Babes, how did you get here

She left Cape Town for love. 7 years later, she fled the UK and never looked back. Desmei Collia grew up in a township in Cape Town, South Africa. Her mother worked as a domestic worker — cleaning white people's houses — just to put food on the table. Desmei had no money, no university education, and no examples of success around her. Most of her childhood friends became prostitutes, drug addicts,...

A professional violinist boards a plane to Jamaica in 1992. She's not coming for reggae or beaches. She's coming to teach at a small college, taste her first mackerel rundown, and discover whether she could build a life on an island she'd never considered home. Twenty years later, she's raising seven musical prodigies in Kingston, navigating Devon House attitude, homeschooling through three contin...

A classically trained violinist from Chicago marries a Jamaican man. She visits the island in 1992 expecting sunshine and opportunity. Instead, she gets a Devon House ice cream lady who snaps at her, a healthcare system that airlifts her newborn to Florida, and a school system that manipulates her son's math scores to keep the local elite on top. She stays anyway. Not because Jamaica was easy, but...

LIVE — Talk With April: Living Abroad, Love & Finding Home Real people. Real journeys. Real lives. This week April Jackson goes live to talk about what it actually feels like to build a life far from where you started — the love stories, the culture shock, and those quiet moments of missing home.

A 17 year old girl boards a plane from Botswana to Malaysia. She doesn't know a single person. She's never been to Asia. At the airport, she breaks down crying. Two decades later, she's built businesses across three continents, survived COVID lockdown separated from her partner, raised a global child who sleeps in her bed, and found home in a city she once visited on holiday. Pearl left Botswana a...

A Japanese man dreams of becoming a professional footballer. A street gang attack derails everything at 17. He ends up in Cambodia, survives testicular cancer, navigates divorce, and discovers his life purpose through photography, community, and human connection. Shunsuke, known as Taki, was on track to become a professional footballer in Japan when a random act of violence shattered his ankle and...

From Montreal's Michelin Dreams to Kingston's Reality: A Chef's Raw Journey of Sacrifice, Survival & Starting Over In this powerful episode of 'Babes, How Did You Get Here?', April sits down with Chef Matthew — a celebrated Canadian chef who walked away from TV fame, two thriving restaurants, and financial security in Montreal to rebuild his entire life in Jamaica with just $60,000, a French bulld...

What happens when a Korean girl who dreamed of being Oprah lands in Kingston, speaking zero patois, knowing nothing about Jamaica except what Google told her — and decides to stay longer than planned? 📚 To join the Parenting community: https://april-s-site-fcfd.thinkific.com In this warm and deeply personal episode of "Babes, How Did You Get Here?", April sits down with Herim — a South Korea-born...

He came to South Africa for a wedding. He stayed for 10 years — and never looked back. From being invisible in England to becoming a household name across 4 continents, Hakeem Kae-Kazim tells the most unfiltered version of his story yet. Racism in the UK industry. Surviving a car crash in the Namibian desert. Delivering his own baby at 2AM on his couch. Choosing Africa over Hollywood. This episode...

Two Canadian kids land in Jamaica at 8 and 9 years old. No choice. No warning. No idea what was coming. Ten years later, they're still here — navigating identity, belonging, and what it means to grow up between worlds. Alexandra and Scarlett moved to Jamaica from Montreal in 2015. One day they were eating dumplings in Canada, the next they were the only white kids at Mona Prep, getting swarmed by...

A Japanese man dreams of becoming a professional footballer. A street gang attack derails everything at 17. He ends up in Cambodia, survives testicular cancer, navigates divorce, and discovers his life purpose through photography, community, and human connection. Shunsuke, known as Taki, was on track to become a professional footballer in Japan when a random act of violence shattered his ankle and...

A Black British woman leaves London with two suitcases, no job, nowhere to live — and builds an entirely new life in Dubai. What started as a one-year plan turned into nine years abroad, multiple careers, identity shifts, burnout, reinvention, and one brutally honest realization: “I’d NEVER raise Black children in London.” Kai Charles grew up in West London, worked corporate jobs at companies like...

A Black British woman leaves London with two suitcases, no job, nowhere to live — and builds an entirely new life in Dubai. What started as a one-year plan turned into nine years abroad, multiple careers, identity shifts, burnout, reinvention, and one brutally honest realization: “I’d NEVER raise Black children in London.” Kai Charles grew up in West London, worked corporate jobs at companies like...

📚 For more details on my parenting method: https://april-s-site-fcfd.thinkific.com What happens when a London cop rises through the ranks at Scotland Yard, gets recruited to transform Jamaica's police force, and ends up staying for 20 years — building a life, a business, and a family in a country that wasn't his? 🇬🇧🇯🇲 In this powerful episode of 'Babes, How Did You Get Here?', April sits down wit...

What happens when a Bajan Hindu girl lands in Kingston at 18 to study physiotherapy, falls in love with a Jamaican, and 22 years later is still here — raising two daughters, running a practice, and calling Jamaica home while Barbados stays in her heart? In this heartwarming and deeply personal episode of "Babes, How Did You Get Here?", host April Jackson sits down with Jivika Lalwani-Chugani (Jive...

Why she sold a successful business to chase a view The 2-month move with 5 suitcases for a family of 5 Why everyone — even her best clients — predicted she'd fail Getting scammed by a French baker hired off Craigslist The Jamaican concept of "bad mind" and how it broke her team Being accused of racism in The Observer over a vanilla latte The WhatsApp group of men who watched her breastfeed Her new...

She traded London pounds for Cape Town sunshine — and her marriage has never been better. In Part 2 of this raw conversation, Desmei Collia goes deeper into what it really cost her to live in the UK — and why coming home to South Africa saved her marriage, her mental health, and her sense of self. She doesn't hold back about the subtle racism in British salons, the in-laws who didn't approve, the...

Babes, How Did You Get Here? | Karina: From Moscow Dance Floors to Kingston Streets – Finding Home After Dancehall Broke Her Heart What happens when a Russian hip-hop dancer falls so deeply in love with dancehall culture that she moves 6,000 miles to Jamaica—only to discover that the community she worshipped would eventually exile her, leaving her stranded between two worlds, two Jamaicas, and two...

From a small New Zealand town with no traffic lights to Antarctica, East Timor war zones, Syrian roundabouts, and now Cambodia — this is the story of a simple Māori boy who built a life everywhere except where he started. John Cassidy (JC) grew up in Blenheim, New Zealand — population 20,000, zero traffic lights, and enough kids on the street to fill a rugby team. He worked in a mussel factory, ha...

From a small New Zealand town with no traffic lights to Antarctica, East Timor war zones, Syrian roundabouts, and now Cambodia — this is the story of a simple Māori boy who built a life everywhere except where he started. John Cassidy (JC) grew up in Blenheim, New Zealand — population 20,000, zero traffic lights, and enough kids on the street to fill a rugby team. He worked in a mussel factory, ha...

She got told her skin was "the greatest sin" she could have. 😳 Asian schools refused to hire her. Modeling agencies offered her $150 while white girls got $1,500. Strangers DM'd her "go back to Africa with your black self." Her response? She built an empire anyway. 🎤⬇️ In this BEST-OF cut of 'Babes, How Did You Get Here?', April Jackson sits down with Abigail — a Trinidad & Tobago educator who G...

Join us LIVE for a Premiere + Q&A: we're dropping Desmei's full story — growing up in a Cape Town township, marrying a white British man, and why she chose South African racism over 7 years of British "politeness." April is here live. Drop your questions in the chat — ASK HER LIVE (interracial marriage, moving abroad, UK vs SA, culture shock, apartheid generation, race, identity, what didn't make...

She left Cape Town for love. 7 years later, she fled the UK and never looked back. Desmei Collia grew up in a township in Cape Town, South Africa. Her mother worked as a domestic worker — cleaning white people's houses — just to put food on the table. Desmei had no money, no university education, and no examples of success around her. Most of her childhood friends became prostitutes, drug addicts,...

What happens when a Dominican lawyer trades courtrooms for Caribbean vibes, lands in Jamaica pregnant, speaking zero English, and builds a whole new life from scratch? 🇩🇴🇯🇲 In this heartwarming episode of 'Babes, How Did You Get Here?', April sits down with Ysis — a Dominican Republic-born lawyer turned event planner who moved to Jamaica 18 years ago with her husband, a six-year-old son, and nothi...

What happens when an Irish boy grows up in England, lands in juvenile detention at 15 after a gang fight that turned deadly, spends a year in custody waiting for a trial that eventually gets thrown out, discovers purpose in a professional kitchen under the mentorship of Michelin star chef Aaron Patterson, learns resilience working for Marco Pierre White at Wheelers in London, climbs the culinary l...