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Alison Qualter, Santa Cruz del Quiché (2026)

25/05/2025

I am still floating from the opportunity to speak at the UN General Assembly on the power of sports for children.

As I walked to the podium on Thursday, all I could think about was not messing up on the very stage where every world leader has spoken, from Mandela and Obama, to Castro and the Pope.

Deeper in my heart, I could not help reflecting on the improbability of this full circle moment. Here I was, 23 years after writing a sport for development report for then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan under the leadership of UNICEF Executive Director .bellamy , still inspired by the immense potential that sport and play have to change children’s lives.

We were there for the first celebration of , recognizing the impact of the most popular sport in the world. The morning began with “Every Play for Every Child,” an exceptional event at UNICEF, that I was honored to moderate. We had gathered partners from the public and private sectors, NGOs and football organizations, to come together and inspire one another with examples of how football supports education, mental health, child protection and social inclusion. It was also a chance to make connections and cultivate partnerships to mobilize resources and energy to support children through their very language…and meet them where they already are, playing.

To talk about the power of sport and play comes easy to me because I love play. Sports taught me so much - resilience, teamwork, how to win, and how to lose. Not only can sports help us achieve many goals for children, it’s also their basic right – as stated in Article 31 in the CRC – every child has the right to play.

Thank you to our UNICEF panelists and moderators for inspiring conversations that will no doubt make a difference for children.

Thank you to the UN’s Football for the Goals community for bringing expertise from the sports world to the UN and showing such deep interest in social impact.

Thank you to my UNICEF colleagues for helping organize this World Football Day event…one to be celebrated every year!
.britto

07/05/2025

I met 8-yr-old Elyam in a classroom in the rural Western Highlands of Guatemala in 2019.

I was teaching English while chaperoning students, including my twins, on a 1-week service trip. We were there with School the World to help construct a playground & classrooms.

My friend Vanessa & I took a break from cement mixing (holy hard core!) and walked towards a song we heard blaring from a nearby home on the tiny dirt road.

It was “Je Veux” by French singer Zaz (great song btw, look it up!). Francophile that I am, I had to meet the person that was playing a French song I loved in a faraway place where they spoke Quiché even more often than Spanish.

I needed to become friends with this person.

When we got to the door, I realized the gorgeous woman was the mother of sweet Elyam, the 8-year-old I taught and played soccer with the day earlier! He ran to hug me and that was it: a connection was made; one I knew in my gut would last forever.
We Face Timed my then 9-yr-old Jack, hoping they’d find a point of connection and maybe even become pen pals.

Fast forward to April 2025 and I was back in that same remote region in the rural Western Highlands of Guatemala, volunteering again with my beloved STW.
I was with my son Jack this time, now 15, but he clearly remembered that call with Elyam 6 years earlier.

Jack suggested we reach out, so I sent a message to Elyam’s mom Lady, hoping she’d respond.
She did! And we met!
It’s hard to describe my surge of feelings for this beautiful, kind family who have so much & so little at the same time.

Like typical teens, Elyam & Jack declined my invitation to dance Zumba with the rest of the volunteers and exchanged Snap Chat details.A friendship was born, I hope it remains.

In 2019, I promised Elyam that I’d be back. I made good on that promise.

Do you have someone you want to connect with? What’s holding you back? The depth of meaning found in reconnection is profound.
This world is massive…billions of humans, and we’ll only meet a few.

I say, meet as many as you can and hold on to them.
Because at the end of your one wild and precious life, you’ll be focused on your relationships much more than your emails. I promise!

07/05/2025

I met 8-yr-old Elyam in a classroom in the rural Western Highlands of Guatemala in 2019.

I was teaching English while chaperoning students, including my twins, on a 1-week service trip. We were there with to help construct a playground & classrooms.

My friend .omalley & I took a break from cement mixing (holy hard core!) and walked towards a song we heard blaring from a nearby home on the tiny dirt road.

It was “Je Veux” by French singer Zaz (great song btw, look it up!). Francophile that I am, I had to meet the person that was playing a French song I loved in a faraway place where they spoke Quiché even more often than Spanish.

I needed to become friends with this person.

When we got to the door, I realized the gorgeous woman was the mother of sweet Elyam, the 8-year-old I taught and played soccer with the day earlier! He ran to hug me and that was it: a connection was made; one I knew in my gut would last forever.
We Face Timed my then 9-yr-old Jack, hoping they’d find a point of connection and maybe even become pen pals.

Fast forward to April 2025 and I was back in that same remote region in the rural Western Highlands of Guatemala, volunteering again with my beloved STW.
I was with my son Jack this time, now 15, but he clearly remembered that call with Elyam 6 years earlier.

Jack suggested we reach out, so I sent a message to Elyam’s mom, hoping she’d respond.
She did! And we met!
It’s hard to describe my surge of feelings for this beautiful, kind family who have so much & so little at the same time.

Like typical teens, Elyam & Jack declined my invitation to dance Zumba with the rest of the volunteers and exchanged Snap Chat details.A friendship was born, I hope it remains.

In 2019, I promised Elyam that I’d be back. I made good on that promise.

Do you have someone you want to connect with? What’s holding you back? The depth of meaning found in reconnection is profound.
This world is massive…billions of humans, and we’ll only meet a few.

I say, meet as many as you can and hold on to them.
Because at the end of your one wild and precious life, you’ll be focused on your relationships much more than your emails. I promise!

30/04/2025

Just when I thought my 15-year-old boy was slipping away into the void of technology, he asked me if I would join him for a week in Guatemala.

Jack was going on his 3rd service trip with School the World, and in prior years, we brought our friends with us. He was younger then too, in Honduras and Panama, so I wanted to be there chaperoning (and… helicoptering).

None of Jack’s friends’ spring break weeks lined up with his break this year, but he signed up anyway and was finding the courage to go on his own.

A few weeks before leaving, though, he looked at me one night before getting into bed and simply said, “Hey Mom, want to go to Guatemala with me?”

Does a bear s*^t in the woods??!

Hello? Um, yes!

If there is one way to connect with your teenager, it is to spend uninterrupted time in a remote community in rural Guatemala for full days of hands-on work, moments of play, and zero wifi.

My immediate-without-thinking-about-it YES to Jack actually was a surprise to me since I have been so busy and depleted at work lately…what I needed was a week (or more) in a lounge chair, poolside, with a book and a cocktail (even though I am a terrible day drinker, I try).

What I did not need to be doing was herding anxious high school kids that I did not know onto buses at 7am every morning. Nor did I need to inhale fumes while painting with a sore arm from shoveling rocks the day before.

But the truth is, I love these trips. It’s the act of doing something for others that somehow fills me up more than that poolside cocktail. It’s not that I don’t like both. I just think it’s important to make room for both.

You need the rain to appreciate the sun.

If you’re interested in having your kids join these incredible School the World trips (or being a perpetual chaperone like me), send me a message and I can share more. I can also help you craft your own adventure or meaningful path with your kids (or yourself!)

Here’s to hoping that 16-year-old Jack will invite me to join him again next year.

If not, I’ll likely be testing my poolside day drinking skills somewhere just as remote.

05/04/2025

Exploding in love for baby Grayson Joseph Qualter, how lucky to become an aunt for the 10th time!! Congratulations John and !! I can’t promise I won’t spoil him and I’m still available to be your nanny. Thank you for brining him into our lives. So excited!!! ❤️💕

01/04/2025

Exactly 20 years ago today my life changed forever, and in two minutes.

At 12:06pm, Madeleine was handed to me, followed by her sister Sydney at 12:08pm. It’s like everything I did until that moment was for that moment.

That hard-to-describe joy has grown exponentially every year, every day.

& , you are deeply kind, thoughtful, funny, smart…you are the greatest of my life’s many gifts!! I literally dreamed of becoming a mother when I was younger…how lucky I am to be blessed by you, times two!!!

Boston was so fun, here’s to the three musketeers forever.
Happy 20th birthday!!!

20/03/2025

My little leprechaun turned 15 on St. Patrick’s Day!! 🍀🎂What a birthday for my baby boy named after his Irish grandfather…
you are a compassionate human with a depth of empathy that’s rare. I am grateful for everything you are - from our rap music filled mornings to boxing in the evenings. And I’m thankful for your calm and love through so much change. 🥍🥊

Thank you for always answering “whatever’s easy, mom” when I ask what you want for dinner (you know me well).

You complete me, our family, and we love you!!
p.s. please wait until college for the St Paddy’s day birthday keg stands 🤸🤸🍀

28/02/2025

Unstoppable.
Tenacious.
Resilient.

Today I was privileged to moderate a Q&A session with a woman who embodies exactly those qualities.

“Facing the Falls” is a short (and excellent) film about a former UNICEF staffer, Cara E. Yar Khan who takes on an incredible 12-day challenge across 170 miles of the Grand Canyon, on horseback and on raft. Despite some really tough moments, Cara never once let her disability get in the way. Her resilience is remarkable- she’s an inspiration.

The film is also a reminder that adversity can mean growth if you flip it that way. And that we can rely on the trust and suppprt of others to help us if we need…we just have to be willing to trust, and ask.

It’s also a reminder to play more, define your own adventure, and make the most of your one wild and precious life.

What’s your adventure? (Seriously, send me a message and I’ll help you create it or hold you accountable!!)

26/02/2025

Full circle.

20 years ago, I was working at UNICEF managing sports partnerships and leading the 2006 World Cup efforts during David Beckham’s early days as our ambassador. ⚽️

20 years later, today, here we are at Chase Stadium thanks to David Beckham and incredible team at IMCF - Adriana Sandoval and Molly Dreska - to launch a global partnership for children in Latin America and the Caribbean. Over the next three years, funds raised from fans and activations will support skills, teachers, and education programs in Argentina, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and Mexico.

I’m so grateful to the (freedom to) dream team to launch this - Laura Murchie, Whitney Smith, Julianne O’Connell- and for the words of the passionate Pia Britto.

After so much life transition and with 20 years in the private sector in between, this full circle feeling back to UNICEF has also been a great reminder about how change can and should be positive, and that you get to write each chapter of your life’s story.

For those of you who are curious or motivated to make a change, just know that I still see coaching clients on a limited basis—send me a message and I will support you!

29/11/2024

It was chilly in the cave of the mushroom museum (did you know they exist?). I was struck by how similar mushrooms are to humans. How?

1.MUSHROOMS: There are mushrooms that are used to heal (Reishi, Enoki) & that are toxic (Aminitas, False morels).
HUMANS: We have friends in our life who nourish our souls & we also have people in our life who are...toxic.
THE QUESTION: since you get to choose which mushroom to eat (the one that heals or kills), why can’t we do the same with people? We forget we can. Avoid the toxic ones. Choose healing.

2. MUSHROOMS: There are different shapes, sizes & colors (many so ph***ic it will crack you up). It’s amazing they’re categorized under one kingdom.
HUMANS: We’re different-in shape, size & color-yet we can’t understand when people don’t see the world in our way.
THE QUESTION: how can a parent understand what a teen today goes through? How can a colleague at work understand what another person knows? We wear different lenses in our view on life & that’s not only to be celebrated, it’s a task: to see, hear & understand another’s point of view.

3. MUSHROOMS: There are 1.5 million species of mushrooms but we only know 75,000.
HUMANS: We know countless people in our lives, but we only really understand a handful of them.
THE QUESTION: are you okay with that? Do you want to know more about the world? Explore new countries and horizons? Push beyond what we know to learn more, about what interests you?

4. MUSHROOMS: Not only are mushrooms ph***ic, they’re so trippy I found myself in that cave imagining I was Smurfette for a hot second.
HUMANS: We are all weird. All of us.
THE QUESTION: We can either hide it & pretend to be serious with the serious adults around us, afraid to let loose. Or we can embrace it, live fully, PLAY and have fun.

To me none it’s in question. I say:
- Choose your (healing) friends wisely.
- Stay unique.
- Embrace difference.
-And most definitely, keep it weird.

Just like a mushroom.

p.s. I am picking up coaching hours this winter. If you are interested in a session to find more balance, propose and fun, send me a message!

30/10/2024

Last night I attended ’s Gala Dinner focusing on the successes of Turkish TV & Film and Entertainment and met with the leading industry professionals and learned what is on the horizon for them. Turns out play is possible anywhere ;)
It was great to meet you and teşekkürler !!

Alison Qualter

25/05/2025

07/05/2025

07/05/2025

30/04/2025

05/04/2025

01/04/2025

20/03/2025

28/02/2025

26/02/2025

29/11/2024

30/10/2024

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