No Regrets

The fast pace and glamour of New York City beckoned Larysa Switlyk soon after she graduated from the University of Florida with a dual bachelor's and master's degree in accounting.

So at 22 years old, Switlyk took a job with PricewaterhouseCoopers. She lived and worked in the city. But the dream died fast, within six months. “Once I did it,” says Switlyk, “I realized I was really a country girl.”

The realization led Switlyk to take a two-month trip, on her own, to New Zealand. She jumped off cliffs on the Great Barrier Reef. She went skydiving. She swam in waters with 14-foot-long tiger sharks.