Author Jody Olsen will give a free talk about her book “A Million Miles: My Peace Corps Journey” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10, at the Silver Spring Civic Building. This book talk will be hosted by Silver Spring Town Center, Inc. When Jody Olsen enlisted as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tunisia in 1966, she was fleeing familial tragedy and the stifling societal norms of her Salt Lake City upbringing. However, her service in Tunisia upended her religious and cultural beliefs and propelled her into a six-decade career with the Peace Corps, culminating in her directorship of the agency.
Dr. Olsen’s captivating memoir, “A Million Miles: My Peace Corps Journey,” reveals the personal and professional challenges she faced throughout her career, which spanned the Reagan era, Sept. 11 and the first Trump Administration. She writes candidly about her struggles as a woman in leadership. The memoir is a sharp, vulnerable portrait and a testament to the transformative power of leadership and self-discovery.
Dr. Olsen’s captivating memoir, “A Million Miles: My Peace Corps Journey,” reveals the personal and professional challenges she faced throughout her career, which spanned the Reagan era, Sept. 11 and the first Trump Administration. She writes candidly about her struggles as a woman in leadership. The memoir is a sharp, vulnerable portrait and a testament to the transformative power of leadership and self-discovery.
Dr. Olsen served as the 20th director of the Peace Corps between March 2018 and January 2021. With the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Olsen made the unprecedented decision to evacuate all 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers and bring them safely back to the United States. Dr. Olsen also championed global women’s economic empowerment, opened Peace Corps in a new country, Viet Nam, and re-opened three countries in which Peace Corps had previously served.
