Dad Was Detroit's Biggest Drug Dealer, Now I'm a Digital Nomad: My Journey from Prison to Freedom

What happens when a kid from Detroit's roughest streets trades corporate Australia for Bangkok freedom, loses friends to violence, builds a six-figure recruitment business from an IHOP booth at midnight, and decides he'll never stop moving? 🌍💼 In this raw and deeply personal episode of 'Babes, How Did You Get Here?', April sits down with Agilon Wallace — a Detroit-born nomad, recruiter, and recruitment coach who has lived in Spain, the UK, Australia, and now calls Thailand home. From growing up with a father who was one of Detroit's biggest drug dealers, to losing his first love to suicide, to reinventing himself across a hundred countries, AJ opens up about grief, freedom, and why he refuses to let anyone else control his clock. We talk about: 🏚️ Growing up in the ghetto — gun violence, friends murdered, houses shot at, and why that was just "normal" 👨‍⚖️ His father: a major drug dealer who went to prison for 12–15 years and is now graduating with a PhD in law ♟️ Learning chess in prison visiting rooms — the only game he and his dad ever played 🎓 Escaping to Oxford University and waking up to castles, Bentleys, and a whole new world 🌍 Traveling broke across Europe — couch surfing, sleeping on beaches, and learning to love himself for the first time 💔 Leaving his girlfriend behind to chase Australia — and losing her to suicide years later 🇦🇺 Landing a $100K job fresh out of uni in Sydney while his classmates made half that at Deloitte 💼 Going bald from stress, quitting corporate life, and betting on himself 🥞 Working three jobs at once: bank teller by day, English teacher in the morning, recruiter at IHOP by night 💰 Closing his first $22K deal in an IHOP booth and crying — not because of the money, but because he proved he could do it alone 📍 Why he'll never move back to America — and why his mom's $600 electricity bill confirmed it 🇹🇭 Four years in Bangkok: the freedom, the convenience, the $2 meals, the free museums, and why it feels like a cheat code 🏠 Why he can't buy a house — because he doesn't know where "home" is 👨‍👩‍👧 Dating a Filipina online for four months before meeting, and why he wants his future kids homeschooled and trilingual ✈️ Passport strategy: why he wishes he'd gone to school in France or Germany for EU citizenship 🪦 Why he asks his mom about her funeral plans (and why she hates it) 🧳 His postcard moment: an endless road — because he's never going to stop This isn't just an expat story. It's about surviving trauma, rejecting the 9-to-5 trap, and refusing to let fear, grief, or geography define you. It's about choosing freedom over security, movement over settlement, and building a life where time is on your side. 💬 Tell us in the comments: Have you ever felt like you didn't fit in at home? And would you choose freedom over stability? 👀 — 🎧 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: • Expat life, digital nomad realities & building freedom abroad • Recruitment, remote work & entrepreneurship from anywhere • Detroit upbringing, violence, trauma & breaking generational cycles • Grief, loss & dating after tragedy • Australia vs America vs Thailand: cost of living, lifestyle & freedom • Passport strategy, visa hacks & global citizenship • Homeschooling abroad, raising multilingual kids & redefining family • Reinvention, resilience & refusing to settle 👍 If this episode moved you, like, comment and share it with someone who's been thinking about leaving — or just needs permission to choose themselves first. 00:00 Introduction: From Detroit to the World 08:29 Growing Up in Detroit: A Childhood Shaped by Contrast 20:46 The First Escape: Discovering Europe and Self-Love 28:21 Returning Home: Depression and the Struggle to Fit In 38:22 Love, Loss, and Moving to Australia 47:17 The Australian Chapter: Success, Stress, and Starting Over 50:52 The Leap into Entrepreneurship: Building a Business from IHOP 53:56 The Digital Nomad Life: Relationships, Travel, and Restlessness 57:05 Life Philosophy: Death, Freedom, and Living Without Regrets 1:08:56 Reflections on America vs Asia: The Cheat Code of Expat Life 1:18:03 Final Thoughts: The Endless Road Ahead #howdidyougethere #AprilJackson #BangkokLife #ThailandLiving #ExpatLife #DigitalNomad #DetroitToTheWorld #Recruitment #RemoteWork #Entrepreneurship #TravelAsia #BlackExpat #GriefAndHealing #Reinvention #FreedomAbroad #PassportStrategy #GlobalCitizen #LifeAbroad #RealStories #Podcast #NeverSettle #BuildingALifeAbroad #FromDetroitToBangkok