The Untapped Role of Expat Employees: Storytellers and Bridge Builders

I’ll never forget a conversation I had with an acquaintance after returning from overseas.

I mentioned a friend I’d made abroad—by name, by face, by family. My colleague was surprised: “I never thought about people there like that.”

That moment stuck with me. Because it reminded me that expats carry more than just work skills home with them. They carry stories. Not just stories about new foods they tried or the exotic vacations they took or the adventures they experienced. They carry—and potentially steward—the stories of another country, culture, people.

Expat employees are not only representatives when they go abroad—showing up daily as bridge-builders in their host culture. They are also ambassadors when they return.

They’ve shared meals, worked side by side, celebrated holidays, and navigated challenges with people who become more than “locals." They are now friends.

So when expats tell their stories back home, they don’t speak in vague generalities. They know names. They picture faces. They humanize cultures that might otherwise be misunderstood or misrepresented.

That is the power—and the responsibility—of an expat. To be an ambassador of goodwill. To bridge divides. To remind us of our shared humanity. And we need that now more than ever.