As a Fullbright scholar, Kristen Van Nest lived and traveled across Europe for a year learning about marketing and branding. At the time, she was a young woman in her early 20s and considered it a gift.

"The great thing about travel is you meet these people who live these very different lives," he says. "And I think they saw that I was genuinely curious about them as people and understanding them, and so they invited me into their lives and that is such a gift."

Her travels continued to China where she lived for more than three years, working in the wine business and living with a host family. She finally came home to the U.S. at age 26 and settled in Los Angeles. Having had close encounters with acting, stand-up comedy and directing, she is now concentrating on writing. She's released her first book  ...