Flourish In The Foreign | Black Women Living & Thriving Abroad

Christine Job

Launched in 2020, Flourish in the Foreign is an award-winning oral history podcast at the intersection of migration, Blackness, womanhood, wellness, and liberation. Each episode documents the lives of Black women who have chosen to leave their home countries and build lives of intention, depth, and self-determination abroad. Host Christine Job, J.D., is a cultural theorist and embedded oral historian living the story she documents. Over 150 episodes, she has built one of the most substantive qualitative archives on Black women's voluntary migration. These conversations span Colombia, Portugal, Ghana, Mexico, Australia, the Caribbean, and beyond, with women navigating the real terrain of expatriation: identity, belonging, financial independence, health, relationships, and what it actually means to thrive outside their native cultural context. Flourish in the Foreign sits at a specific and necessary intersection: the scholarly and the intimate, the structural and the personal, the political and the deeply human. It asks not just whether Black women can flourish abroad, but what it means that so many are choosing to try. And what that departure reveals about their motivations, expectations, and realities. This is not a travel podcast. It is a living archive of Black women's migration journeys, told in their own voices, hosted by a researcher who understands that oral storytelling is diasporic technology — a tool for cultural preservation, truth-telling, and narrative authority. Featured in: Vogue Arabia · Business Insider · Boston Globe Magazine · Black Enterprise · Apple Podcasts Black History Collection (2023) Awards: Best International Podcast, Black Podcast Awards 2021 · Shortlist Honoree, International Women's Podcast Awards 2021 · Top 1.5% globally To work with Christine: christinejob.com/work-with-me

  1. Migration as Black Futurity

    2d ago

    Migration as Black Futurity

    *Support for today's episode comes from author Reno Smith, whose books "Listen to Your Children" and "Smart Money Skills for Parents of Teens" offer practical tools for parents raising kids abroad. Find them by searching Amazon for author Reno Smith.* What are the conditions under which Black women flourish? In this Season 7 finale of Flourish in the Foreign, Christine reflects on how six years of interviews, writing, and research transformed her understanding of migration. Revisiting this season's themes of Migration as Relief, Migration as Wellness, and Migration as Liberation, she shares why those ideas ultimately led her toward a new area of inquiry she's actively exploring: Migration as Black Futurity. Drawing from Richard Wright, Octavia Butler, Black feminist thought, public health, Afropessimism, Afrofuturism, ecology, and the stories of women featured throughout the podcast, Christine invites listeners into the evolution of her thinking—not as a finished theory, but as a research journey. The episode also marks the beginning of a new chapter as Christine prepares to begin her PhD in Migration Studies, where she will continue investigating Black women's flourishing, migration, belonging, and the conditions that make different futures possible. This Episode CoversWhy Flourish in the Foreign has always been about flourishingRichard Wright and the question of "blooming"Migration as Relief, Wellness, and LiberationThe limits of existing migration narrativesAfropessimism and Afrofuturism in conversationWhy Christine is exploring Migration as Black FuturityEcology, belonging, and integrationBlack women's flourishing as a research agendaWhy Christine is pursuing a PhDWhat's next for Flourish in the Foreign Interested in Christine's doctoral research? Explore her research agenda: christinejob.com/research Support Christine's independent research: Research Funding Initiative https://app.notion.com/p/Research-Funding-Initiative-33c02576a60580b3b781eae854f53882?source=copy_link Continue the conversation by subscribing to Love Letters from Elsewhere, Christine's Substack exploring migration, diaspora, Black women's flourishing, and building a life well lived abroad. Interested in working with Christine? Migration Advisory • Strategic Consulting • Speaking christinejob.com Buy Me a Coffee (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/flourishforeign) Episode Credits: Christine Job — Creator, Host, Producer & Editor Zachary Higgs — Theme Music Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 4m
  2. From Northern Virginia to Geneva & Amsterdam with Jordynn McKnight

    Jun 22

    From Northern Virginia to Geneva & Amsterdam with Jordynn McKnight

    In this episode of Flourish in the Foreign, Jordynn McKnight, a creative director living in Amsterdam, shares her path from growing up in Northern Virginia in a creative, curiosity-driven family to studying abroad in Milan and completing a master’s in interactive media that included work in the Dominican Republic. After working in New York design agencies and being laid off, she applied widely and moved to Geneva, ultimately leaving and moving to Amsterdam after a 2019 visit. She discusses wellness practices, reflections on aging abroad, and preserving African American culture while living abroad. This Episode Covers: New York to Geneva LeapChoosing Amsterdam NextEuropean Work Life BalanceAging AbroadWellness Through RitualsDating and Feeling SeenMigration as Wellness To learn more about today's guest, visit their show notes page at flourishintheforeign.com Ready to go deeper? Subscribe to Love Letters from Elsewhere — Christine's Substack on migration, diaspora, and building a life well lived abroad: christinejob.substack.com Interested in working with Christine? One-on-one migration advisory, strategic consulting, and speaking: christinejob.com/work-with-me Buy Me a Coffee (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/flourishforeign) Episode Credits: Christine Job — Creator, Host, Producer & Editor Zachary Higgs — Theme Music Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 24m
  3. From the Bahamas to Senegal, China, and Mozambique with ZamZam Alleyne Khalfani

    Jun 15

    From the Bahamas to Senegal, China, and Mozambique with ZamZam Alleyne Khalfani

    In this episode of Flourish in the Foreign, Zamzam Khalfani, a Bahamian educator now in Maputo, Mozambique, shares how leaving Nassau at 20 shaped her identity, faith, and wellbeing. Raised in one of the Bahamas’ first Muslim families, she sought a larger Muslim community and connection to African roots, moving to Senegal to study French and later earning a master’s degree. For professional development and financial freedom, she relocated to China. After COVID-era lockdowns that brought xenophobia and concerns for her children’s mental health, her family moved to Mozambique. This Episode Covers: Childhood in NassauChoosing SenegalTeaching in ChinaNew Start in MozambiqueMotherhood and DisciplineMigration As WellnessDefining Wellness Practices To learn more about today's guest, visit their show notes page at flourishintheforeign.com Ready to go deeper? Subscribe to Love Letters from Elsewhere — Christine's Substack on migration, diaspora, and building a life well lived abroad: christinejob.substack.com Interested in working with Christine? One-on-one migration advisory, strategic consulting, and speaking: christinejob.com/work-with-me Buy Me a Coffee (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/flourishforeign) Episode Credits: Christine Job — Creator, Host, Producer & Editor Zachary Higgs — Theme Music Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    1h 2m

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About

Launched in 2020, Flourish in the Foreign is an award-winning oral history podcast at the intersection of migration, Blackness, womanhood, wellness, and liberation. Each episode documents the lives of Black women who have chosen to leave their home countries and build lives of intention, depth, and self-determination abroad. Host Christine Job, J.D., is a cultural theorist and embedded oral historian living the story she documents. Over 150 episodes, she has built one of the most substantive qualitative archives on Black women's voluntary migration. These conversations span Colombia, Portugal, Ghana, Mexico, Australia, the Caribbean, and beyond, with women navigating the real terrain of expatriation: identity, belonging, financial independence, health, relationships, and what it actually means to thrive outside their native cultural context. Flourish in the Foreign sits at a specific and necessary intersection: the scholarly and the intimate, the structural and the personal, the political and the deeply human. It asks not just whether Black women can flourish abroad, but what it means that so many are choosing to try. And what that departure reveals about their motivations, expectations, and realities. This is not a travel podcast. It is a living archive of Black women's migration journeys, told in their own voices, hosted by a researcher who understands that oral storytelling is diasporic technology — a tool for cultural preservation, truth-telling, and narrative authority. Featured in: Vogue Arabia · Business Insider · Boston Globe Magazine · Black Enterprise · Apple Podcasts Black History Collection (2023) Awards: Best International Podcast, Black Podcast Awards 2021 · Shortlist Honoree, International Women's Podcast Awards 2021 · Top 1.5% globally To work with Christine: christinejob.com/work-with-me

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