Introducing Liz Truong, the new Executive Director of Crooked Trails

Crooked Trails is proud to introduce you to the newest member of our team, Liz Truong. Liz is coming on staff as our new Executive Director, and we couldn’t be happier about the addition of her energy and talents to our work! (Previous E.D. and Crooked Trails co-founder Christine Mackay isn’t going anywhere, by the way – she’ll just be focusing her efforts differently.) We asked Liz a few questions so we could all get to know her better.

Tell us a bit about your background before coming to Crooked Trails. Where are you from originally? Where did you go to school? And where did you work prior to coming to the fold?
I was born and raised in the Southeast corner of Washington in a town called Colton – a small, farming town of 300 people. My graduating class was 15 people and my family were the only minorities where I was raised. When it was time for college I was ready for bigger things in the city so I attended the University of Washington and got two degrees in marketing and psychology. I originally started my career in the sports industry before making the move to the non-profit sector. Growing up in a small town really put an emphasis on the importance of community and giving back. I worked for a company called KTBA where I plan and executed over 130 charity events a year before moving on as the Executive Director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I spent 3 years at MDA before coming to Crooked Trails.

How did you find out about Crooked Trails and what made you decide to come and work for us? My friend Billy referred Crooked Trails to me over a year ago because he took a life-changing trip to Peru through the organization and I was looking for a way to do meaningful travel. My first traveling experience outside the US was to Thailand with the YMCA doing a cultural exchange in the hill tribes where we built an education center and lived with the locals. I’ve always wanted to emulate that experience in my travels for the rest of my life, and I found Crooked Trails was doing that. Their mission of educating on different cultures, bridging the world together and peaking interest and understanding in each other through travel really hit home to me. The more I learned about Crooked Trails the more passion I was building on carrying out their mission and helping to make a difference. Co-Founders Tammy & Chris are very inspirational in their vision and make such an impact on everyone they meet.

Coming in as E.D., what are you most excited about and what do you expect will be your biggest challenge? I’m excited to get other people involved in traveling and seeing the world in a responsible and meaningful way. Traveling outside of the U.S. is not common with Americans, but traveling this way is even more so uncommon. I think people are really missing out on an incredible opportunity to not only see the world, but understand the world. I’m excited to help create global citizens of the world.

What are your top 3 countries on your travel wish list right now?
Vietnam to meet my real family! Turkey, and Peru.

If you’d like to say hello to Liz and welcome her to the CT community, you can drop her a line at liz@crookedtrails.org

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