Aménụ from Lagos: In Between

What’s up worldly people? In this introductory episode, our host Aménụ talks about her experience as a first-generation immigrant to the US, life after graduate school, and circumstances that influenced her to gravitate towards remote and contract-based work. She recaps her most recent adventures, discusses the motivation for the podcast and what’s to come. Stay movin’!

You can find transcripts for this episode on the website. 

This episode was produced by Aménụ. Music in this episode was acquired from freesound.org under the creative commons license. Jingle was performed by Aménụ featuring Cloud Camo and Fonazza Stent. Episode art by Aménụ with photography from Gabi, logo, and vector art from Rachel Rock. 

Transcript

Amenu 0:00

Hi there. I'm Amenu and I am the host of Nomadlyfe coming to you from the floor of my apartment because it's comfortable for me right now (laughs). I've been putting this off for so long because it's just such a daunting task to record myself, talking to myself, talking to you, because there's so much to say and you know, sometimes you just overanalyze everything, but I'm just going to do it. Okay. I'm just going to do it. So here we go. First episode, here we go.

Jingle

Ooh Ahh

(Ooh Ahh) Talking ‘bout the nomad life (Ooh Ahh)

(Ooh Ahh) Talking ‘bout the nomad life (Ooh Ahh)

(Ooh Ahh) Talking ‘bout the nomad life (Ooh Ahh)

(Ooh Ahh) Talking ‘bout the nomad life (Ooh Ahh)

(laughs)

Amenu 1:10

So, I've been learning more about digital nomads. Digital nomads are people who are remote workers, people who are location independent, and choose to travel while they work. And whether that's moving to and from cities or towns within a country or across the world, they're doing a dang thing. So, they're doing it.

Amenu 1:29

In this podcast. We are going to be talking about the life of frequent travelers, long term travelers, digital nomads, and people with alternative career paths. And we're going to do this through people's experiences. 

Amenu 1:42

Before I even go any further, I should probably tell you a bit about me. I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, and I moved to the states with one of my sisters when I was 13. I know very terrible time to move, let alone change countries. Uh, I am based in San Francisco… for now. I am a scientist. I recently finished grad school and now I'm working as a science content creator. So doing a lot of writing, podcast production, things of that nature. What do I like to do? I like art. I like music. I'm always down for a good playlist. I love making playlists. I like food. I also would identify as a starter nomad because I'm still kind of starting that journey, and that's a lot of what we'll be talking about on this podcast, but not me, mostly other people, but me too. 

Amenu 2:40

So, why am I even talking about digital nomads and being a nomad? Why now? Here's the thing being a digital nomad is not new, but I'll say that there is a spike in interest in being one these days. You know, since 2020, we've seen so many people, take charge of their career, leaving jobs, looking for positions that are suiting their values better, their lifestyles, their needs better. Also, the pandemic in addition to the great resignation redirection, whatever you want to call it, it really changed the game for remote work.

 Amenu 3:18

In the wake of the pandemic, many business sectors transitioned into remote work, and they found it useful and effective. People are also shifting your mindset about working remotely. They’re being more open about it. And it's no wonder that the idea of being a digital nomad sounds very attractive. I mean there's other factors, you know, lower flight costs that are popping up feeling stuck in one place, especially because of quarantine restrictions that a lot of us have gone through. I mean, all of us are of gone through. These factors, really play in and people are, you know, making decisions about their lives. That said digital nomads come from different walks of life. Their jobs range, whether it's full-time or part-time, whether it's hybrid, whether they have to go to office for some time or, you know, work from home. Some of them are contract based, owning their own businesses, whether it's with an active or passive income stream. There's so many ways to do it. And don't let me just tell you all of this, stay tuned and find out more here on Nomadlyfe!

Music Break

Rhythmic Drums

Amenu 4:23

Did I always know that I wanted to be a digital know nomad? I honestly did not see myself coming to this conclusion. This time last year I was in the last leg of grad school and applying for full-time jobs. During my job search, I knew that I wanted to do something that was creative, purpose driven, collaborative. I know general, but mainly I wanted to do something that gave me the flexibility with time and location because I wanted to be able to travel. I know sound familiar, basically inching towards being a digital, no med to some degree. And I mean, there are signs, right? Um, I've lived in San Francisco almost six years, which is actually the longest I've been in a place since I left Nigeria. And in this time, I've had five different apartments (laughs). Hear me out. I, I did have my reasons for moving, but I think maybe deep down my restless soul just wanted a change of environment and I don't regret it at all.

Amenu 5:27

In fact, I feel like it made my experience richer. I've lived in five different neighborhoods, which are so different from each other. I got to interact and vibe with them, you know, walk these cold streets, and find my favorite spots to order the same thing from. But you know, I always, I always switch it up. I always switch it up. I digress.

 Amenu 5:48

But why am I like this? How did I actually get here? As I look back at my life, my short life, moving from Nigeria to the states, and even within the us living in three different states based on moving for school, I've had the chance to really experience life in both countries. And it's opened my perspective. I went to boarding school when I was in Nigeria. I have a deep appreciation for waffle house (chuckles). 

Amenu 6:16

Like I'm able to kind of find things to connect with in both places and understand the culture or lack of culture in certain areas and having experience, experiencing life in both places gave me a deep appreciation for both. And I don't take it for granted. And sure, there are some tradeoffs, um, and things that are difficult along the way, you know, not seeing my family as often. I haven't seen my mum and you know, the rest of my family in almost four years. Also, I feel at most times that I am in between cultures. I feel out of place. I miss, I definitely miss a lot of pop culture references. And you know, sometimes I feel like I have so much catching up to do on both sides. But I don't want to focus on all of these losses and what the what ifs, what I could have known, what I could do better, trying to find my identity and place in the world. I don't want to focus on these things. 

Amenu 7:13

Instead, I should be looking at this unique perspective that it gives me: the fact that I am now more adaptable, I am more open-minded, I'm understanding of a lot of people. I'm curious by nature, I guess, but also just having all of these experiences makes me even more curious about what else is out there. And most of all, I think it's given me this, how do I even explain it? This lack of attachment to the environment? I, I think it's really helped me to be more, um…I think it's really ignited this freedom in me to move and start over without too much hesitation. Another thing that I'll add is that growing up in Nigeria, I traveled overseas, um, almost every summer with my family. And I know how much privilege that carries. I learned a lot about travel etiquette from a young age, you know, finessing the system, all that good stuff, and I've had a very deep interest in culture exchanges. 

Amenu 8:10

In college, I also had exposure to people from all over the world. We had a very big international population. So, people that I hung out with most of the time, people I lived with were primarily not American. And so, I think having that exposure again was very helpful for me to know how people are living on different sides of the world. I decided to study abroad because I had the opportunity to when I was, um, a junior in college. I decided to go to Sydney because I was like “when am I ever going to get a chance to just go all the way there, to go super far away to Australia?” And it was a great time. I think that was another thing that I, I really wanted to do. And I set it as a goal, when I started university, it was like, “I want to study in a different country.”

(Boom sound effect)

Amenu 9:00

Then I came to grad school. And let me just tell you (chuckles), I decided to go straight from undergrad into a five-year PhD program. And whether that was a good decision? I don't know. It honestly just depends on the day, but I, I think for me that nine year of higher education talk about burnout. I was recently freed from grad school, and the main thing that I had on my mind was that I needed to take some time to go recover, take some time to re-evaluate things. Going through that nine year of school, I mean, you really burn out to some degree and don't want to be dramatic. But I also feel like I lost a part of my soul in there just saying, because PhD programs have a way of really damaging your spirits, your egos, you know, who needs rooms? No one, just go to grad school.  

Amenu 9:54

You start asking yourself, is this life? am I happy? Is happiness a construct? Is it semantics? Like what is it? In that environment, sometimes you feel like the world is on your shoulders. You want to do everything and nothing at all. You base your worth on productivity. You know, it's one big toxic bubble. And of course, you have imposter syndrome in there just whispering in your, in your ear. (whispers: Hey girl, lemme tell you something). Should I listen to people telling me that I'm here? Because the program needs diversity? No, they have no home training. Like I am here because they wanted me here, and because I know how to do this work or at least I'll learn how to do it (chuckles).

 Amenu 10:38

But I found myself making excuses and shelving all these ideas that I had and living in the future, you know, in fight or flight mode, survival mode. And that's not sustainable. I don't think it's unique to me either. Some of you out there are nodding yeah. I see you, virtually. The thing is we have to start living for the present because things change and the goals you set are not drawn to scale. If that makes sense. Do people even say that? but I'm going to go with it. Sometimes you need to scale up or scale down based on whatever happens. Like it's not always going to, things are not always going to go your way. So you should really be flexible. Leave, leave some, leave some room, a buffer in there for things to change. That being said, I didn't want to live the should mindset. The one where you try to please everyone, and then you end up being the one who loses. Yeah. I mean, I wanted to rebuild my spirit and carved my own path. And that's kind of what brought me here.

Music Break // Synth music

Amenu 11:57

If there's anything that 2020 Acts I and II have taught us, it's that nothing is guaranteed. I for one, and don't know if I'll be around to see the fruits of my labor, you know, things that you've been investing in for so long. Like you don't know. I mean, too dark? Going back to grad school though. Although it had its, its um, it's challenges. I'll leave it at that, I was able to work on my own time. The way the program works as most biomedical programs do is that you create a research project with your mentor. You write it, a proposal, you defend a proposal, you spend all that time left conducting research, collecting data, presenting data and publishing papers on this research. And on this quest to contribute to science or whatever field it is, that's kind of similar in this process, there's a lot of autonomy. And so you need to actually be on top of your stuff, be organized because the program moves as fast as you. And that's why I had to keep telling myself science is slow, but you're not.

Amenu 13:04

I talk about this, this kind of lifestyle because I started to really appreciate it. I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. I watched my mum run her business since forever, since just growing up, I just watched her run her own business and live on her own terms. My sisters own businesses, and all of that combined had a huge influence on how I've seen the world. Seeing my mm have that freedom. It really played a factor in my decision to start my own venture. As I, I was thinking about the type of position that I wanted, that I saw my myself in. I couldn't really picture myself in a traditional type of role in the “orderly world”, uh, the traditional corporate path. And I recognize that it's possible to succeed in other ways. And what matters is how you define success. And for me, I have highly value my time and freedom. And I'm proud to say now that I own my own business and I'm still just learning as I go and I'm not here to push it on anybody, but that's just my own truth.

 Amenu 14:17

When I talk about going into my own type of business and working contractually, a lot of people tell me that I'm brave, that I, that “wow, that takes so much guts.” And you know, how, how could you do that? I honestly don't think I'm that brave because it was easy for me to do barely making anything in grad school and living in SF. I think that was really great preparation to make this brave decision where you're kind of kept on your toes on when the next paycheck's coming. I mean, it could, it could be daunting doing this type of work, but I've learned some ways to navigate it. I make mistakes along the way, but I'm still learning. Bringing it all together. My global exposure from a young age, my life as an independent researcher, and watching my mum just run her own business and live on her own terms really influenced my decision to be who I am now.

Music Break // Synth music and rhythmic beats

Amenu 15:25

Real talk though, as much as I've loved. Okay. I would not say loved I've liked my experience in San Francisco. I felt very detached from it and very isolated from it. I, this feeling is not new. I just ignored it. And I was focusing on other things, uh, you know, priorities and all that. The city is very expensive to live in, especially if you're trying to build any kind of wealth. It's also not that diverse. I'm just going to leave it at that. I really couldn't think of a place to go next. My family is all spread out, mostly in the us, the UK, Canada, Nigeria. And if anything, that opened up more options of where to go. And I thought, “Hey, remote work is cool.”

Amenu 16:08

I really like the idea of remote work, and I even joined some forums. I joined some groups online about five years ago and I started talking to people to try and get advice about what it means to do remote work, how that can play into my type of career path. I think for me, remote work is it's helped me manage my mental health, provide focus, autonomy, which is very important, and comfort, especially as someone who can be very shy and socially awkward, and I love space from people as much as I like being around them. So last fall, I decided to take a trip to Europe. I, you know, COVID willing, I took my first ever solo trip and it was surely nerve-wracking and there was no shortage of thoughts of things that could go wrong. Thankfully that was not the case. 

Amenu 17:04

It was great. It was nice to be in a place where English wasn't spoken by default. I was surrounded by people from all over who still had so many similarities with me. I enjoyed hearing their stories, you know, meeting people that were so like-minded that were travelers and digital nomads, and I felt like I finally found myself because, being in between all of these decision-making processes, as you're making the next step in your life, it's always, it's always kind of daunting. And on that trip it was like a test for me. It was like a little experiment. At the end of it, I solidified my desire to take even more trips and start my nomad journey.

Amenu 17:44

I started making plans to lease my place even before I got back home. And now I'm the person who's booking one-way flights, keeping loose schedules, and seeing 24-hour layovers as a blessing. Like, who is this? Who is they? Who am I? (chuckles). I'm betting on myself in more ways than living without health insurance. We'll talk about that later.

Music Break // Rhythmic Drums

Amenu 18:14

So, after my trip to Europe, I did another solo trip this time to Mexico. It was my first time going, also solo. I didn't know what to expect and again, I had so much anxiety about going into another country, especially in this time. I saw it as another trial and an error project because this was a two-month trip and you know, nothing was perfect. It was a hard balancing act. You get in a honeymoon phase, there's so many distractions, but at the same time, it's, you're learning how to do everything, keep sane at the same time, build community. In that time though, I met really amazing people who had cool ambitions and cool stories and that kind of brought me here. 

Amenu 19:00

I had this idea of doing the podcast before I went to Europe, but I wasn't really sure. I was like, “oh it could be cool to do it, I don't know. I'm just bouncing it around there.” It was something that I wanted to do because I love to talk to people. I like to find out more about them beyond what people show on the surface.

Amenu 19:19

What does it mean to be a nomad and where does that leave y'all? There’s no one way to do it, and that's what this podcast is about. Given years in research, one of my favorite sources is still people just as us humans can learn. We can also teach. We have nuanced perspectives. As I'm starting out in this journey of traveling and working for myself, I know just how important it is to talk to people from different backgrounds at different stages in their journey. And I wanted to capture these unique perspectives from travelers, digital nomads, people with alternative careers to get exposure to what's out there and learn from them and you know, share it with you.

Amenu 20:04

As far as guests go, I will start by talking to people that I meet as I travel, but I'll also talk to people that, I come across online. We're going to dive into their lives as much as they let us. And we'll discuss topics like traveling during the pandemic, how to stay safe, budgeting, remote jobs, finding stability, lodging health, and so healthcare, traveling while a person of color, while queer while traveling sustainably dating while traveling, starting businesses, finding community, and maintaining friendships, whether new or old. We're going to talk about a lot of different things. And I hope you join. Whether you're intrigued on the fence, seeking inspiration, starting out or fully fledge into your journey because I think there's something here for everyone and side note. This is surely out of my wheelhouse as a member of the quiet one club (Woot woot!) We're out here. Still kind of getting the hang of the social media thing and even nomading, so, here's to keeping myself accountable and growing with you all. 

 Credits

Amenu 21:22

Thank you so much for listening. I've been Amenu. This episode was produced by me Amenu. Special thanks to my family and friends (you all know who you are) for your support and feedback. Shout out to Camille Lamoot and Rachel Rock for creating the cover art and logo.

If you've enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, be sure to subscribe on whatever platform you're on. We'll be dropping episodes every two weeks with full transcripts, which will be available on the website at nomadlyfepod.com and this is “Nomadlyfe” with a “Y”.

Like, share, comment, review. Find us on Instagram as Nomadlyfepod. 

If you'd like to be a patron, head over to patreon.com/nomadlyfe, where we'll be sharing some additional content and invite you to participate in a production process.

And with that, thanks so much for joining me in this temporary home goodbye now.