I am currently in the middle of my second major pivot as a Black woman who is living abroad. In 2024, I moved to Spain to see if the country could be a good fit for me long term, and I got my answer—so I’m moving to Thailand. While the culinary scene, beaches, and social side of Spain were wonderful, I was treading water, not thriving. So, after re-examining my must-have list for a new potential home country (and a lot of research), I applied for a five-year visa to Thailand, and I’ll be moving there in July.
As I was considering my options for my next home, I realized that the fear of “making the wrong decision,” feeling like you need to stay put after making a big move, or not knowing the importance of a must-have list when choosing your next destination is hindering many Black people from making their first step, or their next step. As a result, I have begun developing a platform to support marginalized women and femmes in navigating their transition abroad, because this pivot looks different for each person.
Chiz Nwokonkor can relate. She is the Head of Regulatory Affairs for a global investment bank and relocated to Hong Kong with her family in December 2024. Having been born in Nigeria, raised in the United Kingdom, and studied and worked in the United States, Nwokonkor is no stranger to living all over. That being said, navigating a 13-hour flight and long-term relocation with a family, including three children under the age of 10, was not taken lightly. Like many, her decision to pivot came because of a fantastic work opportunity, and thankfully, her company helped facilitate her family’s move. While her pivot was largely career-based, she and her family had a must-have list for moving abroad.
“For us, it was work opportunities, the opportunities to travel the world from this new jumping off point, and somewhere with good schooling opportunities for the kids,” Nwokonkor says. “We felt it would be an asset for our kids to have some exposure to Mandarin from a young age, so that made it a little bit more of a compelling prospect.”
Her two oldest kids also had some requirements for moving abroad. “They just wanted to make sure Santa was still going to come, that we had stairs in the house, that they would make new friends, and stay in touch with their friends in the UK. So, we’ve made those things priorities,” she adds. “So far, so good.”
Nwokonkor has found that for her family, having a six-month period to prepare for their move was a game-changer, but some people make their move with significantly less time.
Markiesha Grant, also known as Keisha Be Traveling, moved to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, six weeks after her first visit. Born in Jamaica, Grant immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, as a teenager and started to feel the itch to be somewhere new during the pandemic. First, she moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a remote work program, but quickly learned that Tulsa was not the city for her.
Shortly before a cruise to Cozumel, Grant was contacted by a friend about an open sublet in Playa Del Carmen (these two locations are a 45-minute boat ride away from each other). During her time in Cozumel, she visited Playa Del Carmen, toured the apartment, loved it, and signed for it. Six weeks later, her lease in Tulsa ended, and she decided to move to Mexico. Now, two years later, she is a legal resident and has never looked back.
For Grant, knowing her must-have list for a new city helped her to identify why Tulsa wasn’t a great fit for her and seamlessly move to Playa without guilt or fear. “As a New Yorker, I wanted more of that city life, and Tulsa is very small downtown,” she shares. “Walkability was a big thing for me. In Tulsa, I didn’t have a car, and I was limited. Then I came to Playa and was able to walk everywhere.”
For some people, it’s easier and more conducive to their lifestyle to split time between home and abroad. Sam Rich, originally from South Florida, finds that living half of the year in the U.S. and the other half in Florence, Italy, makes the most sense for her. While this was not necessarily a traditional pivot, Rich found a way to make her part-time international lifestyle work, not just for her but also for her fiancé, an Italian local.
Rich started working as a flight attendant at 19 years old, a career that gave her the ability to travel the world with ease. During a 2016 trip to Rome, she met her now-fiancé, and over the next almost nine years, she has been living with him for six months out of the year. While she is currently a legal resident of Italy, it is possible to live in the EU for 90 days out of every 180 days with a U.S. passport and a tourist visa.
“A lot of people move to Italy because they love Italy,” Rich says. “I moved to Italy because I happened to fall in love with an Italian.” And with the establishment of that relationship, she had to adjust to make space for her new partner. “It’s 100% okay to go back to the drawing board and look at your reason for wanting to move,” she says. “Make sure that it’s something that you really want to do and that it’s feasible and realistic. Dreams change all the time, you know?”