September 2019, just months before the pandemic would hit. “I’d always wanted to go to Ghana, but I actually felt something pulling me to go at this time. Before I left, I connected with a local guide who put together an itinerary that wouldn’t just take me to Ghana but also to Benign and Togo, so I could hit three countries in one. I think for a lot of people from the African diaspora, Ghana feels like a sort of pilgrimage. For me, when I stepped onto the turf of the earth there, I had ancestors almost singing to me to welcome me home. I knew this trip wasn’t going to be about just seeing the sites, but connecting with my ancestry in some way, shape or form.”
As part of this route, Akua visited the Ashanti region, where she learned more about West African history, including the story of Yaa Asantewaa, a powerful woman who led the War of Independence against the British Empire in the early 1900s. The journey was eye-opening and extremely emotional to her, but one of the most important things she took from it was her name. “While I was there, particularly in the village areas, people would want to know my name. I’d say Theresa and they were like, mhm, no – and they’d ask me again. And again, they wouldn’t accept it. So, I was offered a naming ceremony – they basically wanted to give me my honorary, rightful African name. I was wrapped in Ghanaian cloth and taken to the elders of the community. My feet were placed in this bowl and one of the elders washed them, which was synonymous with a cleansing of the past and embracing the future. Then the chief said some words in the Ghanaian tongue, officially naming me Akua Boahemaa, and welcoming me as part of their family. This was followed by a celebration; the drummers came out, and everyone started to gather and dance and sing, really sing because it was like, welcome home my sister.”
Upon her return back to Abu Dabi – the place she calls home – Akua didn’t immediately run out to get her name changed. She thought of the ceremony as a beautiful experience, but she still went by Theresa. It wasn’t until she started her personal journey of transformation over the next year or so, that it felt right to her to go by her African name. “Because, you know, when we’re born – what do we choose? What is ours? Everything is given to us, right? So, for me, I’m choosing my name and now, some people only know me as Akua.” In doing so, she also seemed to accept and step into a new path in life: that of a leader and helper. “It’s been a year of things I’ve manifested coming to fruition. There’s power in that and I hope to impact other women and share how I’ve done this through travel. I’ve been mentoring a small collective group of fifteen young people in Botswana for just over two years, which came about through travel and a random kind of chance meeting. Dreamcatcher is about community-based tourism, and the trips that I’m curating in Botswana and Uganda at the moment are all about cultivating an itinerary that allows the women who travel with me to connect with the community and become a part of it even if it’s just for a day. I want to encourage them to do things that are unfamiliar to them and recognize that we’re all equal.”
One of the things women from all walks of life share in common, is the pressure of the roles as partners, mothers, bosses or employees, daughters and caregivers they fulfill daily, and these are often all-consuming. And while self-care has become a trendy term lately, it typically doesn’t cover more than your basic needs – a warm bath, a day to yourself, a full night’s sleep. But it takes so much more than that to reconnect to your innermost truth, and the only way to do so is when given the time and space to find where to focus the spotlight. “Remember the oxygen mask in the airplane safety briefing? You always put the mask on yourself first… before others. Self-care is not selfish, it is critical”. This is one of the first reminders under the Dreamcatcher ethos, and one many of us are quickest to forget. In developing the concept behind her approach to transformative travel, sustainability is one of the major themes Akua focuses on as a coach. Recognizing that everyone will return from their travels to their own unique reality, she has spent a lot of time honing best practices that can be applied by anyone, anywhere, to keep the momentum of personal growth going.
“This is something I integrate in the travel experience, so that people understand: this is the reality of what’s going to happen when you get back. It’s not going to change – the kids are going to be running around demanding attention, it’s going to be noisy. Everything is great when you’re away but how do you shift into the real world, this going back to into the familiar? A lot of that is self-discipline. There’s no easy way – there’s no quick fix, there’s no magic wand to say, hey, it’s all gonna be great. This is about how badly you want this transformation. How badly you want to feel different about your life. The work on these DCG journeys is all about discipline and honouring the promises we make to ourselves. It all has to start with you, right? And it’s really about recognizing how you’re going to feel afterwards – like, actually I’m making a deposit here. Getting up at the crack of dawn feels like a withdrawal but actually it’s a deposit.” One of the ways Akua found this time to dedicate to herself, even while she was still working her high-pressure job at NYU, was by following the Miracle Morning routine Hal Elrod swears by.
“I never liked getting up because I felt I was just waking up to work, that was where my focus was. But when I integrated the Miracle Morning, I was waking up to spend quality time for me. To meditate, journal, read a few pages– or even one page – of a book. Now I’ve laid that foundation to start my day, and it’s like OK, I’ve got to go to work but I’ve done me. By integrating these practices on the DCG journeys we really are intentionally working on it, the reality of things, you know?”. I assure her that I know – that “the morning shift” has been something I’ve been doing for a while now. As I type this, it’s just broaching on 6AM, my second cup of Chai and a moment of gratitude for this time, this space, this silence. To me – and many parents out there – it’s not just the best time of day, but the only time of day to “do me”. People often think Akua’s been hit with the lucky stick, and that frustrates her. “These are decisions that I made. People weren’t there when I was getting up at 4AM every morning to join a group call for female entrepreneurs in Australia because I wanted to invest in my own self-development. That meant showing up on Zoom at 4AM, awake and alert, and by the time that finished, getting ready to meditate, journal and head off to work. It’s been a journey and not everyone sees that.”
Akua’s journey is continuous – not always in the literal sense, but in the metaphorical, spiritual sense she is always on the move. When she’s not skydiving, she is diving deeper into her self-exploration through journaling, meditation and visualization. Her work through DCG and her own curiosity and lust for life have taken her to the most surprising places and, while she may have been in her own apartment during the course of this interview, her suitcase hadn’t quite made it back to the closet yet. Like Akua, it seemed to embrace a moment of the stillness and reflection of arriving. Home. A term she perfectly captured by simply placing her hand on her heart. Arriving at a place where you’ll always be able to tune in to the call of your soul.