From UK to Phuket Janelle Brown on Soft Life, Digital Nomad Dreams & Living Beyond the Algorithm

What happens when a two-week Christmas vacation in Thailand turns into a seven-month soft life you never planned to leave? 🇹🇭✨ In this raw and honest episode of 'Babes, How Did You Get Here?', April sits down with Janelle Brown — a UK-born digital nomad, content creator, and social media coach who landed in Phuket on Christmas Day... and simply never went back. From lying on her CV to launch a marketing career, to building an online business that funds her life abroad, Janelle opens up about freedom, loneliness, viral hate comments, and what it really takes to leave the 9-to-5 behind and choose yourself on the other side of the world. We talk about: 🎄 Landing in Phuket on Christmas Day with no return ticket — and finding an apartment five days later 💔 Fresh out of a two-year relationship: how a breakup became the catalyst for freedom 💼 Building a social media marketing business since 2019 — and why Ibiza didn't work out the first time 📱 The accidental rise to content creator: one viral video and suddenly the Daily Mail is calling 🗣️ The reality of online hate: death threats, body shaming, and deleting a million-view video for your mental health 🌍 Why Phuket isn't as cheap as you think — and the misconceptions about living in Thailand 🚗 Surviving a car crash abroad with no family nearby and only Google Translate 🏝️ Tourist vs. reality: monkeys on cars, elephants in the street, and street food that isn't Instagram-ready 💸 Losing your biggest client while living abroad — and why you have to stay hungry every single day 👔 Why there are almost no jobs for foreigners in Thailand (and why that's actually a good thing) ✈️ Visa runs, DTV visas, and the five-year question: will she stay or will she go? 💕 Dating in Phuket: holiday romances, fake personas, and why she's not on the apps 🧠 The inner work you need to do before you move abroad — or go online 🌅 Slow mornings, no alarms, and redefining success outside the rat race 🌊 If her life was a postcard: sunset, sand, and a woman staring at the sea This isn't just a digital nomad story. It's about choosing freedom over fear, building a business that travels with you, and learning that escaping the UK doesn't mean you've escaped yourself. It's about the mental toll of being online, the isolation that comes with independence, and why gentrification, community, and respect matter more than your Instagram aesthetic. Whether you've thought about quitting your job, moving to Thailand, or just wondered what it's really like to build a life from scratch in a foreign country — this episode will challenge you, inspire you, and maybe make you rethink what freedom actually costs. 💬 Tell us in the comments: Would you move to a country you've never been to? And have you ever deleted content because of the hate? — 🎧 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: • Digital nomad life, online business & building freedom from anywhere • Mental health, self-development & doing the inner work before you move • Social media realities, content creation & dealing with online hate • Thailand expat life, Phuket living & Southeast Asia truths • Dating abroad, loneliness & finding your people far from home • Visa runs, cost of living & the logistics no one talks about 👍 If this episode resonated, like, comment and share it with someone who's been thinking about taking the leap — or just needs permission to choose themselves first. #HowDidYouGetHere #AprilJackson #DigitalNomad #PhuketLife #ThailandLiving #ExpatLife #OnlineBusiness #SocialMediaMarketing #ContentCreator #LifeAbroad #UKExpat #SoftLife #VisaRuns #DTVVisa #SelfDevelopment #Reinvention #FindingFreedom #TravelThailand #SoloFemaleTravel #RemoteWork #Entrepreneurship #MentalHealthAbroad #RealStories #Podcast