#41 The Courage to Just Do the Thing | Maria Sakr | Lebanon → USA

#41 The Courage to Just Do the Thing | Maria Sakr | Lebanon → USA

Maria Sakr has always occupied that “in-between” place that a lot of transplants know so well. She was raised in Dubai by her Lebanese parents, surrounded by a Lebanese community, fascinated by books thanks to her mother, and introduced to the art of photography through her father, who documented the Lebanese Civil War with his own camera. Then, when it was time to go to college, she experienced a return to her origins, moving to Lebanon to study film and starting her professional life while figuring out her next steps. That journey would eventually culminate in her moving to New York City to pursue a master’s in creative writing — another one of her creative passions. The beginning in the Big Apple was definitely not easy, and when COVID hit, she reconnected with photography again. Maria started to build a portfolio and book gigs, and what started out of necessity became a career. Today, she is a multifaceted photographer, working on everything from weddings to celebrities — and even a Rolling Stone magazine cover. In this conversation, we talk about growing up between cultures, the shock of building a life in New York, imposter syndrome, creative ambition, motherhood, and why sometimes the best advice really is: just do the thing. Connect with Maria * Website [https://www.mariasakr.com/] * Instagram @mariagryff [http://instagram.com/mariagryff] Connect with Transplants: * Follow on IG https://www.instagram.com/transplants.pod * Substack/newsletter - https://wearetransplants.substack.com/ * Laura's IG https://www.instagram.com/laura_peruchi * Follow on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@wearetransplants * Questions, suggestions, or random thoughts you’d like to share? Or maybe you’d like to pitch yourself for the podcast or suggest a guest? Send me an email at laura@lauraperuchi.com.

#40 From Teaching English to Building a Food Tour Company | Lauren Aloise | USA → France

While living in rural Massachusetts, Lauren Aloise would travel the world in her imagination by exploring travel magazines. Her trips to New York City to visit family were another opportunity to see how differently people could live. That curiosity led Lauren to do a summer program in Sicily, Italy, when she was 17. While many of her friends were spending their money on cars, she decided to spend hers learning Italian abroad. Later, while trying to get a job in the hospitality industry during the Great Recession — not exactly an amazing time for the American economy — Lauren received an email about the “aux” program, an opportunity to live in Spain for a year and teach English. She decided to say yes and moved to Seville, where she met her husband while doing a language exchange. What was supposed to be one year eventually became a new life abroad. Lauren quickly realized she was not cut out for the teaching world, so she decided to leverage her passion for food and explore different ideas. She created a blog, started hosting cooking classes at her place, and one day stumbled upon the idea of creating food tours. That’s how Devour Tours [https://devourtours.com/] was born — a food tour company that later grew across Europe. In this episode, we talk about how that trip to Sicily changed her perspective on the world, and the events that led her to create Devour Tours and how she leveraged her passion for food, had a good eye for opportunity, and later made the decision to sell the company and eventually leave. We also talked about the identity shift that came with motherhood, her reflections on that transition, and how she is now thinking about her next steps. Connect with Lauren * Substack ⁠ [https://leahpaintsparis.com/]https://projectrecharge.substack.com/ Connect with Transplants: * Follow on IG https://www.instagram.com/transplants.pod * Substack/newsletter - https://wearetransplants.substack.com/ * Laura's IG https://www.instagram.com/laura_peruchi * Follow on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@wearetransplants * Questions, suggestions, or random thoughts you’d like to share? Or maybe you’d like to pitch yourself for the podcast or suggest a guest? Send me an email at laura@lauraperuchi.com.

#39 From Corporate Life to Becoming an Artist in Paris | Leah Alexander | USA → France

Leah Alexander is an American artist based in Paris. But it took her a long time and some serious life decisions to the point she could call herself that. Art had been part of Leah’s life since she was a kid - but she never really knew that it could be a career, so she did what a lot of us do: she chose a “safe” path and, for 15 years, she built a successful career - and, during that period that she never pick up a paint brush. We can't say this career was bad though. At the end of the day, it was the reason why Leah ended up moving to Paris, France - the place she still calls home and where everything started to shift. A series of events led her to question her life - she was burned out and signed up for an art retreat. And then, she realized life is short, so she quit her job to pursue art full-time. In this episode, we talked about her journey, the pressure to choose a “practical” career, what it means to come back to a part of yourself you almost forgot, the loneliness of becoming an artist and entrepreneur, and how community helped her keep going. Leah also shares how moving abroad changed her, and her advice for anyone who is scared to take a risk, but also scared of never trying. Connect with Leah * Website https://leahpaintsparis.com/ [https://leahpaintsparis.com/] * Instagram @leahpaintsparis [https://www.instagram.com/leahpaintsparis/] * TikTok @leahpaintsparis [https://www.tiktok.com/@leahpaintsparis] Connect with Transplants: * Follow on IG https://www.instagram.com/transplants.pod * Substack/newsletter - https://wearetransplants.substack.com/ * Laura's IG https://www.instagram.com/laura_peruchi * Follow on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@wearetransplants * Questions, suggestions, or random thoughts you’d like to share? Or maybe you’d like to pitch yourself for the podcast or suggest a guest? Send me an email at laura@lauraperuchi.com.

#38 How One Trip Outside Asia Changed the Course of Her Life | Jasmine Wu | Taiwan → The Netherlands

Jasmine Wu had never traveled outside Asia when she decided to take a gap year. She was not even planning to travel during that period - the idea was just chill. Until an invite from a friend to go to Disneyland changed everything. Jasmine ended up exploring different places in the U.S. and in Europe and that journey changed the way she saw the world and herself. Suddenly, the life she knew started to feel too small for the person she was becoming. Today, Jasmine lives in Amsterdam, where she works as a technical product manager. In this episode, she shares how she moved from marketing into tech, navigated imposter syndrome in her new role abroad, and rebuilt her confidence while adapting to a new country, a new work culture, and a full-English professional environment. We also talk about growing up in Taiwan, family expectations, learning to ask for help, finding community abroad, the beauty of small human connections, and why women deserve to want more — more freedom, more choices, more life — without feeling guilty about it. Connect with Jasmine * Substack Living Abroad Diaries [https://pmjasminewu.substack.com/] Jasmine Wu * Instagram @jasminewu.meee [https://www.instagram.com/jasminewu.meee/] Connect with Transplants: * Follow on IG https://www.instagram.com/transplants.pod * Substack/newsletter - https://wearetransplants.substack.com/ * Laura's IG https://www.instagram.com/laura_peruchi * Follow on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@wearetransplants * Questions, suggestions, or random thoughts you’d like to share? Or maybe you’d like to pitch yourself for the podcast or suggest a guest? Send me an email at laura@lauraperuchi.com.

#37 She Took One Year Abroad to Heal - and Never Came Back | Kay Fabella | USA → Spain

Kay Fabella moved to Spain in 2010 with a one-way ticket, a student visa, and plans to stay for just one year. The main goal was to heal from burnout and reset her nervous system — but sixteen years later, she’s still there. And the story behind that decision is much deeper than finding her partner and falling in love with another country. She shares what it was like growing up Filipina-American in Los Angeles, constantly navigating life between two cultures and hearing the question: “Where are you really from?”. We talk about graduating into the 2008 recession, burning out at a young age, being diagnosed with clinical depression, and realizing that the version of success she had been chasing in the U.S. was slowly destroying her. Kay opens up about moving to Spain to heal, the pressure immigrants feel to constantly prove themselves, and how living abroad changed her nervous system, identity, and way of seeing the world. We also talk about how she explored different professional paths — and how every decision led her to create Edgewalkers Collective [https://kayfabella.substack.com/], where she works with globally mobile people navigating identity, belonging, burnout, and life between cultures, helping immigrants feel a little less alone in the process while she studies to become a counselor. Connect with Kay * Book an Expat Orientation Conversation with Kay. [https://cal.com/kay-fabella?utm_source=transplants&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=expat-orientation] * Substack Edgewalkers Collective [http://kayfabella.substack.com] * Connect on LinkedIn [http://linkedin.com/in/kayfabella] Connect with Transplants: * Follow on IG https://www.instagram.com/transplants.pod * Substack/newsletter - https://wearetransplants.substack.com/ * Laura's IG https://www.instagram.com/laura_peruchi * Follow on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@wearetransplants * Questions, suggestions, or random thoughts you’d like to share? Or maybe you’d like to pitch yourself for the podcast or suggest a guest? Send me an email at laura@lauraperuchi.com.