Raleigh welcomes Aydan Al-Saad as new Brand Ambassador

Raleigh International is proud to welcome Aydan Al-Saad as our new brand ambassador.

Aydan Al-Saad is an entrepreneur and content creator with over 15 years experience in sales, start-ups and content marketing. In 2023, Aydan started to create content internationally about careers and has since amassed an incredible online following of over 250,000.

Through his content, Aydan is inspiring thousands every day with tips and advice on careers and is now championing the alternative journeys – such as international volunteering – to career success.

As a Raleigh International alumni, Aydan volunteered in Borneo in 2009 and credits his Raleigh experience as one of the most pivotal moments in his career journey.

WATCH AYDAN’S INTERVIEW ABOUT HIS NEW ROLE AS RALEIGH AMBASSADOR

We are so proud to have Aydan joined forces with us helping to promote Raleigh Expeditions to a new generation. We spoke to Aydan as he begins his ambassadorship with us.

Why have you decided to join Raleigh as Brand Ambassador?

15 years ago, in 2009, as a 21 year old law graduate and not sure what I wanted to do with my career I found Raleigh. I was equally terrified as I was excited to go on an Expedition in Borneo as a Venturer. It turned out to be the single best decision I made in my career, even before my professional career had started.

I had the best time of the Expedition and came away with lifelong friendships, developed skills to help me with my career and a newfound purpose.

It was because of Raleigh that a few years into my career I was able to secure a highly competitive role at San Francisco tech company because of how I spoke about my experience in Raleigh vs any of my achievements in my previous work experience or education.

I want to use my role as Ambassador for Raleigh and my platform to help more people see the power of volunteering and how focusing on impact and purpose can drive more fulfilling career decisions.

What does Raleigh mean to you?

Raleigh means a lot of things to me. It is a special community and every person that has ever participated on an Expedition over the last 40 years would tell you it was life changing for them.

For me it means: Adventure, Impact and Purpose. You see the impact you can have in this world through Raleigh’s projects, and you see the impact on yourself through your personal journey of the expedition.

So I’m incredibly honoured to be the Brand Ambassador of Raleigh, as much as I am proud to wear the Raleigh shirt once again supporting Expeditions around the world

What was the best part about your Raleigh experience?

The people! To this day, 15 years later, some of my closest friends now I met on Raleigh. You meet very like-minded people, who want a sense of adventure, want to give back but also want to develop themselves.

Also the skills. I came away with more skills in one Expedition than I did in 3 years of university. I learnt about leadership, teamwork and about resilience I didn’t even know I had. I also learned more about myself and my values.

If I was to pick one memory it has to be on my second Expedition 10A as a Fieldbase VM. I went out on ‘the loop’ and we spent a week visiting 6 different groups around the beautiful state of Sabah Borneo!

What role do you think Raleigh has to play in the lives of young people and professionals, especially with regards to careers?

I think Raleigh can be seen as valuable of an experience as going to university. The way careers are moving it is to a more skill-based economy rather than traditional career ladders. University education is becoming less relevant for a lot of careers. Raleigh is a great way for young people to build the foundational soft skills they will need to have a career or even start their own business one day.