June 21, 2023

Coming at the World with a Different Perspective

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Diplomatic Perspective Co-founders Ryanna Miller and Ayanna Dawkins pose by Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of Ryanna Miller

Gilman Scholarship ExchangeAlumni Ryanna Miller went abroad before the age of social media — before Instagram Stories were ubiquitous, before TikTok dances went viral, and before Reels comparing how people do or say things in one country versus another became ubiquitous. So she was frequently asked questions that now seem mundane, like what she ate and what being in South Africa was like. She was also questioned for even traveling to a place as remote as Africa:

 

“I was an anomaly,” she says. “People thought I was interesting and a little weird, and [that I was] different that I went to Africa.”

 

But the main comment she received when she returned home was: “I would love to study abroad, but I don’t have a passport.”

 

At the time, Ryanna — who grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, where she describes her school experience as a “mini United Nations” with 51 languages spoken and a place where you could get every kind of cuisine — was attending Alabama A&M University, one of the 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States. In Alabama, she had her first experience of being surrounded only by people who looked like her, which she says when she arrived as a freshman was its own kind of culture shock. As a senior, when she returned after her international exchange, she told everyone what they needed to do to start the process.

 

Now a real estate agent and the co-founder of the non-profit, Diplomatic Perspective, Ryanna has set out to change the equation, starting from a realization she had when she returned from her international exchange program.

 

“Within my community, the Black community in America, we have faced different travel segregation,” she says. “And what travel segregation looks like, stemming from Juneteenth, to directly the year after Juneteenth in 1866, vagrancy laws appeared. There was unsafe conditions for being Black and traveling in America. If you were seen to be going from one place to the next, and were perceived not to have a home — even if you had a home, you could spend three months in a work camp.”

 

That fear, and then Jim Crow Laws, have shaped the way that Black Americans participate in travel, she says. Those laws, which started after the Civil War, were locally upheld but dominated much of the United States for over 70 years, systematically affecting everything from schooling, to where one could spend their free time, and especially travel.

 

“As a Black American, you were kept with the livestock,” Ryanna says. “There wasn’t the opportunity to stop and use the restroom. You were not able to stop and eat in the same restaurant. You had to rely on others and pack your own food.”

 

It’s no surprise then that the legacy of Jim Crow and racism persists for Black Americans traveling today. According to Ryanna, the number of Black Americans who have passports is in the single digits, compared to the 46 percent of Americans overall who have passports. The long-lasting trauma and enforced culture of the past are still here to this day, and Ryanna wants to change it, saying that the low percentage shows a tremendous need to spread the message of the possibility of accessing the world and of the safety of travel.
 

“For me what I see is that the numbers are not there of African Americans having that passport,” Ryanna says. “To me, what that tells me is that there is a huge need for not only access to our global world, but in understanding that it’s okay to get out, it’s okay to travel. There [are] so many systems that are set in place for safe travel, not only by the State Department, but you can do it as a family, or you can do it as travel buddies, or you can do it as solo travel.

 

Ryanna started Diplomatic Perspective with the goal of reaching HBCU students and high school students, and to provide an education about the world that previously hasn’t been available. Her organization gets the participants their first U.S. passport for free and teaches them about international affairs, conflict resolution, intercultural communication, and humanitarian affairs, as well as provides international development with the opportunity to work with a real international non-government organization (NGO).  

 

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Ryanna Miller while on her international exchange in South Africa
In 2021, Ryanna applied for and won a Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) grant from the U.S. Department of State for her “REACH: HBCU Global Institute” project. The project involved a virtual, three-day conference that was organized by Ryanna and Jacquelyn Shipe, the CEO of Global Ties Alabama. Nearly 400 students and faculty from Alabama’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), international exchange professionals, and U.S. exchange alumni participated in the event, and heard from more than 30 speakers from different international careers and backgrounds, including Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley. .

Diplomatic Perspective, meanwhile, just graduated its second cohort or class of students who are from the DC public school system and Prince George’s County in Maryland. Like any strategic business owner, Ryanna has plans to expand their operation to Baltimore County in the coming year and beyond, all while maintaining balance with the non-profit, her real estate and consulting career, and her personal life. She says her secret to staying centered is a mix of meditation, exercising, family and friend support, but also the mantra that “one percent better goes a long way.”

 

“Each day I wake up, and I work, [and think,] ‘How can I be one percent better? How can [I] make Diplomatic Perspective one percent better? How can I make this particular project one percent better?’” she asks. “To not just think that it has to be 100 percent perfect all the time, but setting those expectations for myself and for my organizations that I work with and of course, Diplomatic Perspective, has been very calming, to know, that it might not be 100 percent better, but one percent better today is a win, and I’ll take that.”  

 

Her work making the global world more accessible through her relentless drive doesn’t end with her mission with Diplomatic Perspective, though. Ryanna will soon add another international exchange to her experiences with a tour with the U.S. Speaker Program, which will give her the chance to continue to inspire audiences around the world. More locally, ExchangeAlumni will have the chance to hear her speak as well in an upcoming Career Connections seminar held in Washington, D.C. at the State Department as Ryanna conducts a fireside chat with the newly confirmed Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Liz Allen, proving that her perspective is an important one both domestically and abroad.