For Christine Job, a former Atlanta-based lawyer, burnout became the catalyst for a life-changing decision: leaving her legal career behind to start over in Spain.
Job, 38, moved overseas in 2017, long before the digital nomad boom, seeking a slower pace and space to redefine what success meant for her. Since then, she has built a new life in Spain while launching a business and podcast aimed at helping other Black women explore life abroad.
From Courtrooms to Classrooms in Spain
After graduating from law school in 2013 and working in Atlanta, Job felt stuck. The death of a family member prompted her to reflect on her life and career.
“I was already quite burned out,” she said. “I needed time and space to rethink things.”
That space came in Logroño, a small city in northern Spain’s La Rioja region, where she began teaching English. With just 12 working hours per week and frequent long weekends, the lifestyle was radically different from the overwork culture of U.S. law and startups. Initially, she felt guilty about not being busy, but the experience forced her to rethink what fulfillment meant.
Building Community and Purpose
Job later moved to Barcelona in 2018, where she found a vibrant community of young Black professionals. During the pandemic, she used the downtime to relaunch her consultancy as a business development strategist and start a podcast centering Black women’s voices in migration.
Now celebrating its fifth year with over 150 episodes, the podcast explores themes of Blackness, womanhood, wellness, and global living.
“There are so many different flavors of migration,” Job explained. “My podcast is about showing the diversity of those experiences.”
Listeners, many of them highly educated Black American women, often reach out to Job with stories of dissatisfaction in the U.S. despite achieving conventional success. For them, her journey illustrates that it’s possible to craft a life aligned with personal values abroad.
A New Life in Valencia
Since 2021, Job has been based in Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city. Living in the historic Old Town, she enjoys the city’s relaxed pace, walkability, and architectural beauty. While she acknowledges that migration is disruptive and not without sacrifices, she says the opportunities have outweighed the challenges.
Her work has taken her far beyond Spain. Job has spoken on international panels, judged the International Women’s Podcast Awards, and is now writing a book about living abroad.
Though she still has family in the United States, Job says she doesn’t envision moving back permanently. “Once your eyes have been opened to a different way of life, returning to one you know isn’t a good fit becomes very difficult.”
This story was culled from a feature published by Business Insider Africa
