Babes, how did you get here

Kai Charles #2

A Black British woman leaves London with two suitcases, no job, nowhere to live — and builds an entirely new life in Dubai. What started as a one-year plan turned into nine years abroad, multiple careers, identity shifts, burnout, reinvention, and one brutally honest realization: “I’d NEVER raise Black children in London.” Kai Charles grew up in West London, worked corporate jobs at companies like The Economist, and dreamed of building a music career. But despite doing everything “right” — good grades, university, stable career — something still felt deeply wrong. So she left. In this raw, controversial, and deeply honest conversation, Kai opens up about the realities of leaving the UK, the emotional cost of migration, Black British identity, why Dubai felt safer than London, and the uncomfortable truths many people are too scared to say out loud. From surviving Dubai with no plan, no apartment, and only £4,000 in savings… to navigating the music industry, COVID lockdowns, corporate burnout, loneliness abroad, and the question of whether “home” still feels like home — this episode goes there. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔥 What we cover: Leaving London with no job and no apartment Why corporate life felt “soul destroying” Working at The Economist before quitting everything Trying to survive as an independent singer in Dubai The hidden reality of gig culture and artist burnout Why Dubai felt safer than the UK The culture shock of raising children in Dubai “I’d NEVER raise Black children in London” The difference between Black British and Caribbean identity Why so many ambitious people are quietly leaving the UK COVID in Dubai vs London: why she chose to stay The loneliness nobody talks about when moving abroad Why London now feels “slow, unsafe and depressing” Soft life culture vs survival mode Why Dubai changed her forever The emotional reality of starting over abroad Building community as a Black woman overseas Why she no longer sees the UK the same way ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ REAL TALK: This episode will probably trigger people. Some will completely understand everything Kai is saying. Others will strongly disagree. But whether you agree or not, this conversation opens up real questions about identity, safety, ambition, burnout, race, migration, and what people are silently searching for when they leave home. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 💬 TELL US IN THE COMMENTS: Would YOU ever leave your country and start over? Do you think London is still a good place to raise children? Has living abroad changed the way you see “home”? Drop your thoughts below 👇 We read every single one. 🔁 Share this with someone secretly thinking about leaving the UK. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 About the show — "Babes, How Did You Get Here?" Hosted by entrepreneur & former Miss Jamaica April Jackson, this podcast explores the raw, emotional, and often uncomfortable stories behind people who chose a life elsewhere. New episodes every week from around the world. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS: ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #Dubai #London #BlackBritish #ExpatLife #LeavingTheUK #DubaiLife #BlackWomen #MovingAbroad #SoftLife #LondonLife #BlackExcellence #Diaspora #Podcast #AprilJackson #BabesHowDidYouGetHere #UKvsDubai #LifeAbroad #BritishCulture #EntrepreneurLife #WomenWhoMove #DubaiPodcast #BlackDiaspora #Identity #SelfDevelopment #BlackProfessionals #ModernMigration

Why I’d NEVER Raise Black Children In London

A Black British woman leaves London with two suitcases, no job, nowhere to live — and builds an entirely new life in Dubai. What started as a one-year plan turned into nine years abroad, multiple careers, identity shifts, burnout, reinvention, and one brutally honest realization: “I’d NEVER raise Black children in London.” Kai Charles grew up in West London, worked corporate jobs at companies like The Economist, and dreamed of building a music career. But despite doing everything “right” — good grades, university, stable career — something still felt deeply wrong. So she left. In this raw, controversial, and deeply honest conversation, Kai opens up about the realities of leaving the UK, the emotional cost of migration, Black British identity, why Dubai felt safer than London, and the uncomfortable truths many people are too scared to say out loud. From surviving Dubai with no plan, no apartment, and only £4,000 in savings… to navigating the music industry, COVID lockdowns, corporate burnout, loneliness abroad, and the question of whether “home” still feels like home — this episode goes there. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔥 What we cover: Leaving London with no job and no apartment Why corporate life felt “soul destroying” Working at The Economist before quitting everything Trying to survive as an independent singer in Dubai The hidden reality of gig culture and artist burnout Why Dubai felt safer than the UK The culture shock of raising children in Dubai “I’d NEVER raise Black children in London” The difference between Black British and Caribbean identity Why so many ambitious people are quietly leaving the UK COVID in Dubai vs London: why she chose to stay The loneliness nobody talks about when moving abroad Why London now feels “slow, unsafe and depressing” Soft life culture vs survival mode Why Dubai changed her forever The emotional reality of starting over abroad Building community as a Black woman overseas Why she no longer sees the UK the same way ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ REAL TALK: This episode will probably trigger people. Some will completely understand everything Kai is saying. Others will strongly disagree. But whether you agree or not, this conversation opens up real questions about identity, safety, ambition, burnout, race, migration, and what people are silently searching for when they leave home. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 💬 TELL US IN THE COMMENTS: Would YOU ever leave your country and start over? Do you think London is still a good place to raise children? Has living abroad changed the way you see “home”? Drop your thoughts below 👇 We read every single one. 🔁 Share this with someone secretly thinking about leaving the UK. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 About the show — "Babes, How Did You Get Here?" Hosted by entrepreneur & former Miss Jamaica April Jackson, this podcast explores the raw, emotional, and often uncomfortable stories behind people who chose a life elsewhere. New episodes every week from around the world. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS: CHAPTERS * 00:00:00 Introduction * 00:01:25 Leaving London With Two Suitcases * 00:04:49 Corporate Burnout & Music Dreams * 00:06:16 “I Got Sick Of Being Sick In London” * 00:07:38 Moving To Dubai With No Plan * 00:10:57 Finding An Apartment In 5 Days * 00:14:14 Why Dubai Felt Different * 00:17:07 How The Dubai Music Industry Really Works * 00:20:14 Sacrificing Artistry To Survive * 00:21:51 Why She Quit Singing * 00:23:19 COVID Destroyed The Industry * 00:26:17 Why She Stayed In Dubai During Lockdown * 00:28:04 Returning To London After Living Abroad * 00:29:59 How Dubai Changed Her Personality * 00:31:03 The Moment She Realized She’d Never Move Back * 00:33:02 Why Corporate Life Never Fulfilled Her * 00:39:09 Searching For Purpose Beyond Money * 00:40:01 Family Reactions To Her Leaving * 00:41:20 Why So Many People Are Moving To Dubai * 00:43:17 Parenting, Culture Shock & Children In Dubai * 00:47:47 “I’d NEVER Raise Black Children In London” * 00:50:02 Why The West No Longer Feels Appealing * 00:51:11 Black British Identity Explained ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #Dubai #London #BlackBritish #ExpatLife #LeavingTheUK #DubaiLife #BlackWomen #MovingAbroad #SoftLife #LondonLife #BlackExcellence #Diaspora #Podcast #AprilJackson #BabesHowDidYouGetHere #UKvsDubai #LifeAbroad #BritishCulture #EntrepreneurLife #WomenWhoMove #DubaiPodcast #BlackDiaspora #Identity #SelfDevelopment #BlackProfessionals #ModernMigration

Best of I Six-Foot-Six, Blonde & British: How I Became Jamaica's Most Unlikely Police Reform Hero

📚 For more details on my parenting method: https://april-s-site-fcfd.thinkific.com [https://april-s-site-fcfd.thinkific.com] What happens when a London cop rises through the ranks at Scotland Yard, gets recruited to transform Jamaica's police force, and ends up staying for 20 years — building a life, a business, and a family in a country that wasn't his? 🇬🇧🇯🇲 In this powerful episode of 'Babes, How Did You Get Here?', April sits down with Mark Shields — former Deputy Commissioner of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Scotland Yard veteran, and now a Kingston-based security entrepreneur who traded the policing career of a lifetime for Caribbean sunshine, political stability, and a whole new definition of home. From arriving in 2005 to overhaul a force riddled with corruption and fatal shootings, to walking away five years later to start his own company, Mark opens up about what it really takes to lead change in a foreign country, why he chose Jamaica over returning to the UK, and how a place he once found chaotic became the place he now defends fiercely. We talk about: 🚔 Leaving Scotland Yard to become Deputy Commissioner of the JCF — and why some colleagues thought he was crazy 📸 Arriving to find crime scenes photographed in black and white, evidence stored in wax-sealed paper bags, and zero accountability 🔧 Introducing exhibit bags, color photography, major investigation task forces, and Jamaica Eye surveillance 💔 The corruption, resistance, and weekly moments of "what the fuck am I doing here?" 🇯🇲 Why Jamaican people embraced him — even when senior officers didn't 👨‍👩‍👧 Getting divorced, remarrying a Jamaican attorney and broadcast journalist, and raising a daughter with an English accent in Kingston 💼 Walking away from policing in 2009 to start Shields Crime and Security — and why he finally became the entrepreneur he always wanted to be 🎥 Facial recognition cameras, vehicle tracking tech, and why Jamaica needs more than just "Jamaica Eye" 🚗 Why 400+ road deaths a year could be cut in half with traffic cameras — but the regulations still aren't in place 🇬🇧 Comparing UK chaos (five prime ministers since 2015, Brexit, economic disaster) to Jamaica's political and financial stability 🏡 Why his London friends are selling houses for £1.9 million — and why he can't afford to move back 🌍 The cultural differences: disorder vs. freedom, sexism, entitlement at Hillel, and why some expats love it here and others can't wait to leave 🗣️ Why he's protective of Jamaica's reputation — and why crime headlines are often irresponsible and misleading It's about political stability, economic growth, and why Jamaica in 2025 might actually be safer and saner than the UK. It's about raising a third-culture kid, defending a misunderstood island, and finding home in the last place you expected. Whether you've thought about moving to Jamaica, wondered what it's like to work in law enforcement abroad, or just want to hear a story about resilience, reinvention, and refusing to go back — this episode will challenge you, inspire you, and maybe make you rethink what "home" really means. 💬 Tell us in the comments: Have you ever stayed somewhere you only meant to visit? And would you choose Jamaica over London right now? 👀 🎧 About the show – "Babes, How Did You Get Here?" Hosted by entrepreneur & former Miss Jamaica, April Jackson, this podcast dives into the real, unfiltered stories of people who left the script — swapping comfort for courage, and choosing a life "elsewhere." 📌 Subscribe for more stories on: • Expat life, Jamaica living & building a life abroad • Law enforcement, crime, policing & justice reform • Entrepreneurship, security tech & starting a business in Jamaica • UK vs Jamaica: politics, economy & quality of life • Raising third-culture kids & navigating identity across borders • Cultural misconceptions, media narratives & defending Jamaica's reputation • Reinvention, resilience & choosing a new home. #howdidyougethere #AprilJackson #MarkShields #JamaicaLiving #ExpatLife #ScotlandYard #JCF #LawEnforcement #KingstonJamaica #UKvsJamaica #LifeAbroad #PolicingAbroad #Entrepreneurship #SecurityTech #ThirdCultureKids #Reinvention #FindingHome #CaribbeanLife #JamaicaVsUK #RealStories #Podcast #PoliticalStability #CrimeAndSecurity #BuildingALifeAbroad

She Moved to Jamaica With 5 Suitcases & No Plan — And Built the Caribbean's Only Sourdough Bakery

Why she sold a successful business to chase a view The 2-month move with 5 suitcases for a family of 5 Why everyone — even her best clients — predicted she'd fail Getting scammed by a French baker hired off Craigslist The Jamaican concept of "bad mind" and how it broke her team Being accused of racism in The Observer over a vanilla latte The WhatsApp group of men who watched her breastfeed Her newborn sleeping under the bakery counter Why she fired every foreign worker she ever hired Raising her kids at Mona Prep, KC, and Campion Why Jamaica's traditional diet should be a Blue Zone The expats who tried Jamaica and ran — and why she stayed Why she'd die happy never leaving this island ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⚠️ REAL TALK: This episode is for anyone who's ever wondered if walking away from the "good life" is worth the unknown. Ellen didn't expect any of this. She just kept saying yes to a vision nobody else could see. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 💬 TELL US IN THE COMMENTS: Would YOU walk away from a successful business to start over? Could you move countries in 2 months with no plan? What's the leap you're scared to take? Drop your thoughts below 👇 We read every single one. 🔁 Share this with someone who needs to hear they don't need a plan — they just need to say yes. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 About the show — "A Life Elsewhere" Hosted by entrepreneur & former Miss Jamaica April Jackson, this podcast dives into the raw, unfiltered stories of people who left the script — swapping comfort for courage, and choosing a life "elsewhere." 🔔 New episodes every week from around the world. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS: CHAPTERS * 00:05:16 Two Months From Vacation to One-Way Flight * 00:13:39 Hiring a Baker Off Craigslist (The Scam That Followed) * 00:30:35 Being Accused of Racism in The Observer Over a Vanilla Latte * 00:42:07 The WhatsApp Group of Men Who Watched Her Breastfeed * 00:55:03 The Most Surprising Thing About Moving Here * 00:56:19 Why Her Lifestyle Vibrates Better in Jamaica * 01:07:01 The "Wash Belly": Her Jamaican-Born Daughter * 01:11:36 The Champs Color Wars & Family Loyalty * 01:18:33 Coronation Market Every Thursday * 01:19:48 Does Jamaica Feel Like Home? * 01:29:39 Bakery Menu Influenced by Jamaica (Ackee, Sorrel Pickles, Polish Sausage) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #Ellen #Jamaica #Kingston #SourdoughBakery #MovingAbroad #ExpatLife #CanadianInJamaica #StartingOver #BoldMoves #CaribbeanLife #LifeElsewhere #AprilJackson #BabesHowDidYouGetHere #TravelStories #SayYes #Entrepreneur #Family

Part 2 I PREFER South African Racism Over British 'Politeness'

She traded London pounds for Cape Town sunshine — and her marriage has never been better. In Part 2 of this raw conversation, Desmei Collia goes deeper into what it really cost her to live in the UK — and why coming home to South Africa saved her marriage, her mental health, and her sense of self. She doesn't hold back about the subtle racism in British salons, the in-laws who didn't approve, the marriage counseling that saved her relationship, and the moment she realized she'd rather be "late" than walk past someone who needed help. In this unfiltered episode, Desmei opens up about: 🙏🏽 Why her atheist British husband became a Christian — without her ever asking ⛪ The cultural shock of British churches (and why pastors use TIMERS to preach) 💔 Marriage counseling, in-law conflicts, and the day Tom dropped out of university for her 😔 Going on antidepressants in Guernsey — and why no one warns you about expat loneliness 🇬🇧 The COVID lockdown that made her question everything about life in the UK ✂️ Being told "you're just a hairdresser" — and proving every doubter wrong 💷 Why pounds only feel valuable in third-world countries (and British people are struggling too) 🏡 The truth about foreigners buying up Cape Town property 👵🏽 The day she found an elderly man bleeding on a UK pavement — and what it taught her about Britain 💍 How returning home transformed her marriage from surviving to thriving 🌍 Why she lost friends when she came back (and why she's okay with that) 👶🏽 A message to the little girl she used to be: "Everything is going to be okay" This is not a story about giving up on the UK. This is a story about choosing yourself. From marriage counseling in Manchester to financial freedom in Cape Town, from being second-guessed in British salons to becoming the hairdresser celebrities now fly to — Desmei's return journey will make you question everything you've been told about "making it" abroad. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS: CHAPTERS * 00:00:00 "I prefer South African racism" (recap) * 00:01:30 Talking about faith: the cultural divide * 00:02:40 Her atheist husband becomes a Christian * 00:03:45 Pentecostal vs Anglican: church culture shock * 00:05:00 "Why are they running around the coffin?" * 00:05:45 You can never figure out a British person * 00:07:35 Being "too much" for her British in-laws * 00:09:00 Marriage counseling saved us * 00:10:30 "A man will leave his family" * 00:11:10 Why Jamaicans and South Africans don't go to therapy * 00:13:40 The couple who never argued (and the racist twist) * 00:15:15 Why her kids will ALWAYS say "Auntie" and "Uncle" * 00:16:45 The elderly man bleeding on the UK pavement * 00:18:00 Picking up a stranger on the way to the interview * 00:19:30 Dying alone: the British reality nobody talks about * 00:21:30 "Hairdressing saved me from poverty" * 00:24:00 The biggest disrespect in her marriage * 00:25:30 The price of being self-employed * 00:27:00 The subtle racism in British salons * 00:29:30 Tom dropped out of university for her * 00:32:00 The in-law conflict that almost broke them * 00:34:30 Going on antidepressants in Guernsey * 00:37:00 COVID lockdown and losing purpose * 00:39:00 Manchester: finally being able to breathe * 00:44:00 The decision to come home * 00:46:00 "Don't move thinking it's a bed of roses" * 00:50:00 Why people judge you for going back * 00:52:30 Pounds are only valuable in third-world countries * 00:57:00 Foreigners buying up Cape Town property * 00:59:00 The BBC documentary problem * 01:01:00 Her message to anyone thinking about going home * 01:03:00 Losing friends after coming back * 01:04:30 A message to her younger self * 01:06:00 The dream isn't over yet * 01:08:30 "30 years ago, my marriage would have been illegal" ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ ABOUT THE SHOW: Some people dream of living elsewhere. Other people actually pack up and do it. I'm April Jackson, traveling the world finding interesting people who have moved abroad — sharing their unfiltered truths about identity, belonging, and the true cost of a life elsewhere. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 💬 Would YOU move back home if you had the chance? Drop a comment below. 👉🏽 SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every week ❤️ LIKE if this conversation challenged you 🔔 Hit the bell so you don't miss the next story Share this with someone who's quietly been thinking about taking that next big leap. 💫 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #SouthAfrica #UKLife #InterracialMarriage #MovingBackHome #CapeTown #ReverseImmigration #BlackWomen #ColoredCommunity #MarriageCounseling #ExpatLife #MentalHealth #SelfEmployed