She got told her skin was "the greatest sin" she could have. 😳

Asian schools refused to hire her. Modeling agencies offered
her $150 while white girls got $1,500. Strangers DM'd her
"go back to Africa with your black self."

Her response? She built an empire anyway. 🎤⬇️

In this BEST-OF cut of 'Babes, How Did You Get Here?',
April Jackson sits down with Abigail — a Trinidad & Tobago
educator who Googled "easiest place to get a job in Asia,"
booked a one-way flight to Cambodia at 23, and built a life
in a country where nobody knows Jamaica exists, Bob Marley
is "young people's music," and being dark-skinned literally
costs you 10x less. 🇹🇹🇰🇭

This is the unfiltered cut — only the moments that made
us pause, gasp, and replay. No fluff. No filler.
Just the raw truth about being a Black woman in Asia. ⚡

—

🔥 What you'll see in this best-of:

🚫 Being told "no school in China will hire you,
you're black" — straight to her face
💸 The modeling agency that priced her at $150
while white girls got $1,500 — for the same "job"
😡 The racist DM "go back to Africa" —
and her LEGENDARY clapback
🎤 Her brutal response to a US immigration officer
who wouldn't stop questioning her
🌑 Colorism in Asia: bleaching billboards,
"cover up or you'll get darker"
✈️ The 3-day journey from Cambodia to Trinidad —
because $3,000 flights weren't an option
🇹🇹 Building a name for Trinidad in a country that
thought it was an African nation
👩‍🏫 Teaching kids from 4 different countries who
speak ZERO English (and somehow making it work)
💔 The s*x industry in Cambodia: cards slipped under
hotel doors within 20 minutes of arrival

—

⚠️ FAIR WARNING: this episode is uncensored.
She doesn't sugarcoat what it's like to be a
Black Caribbean woman in Southeast Asia.

Some viewers will be uncomfortable. Good.
That's the point.

—

💬 TELL US IN THE COMMENTS:

Would YOU have accepted the $150 "hostess job"?
Was Abigail too aggressive with the racists in
her DMs — or exactly right?

Drop your honest take 👇
We read every single one.

🔁 Share this with someone who needs to hear that
you don't have to accept less than you deserve.

—

🎧 About the show — "Babes, How Did You Get Here?"
Hosted by entrepreneur & former Miss Jamaica
April Jackson, this podcast dives into the raw,
unfiltered stories of women who left the script —
swapping comfort for courage, and choosing a life "elsewhere."

🔔 New episodes every week from around the world.

—

📌 Watch the FULL uncensored interview here:
👉 https://youtu.be/It2Y2VDnRG8?si=24cPGGnRVRbARVsV

—

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS — Best Of moments:

• 00:00:00 From Trinidad to Cambodia in one Google search
• 00:01:42 Telling her family "I'm leaving — indefinitely"
• 00:02:53 Visa nightmares: border denials & Bangkok runs
• 00:05:04 The Cambodian woman who didn't believe Trinidad existed
• 00:05:45 Fighting at the Thai embassy: "Which African country?"
• 00:07:29 The 3-day journey from Cambodia to Trinidad
• 00:09:22 Disrespected at her own country's immigration
• 00:10:31 Her bag pack home after 2 years 7 months away
• 00:14:32 Why some kids LIKE being punished in the corner
• 00:17:08 Why she'll never teach kindergarten again
• 00:19:46 Drop them in China for a year — the language hack
• 00:21:27 "My skin is the greatest sin I could have"
• 00:24:53 The viral comment: "Go back to Africa with your black self"
• 00:26:10 Cards slipped under her hotel door within 20 minutes
• 00:27:21 Why so many Cambodian women have no other options

—

#BestOf #AprilJackson #BlackInAsia #Colorism
#CambodiaLiving #TeachingAbroad #ExpatLife
#BlackWomenAbroad #TrinidadAndTobago #Caribbean
#Racism #Clapback #Savage #BlackGirlMagic
#HonestConversations #BlackExcellence
#WomenWhoTravel #LifeInAsia #PhnomPenh
#ContentCreator #ExpatWoman #StandingUpForYourself
#KnowYourWorth #DigitalNomad #howdidyougethere

Join us LIVE for a Premiere + Q&A: we're dropping Desmei's full story —
growing up in a Cape Town township, marrying a white British man, and why
she chose South African racism over 7 years of British "politeness."

April is here live. Drop your questions in the chat — ASK HER LIVE (interracial marriage, moving abroad, UK vs SA, culture shock, apartheid generation, race, identity, what didn't make the final cut, and more).

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What we'll cover LIVE:

🎬 The story behind the interview — how we met Desmei
🔥 Why she prefers South African racism over British politeness
💍 The illegal marriage: interracial love across generations
🇬🇧 UK life: what nobody tells you about moving there
🗣️ Racism vs classism: April's take after hearing Desmei's story
🎙️ Behind-the-scenes moments that didn't make the cut
💬 LIVE Q&A: your questions answered in real time

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

⏰ Set your reminder. Comments are OPEN.

💬 Already have a question for April? Drop it below and she'll answer it live.

👉🏽 SUBSCRIBE + hit the 🔔 so you don't miss the Premiere.

She left Cape Town for love. 7 years later, she fled the UK and never looked back.

Desmei Collia grew up in a township in Cape Town, South Africa. Her mother worked
as a domestic worker — cleaning white people's houses — just to put food on the
table. Desmei had no money, no university education, and no examples of success
around her. Most of her childhood friends became prostitutes, drug addicts, or
alcoholics.

But she had one thing they didn't: the fire.

In this raw and unfiltered conversation, Desmei opens up about:

🔥 Why she PREFERS South African racism over British "politeness"
💍 Meeting her white British husband — a marriage that would have been ILLEGAL
30 years ago
🇬🇧 The shock of watching a WHITE woman clean her house in the UK
💔 Losing her older sister the first year she moved abroad — and why she only
took 1 week off
🏚️ Growing up in poverty while her husband grew up skiing in Canada
🗣️ The hidden classism and racism in England that no one talks about
✊🏽 What it really means to be "Colored" in South Africa (and why it's NOT the
same as "mixed race")
💰 Why she says "you can't teach the fire" — and why her family is still stuck
🙏🏽 How her mother — who lived through apartheid — accepted her white husband
without a word

This is not a sad story. This is a success story.

From a Cape Town township to a British husband, from cleaning salon floors to
becoming a senior hairdresser, from 7 years in the UK to coming home stronger —
Desmei's journey will challenge everything you think you know about immigration,
interracial relationships, race, and ambition.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

⏱️ CHAPTERS:

• 00:00:00 "I prefer South African racism"
• 00:01:36 Meet Desmei: From Cape Town to the UK and back
• 00:02:45 Growing up in a township with a domestic worker mother
• 00:05:00 Why she didn't go to university
• 00:07:20 The two paths: academia or the streets
• 00:09:20 Breaking into the hair industry from the bottom
• 00:11:20 "I always knew I'd be somebody"
• 00:15:30 Losing her sister the year she moved abroad
• 00:17:30 Meeting her white British husband
• 00:21:00 Two different worlds: township vs privilege
• 00:24:00 The racism her husband couldn't see
• 00:27:00 South African racism vs British racism
• 00:29:00 What it means to be "Colored"
• 00:33:00 Moving to the UK for love
• 00:38:00 First impressions of England
• 00:41:00 "I prefer South African racism" (the full story)
• 00:47:00 Poverty in the UK nobody sees
• 00:49:00 A white woman cleaned her house for the first time
• 00:55:00 What white South Africans become in the UK
• 00:58:00 The day no one gave up their seat for an elder

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🎙️ 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.

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💬 What would YOU have done in Desmei's shoes? 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 #MovingAbroad #Apartheid #CapeTown
#ImmigrationStory #BlackWomen #ColoredCommunity #RaceInUK

What happens when a Dominican lawyer trades courtrooms for Caribbean vibes, lands in Jamaica pregnant, speaking zero English, and builds a whole new life from scratch?

🇩🇴🇯🇲 In this heartwarming episode of 'Babes, How Did You Get Here?',

April sits down with Ysis — a Dominican Republic-born lawyer turned event planner who moved to Jamaica 18 years ago with her husband, a six-year-old son, and nothing but faith and Google searches about goats in the streets. From navigating language barriers and spicy patties to raising two boys with completely different cultural identities, Isis opens up about what it really takes to build a home in a country that wasn't yours — and why she wouldn't change a thing.

We talk about: 🌍 The moment her husband asked: "Do you want to move to Jamaica?" — and she said yes without ever visiting 🤰 Arriving pregnant, no English, just vibes and a dream 🗣️ Learning a new language while raising kids in a foreign school system 🍛 Dominican food vs Jamaican food: why curry lobster made her cry (and why patties are life) 👶 Raising two sons with totally different relationships to Jamaica — one feels 100% Jamaican, the other… not so much 💼 From lawyer to stay-at-home mom to thriving event planner in Kingston 🎉 Why her 51st birthday became the launchpad for her business 👯‍♀️ Building a chosen family across cultures: Haitian, Mexican, Chilean, French, Jamaican, and beyond 💔 The hardest moment: losing her father while living abroad and grieving from a distance 🏝️ Why Blue Lagoon is paradise and the south coast has her heart 🎄 Christmas Eve Dominican style vs. Jamaican Christmas — and why she'll never shop on December 24th 🎭 Dominican Carnival (covered faces & choreography) vs. Jamaica Carnival (bikinis, feathers & vibes)

✈️ Her two rules for anyone thinking about moving to Jamaica This isn't just an expat story. It's about choosing joy over perfection, surrounding yourself with the right people, and learning to embrace a new home without comparing it to the old one. It's about motherhood across borders, grief across oceans, and finding your people in the most unexpected places. Whether you've ever thought about moving abroad, struggled to fit in somewhere new, or just love a good story about resilience, reinvention, and rum — this episode will make you laugh, cry, and maybe even crave a beef patty. 💬 Tell us in the comments: Have you ever moved to a new country? What was the hardest part? And Team Tasty or Team Juicy? 👀 —

🎧 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." New episodes every week from around the world.

📌 Subscribe for more stories on: • Life abroad, expat realities & building home in foreign places • Motherhood, identity & raising third-culture kids • Language barriers, cultural shock & finding your people • Reinvention, resilience & trusting the journey • Food, friendship & what it means to truly belong 👍 If this episode moved you, like, comment and share it with someone who needs to hear that home isn't always where you're born — it's where you choose to bloom.

Chapters:

• 00:00:00 From Dominican Republic to Jamaica: A Leap of Faith
• 00:01:08 First Impressions and Early Challenges
• 00:03:08 Language Barriers and Finding Community
• 00:06:06 Raising Children Across Two Cultures
• 00:07:21 Food Culture Shock: Spice and Flavor
• 00:12:09 From Lawyer to Events Planner
• 00:13:58 Building a Business and Social Circle
• 00:23:06 The Hardest Part: Distance from Family
• 00:26:24 Advice for Future Expats
• 00:28:47 Favorite Places and Cultural Traditions

#HowDidYouGetHere #AprilJackson #DominicanInJamaica #ExpatLife #JamaicaLiving #LifeAbroad #DominicanRepublic #CaribbeanLife #Motherhood #ThirdCultureKids #EventPlanner #KingstonJamaica #CulturalIdentity #Immigration #LatinasAbroad #RealStories #Podcast #Reinvention #FindingHome #ExpatMom #CaribbeanExpat #LanguageBarrier #GriefAbroad #ChoosingJoy

What happens when an Irish boy grows up in England, lands in juvenile detention at 15 after a gang fight that turned deadly, spends a year in custody waiting for a trial that eventually gets thrown out, discovers purpose in a professional kitchen under the mentorship of Michelin star chef Aaron Patterson, learns resilience working for Marco Pierre White at Wheelers in London, climbs the culinary ladder from Hamilton Hall to the French Laundry in Napa Valley, survives the chaos of high pressure kitchens where plates get smashed and egos get bruised, witnesses cultural diversity become the backbone of his identity, experiences discrimination for being Irish in England, finds spiritual awakening and trades religion for relationship with God, navigates COVID lockdowns while trying to keep his South African restaurant afloat, moves to Montana for what he thought was a dream opportunity only to be sued for $1.6 million by a powerful lawyer with CIA connections, escapes to Philadelphia and then Florida while fighting legal battles across state lines, works on the Michelin Guide launch dinners in Florida only to be let go for not delivering an instant star, gets his name tarnished and his reputation questioned, and eventually returns to Cape Town where he finds home in the mountains, the winelands, the sea, and a community of resilient people who remind him of his own?

In this raw, deeply spiritual, and wildly honest episode, host April Jackson sits down with Chef Rikku—an Irish born, Michelin trained chef who has worked in some of the world's most celebrated kitchens, opened award winning restaurants across continents, and survived betrayal, lawsuits, and the brutal realities of hospitality in America—now living in Cape Town, South Africa, building a life rooted in gratitude, collaboration, and soul nourishing food.

From growing up Irish in England and being stereotyped because of his surname, to getting into a violent altercation at 15 with a local gang in Leicestershire that left someone dead and him in juvenile detention for a year, to being released when none of the testimonies added up, to discovering the kitchen as a place of purpose while washing dishes at an award winning restaurant in Brooklands, to being mentored by Aaron Patterson who taught him discipline and sent him to London to toughen up, to working for Marco Pierre White at Wheelers and learning resilience through militant precision and high stakes services, to the infamous soufflé disaster where Marco threw a dish against the wall and chaos erupted mid service, to realizing that kitchens were full of artists who didn't make it, ex convicts, and immigrants from all over the world who became his brothers, to experiencing discrimination as an Irish person in the UK where hotel bookings got canceled and assumptions were made, to moving through France, Italy, the US, and eventually landing in Cape Town in 2012 after meeting a South African surfer in Bali, to consulting for top restaurants and opening Riku Chef's Counter, to COVID hitting nine months after opening and having to refund two million rand in bookings, to pivoting with wine clubs and frozen pizzas to keep staff employed, to moving to Montana for what was advertised as a noma style concept but turned out to be a private chef gig for an egotistical owner, to being sued after leaving and having his partner experience racism in a red county.

• 00:00:00 Introduction: An Irish Chef's Journey to South Africa
• 00:03:38 Growing Up Irish in England: Early Years and Family
• 00:05:53 The Incident: Juvenile Detention at 15
• 00:15:50 Finding Purpose: Discovering the Kitchen
• 00:25:57 Climbing the Ladder: From Hamilton Hall to Marco Pierre White
• 00:30:35 The Soufflé Disaster: A Service to Remember
• 00:38:17 Cultural Diversity and Kitchen Brotherhood
• 00:45:25 The Irish Experience: Discrimination and Identity
• 00:55:51 Spiritual Awakening: From Religion to Relationship
• 01:09:29 Faith Tested: Navigating Challenges with Gratitude
• 01:29:59 COVID and the Move to America
• 01:34:49 Montana Nightmare: Lawsuits and Betrayal
• 01:40:53 Finding Hope in Philadelphia and Florida
• 01:58:05 The Michelin Guide: Politics, Integrity, and Evolution
• 02:15:58 The Future of Kitchens: Peace, Collaboration, and Soul Food
• 02:21:56 Life as a Postcard: Traveling, Healing, and Happiness

#HowDidYouGetHere #AprilJackson #ChefLife #MichelinStar #IrishChef #CapeTownLiving #SouthAfricaLiving #HospitalityIndustry #MarcoP ierreWhite #TheFrenchLaundry #JuvenileDetention #SpiritualAwakening #FaithJourney #RestaurantLife #CulinaryArts #ChefStories #LegalBattles #COVID19 #MontanaToCapeTown #MichelinGuide #KitchenCulture #SoulFood #Resilience #Gratitude #Entrepreneurship #TravelingChef #CulturalDiversity #IrishDiscrimination #FloridaLiving #PhiladelphiaLiving #Collaboration #NewWaveChefs

What happens when a Jamaican beauty entrepreneur leaves behind a fully booked calendar, a thriving lash and microblading academy, and everything she's built—moving to Dubai with $700, no clients, and nobody who knows her name, taking a nine to five job for the first time since college, sleeping through jet lag after years of hustle, navigating the bruised ego of being unknown in a city where she once had authority, setting high standards for relationships while refusing to settle, discovering that chivalry hits different in different cultures, teaching herself that failure isn't an option because she sold everything at a yard sale, and realizing that sometimes you have to start from scratch to build something even bigger?

In this raw, vulnerable, and deeply inspiring episode, host April Jackson sits down with Shafawa Hilton—a Jamaican beauty therapist, lash artist, and founder of the Lash Accessibility Academy who left Jamaica in October with a dream bigger than her island could hold, landed in Dubai without ever visiting, and is now rebuilding her empire one conversation, one client, and one nine to five shift at a time.

From growing up sheltered in a home school church routine, to being bullied at church for her teeth, to starting her beauty business in college charging students $300 JMD for eyebrows, to becoming known as the eyebrow girl on the UTech campus, to learning makeup from YouTube University, to going on a work and travel program to the US in 2017, to taking a one day lash course and a two day microblading course in Florida, to spending 10 hours on her first client, to coming back to Jamaica and doing lashes and makeup on campus for graduating students, to being approached at an expo by the owner of a top makeup school who asked if she'd ever considered teaching, to launching her academy in 2020 during COVID with five students despite everyone telling her not to, to being the first person in Jamaica to offer a seven day course with internship instead of the typical one or two day programs, to realizing her premium pricing made her inaccessible to most Jamaicans but refusing to drop her rates because she knew her value, to always feeling like she didn't quite belong in Jamaica after being trained in the States, to watching her clients in America book refills in advance while Jamaican clients struggled with the culture of maintenance, to setting a goal to save one million Jamaican dollars before leaving and getting to eight hundred grand, to having a yard sale and selling everything she owned, to boarding her first ever flight to Dubai, to realizing $700 doesn't go as far as she thought, to taking a hospitality job for stability and visa sponsorship, to experiencing the ego check of being completely unknown after being fully booked back home, to starting to lose her spark in the first two months, to going back to Jamaica in December and realizing how valuable her clients made her feel, to choosing Dubai over the US or UK because she can't do snow and her aunt already lives here, to running ads to try to get students and clients before leaving, to juggling expenses in Jamaica while trying to save for a new country, to dreaming of bringing Jamaican students abroad for exposure, to falling deeper in love with Jamaica after leaving but being okay with staying away because the earning capacity just isn't there, to refusing to let go of her roots and finding ways to squeeze her accent into conversations, to wanting children and a family but not being rigid about timelines because she's learned to be realistic.

• 00:00:00 Introduction: A Jamaican Beauty Entrepreneur's Journey to Dubai
• 00:01:05 Sheltered Beginnings: Home, School, and Church
• 00:01:54 From Doctor Dreams to Beauty: Finding Her Calling
• 00:04:37 Work and Travel: The American Experience
• 00:05:29 Building the Business: From Campus to Clients
• 00:06:06 The Teaching Revelation: Becoming an Educator
• 00:07:08 COVID Launch: Starting the Academy Against All Odds
• 00:08:06 The Premium Problem: Quality vs Affordability in Jamaica
• 00:09:20 The Itch to Leave: Feeling Out of Place
• 00:10:57 The $800,000 Goal: Preparing for the Move
• 00:10:22 Two Months In: Losing the Spark
• 00:12:55 Jamaica vs Abroad: Earning Capacity and Dreams
• 00:14:10 Identity and Roots: Staying Jamaican From Afar
• 00:18:21 The Sheltered Child: How Protection Created Fearlessness
• 00:19:46 Parental Support: The Foundation of Success
• 00:21:08 No Plan B: The Yard Sale That Made It Real
• 00:21:55 The Corporate Experiment: Trading Entrepreneurship for Stability
• 00:24:32 Misconceptions: The Reality Behind the Dubai Dream
• 00:26:19 The Postcard: Just Do It

#HowDidYouGetHere #AprilJackson #DubaiLiving #JamaicanInDubai #BeautyEntrepreneur #LashArtist #Microblading #LashAcademy #ExpatLife #StartingOver #Reinvention #CourageOverComfort #NoPlanB #EgoCheck #LivingAbroad #JamaicaToDubai #BeautyIndustry #Entrepreneurship #CaribbeanInDubai #BuildingDreams #BeautyEducation #YouTubeUniversity #WorkAndTravel #PremiumPricing #KnowYourValue #FearlessWomen #JustDoIt

What happens when a diplomat's wife lands in Jamaica with a toddler, three towels, and no plan—discovers she can't find a single pastry she likes, teaches herself French patisserie in three condensed weeks in Montreal, starts a catering business out of sheer boredom, gets approached by the owner of Café Blue to transform Jamaican cocoa into world class chocolate, spends three years learning to identify perfectly fermented beans, launches her first product with blue mountain coffee beans covered in dark chocolate, accidentally creates her signature colorful splash design when chocolate drips on a mold, names her brand Likkle More after her favorite Jamaican expression despite being from Ivory Coast, commutes between Haiti and Jamaica every two weeks for five years to keep her business alive, builds a factory with a team she trained from scratch, exports her bean to bar chocolate globally while attending international trade shows, realizes she feels more at home in laid back Jamaica than in the intensity of Abidjan, and admits that driving in Ivory Coast is infinitely more stressful than anything Kingston traffic could throw at her?

In this warm, surprising, and deeply inspiring episode, host April Jackson sits down with Nudin—a trained dietitian turned French pastry chef turned award winning chocolatier, founder of Likkle More Chocolate, a bean to bar chocolate brand that captures the vibrant spirit of Jamaica through bold flavors, striking hand painted designs, and the finest locally sourced cocoa—who moved to Kingston in 2010 as a diplomatic spouse, fell in love with the island's relaxed pace and friendly people, and built a thriving artisan chocolate company that represents Jamaica on the global stage with sophistication, authenticity, and a little bit of European flair.

From landing at night in downtown Kingston with her husband and baby son only to discover their rental apartment had no towels or bedding, to taking taxis everywhere for three months and learning every shortcut in the city, to enrolling her son in an American school system when she expected French education, to baking out of boredom because she couldn't find quality pastries in local coffee shops, to convincing a pastry instructor in Montreal to condense a six week course into three weeks so she wouldn't be away from her toddler, to launching a catering business that spread purely by word of mouth, to meeting the owner of Café Blue who asked if she'd ever considered working with Jamaican cocoa, to spending a year researching before saying yes, to learning how to identify well fermented beans and roast them to perfection, to creating the first product—blue mountain coffee beans covered in dark chocolate—to accidentally inventing the signature colorful splash when chocolate dripped onto a bar mold and she thought it looked too cool to waste, to choosing the name Likkle More because it was her favorite Jamaican expression and she wanted to make patois elegant, to being told by a branding company to change the name and refusing, to moving to Haiti for five years and commuting back to Jamaica every two to three weeks to keep the business running, to training a team so well that she can now develop new products remotely, to attending global trade shows through the International Trade Centre and securing export deals, to dreaming of opening a physical store one day, to realizing her son feels more Jamaican than anything else and wants to return after university, to admitting that her Belgian husband likes Jamaica but doesn't love it the way she does, to comparing traffic in Abidjan to Kingston.

• 00:00:00 Introduction: From Ivory Coast to Jamaica via Diplomacy
• 00:02:09 First Impressions: Landing in Kingston with No Plan
• 00:03:46 Settling In: School, Shortcuts, and Finding Home
• 00:07:04 Baking Out of Boredom: The Birth of a Passion
• 00:10:14 From Home Baker to Catering Business
• 00:11:25 The Chocolate Opportunity: Meeting Café Blue
• 00:12:48 Learning the Craft: From Bean to Bar
• 00:14:03 The First Product: Blue Mountain Coffee Beans Covered in Chocolate
• 00:16:29 Creating Likkle More: A Brand Born from Patois
• 00:20:18 The Signature Splash: An Accidental Innovation
• 00:22:38 Balancing Two Countries: The Haiti Years
• 00:24:09 Growing the Business: Export, ITC, and Global Shows
• 00:25:04 The Dream: A Physical Store and Global Reach
• 00:26:46 Jamaica vs Ivory Coast: Traffic, Food, and Finding Home
• 00:32:19 Quick Fire Round: Tasty Patty, Sorrel, and No Rum

#HowDidYouGetHere #AprilJackson #JamaicaLiving #IvoryCoast #BeanToBarChocolate #LikkleMore #ChocolateMaker #CaféBlue #BlueMountainCoffee #JamaicaCocoa #FrenchPastry #Entrepreneurship #DiplomaticLife #ExpatLife #ChocolateBusiness #ArtisanChocolate #CaribbeanBusiness #FoodEntrepreneur #WomenInBusiness #JamaicanPatois #InternationalTrade #HaitiToJamaica #ChocolateFactory #CulturalFusion #AfricanInJamaica #StartingOver #PassionToBusiness #GlobalExport

Nobody talks about what really happens backstage at beauty pageants. The harsh words. The brutal judges. The tears nobody films. Today, Sydney opens up about the constant humiliation, the lack of confidence, and the moment everything changed. She didn't just survive the industry — she became Miss Planet. This is the episode we filmed before she won. Watch it differently.

Babes, How Did You Get Here? | From Four-Year-Old Model to Miss Planet International Cambodia: A Half-Cambodian American's Journey Through Contracts, Mental Health, Typhoid Fever, and Finding Her Voice on the Global Stage

What happens when a half-Cambodian American girl starts modeling at age four, takes her first international contract to Thailand at sixteen with her dad by her side, spends nine months working seven days a week across Malaysia and Indonesia while battling body pressures and mental health struggles, gets hospitalized with typhoid fever in Jakarta and realizes she's happier sleeping in a hospital than working another catalog shoot, flies home to reconnect with family and find balance, falls in love long distance with someone she met in Indonesia, decides to represent Cambodia in pageantry instead of America because she wanted to embrace a culture with strong values, competes in Miss Supranational Cambodia for three months while living out of one suitcase and moving apartments three times, places runner up but gets offered Miss Planet International Cambodia, discovers that speaking and advocacy give her the voice modeling never could, navigates the reality that social media looks perfect but homesickness and isolation are real, and realizes that success isn't about luxury but about freedom to see the people she loves whenever she wants?

In this deeply vulnerable, raw, and inspiring episode, host April Jackson sits down with Sydney—an international model, current university student studying marketing, and newly crowned Miss Planet International Cambodia who has spent the last few years living between Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia, building a career in an industry that demanded she shrink herself, and finding her voice in a pageant world that finally let her speak.

From starting to model at age four in a healthy, supportive way, to taking her first three month contract to Thailand at sixteen with her dad accompanying her the entire time, to doing online university classes while working as a lifeguard and cheerleader, to visiting Cambodia for the first time at fourteen and being terrified it would be holes in the ground for toilets, to moving to Malaysia at eighteen and working consistently in modest wear and hijab shoots, to living in model apartments with girls from Russia, Brazil, and Argentina, to extending her contract because she couldn't find the next one, to moving to Jakarta and working seven days a week on boring catalog shoots while struggling with body image and bingeing at night on crackers, cheese, chocolate, and wine, to getting typhoid fever and being hospitalized for four days and telling her mom she was happy to finally sleep, to going home after nine months abroad and her mom noticing she'd never been that anxious, to teaching Pilates and working front desk jobs while planning her next move, to meeting her boyfriend in Indonesia and navigating long distance with strong communication and respect, to being told by everyone in Indonesia to join a pageant.

00:00:00 Introduction: An International Model's Journey to Cambodia
00:00:30 The Pageant Opportunity: Being Open to New Paths
00:01:20 Starting Young: Modeling from Age Four
00:09:15 First Time in Southeast Asia: Cambodia at 14
00:11:50 Cambodian Heritage: Growing Up Half-Cambodian in America
00:13:39 Contract Modeling: Malaysia and the Reality of the Industry
00:20:32 The Dark Side: Body Pressures and Mental Health Struggles
00:29:14 Breaking Point: Typhoid Fever and Hospitalization in Jakarta
00:33:25 Going Home: Reconnecting with Family and Finding Balance
00:42:12 Long Distance Love: Navigating Relationships Across Countries
00:46:55 The Pageant Decision: Why Cambodia Over America
00:52:36 Miss Supranational Cambodia: Three Months of Competition
00:57:33 Finding Her Voice: The Power of Speaking and Advocacy
00:59:40 Miss Planet International: Representing Cambodia on the Global Stage
01:10:12 Social Media Reality: The Pressure Behind the Perfect Posts
01:04:21 Future Dreams: Creative Strategy and Giving Back to Cambodia
01:08:48 The Spirit of Cambodia: Love, Resilience, and Connection

#HowDidYouGetHere #AprilJackson #CambodiaLiving #ModelingContracts #PageantLife #MissPlanetInternational #MissSupranationalCambodia #CulturalIdentity #MentalHealthInModeling #BodyImage #TyphoidFever #LongDistanceLove #SoutheastAsia #ThailandLiving #MalaysiaLiving #IndonesiaLiving #ModelLife #PageantQueen #CambodianHeritage #ExpatLife #SocialMediaReality #CreativeStrategy #GivingBack #Resilience #FindingYourVoice

Babes, How Did You Get Here? | From Jamaica to Dubai: A Beauty Entrepreneur's Leap Into the Unknown – Starting Over, Ego Checks & Building Dreams in a New City

What happens when a Jamaican beauty entrepreneur leaves behind a fully booked calendar, a thriving lash and microblading academy, and everything she's built to move to Dubai with $700, no clients, and nobody who knows her name—taking a nine to five job for the first time since college, sleeping through jet lag after years of hustle, navigating the bruised ego of being unknown in a city where she once had authority, experiencing the heartbreak of miscarriage and moving forward, setting high standards for relationships while refusing to settle, discovering that chivalry hits different in different cultures, teaching herself that failure isn't an option because she sold everything at a yard sale, and realizing that sometimes you have to start from scratch to build something even bigger?

In this raw, vulnerable, and deeply inspiring episode, host April Jackson sits down with Shafawa Hilton—a Jamaican beauty therapist, lash artist, and founder of the Lash Accessibility Academy who left Jamaica in October with a dream bigger than her island could hold, landed in Dubai without ever visiting, and is now rebuilding her empire one conversation, one client, and one nine to five shift at a time.

From growing up sheltered in a home school church routine, to starting her beauty business in college charging students $300 JMD for eyebrows, to learning lashes and microblading on a work and travel program in the US, to becoming one of Jamaica's premium priced lash artists, to hearing a prophecy that confirmed her international calling, to boarding her first ever flight to Dubai, to realizing that $700 doesn't go as far as you think, to taking a hospitality job for stability and visa sponsorship, to experiencing the ego check of being completely unknown, to navigating a miscarriage four years ago and carrying the dream of motherhood, to setting standards for a partner who wants to be a father and a husband, to observing that men hug differently here, to discovering that Dubai isn't as cheap as Instagram makes it look, to refusing to have a Plan B because she already sold everything—Shafawa's story is one of courage, reinvention, and choosing growth over comfort every single time.

In this episode, we discuss:
The Decision to Leave: Why Dubai over the US or UK, choosing hot weather over snow, having an aunt already here, and knowing that Jamaica felt too small for her dreams.
Landing in Dubai with $700: Arriving in a city she'd never visited, realizing the reality of starting over, and knowing that God didn't bring her here just because it's shiny.
Growing Up Sheltered: Home school church life, being told to be quiet, being bullied at church for her teeth, and how that shaped her fearless character today.
Starting a Beauty Business in College: Charging students $300 JMD for eyebrows at UTech, learning makeup from YouTube University, and becoming known as the eyebrow girl on campus.
Work and Travel Program: Going to the US in 2017, taking lash and microblading courses, spending hours on her first client, and using the money to pay school fees and invest in her business.

00:00 Introduction: A Jamaican Beauty Entrepreneur's Leap to Dubai
00:31 The Prophecy: Divine Confirmation to Leave Jamaica
01:43 The Journey: From Jamaica to Dubai via the States
05:40 The Dream: Building a Lash Empire and Bringing Value
07:19 A Taste of Motherhood: Miscarriage and Moving Forward
14:49 Relationships and Standards: Learning from Past Love
15:40 Men and Women as Friends: Setting Boundaries
34:10 Starting from Scratch: The Reality of Rebuilding in Dubai
38:34 The Business of Beauty: Education Over Quick Money
49:42 Childhood Roots: Sheltered Life and Finding Her Voice
1:02:35 Cultural Observations: Men, Masculinity, and Affection
1:04:26 Just Do It: Living Life as a Postcard

#HowDidYouGetHere #AprilJackson #DubaiLiving #JamaicanInDubai #BeautyEntrepreneur #LashArtist #Microblading #LashAcademy #ExpatLife #StartingOver #Reinvention #CourageOverComfort #NoPlanB #EgoCheck #LivingAbroad #JamaicaToDubai #BeautyIndustry #Entrepreneurship #CaribbeanInDubai #BuildingDreams #MiscarriageAwareness #Motherhood #HealthyLashes #BeautyEducation #ChristianEntrepreneur #PropheticWord #FearlessWomen

Babes, How Did You Get Here? | From Jamaica to Dubai: A Beauty Entrepreneur's Leap Into the Unknown – Starting Over, Ego Checks & Building Dreams in a New City

What happens when a Jamaican beauty entrepreneur leaves behind a fully booked calendar, a thriving lash and microblading academy, and everything she's built to move to Dubai with $700, no clients, and nobody who knows her name—taking a nine to five job for the first time since college, sleeping through jet lag after years of hustle, navigating the bruised ego of being unknown in a city where she once had authority, experiencing the heartbreak of miscarriage and moving forward, setting high standards for relationships while refusing to settle, discovering that chivalry hits different in different cultures, teaching herself that failure isn't an option because she sold everything at a yard sale, and realizing that sometimes you have to start from scratch to build something even bigger?

In this raw, vulnerable, and deeply inspiring episode, host April Jackson sits down with Shafawa Hilton—a Jamaican beauty therapist, lash artist, and founder of the Lash Accessibility Academy who left Jamaica in October with a dream bigger than her island could hold, landed in Dubai without ever visiting, and is now rebuilding her empire one conversation, one client, and one nine to five shift at a time.

From growing up sheltered in a home school church routine, to starting her beauty business in college charging students $300 JMD for eyebrows, to learning lashes and microblading on a work and travel program in the US, to becoming one of Jamaica's premium priced lash artists, to hearing a prophecy that confirmed her international calling, to boarding her first ever flight to Dubai, to realizing that $700 doesn't go as far as you think, to taking a hospitality job for stability and visa sponsorship, to experiencing the ego check of being completely unknown, to navigating a miscarriage four years ago and carrying the dream of motherhood, to setting standards for a partner who wants to be a father and a husband, to observing that men hug differently here, to discovering that Phuket isn't Benidorm and Dubai isn't as cheap as Instagram makes it look, to refusing to have a Plan B because she already sold everything—Shafawa's story is one of courage, reinvention, and choosing growth over comfort every single time.

In this episode, we discuss:
The Decision to Leave: Why Dubai over the US or UK, choosing hot weather over snow, having an aunt already here, and knowing that Jamaica felt too small for her dreams.
Landing in Dubai with $700: Arriving in a city she'd never visited, realizing the reality of starting over, and knowing that God didn't bring her here just because it's shiny.
Growing Up Sheltered: Home school church life, being told to be quiet, and how that shaped her fearless character today.
Starting a Beauty Business in College: Charging students $300 JMD for eyebrows at UTech, learning makeup from YouTube University, and becoming known as the eyebrow girl on campus.
Work and Travel Program: Going to the US in 2017, taking lash and microblading courses, spending 10 hours on her first client, and using the money to pay school fees and invest in her business.
Building the Lash Accessibility Academy: Starting with five students during COVID, expanding from five days to seven days with internship, being the first in Jamaica to offer that level of training, and realizing that people couldn't afford premium but she wasn't dropping her prices.
Knowing Your Worth: Charging premium prices in Jamaica, educating clients on healthy lash practices, and realizing that once you know your value you start to feel the itch to leave.
Taking a Nine to Five Job: Getting offered a hospitality job through a friend, praying about it and getting confirmation, realizing it's full circle because hospitality funded her beauty business the first time, and embracing the learning curve.

Timestamps:
00:00:00 Introduction: A Jamaican Beauty Entrepreneur's Leap to Dubai
00:00:40 The Decision to Leave: Why Dubai Over Traditional Routes
00:03:18 Growing Up Sheltered: Home, School, and Church
00:04:24 From Eyebrows to Empire: Starting a Beauty Business in College
00:06:50 Work and Travel Program: The Foundation for Growth
00:08:40 Building the Lash Accessibility Academy: Teaching with Value
00:11:35 Knowing Your Worth: When Jamaica Feels Too Small
00:20:59 Starting From Scratch: Taking a Nine to Five Job
00:30:26 Prophecy & Faith

#HowDidYouGetHere #AprilJackson #DubaiLiving #JamaicanInDubai #BeautyEntrepreneur #LashArtist #Microblading #LashAcademy #ExpatLife #StartingOver #Reinvention #CourageOverComfort #NoPlanB #EgoCheck #LivingAbroad #JamaicaToDubai #BeautyIndustry #Entrepreneurship #CaribbeanInDubai #BuildingDreams