Bright Lights: Riza Rasco Finds Meaning by Stepping Into the Unknown

Riza Rasco is the first Filipino to visit 203 countries and all 82 provinces of the Philippines. She is the cofounder and chair of the board of the Philippine Global Explorers, the world’s largest national travel community, and the author of the self-published memoir The World Is My Mirror.

But Rasco did not set out to break records, build organizations, or write a book. When she first began traveling in earnest, she wasn’t chasing an achievement at all—she was responding to a life that no longer felt aligned.

By midlife, Rasco had left her native Philippines, earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering, spent nearly two decades at DuPont, and lived and worked in Europe and the United States. She had married twice and spent years pursuing fertility treatments, which were unsuccessful.

When her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, Rasco began traveling repeatedly between the United States and the Philippines to care for her. After her mother’s death, the professional life she had built began to lose its meaning.

“I realized I wasn’t doing all this for me,” Rasco says. “I was doing it for her.”

Rooted in Science

Rasco was born and raised in Los Baños, a university town in the Philippines known for its concentration of life-science research. Both of her parents were scientists, and academic rigor defined the world she grew up in. From an early age, she knew she would pursue science.

She earned a degree in plant biotechnology from the University of the Philippines and later a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Nottingham. Her career took her across Europe and eventually to the United States, where she spent 17 years at DuPont, working in scientific research, technology transfer, and commercialization.

For many years, that life made sense to her. But as she moved back and forth between continents during her mother’s illness, the future she had been building began to feel increasingly distant. Leaving that life, though, wouldn’t be easy. DuPont provided financial stability, professional identity, and long-term security.

Writing Through Uncertainty

In 2015, Rasco turned to writing to process what she was going through. Until then, her writing had been technical and scientific. At the encouragement of her then-husband, a writer, she began writing to work through all she was experiencing: grief, infertility, and uncertainty.

She started a blog called Midlife Funk. Readers discovered it and reached out, telling her they recognized themselves in what she was writing and urging her to continue. But within a couple of years, she stopped writing the blog and instead began traveling—this time not for work but for herself.

Travel had always been part of Rasco’s life, but now it became central. Her interest went beyond seeing landmarks. Instead, she often stayed with local families in remote regions, learning how they lived and taking part in their daily routines.

Movement had always been important to Rasco. In her youth, she climbed trees, played basketball and soccer, loved to dance, and, despite it being too big for her, rode her father’s motorcycle.

Moving through the world ultimately changed how she understood spirituality.

A Spiritual Shift

Raised Roman Catholic and trained as a scientist, Rasco for years considered herself a nonbeliever. But that began to change as her travel experiences deepened.

“To me, spirituality is personal,” she says. “It’s an exploration of meaning and connection with my inner self.”

Through her travels, Rasco encountered animism—ancient belief systems rooted in relationships with land, ancestors, and nature. Long before formal religions emerged, these traditions grounded spirituality in daily life and place, an approach that resonated with her. Rather than subscribing to one faith, she began to experience churches, mosques, and temples as spaces for meditation and reflection instead of for proclaiming doctrine.

She found similar grounding outdoors and through practices like yoga and tai chi, disciplines she considers both physical and spiritual. Rasco now describes herself as nonreligious but deeply spiritual, finding connection whether she is inside a building or surrounded by mountains, forests, and open land.

From Travel to Service

While spending extended time in Africa, Rasco established a social enterprise called Explore Africa for Impact. Through the organization, travelers paid to participate in trips, and those funds were then directed back into local schools and community initiatives. The model allowed travel to directly support education and women-led efforts on the ground.

But while on a trip to Siberia, Rasco stood at a sacred site by a lake and asked herself: What am I doing? In that moment, she recognized that the work she was building—connecting travel with service—could be done back home in the Philippines, where the needs were also great.

Soon after, Rasco returned to her home country and invited a small group of fellow travelers to breakfast. Six people showed up, including her father. By the end of the meeting, they had decided to form a national travel community.

The Philippine Global Explorers grew rapidly during the pandemic, as people sought connection online. Today, the nonprofit has more than 1,600 members across 60 countries. To join, members must be Filipino by birth or heritage and have traveled to at least 20 countries or territories as defined by the Travelers’ Century Club.

Members identify needs in their home communities—education, environmental protection, cultural preservation—and then mobilize the group’s collective skills and resources to respond. One of the organization’s efforts involved helping reopen Sulu, a region long associated with violence and terrorism, to tourism. Working with local leaders, Philippine Global Explorers brought experienced international travelers to the area, helping shift perceptions and create new economic opportunities.

“People in that region suffered from terrorism themselves,” Rasco says. “They want opportunity like anyone else.”

Living With Intention

Although she has been to every corner of the globe, Rasco chooses to live close to where she grew up. Today, she is based in Tagaytay, a mountain town about an hour and a half from Los Baños, where she was raised. A stellar view overlooking a volcanic lake, the cooler air, access to nature, and easy availability of fresh produce create an environment that supports reflection and a healthy lifestyle.

Living in the Philippines allows Rasco to be near family and longtime friends while continuing her work with Philippine Global Explorers. It also gives her the stability to maintain practices like yoga and tai chi and to stay connected to the communities she serves.

Looking back, Rasco speaks with gratitude for the life that emerged once she moved through fear rather than letting it determine her choices. Repeatedly stepping into the unknown was never easy, she says, but those moments of uncertainty led her to a life she could not have planned.

That perspective informs the advice she offers to people who feel out of step with the lives they’ve created. “You don’t need a plan,” she says. “But acknowledging that feeling is a good start.”

“Just take one little step at a time,” Rasco adds. “Don’t be afraid to step into the unknown or to do things that are outside of your comfort zone, because those are the moments that will lead you somewhere different.”

To learn more about Riza Rasco, visit rizarasco.com. For more about Philippine Global Explorers, visit philippineglobalexplorers.com.

This article appeared in the May/June 2026 issue of Spirituality & Health: A Unity Publication^®. Subscribe now.