Guest: Andreea RusuCareer: Marketing ManagerBased: NomadicInstagram: andreea.rrusu Episode DescriptionAndreea Rusu was sad and depressed in her Bucharest flat in June 2021, post-COVID, with no money to travel. So she bought a one-way ticket to Spain, spent half a year researching on YouTube and Google, and discovered the World Packers platform. She applied to 40 volunteer opportunities, got accepted to 12, and ended up in Anceu, Galicia—a 100-person village in rural Spain—to do some Instagram marketing for a co-living space. What was meant to be a one-month stay became five months, then extended to two and a half years of returning repeatedly. Because when she arrived, something shifted. On a date before the trip, someone had asked her, "Who are you?" and she could only answer, "I'm Andreea and I'm a video editor." At Anceu, surrounded by strangers who became family, she finally discovered the answer. She wasn't just a video editor. She was a community builder. A connector. Someone who made strangers feel like they belonged. Now she's building a directory bridging two worlds: community builders looking for places to volunteer, and co-living spaces looking for community builders. She's experienced 15-plus co-livings, understood the power of genuine curiosity, learned that what you feel is valid even when you grew up in a conservative environment that told you to shut up, and realised that being a community builder is actually a full-time job in mental space—even if volunteering looks part-time. If you want to know everything about co-living, about finding yourself by helping others belong, about the personal development bootcamp that is community building, Andreea is your person. Timestamps 00:00-00:37 Introduction by Ibi 00:37-02:00 Andreea's story intro, depressed in Bucharest, one-way ticket to Spain 02:00-03:00 Discovery of World Packers, applied to 40 opportunities 03:00-03:30 Anceu co-living, Galicia, rural village 03:30-04:20 First month experience 04:20-05:30 Marketing volunteer role discovering co-living concept 05:30-06:50 Applied to 40 opportunities, accepted to 12, found Anceu 06:50-08:15 Stayed one month, emerged as community builder 08:15-09:30 The date question "Who are you?" identity crisis as video editor 09:30-10:30 InsideOut project by J.R., rural revival cause 10:30-12:00 Using InsideOut as excuse to stay longer 12:00-13:00 Two types of communities, online and offline 13:00-14:30 Building community in tiny 100-person village 14:30-15:00 Trust people, don't guide them through everything 15:00-15:45 Conservative upbringing, fear of speaking openly 15:45-16:30 Learning from others' stories, discovering multifaceted self 16:30-17:00 "What you feel is valid"—psychologist moment 17:00-18:30 Control freak lesson at team dinner, learning to trust 18:30-20:00 Lived there on and off, one year nonstop 20:00-21:30 Community expanded from co-living to village to neighbouring villages 21:30-23:00 Personal development bootcamp aspects 23:00-24:30 Permission to fail, observer role, awareness of impact 24:30-25:30 Friends around the world, friendships built through co-living 25:30-26:30 Material benefits, no rent, maintaining freedom 26:30-27:00 Meeting partner at Anceu 27:00-28:00 Been in 15+ co-livings, understanding different spaces 28:00-28:30 Current work in Belgium and building community for builders 28:30-29:55 Creating directory of co-living opportunities 29:55-30:30 Bridging community builders with co-living operators 30:30-31:45 Personal development benefits of volunteering 31:45-32:15 Observer role and impact awareness 32:15-33:00 Making friends worldwide, global network 33:00-33:30 Materialistic benefits, no rent expenses 33:30-34:30 Career development trade-offs, full-time mental space 34:30-35:45 Volunteered for 2.5 years, then stopped to process insights 35:45-36:20 Can you do both, job and volunteering? 36:20-38:30 Advice: doesn't depend on career stage, depends on values 38:30-39:10 Genuine care, nurturing vibe, can switch brain to others 39:10-39:45 Closing, thank you About This PodcastReal conversations with successful digital nomads who've built sustainable location-independent income. Strategic insights on how they transitioned, what income streams they built, and what they wish they'd known earlier. No travel tips or lifestyle fluff. HostIbi Malik helps ambitious professionals transition to nomadic careers without income sacrifice. To watch the video follow this link: https://youtu.be/jo-hT8Yy9ZQ Follow for weekly episodes featuring professionals who've successfully built nomadic income streams. Episode length: ~40 minutes Published: 29th May 2026Episode #14 The Connector Who Found Herself by Helping Others Belong I'm sitting in a French castle talking to someone who spent a total of two and a half years living in a 100-person village in rural Spain, not visiting or passing through, but actually living there as the person who helped strangers feel like they belonged. Andreea Rusu has this incredible energy about her when she talks about community building, this genuine warmth that makes you understand immediately why she's good at what she does. She didn't plan any of it. June 2021, she was sad and depressed in her Bucharest flat, and one day she just bought a one-way ticket to Spain because staying felt worse than leaving. She couldn't afford traditional travel, so she did what so many of us do when we're desperate to change our lives: she spent half a year Googling and watching YouTube videos until she discovered World Packers and the concept of volunteering in exchange for accommodation. "I applied to 40 opportunities like just, you know, random to see what clicks or not. I was, I had zero expectations. And out of these 40 opportunities, I got accepted to 12 of them. And I was like, really? People can offer you a free stay and pay utilities and other perks if you help them with a little bit of marketing." The one that stood out was in Anceu, Galicia. The description mentioned digital nomads working on their projects during the day, doing dinners and hikes together in the evenings. What was meant to be a one-month stay ended up being five months, and she kept coming back for two and a half years after that. What happened in those first weeks changed the entire trajectory of her life, though she didn't know it yet. Who Are You? There's this moment Andreea shares that explains everything about why co-living mattered so much to her. She was on a date once, and the guy asked her, "Who are you?" She answered the way most of us would: "Well, I'm Andreea and I'm a video editor." He stopped her. "I don't care what you do for a job. Who are you as a person?" She didn't know. "That question like struck me. I was like, who am I? Who am I? I don't know, who am I? I was, I knew somehow inside about my desires, my burning curiosities, but I didn't know who I am." That question haunted her. She'd spent her whole life identifying with her profession, never thinking about who she actually was beneath the job title. When she arrived at that first co-living in Anceu, she wasn't just looking for a place to stay. She was looking for herself. "I feel like I found my people, I found my world. I found myself first." She went as a marketing volunteer, meant to help with Instagram promotion and blog posts. Simple stuff. But she found herself naturally gravitating toward something else. Every new person who walked through the door, she wanted to know their story. She'd sit with them for hours, genuinely curious about where they came from and what brought them there. She started engaging people in activities, bringing them together, and the community builder role just emerged from that curiosity. "This is the job or the job, the role that came to me just because I was genuinely curious about people, I was engaging them in activities, I was like bringing them together." One month turned into five through clever negotiation. She pitched an art project called InsideOut by French artist J.R., photographing local villagers to raise awareness about rural revival: the idea that rural areas can thrive when you connect nature, slow-paced living, and remote work infrastructure. The portraits would take a month to ship from France, and she'd paste them on walls around the village. "I use this as an excuse like, hey, I cannot leave now. I have to wait for my project to be finished." It worked. And those projects started connecting the co-living community to the village itself. At first, locals were skeptical about all these strangers coming and going. But through rural revival and opening doors to invite villagers in, the community expanded. First to the village, then to neighbouring villages. Now it's spread across Galicia. The co-living wasn't isolated, it became part of the place. Permission to Feel The personal transformation went deeper than discovering a new skill. Andreea grew up in a conservative environment where you didn't talk openly about what you were thinking or feeling. You shut up, didn't complain, toughened up. She spent years building walls, always looking over her shoulder, never knowing if anyone would accept what she had to say. Then one day she was crying, really struggling with something, and a psychologist from the community sat down with her. "She took my hands and looked at me and she said, like, Andreea, what you feel it's valid. It's real. Because I couldn't process what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling because I didn't allow it to to feel it first and to accept it." That sentence broke something open. Nobody had ever told her that before. That her feelings mattered. That she didn't have to process everything alone first, toughen up, present a perfect version of herself. She could feel something, accept it, then process it. The permission to feel changed everything. "I grew up in such an environmen
