Vermont author and entrepreneur Amy Carst’s new book Expand Your Bubble is a provocative and vital read – equal parts personal memoir (to date), travel odyssey, and celebration of tolerance, diversity, learning from others, and expanding your mind and heart.

I picked up her book shortly before a trip overseas last month, intending to start it and then pack it to bring with me. Two hours later, completely engrossed, I had read her whole book from cover to cover. Amy’s compassionate conversational approach – she talks with a remarkably diverse collection of individuals from around the world – is wonderful, while she simultaneously unpacks her own journey in an honest, forthright and sometimes hilarious way. Her agenda is ambitious – expand your bubble, learn from others, design your own life, and find your tribe – and she deftly touches on all four of these goals by book’s end.

Here’s Amy on our Plan V-TV show telling her story of how the book came to be.

Best of all, Amy is donating 100% of the book’s proceeds to Malayaka House orphanage and entrepreneurial incubator in Entebbe, Uganda, Africa, an organization she and her family have been working with for many years. You can find the book here, or better yet, contact Amy and have her come speak in your community!

A more independent and resilient Vermont will be well served by Vermont authors like Amy, who remind us to find the best in others, tap into our own best selves, and collaborate to do the good work we are called to do in the world.

Expand your Bubble, free Vermont, and long live the UNtied States! Let 1,000 nations bloom.