The Kimberly Cloud Show LLC featuring Jeffrey Rasley

I currently serve as the president of the Scientech Foundation of Indiana and the Basa Village Foundation USA. A conversation we could have might be different from the usual topics, but one your listeners might find valuable.
I built a successful career in law and business, and was the senior partner in a small firm, a partner in a real estate finance company, and a self-made millionaire by the time I was 40. I was very engaged with the law and the business side of managing a firm. And, I was a very involved husband and father of 2 children. We had a great life, but in my 40s I began manifesting mid-life crisis symptoms. I already had a sports car and a Harley, but those toys didn't help. I seemed to need something beyond family life, career, and financial good fortune. The existential angst I felt by not having an answer to, "Is that all there is?", began to shake the foundations of the good life I had.
My wife told me to take a hike. But the therapy she was actually suggesting was to go trekking in the Himalayas and to reconnect with the adventurous and more spiritual self I had lost in the pursuit of "success". It worked, and it changed the direction of my life.
After that first trek to Mt. Everest at the age of 42, I returned to the Himalayan region 14 times. I took more time off work and adopted a more spiritual and meditative approach to life. I wrote several articles about travel experiences from a spiritual perspective. I also began leading "philanthro-treks", which combined visiting Nepal with culturally sensitive development work. That led to the creation of the Basa Village Foundation USA (BVF), which serves a remote area of the Nepal Himalayas.
The BVF has provided the funds to build a school, hydroelectric and water systems, computers and educational materials for the school, smokeless stoves for the homes, toilets for the school, reading glasses, shoes, solar-powered LED lights, a medical clinic, and our latest project is to help develop a commercial business of goat and pig raising.The BVF also raised the money to rebuild the village after devastating earthquakes in 2015.
Since I founded the BVF, I have given many programs about how to make life more meaningful through philanthropy. Several of the seventeen books and many of the 80+ articles I've written are about finding meaning in life beyond the traditional career path, and instead, using your business skills and talent to chart a new direction in life after you have succeeded in your career and business. My first book, Bringing Progress to Paradise: What I Got from Giving to a Mountain Village https://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Progress-Paradise-Mountain-Village/dp/1573244821 is the story of my first experience of the Himalayas and the journey through the mid-life crisis to founding the BVF. You Have to Get Lost Before You Can Be Found: A Memoir of Suffering, Grit, and Love of the Himalayas and Basa Village https://www.amazon.com/kindle/dp/B07YXGPRMW was written after my last trip to Nepal and is a reflection on all that I have learned and experienced over 25 years of philanthro-trekking. 72 Wisdoms, is a guidebook for those seeking to live a more meaningful life. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJYGHZCM. But I have also written a series of novels and books of auto-fiction.
In addition to serving as president of the BVF, I am the president of the Scientech Foundation of Indiana, which gives up to $200,000 each year in grants to STEAM programs, and I am an active board member of the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center. I have taught a class about Philanthropy at Butler University and Marian University. I have appeared as a guest on over 250 radio/TV and podcast shows promoting philanthropy as a way to make life more meaningful.
Additional information may be found at my website, www.jeffreyrasley.com.