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Brenda Padilla Ericksen

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Brenda is a cross-cultural trainer specialized in intercultural communication, conflict management and peacebuilding skills. She provides cultural diversity training for exchange programs and personnel at multinational organizations. Brenda has a Spanish Degree from Western Washington University and has been working with cultural diversity for over 30 years as a teacher, journalist and corporate trainer. She is from Seattle and has lived and worked in Spain for over 25 years where she has raised four daughters. She is a former exchange student (Spain & Norway), host mother (Thailand, France, Austria & USA), and the mother of daughters who exchanged to France, Canada, South Korea & Nepal.





Recent Posts

Hosting an exchange student transforms Christmas into an international event. What could be more fun than sharing your Christmas...


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Tags: Exchange Student, Holidays, Host an exchange student,

 A few years ago, the Browns' first exchange student literally stormed out of their home, leaving them heartbroken. Fortunately,...


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Tags: Host Families, Cultural Exchange

Do you want your host family to adore you? Then this post is for you!


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Tags: Cultural Exchange, American values, Gratitude in the USA

The first time we hosted an exchange student, the coordinator gave us a list of topics to discuss with our new student.


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Tags: Host Families

It’s hard to believe that Katie Schlagel is only 18 years old. International youth exchange has made her particularly wise about...


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Tags: Host Families, Exchange Student, Study Abroad

Jill Bonin was a mom with a mission: connect her son and daughter – adopted from Korea – with their homeland in meaningful ways....


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Tags: Host Families, Cultural Exchange, Homeland Tour Korea,

Cassidy and Chris Miller have just said good-bye to Jose from Barcelona. He is one more international son that has lived with...


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Tags: Host Families, Host an exchange student, Reasons to host,

Cassandra Ross and her husband were expecting to host Kim, a lovely exchange student from Germany when… the unexpected happened....


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Tags: Host Families, Cultural Exchange, Youth Exchange,

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