Would I Be the Same Person If I Never Left Home? | Moving Abroad & Starting Over

What if leaving home is what finally gives you permission to become yourself?Bianca grew up in a small town in Brazil, where an experience in childhood left her feeling like one day, she needed to get out.At 25, she moved to the United States, eventually building a life in Los Angeles that gave her something she hadn’t expected: the freedom to reinvent herself.But years later, going back to São Lourenço changed the way she saw the place she came from, and the version of herself she had left behind.In this conversation, we explore:• How childhood bullying and severe scoliosis shaped Bianca’s desire to leave• Starting over in America with one suitcase and no idea how credit, taxes or renting worked• Why Los Angeles became the place where she felt free to become herself• Trying to lose an accent and adapt to a new culture• The difference between fitting in and actually belonging• Why finding people from your home country can matter when you move abroad• How travel can reshape identity, perspective and tolerance• What it feels like to return home after you’ve changed• Why “Where are you from?” becomes more complicated after living in multiple places• The American dream, opportunity and why Bianca still believes in it• Whether identity is something we inherit or something we buildThis conversation is about reinvention, belonging, and what can happen when you get far enough away from the place that shaped you to finally see yourself differently.